LONG POND, Pennsylvania. – Jimmie Johnson, fifth-fastest in Friday’s first practice, says that when his team is hitting on all cylinders, it tends to stay that way.
“Usually when we’re hot it carries from track to track and we certainly hope we can keep it rolling,” said Johnson, fresh off his consecutive victories at Charlotte and Dover.”
Johnson says that crew chief Chad Knaus isn’t about to back off.
“This is Chad’s favorite race track,” Johnson said. “He loves the challenge here, trying to figure out how to get the car to go down those long straightaways, then through three different corners.”
Johnson has NASCAR’s best driver rating at Pocono (109.3) but Denny Hamlin is right behind (109.1), followed by Kurt Busch (104.7) and Jeff Gordon (101.1).
Hamlin, with four victories at Pocono, came into the weekend with the best average starting position among active drivers (6.5) and had led 23 percent of laps in the last 16 races at Pocono.
Gordon is the all-time leader with six victories at the Tricky Triangle. He owns 29 top-10 finishes in 42 career starts.
Hamlin won the pole Friday, Johnson will roll off 20th, and put the blame on his qualifying run squarely on himself.
“The driver blew Turn 2,” Johnson said. “I just got too greedy down in two and lost the nose in corner exit. I knew it killed the lap. Sure enough when I came back around it was only good enough for 20th. I feel bad for my guys, but this one is one me.”
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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