NASCAR Cup

Jimmie Johnson preview

Talladega

Edited: Apr 14, 2011, 1:44 AM

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Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

JIMMIE JOHNSON:

WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE HEADING TO TALLADEGA?: "A driver goes to a plate track on Friday for qualifying or whenever qualifying is and qualifies and practices - it's pretty easy for the driver and there's no pressure on the driver so it's nice to go to the track and be relaxed. You don't have to get inside your head and drive your line or worry about your reference points. But when you get in drafting practice and you're still kind of reserved because you don't want to be in a wreck and then the race takes off and it's such a dynamic all to itself. Plate races are pretty easy to prepare for from a driver's standpoint, but on the flip side, especially in qualifying, that's all the speed depends on the work that's done at the shop. It's somewhat of an off weekend for the drivers from a work standpoint, but for the crews it's one of the most difficult weeks."

Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Michael C. Johnson

WILL THE TANDEM DRAFTING STILL RESULT IN A BIG DRAFT PACK?: "That possibility is definitely there. We're all learning a lot about the push drafting and how it works. It just depends on how close together we can all stay. If we're all in a big pack, regardless of the tandem pushing or not, your chances of a big crash are there. Then if we get into a spread out situation where cars are separated, you might have a single car spin or something like that. It just depends on where the pack is."

Chassis

• Johnson will pilot chassis No. 628 in Sunday's restrictor-plate event. He crossed the finish line 27th with that chassis at the Daytona 500 in February.

• Johnson finished fourth in backup chassis No. 618 during February's Budweiser Shootout.

-source: gmrm/lowes

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