Jimmie Johnson Race Quotations

I've always looked for my affirmation through my peers, the people I race against, and within my team.

I was slowly catching Matt before that last caution. I think we could have got up there to race with him but, if it stayed green, I believe Matt had it in the bag. Then we got that last yellow. I thought long and hard about what I would do if I was protecting the lead. I knew I wanted to be on the outside. I faked kind of to the bottom and he kind of bought it.

I give him a lot of credit. One, for his intelligence and ability to build great race cars. And two, for stepping up with all the focus and pressure. He's been able to have a clear mind and stay relaxed and make great decisions.

He is in control of the championship in my mind and I hate to admit that, ... If I go out and do all that I can and lead the race and lead the most laps, then it's just in his hands from there as to where he finishes and what happens.

I was a little confused too. But maybe his strategy was to race the two contenders hard and maybe the caution would come out in the process.

We didn't change a thing for this week. In our opinion, we didn't really have a chance to race at Bristol. We'd had a great practice, and felt like we had a great car -- and then we started the race with a flat tire.

Race practice was really good, ... We weren't overly excited about our qualifying runs. So, we made some good adjustments and we will be fine.

The one thing I can say is that at the end of the race the bump drafting picked up, and looking at my bumper and knowing the bump drafting that I was doing, the bumper wasn't damaged. We might have to soften them up another notch.

I'm very happy with everything (my team) got done on the race car, and it was a good, clean lap. ? It is nice to get back to the track and perform well after a bad weekend like we had a Bristol.

I'm hopeful the underlying issue of us legitimately winning the race is there. We worked our butts off for it. ... We understand we made a mistake. We just want the respect that comes along with winning the Daytona 500.

Anyone who gets on a plane headed to Vegas wants to win. Race car drivers are no different. It's an exciting place to visit and a great place to race and an even better place to win. We did that last year and would certainly like to do it again this weekend.

It's very important to be in the top five. And if you can be in first, it's going to be a huge advantage for the race team in the pits, and it'll make the day a lot easier for you.

I can't believe that we always end up somehow toward the front at the end of a race ... this one in the closing laps after a long night of adversity, ... We changed batteries, the alternator had some troubles, flat tire, all kinds of crazy things.

He probably would have won the race and it would be a different story.

I just don't have words to express how proud I am of this race team.