In most test sessions, it's really tough to react really fast to things that are going on because you've got so many different censors on the car, so many different things to look at; that in our experience it seems that if we go home for a couple of days, sit on it, digest it, we're able to come back or we can't come back but we come back to that race or the following race the next weekend, bringing something new to the table. So tonight is going to be a very important night for Hendrick Motorsports, getting all of the members together and crew chiefs to sort through everything and really work on a game plan for tomorrow.
Q.
On the cars being utilised in the test
JIMMIE JOHNSON:
I think that they are all really similar. You know, the difference between our two cars, one was an early version car that we built. And then after the complex cycled through building a car for everyone, we had another shot; then it was our turn to build a new car. We learned some things in that period of time and adapted it to the new car.
So there are some subtle changes and we do feel that we have one car that's a little better than the other but it's not a huge difference. It's really important to us to make sure that all of the power plans have the same horsepower, torque curves and the cars are as close to one another as possible. So when we head off on our separate agendas, we are actually comparing apples to apples, and you can really take the things that we learn and cross over to the other cars.
Q.
What are your views on the car tomorrow? Is it going to be better for NASCAR or is it going to be a problem?
JIMMIE JOHNSON:
I think there's a lot of work ahead of everyone to get that car in place. I definitely respect the hard work NASCAR is putting forward to keep the show improving and make for better racing every year. I do think that there are some things we need to recognize and understand that you're never going to get rid of the aero push. It's not going to happen. The lead car has all of the air. The cars behind it have less air; that's just how it works. I look at that and say yes, we can improve the cars and I think we've definitely learned things that we can do and shouldn't do. And I think one good example of what we shouldn't do is that five for five rule, I didn't drive the cars, but Jeff said they are really tough to drive in traffic and that was a direction not to go in.
