I wish we could really plan and say, all right, this is when we are going to do our best, blah, blah, blah, but making the Chase is the first priority, and that's something that we have a big focus on for the 48 team and all of Hendrick Motorsports. We want all four cars in the Chase.
Q.
Wondered if you can just comment on the development of your teammate Kyle Busch, Rookie of the Year last year, a lot of people picking him as a dark horse this year, talking about how quickly he's developed as a driver?
JIMMIE JOHNSON:
I have to say Kyle and Brian both. When I look at their age, I was the youngest driver at Hendrick Motorsports until Brian came along, and then I felt bad and felt kind of old; and then Kyle came along and made me feel even worse. Kyle has shown so much ability inside the race car. I think we've all seen it with his victories last year at the Cup level, Truck level and the Busch level, he's done amazing things in the car. I think we take for granted that he is, what, 20, I guess now, and that he, speak of the devil (entered the room), he has a lot of great years ahead of him; he has a lot of speed, and I think he's definitely more than a dark horse.
I think the No. 5 and No. 25, you'll see amazing things out of them this year and hopefully all four of us in the Chase fighting for the Championship.
Q.
How about No. 48 Chevy’s were in your garage last season, and did you really need that many?
JIMMIE JOHNSON:
I'm not sure the total that we had. But I can say that Hendrick Motorsports, we're in a fortunate situation where we don't need to have the big inventory that other teams do because we have a chassis shop on site. If we crash one, we send it down and if we destroy one, we order a new one. Some of the single car teams and teams that don't have their own fabrication shop or chassis shop, they need to buy 30 cars, put them in a warehouse somewhere and use them as needed. We're not in that situation, unless I crash a lot; we don't typically go through a lot of race cars and a lot of chassis
