After the hammer blow of losing crew chief Chad Knaus for the
Daytona 500 and possibly several other races, Jimmie Johnson sat down to set the record straight about the situation and to warn his rivals that even without Knaus, they disregard the #48 Hendrick Motorsports team at their peril.
JIMMIE JOHNSON:
“I just felt it was necessary to come in. I know everybody is busy and obviously what took place is very damaging to the Lowe's team. A lot of people have questions. We have a few minutes before practice starts and I wanted to come in and speak on the team's behalf and make it easier on everyone and take a little time before practice started. So I'll just answer a few questions and then I've got to get back out there and practice.”
Q
WERE YOU AWARE THAT THE CAR HAD BEEN ALTERED OR THAT THERE WAS A PROBLEM? IS THAT ANYTHING YOU HAD ANY KNOWLEDGE OF?
JIMMIE JOHNSON
“No. The drivers. we just get in and drive the cars. I do know that the team and crew chief are responsible for everything that takes place. They're going to work as hard as they can to work over all the grey areas. And with that in mind, grey areas were looked at and worked over. When the car came back, the template didn't fit. Chad (Knaus) and the team and I accept what has happened. We're trying to move forward and move on and get into the Duel and do our best job in that race and then into the (Daytona) 500 and try to win the 500. But there is no doubt that NASCAR was put into a position to make a ruling and (they) made the ruling and we're going to live with it and go on and try to do the best we can down here.”
Q
HOW DOES THIS CHANGE YOUR ROLE FOR THE WEEK? AND DO YOU THINK OTHER FOLKS ARE DOING SIMILAR THINGS AND JUST GOT AWAY WITH IT?
JIMMIE JOHNSON
“I think all crew chiefs and engineers on all the race teams are all working areas over trying to find an advantage. As we know, there are more templates now than there have ever been. It's just a deal where you've got to massage the grey areas. And I'm not saying that anybody else had a problem, but we're all flirting with that line and when you step over that line, it's NASCAR's job to call you out on it and they called us out and we're living with the consequences from that.
![Jimmie Johnson addresses the media in Las Vegas. [Pic Credit Todd Warshaw/Getty Images]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/192828.jpg)
