Friday, May 27, 2005 | 9:21 a.m.
Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at [email protected] or (702) 259-4089.
Jimmie Johnson is hoping to join an elite group of drivers this weekend in the longest race on the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series circuit.
Johnson, the series points leader, has won the past two Coca-Cola 600s at Lowe's Motor Speedway and will attempt to win his third in a car that is 4 years old. If he is successful, Johnson will join Darrell Waltrip, Bobby Allison, Buddy Baker, Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon and David Pearson as the only drivers to have won three or more 600-mile races.
"I want to win it really bad," Johnson said of Sunday's race. "I've had two 600 wins and I know if it's a third one for us, it puts us in elite company.
"There is nothing like winning at Lowe's Motor Speedway for obvious reasons with our sponsor and our race shop just down the street. It would be a very, very meaningful event and a good way for us to start the second quarter of the season."
But Johnson and the No. 48 team aren't breaking out a new car for the race. Instead, crew chief Chad Knaus has prepared the same car -- albeit rebuilt several times over -- Johnson first drove at Lowe's in 2001.
"This car is the first car that was ever built for Jimmy here at the (Hendrick Motorsports) shop before I was even here," Knaus said. "Since that point in time, the car has had multiple front clips, multiple bodies. It's gone through quite a phase of front end suspension geometry configurations and things such as that.
"It has had a 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and now a 2005 body on it. It's gone through a lot of changes and it's just a very good adjustable racecar."
Not that Knaus and Johnson are afraid to roll out a new car whenever the series races at Charlotte.
"First off, you have to realize Jimmie and our team, as soon as you walk into Lowe's Motor Speedway, there is an air of confidence so we could probably take a Volkswagen Beetle over there and run pretty competitive," Knaus said.
"Once again, Jimmy's got a great feel for a racecar and he's got a great feel for Lowe's Motor Speedway, and probably the biggest contributing factor to us running well there is just the fact that he can feel what's going on with the racetrack.
"And we've had some very, very good setups there more so than just the racecar."
But Johnson said the recent grinding the track underwent in an attempt to smooth the racing surface has affected his comfort level.
"Things have changed so much at the track that I guess when I show up now, I don't think of it as the same Lowe's Motor Speedway," Johnson said. "The surface is totally different and it's a whole new place; I feel like I'm coming to a new racetrack right now."
Johnson, who leads Greg Biffle by 41 points in the Nextel Cup standings, has finished in the top 10 in eight of the first 11 races of the season and is coming off a fifth-place finish in the NASCAR Nextel All-Star Challenge, which also is held at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
JUNIOR ON CHANGE: Dale Earnhardt Jr. said Thursday that the team's inability to improve upon the performance of the No. 8 Chevrolet once the team was at the racetrack was the primary reason crew chief Pete Rondeau was replaced this week -- after 11 races -- by Steve Hmiel.
"Me and Pete were real, real good friends -- still are great friends," Earnhardt said. "I thought a lot of him and we got along really well, but we didn't really click on the radio on Sunday. During practice, we struggled a little bit and so I want to find somebody who is a good match for me as far as my terminology or whatever it takes where we can get our cars where we're running fast.
"One thing that me and him struggled with together was improving the cars throughout practice (and) trying to improve the car throughout the race. We found ourselves, I guess a lot of times, just kind of out of touch in the middle part of the race. There was a lot of things; I didn't feel like, personally, I was getting a lot of information about what changes were being done on the car and I'm sure that I wasn't giving him enough information about what those changes were doing.
"I just felt like we needed to make a change to give it a good shot and give it an opportunity."
Earnhardt is 11th in points and searching for his first victory of the season.
BIFFLE STAYING PUT: Greg Biffle, who is second in NASCAR Nextel Cup points with three victories this season, has renewed a multi-year agreement to drive the No. 16 Ford for Roush Racing.
During his eight years with Roush Racing, Biffle has won championships in both the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship (2000) and Busch Series (2002).
MORE ROUSH: The Discovery Channel will document Jack Roush's talent search -- dubbed the 'Gong Show' -- to find a driver to compete in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2006. The reality-based show will premier this fall and provide a behind-the-scenes look at Roush's driver search.
Drivers who are interested in taking part in the driver search have until June 15 to submit an online application at www.roushracing.com.
CRAFTSMAN RE-SIGNS: NASCAR announced Thursday that Sears' Craftsman tool brand has signed a five-year extension to remain the title sponsor of NASCAR's Truck Series.
Craftsman has been the title sponsor of the series since its inception in 1995.
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