Johnson, Gordon enjoying current NASCAR car
Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon were the top drivers in NASCAR last season, combining for 16 wins in the series' 36 races and taking the top two spots in the standings. Now, they suddenly find themselves enjoying NASCAR's new car even more and talking about having fun in testing. Is it a sign that the two are even more on top of this model entering the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season?
Both Hendrick Motorsports drivers admitted being pleasantly surprised by the challenges and enjoyment the car offered during this week's test session at Daytona International Speedway.
"It's been fun," Johnson said on the opening day of the test, before he'd even participated in a drafting session. "I didn't expect today to be this much fun and really be challenging as a drive and challenging as a team in finding the right setup and balance of the car."
Gordon echoed his sentiments.
After the drafting practice, he found that the car handled quite a bit better than he had expected. Although he had not been in a pack larger than six cars, he found himself able to move the car around on the track and saw promise for an exciting Daytona 500.
"It's much better than what I anticipated," he said. "I will be honest. It was fun out there, for sure. I mean, the thing I like about it is there's a lot more opportunities to pass. That's with, I think the most I ever saw in the group that I was in was about six cars, but in those groups we were able to make a lot of moves. I saw some out-of-control moments as well, but I think there's more positives than negatives that I can see right now, so that's certainly a good thing."
Jeff Gordon said that the aerodynamics of the new model car that will be used in all races this year lend themselves well to restrictor-plate tracks, though handling may be a bit of an issue for a driver farther back in the pack.
Like other drivers throughout the test, Gordon said that remaining open-minded about the model is necessary, something that means trying to stay away from comparisons to the previous generation of race cars.
"When I think of being open-minded with this car, that means trying to put behind the older car, the car that we've been racing, and really forget about what you know as a driver from that standpoint," Gordon said.
"I guess maybe that could be our goal. You try to get a car to drive the best that it can, and the thing is, the car we were driving last year and the last few years, it drove really good, had a lot of downforce, it stuck like glue, and I don't necessarily think that was a good thing for the sport going forward, but as a driver, it was fun, and it was exciting, and it gave the team a lot to work with.
"Now we're limited on what we can work with, so ... you've got to be open-minded. If the car's not driving the way the older car did, you can't think that way. You've got to think of, 'How do we make this car driver as good as possible and better than the competition,' and there's some real challenges that come along with that because we are limited so much, so we've got to think outside the box a little bit, we've got to try some things that are unique and different, and in that sense, the challenge is as great as it's ever been. And that's the way I'm approaching it."
Gordon admits that he resisted the change initially, thinking that NASCAR might go in another direction with its new car or that large changes could be made to this one. Now, though, the car is here to stay. It's time for the drivers and teams to adjust and figure out how to win with this model.
"As a driver I'm going to drive it, and the team's going to work on it and we're going to put great races out on the track," he said. "That's the most important thing to me."
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