Q – If you were Jimmie Johnson’s crew chief this weekend, how would you approach the race?

“You’ve got a real choice to make. Do you try and carry on the momentum and win the fifth in a row, because to me that’s a big deal. But you’ve got an 86-point lead and how foolish would you look if you went out there and were aggressive and lost it? It’s a tough question and a tough decision. I would go for that win. These are special times and they don’t come along that often. As Jimmie said after the race at Phoenix, to win five first you have to win four. It’s hard to get to this point. Winning five in a row would be some history to close out the season.”

Q – Even though Homestead is shaped differently, is the setup similar to what NASCAR teams use for the other 1.5-mile tracks?

“The setups will be very similar and the speeds are very similar even though the track layouts look a lot different because you’ve got the dogleg at Texas and Atlanta. But you still have the same basic setup. What you’ve got to have at those tracks is a big downforce setup. You’re trying to get the front end of the car as low as possible, the rear of the car as high as possible, and then try to maximize grip while doing that.”

Q – What makes Homestead-Miami Speedway unique?

“Variable banking is the one thing that stands out at Homestead, depending upon which line you run. You’ll see guys search around the racetrack, and you see that at Atlanta and Charlotte and Texas. I think that’s what makes racing on these mile and a halfs great is when you can race on the bottom of the racetrack to the top. That’s why they redesigned the track at Homestead, to enhance side by side racing, and it worked right off the bat.”

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