Friday notebook: Johnson says Stewart a true gentleman on track
In the past few races, several drivers have lamented the fact that their peers don't extend the same courtesies to one another that they once did. But six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson said Friday that there's still one courteous driver out there, a veteran named Tony Stewart.
"Truthfully, the guy on the track today that still races like that era of time is Tony Stewart," said Johnson, who qualified 15th for Sunday's Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. "The relationship I have with him, I will be four or five car lengths from him, not really even pressuring him yet. And he knows that I'm faster and it almost shocks me and I'm surprised that he pulls over and lets me go. Sometimes I almost run into the back of him because I don't know if his car broke or what is going on. He still remembers and was raised in that environment and races that way."
Johnson said Stewart, a disappointing 29th in qualifying at PIR, is in the minority when it comes to courtesy.
"It's a dying art for sure and it's been some time now," said Johnson. "I think each year it just keeps getting more intense. Then again, by design, NASCAR when they put this format in place this is what they were hoping for. They wanted guys trying to shoot the gap on a green-white-checkered restart. If there is a scrum afterward on pit road then that is part of the deal. It's all by design and I guess it is working."
DIFFERENT STROKES -- The new Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup format has made NASCAR's title battle look and feel a lot different this year than in 2013. A year ago, Matt Kenseth came into Phoenix International Raceway second in points behind eventual champion Johnson.
Kenseth won seven races in his first season with Joe Gibbs Racing, but is winless so far this season. That said, he is fifth in points and has a good chance at being one of the four drivers who will advance to the Championship Round of the Chase next week at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Friday at PIR, Kenseth said the title hunt this year has little in common with the one in 2013.
"It's a night-and-day difference to be honest with you," said Kenseth, who qualified fifth with teammates Denny Hamlin (pole) and Kyle Busch (sixth) also fast in qualifying. "Last year, I felt like we were maybe not the favorite -- I always felt Jimmie (Johnson) was kind of the favorite, but yet we had the most wins, the most laps led. We had a 10-week championship race where you kind of fret over every point and every position. It was a lot more stressful."
Last year, Kenseth also was faster week-to-week.
"This year it has a really different feeling," Kenseth said. "I feel like we've been knocked down on the mat every round at some point or another. I think every round we've got in a wreck or had a terrible finish or something. We've been able to advance. This one is obviously tougher, but even running sixth and 25th last week -- I don't know how we managed that and still being close to the top-four is surprising. It feels a lot different. It feels like we've had some mulligans."
UNHAPPY CAMPER -- Carl Edwards struggled mightily in Friday's lone round of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice at Phoenix International Raceway, finishing only 25th-fastest in his No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. And afterward, Edwards was unhappy about the performance of all three of the team's cars.
"The balance wasn't right in the car and it was pretty far off," said Edwards, who comes into Sunday's race sixth in points. "When I say it didn't go well, I'm pretty optimistic in general, but the biggest problem is when it doesn't go well and you walk off to the hauler and your teammates are the exact same speed then it becomes really tough because you don't have something you can just go to -- there's no speed or no low-hanging fruit left, you have to come up with a whole new plan. That's what I mean when I say it didn't go well. There's no easy solution, so we're gonna have to roll the dice and make something happen and that's tough to do."
Edwards picked it up a little bit in qualifying, finishing 13th.
MISCELLANY -- Congratulations to Jon Edwards, this year's winner of the Jim Chapman Award for excellence in motorsports public relations. Edwards has been Jeff Gordon's PR rep for nearly 15 years. ... The $400 million Daytona Rising renovation has reached the halfway point, with Florida Hospital signing on as a founding partner ... Three F-16 jets from Homestead Air Reserve Base will provide the flyover prior to the start of next Sunday's Sprint Cup Series Championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
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