{"id":15427,"date":"2018-03-16T17:55:38","date_gmt":"2018-03-16T22:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=15427"},"modified":"2018-03-17T15:05:36","modified_gmt":"2018-03-17T20:05:36","slug":"nascar-friday-auto-club-speedway-notebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/03\/16\/nascar-friday-auto-club-speedway-notebook\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Friday Auto Club Speedway Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/b><\/p>\n

There\u2019s no quit in Jimmie Johnson<\/b><\/p>\n

FONTANA, Calif. \u2013 Jimmie Johnson<\/strong> was emphatic during a question-and-answer session with reporters on Friday at Auto Club Speedway.<\/p>\n

The desire to race still burns white-hot in the seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series<\/a> champion.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe’s for Pros Chevrolet, straps on his helmet during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway on March 16, 2018 in Fontana, California. (Photo by Josh Hedges\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

“The desire to keep racing is absolutely there,” Johnson said. “Races, championships, and being a part of this great sport of ours–I\u2019m going to be around for a while. I\u2019m excited about that.”<\/p>\n

Earlier in the week, long-time primary sponsor Lowe\u2019s announced the company would not return to the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet this season. Though Johnson acknowledged the importance of the home improvement company\u2019s backing to his career, he also views the transition as an opportunity to associate his brand with other companies.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, what a run to have an 18-year relationship with such an amazing company,\u201d Johnson said of his association with Lowe\u2019s, which signed on for his first full season in 2002. \u201cThe friendships, the relationships, the way we\u2019ve been able to deliver to their marketing efforts, the history we\u2019ve made in our own sport, the chance I had to even drive a Cup car because of them\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many levels to it that I am very, very thankful for and proud of. Of course, I wish we could finish it out together, but that\u2019s not the circumstance. But then, to look forward, I\u2019m very optimistic about the future and myself and our race team to have an opportunity we haven\u2019t had before to go out and shop our deal and see what\u2019s out there and what we can do from a branding standpoint for a new company.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that the announcement is out, we can get to work on that and see what the future holds for our team.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Johnson\u2019s standpoint, there\u2019s no ambiguity about his future as a racer. He laughed off speculation about \u201cearly retirement\u201d after the 2018 season. Currently, Johnson is tied with NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt for the most titles at NASCAR\u2019s highest level.<\/p>\n

Johnson wants to break that tie.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have more to do, and I enjoy the process and Hendrick is home and retirement hasn\u2019t been on my mind,\u201d said Johnson, who needs 10 more victories to catch former teammate Jeff Gordon for third on the all-time list. \u201cI want to win. I want to win an eighth championship\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are just a lot of different ways I could look at it and say that it\u2019s the absolute wrong time. But I guess, at the end of the day, it\u2019s really my desire to compete and to compete at a high level. I\u2019m not done yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

COMICS ARE SERIOUS BUSINESS TO RYAN BLANEY<\/b><\/p>\n

NASCAR drivers who stayed out West during the #NASCARGoesWest swing found a variety of ways to spend their time between races.<\/p>\n

Brad Keselowski went off the grid to climb mountains and marvel at the majesty of California\u2019s giant sequoias. Keselowski\u2019s Team Penske teammate, Ryan Blaney, did something altogether different.<\/p>\n

A Star Wars and adventure fiction enthusiast as well as a comic book collector, Blaney visited the offices of D.C. Comics in Burbank, Calif., where he got a rare treat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to go in their archives and see some Superman No. 1\u2019s, No. 2\u2019s, things like that,\u201d Blaney told the NASCAR Wire Service during an announcement of NASCAR\u2019s expanded partnership with Twitter at the sanctioning body\u2019s offices in Century City. \u201cThat was so cool to me. Those archives\u2014there are three people that have keys to that thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was super cool. And then to let us go in and look at it first-hand. Every single comic they\u2019ve ever had is in this archive. They had a Richard Petty comic in there\u2014it was pretty old. That was super cool to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY BITES DANIEL SU\u00c1REZ<\/b><\/p>\n

Daniel Su\u00e1rez ran afoul of the primary hazard at Auto Club Speedway and, as a consequence, will start Sunday\u2019s Auto Club 400 from the rear of the field in a backup No. 19 Toyota.<\/p>\n

During Friday\u2019s opening Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at the two-mile track, Su\u00e1rez was in the middle of a mock qualifying run when he hit one of the slick seams that separates the lanes of well-worn asphalt and slid into the outside wall.<\/p>\n

With his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry damaged beyond repair, Su\u00e1rez was forced to the backup car for the rest of the weekend. Current NASCAR rules require the car to drop to the rear for the start of the race regardless of where Su\u00e1rez qualifies in the backup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just got loose,\u201d Su\u00e1rez said. \u201cI was loose as soon as I hit the seam. I couldn\u2019t handle the seam. I thought I was fine\u2026 but as soon as I hit the seam I wasn\u2019t anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service   There\u2019s no quit in Jimmie Johnson FONTANA, Calif. \u2013 Jimmie Johnson was emphatic during a question-and-answer session with reporters on Friday at Auto Club Speedway. The desire to race still burns white-hot in the seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion. “The desire to keep racing is absolutely there,” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15424,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[401,399,63,16],"class_list":["post-15427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-auto-club-400","tag-auto-club-speedway","tag-jimmie-johnson","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/MENCS_ACS_JOHNSON_031618.jpg?fit=1976%2C1438","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-40P","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15427"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15429,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15427\/revisions\/15429"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}