Q: Jimmie, a somewhat strange position for you this weekend because in four out of five years you've won the championship, you've come into Homestead leading the points. Now similar to 2010, you come in as the chaser. I know the answer to this question, but I'm going to ask it anyway: Can you pull off another late-race comeback?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: Yeah, I definitely think it's possible. You look at our bad luck last weekend, there's still a race here, and there's still tires on these racecars, and something can happen there. There's still a lot of very tough competition on the track. This just isn't any other race; this is the championship race, and there's a lot that comes with that.
I'm very optimistic. I think that we'll have a very fast race car, and we'll go out onto the racetrack and do all that we can each and every lap of every practice session qualifying and race, and see how things play out.
I find another point of motivation and optimism, we look at the IndyCar championship and how it unfolded at Fontana. It seemed like it was a lay-up race [for Team Penske's Will Power], and things can happen. This is racing.
I think either way we'll be in good shape. We'll have a fast racecar and go out and race hard, and then if some luck comes our way, we'll hopefully be ready to capitalize on that, as well.
Q: Brad, what would it mean for you to be the first guy to bring home that title for Penske and that entire group?
BRAD KESELOWSKI: Well, to win a championship for Roger would certainly be a huge accomplishment considering everything he's been through in American motorsports and beyond. You look at his legacy in the sport and you can't help but feel that he's been a little bit slighted on the NASCAR side. We'd like to get that job done, and I think we have the opportunity to do it. I think we have the team and car, and it's just a matter of putting all the pieces together.
And so far that's happened this year. There's no guarantee that will continue to happen, but I think you look at trends and you try to label how things can happen, and there's a very strong possibility.
For us it's about focusing on getting the job done and trying not to think about all those other things, whether it's what it means or what obstacles lie ahead. It's about just focusing on what we need to do, and the history books and the life lessons and so forth, those things will work their way out in the end if you just get the job done, and I think that's where our focus is.
Q: Jimmie, given the deficit, do you feel like you have to root for something bad to happen to Brad, or would you consider roughing him up in order to put him back somewhere in the back of the field?
JIMMIE JOHNSON: Well, I think that to think that a top-15 finish is a lay-up is tough. This garage area is tough, the weight of this race, I don't care who you are, it'll show up at some point in time and thoughts will run through your head, and with all that being said, a 15th-place finish is not a lay-up for these guys. So I have a little bit of stock in that, and we'll see how they respond. Their trends this year have been strong, but this is a different race.
As far as the luck category, we were unlucky as anybody can be. There's that element that exists out there, and we'll just see where it all unfolds.
There's a line of racing hard, to answer your final part of your question, and we both have proven we're willing to race hard. I certainly am willing to race hard down here. It's not my style to go drive through somebody and create the opportunity; that's not me. So I'm going to race as hard as I possibly can and see where things fall.