With the rainy weather, washing out the Sprint Cup Qualifying for the Party in the Pocono's 400, there wasn't much going on outside at Pocono Raceway, but inside the media center, was a different story. When Jimmie Johnson came to address the members of the media, he was asked about last weekend's restart at Dover, which ended in Jimmie being penalized, and ultimately finishing 17th instead of 1st. With 19 laps to go in last weekend's race, Jimmie was called on jumping the restart and beating Juan Pablo Montoya to the start-finish line. Today, Jimmie said, he believes Juan Pablo intentionally let him get in front, and didn't go, in order to make Jimmie look as though he had jumped the restart.
Juan Pablo's response to that accusation, "Wow, am I that good? Man, that's a compliment. If I supposedly did that, why was Jimmie the only one who passed me?"
Jimmie's further response," Essentially Juan found a loophole in the officiating and worked it to his advantage."
Then enter, Jeff Gordon. The six-time Pocono race winner admitted that he quote, " loves rivalries, because that creates that spark and gets people's emotions going. Without some kind of drama or other story line, it doesn't seem like this sport gets the attention it deserves."
Jeff also added that he likes the drama, just not when it involves him. I think we can all agree that this sport never has a shortage of rivalries, and just to make sure that he had the last word, Juan Pablo concluded his press conference by saying, "I'm going to beat (Jimmie) by ten car lengths."