Jimmie Johnson, winner of Sunday's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway who trails points leader Jeff Gordon by nine points, appeared on Sunday's Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain on SPEED. Following are quotes from the interview:
Despain: When your book came out, I liked your story about how an incident at(in) Baja and being stranded for a couple of days with the locals had changed your approach to racing. When you look back from victory lane at Atlanta to that moment you were a Baja racer, how did that change you? Johnson: "I was way too aggressive and living on the wrong side of the line lap after lap, moment after moment and almost hurt myself. That's what really got my attention. You can drive a car or motorcycle or bike, you can flirt with that line but if you step over that line, it's going to bite you. I played on the other side of the line too long and learned my lesson down in Mexico sitting there for two nights trying to sort things out in my head. I've been a different driver since that day. I feel bad for my car owners that I had before that moment because I tore up a lot of stuff."
Baja Racing News.com