Here's what Jimmie had to say today in Vegas....
JIMMIE JOHNSON: I think it is early to tell, but I can say, after working with him yesterday and today, that I'm extremely impressed with his abilities behind the wheel. I've always been around him and raced with him, but you just don't know what's going through someone's mind when you're not a teammate.
I think Tony Eury, Jr. is a very, very smart man. I think you're going to see a lot of great things out of him. I think DEI last year showed last year they had some speed. Junior had some bad luck. Ran well but blew some engines and had some other issues that we knew about. Truex went on and ran really well.
So I don't think it's going to be a clear, defined, you know, moved to Hendrick and picked up X amount of speed. But my impression in working with him, I'm very impressed. He's done a great job.
Q. (No microphone.)
JIMMIE JOHNSON: One, he puts a smile on everybody's face when he gets in there and starts talking about things and the race car. He just has a great sense of humor and keeps everybody lighthearted and laughing.
But inside of that, when he's describing what the car is doing, he has a very clear understanding what the car is doing. And that's something that you just don't know unless you work with someone. And he can break down the corner, know what his inputs are doing to the car. He knows how the car is talking back to him, the direction he wants to go in.
He's not making it up. I mean, you can see a conviction in his eyes how he's describing it. That's what he's feeling. And that's what you need in our sport without data at the racetrack, the other modern tools that can be used. You need to be strong and have a good feel for the car and lead your team down that road to make it better, and he has that. That's something I didn't see or know of before.