Team 48 Pocono Raceway
RACE NOTES Pocono Raceway
• Johnson has made 19 Sprint Cup Series starts at Pocono Raceway, where he has two wins, seven top-five and 13 top-10 finishes.
• Johnson has completed 99.8% (3680 of 3689) of competition laps at the 2.5 -mile track and has led 518. • He has an average start and finish of 8.1 and 9.3. Chassis
• Johnson will pilot chassis No. 659 in Sunday’s event. He last drove that car at Michigan International Speedway in June.
• Johnson finished 16th in backup chassis No. 623 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March.
Backup Car History – Chassis No. 659 Date Event Start Finish 05/07/2011 Darlington 19 15 05/29/2011 Charlotte 6 28 06/19/2011 Michigan 21 27 Backup Car History – Chassis No. 623 Date Event Start Finish 10/16/2010 Charlotte 10 3 11/07/2010 Texas 17 9 03/06/2011 Las Vegas 14 16
JIMMIE JOHNSON QUOTE WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO WIN AT POCONO? BRINGING BACK SHIFTING, WAS IT A GOOD THING? “I think so. The shifting, I feel like it gave us something to do. I thought it was a good thing. I don’t know how it looked on television, what people thought of the racing. Again, as competitors, you want to have a chance to work on your equipment and try to find something before other people do. There were different straightaways that brought an element of something new, an area to work in for us. So from an engineering standpoint, a team standpoint, I like that side of it, felt like it was better.”
WHAT ARE THE KEYS TO WINNING IT (AT POCONO)? “Boy, keys to winning there. I think the first thing that comes to mind is fuel mileage. It’s one or the other. You either have a really fast car and poor fuel mileage, not running so good, roll the dice, stay out, save fuel, take those two strategies. I’d rather have the better-driving racecar and fight for the finish.”
SPRINT CUP SERIES CAREER NOTES
Career Wins
• Johnson has 54 wins in his Sprint Cup Series career, his most recent coming at Talladega Superspeedway on April 17, 2011.
• The El Cajon, Calif.-native is currently tied with Lee Petty for ninth on NASCAR’s all-time wins list, one victory behind Rusty Wallace. • He is second in total wins among active drivers, behind Jeff Gordon (84).
• Johnson needed only 296 starts to hit the 50 mark. Only three drivers have reached 50 victories quicker – Gordon (232), Darrell Waltrip (278) and David Pearson (293).
• Johnson has won at least three Cup races a season since he posted his first victory in 2002. He is the only driver in the modern era to win at least three races in each of his first eight full-time seasons.
• Johnson has won Sprint Cup Series races at all but five (Michigan, Chicago, Watkins Glen, Homestead, Kentucky) of the 23 tracks on which the series competes.
• Johnson’s 10 wins in 2007 was the highest number recorded in a single season since Jeff Gordon posted 13 victories in 1998.
• The four-consecutive wins scored by the No. 48 team in the 2007 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup ties a modern-era NASCAR record. Career Poles • Johnson has collected 25 poles in his Sprint Cup career.
• The championship driver has earned at least one pole a year since his first full-time season in 2002.
• He had a career-high six poles in 2008.
• Johnson’s most recent pole position was at Dover International Speedway on Sept. 24, 2010. Career Starts
• Johnson has finished in the top five in the Sprint Cup Series point standings each year since his first full season in 2002.
• Johnson is the only driver to qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup every year since the format was adopted in 2004.
• In 347 Sprint Cup Series starts, Johnson has posted 141 top-five and 215 top-10 finishes.
• He has a top-five finish at every track on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series circuit.
• Johnson has led a total of 11,490 laps (of 99,957) in his Sprint Cup career, covering over 134,232 miles.
• He has finished on the lead lap 270 times. Career Recognition
• Johnson was named by Forbes as the Most Influential Athlete in 2011.
• In 2009, Johnson became the first race car driver to be named Male Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press in its 78-year history.
• Voted Driver of the Year four times in his career (2006, 2007, 2008, 2010), Johnson joins Jeff Gordon as four-time winners of the prestigious award.
• Johnson has won an ESPY for Best Driver four times, in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. Jimmie Johnson – Pocono Raceway
