Team 48 Charlotte Motor Speedway
JIMMIE JOHNSON 2011
STARTS: 30 WINS: 2 TOP 5: 13 TOP 10: 20
CURRENT DRIVER POINT STANDINGS: 3rd (-4)
FINISH IN KANSAS: 1st 2010 FALL FINISH AT CHARLOTTE: 3rd
TEAM ROSTERS WILL BE POSTED ON MEDIA.LOWESRACING.COM WHEN AVAILABLE
RACE NOTES
Charlotte Motor Speedway
. Johnson has made 20 Sprint Cup Series starts at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where he has six wins, 10 top-five and 14 top-10 finishes.
. Johnson has completed 96.7% (6816 of 7050) of competition laps at the 1.5-mile track and has led 1385.
. He has an average start and finish of 7.6 and 10.8.
Chassis
. Johnson will drive chassis No. 659 in Saturday night’s race. He crossed the line fourth in that chassis at Pocono Raceway in August.
. Johnson finished second in backup chassis No. 669 at Dover International Speedway on Oct. 2.
Primary 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
08/07/2011 Pocono 18 4
Backup Car History – Chassis No. 669
Date Event Start Finish
06/05/2011 Kansas 31 7
07/09/2011 Kentucky 5 3
08/21/2011 Michigan 19 2
10/02/2011 Dover 6 2
JIMMIE JOHNSON QUOTES
TALK ABOUT THIS WEEKEND IN CHARLOTTE:
“I think we’re going to be a threat (at Charlotte Motor Speedway). When I look back to Chicago, Kentucky, and Kansas obviously, our 1.5-mile stuff has been coming along pretty good over the last two or three months. So I feel good about it. Charlotte, with that asphalt that’s down, it is its own environment and it’s really tough to get your car right from the start of the race to the end of the race. So I feel like directionally we’re going the right way; but until I get on the track this week and understand where the grip level is and what our issues are, it’s hard to build too much confidence. But it’s been that way all year. It’s so tough to take what you learn at one track and carry it to the next. It’s harder than I’ve ever seen it in our sport. And after talking to other teams and drivers, I feel like a lot of people are going through this in the garage area. Take last weekend at Kansas as an example, when you look at the Happy Hour sheet you would have sworn that the No. 33 (Clint Bowyer) or the No. 99 (Carl Edwards) was going to run away and win the race. Then on Sunday, both of them had their issues and couldn’t perform. So, it’s really tough to even go from a Saturday to a Sunday and hit it anymore. It’s been really hard this year.”
SPRINT CUP SERIES CAREER NOTES
Career Wins
. Johnson has 55 wins in his Sprint Cup Series career, his most recent coming at Kansas Speedway on Oct. 9, 2011.
. The El Cajon, Calif.-native is currently tied with Rusty Wallace for eighth on NASCAR’s all-time wins list.
. He is second in total wins among active drivers, behind Jeff Gordon (85).
. 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 357 Sprint Cup Series starts, Johnson has posted 147 top-five and 223 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 12,046 laps (of 102,878) in his Sprint Cup career, covering over 137,927 miles.
. He has finished on the lead lap 279 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.
