Team 48 Infineon Raceway
JIMMIE JOHNSON 2011
STARTS: 15 WINS: 1 TOP 5: 5 TOP 10: 9
CURRENT DRIVER POINT STANDINGS: 5th POINTS BEHIND 1st: 29
FINISH IN MICHIGAN: 27th 2010 FINISH AT SONOMA: 1st
TEAM ROSTERS WILL BE POSTED ON MEDIA.LOWESRACING.COM WHEN AVAILABLE
NEWS
5TH ANNUAL JIMMIE JOHNSON FOUNDATION GOLF TOURNAMENT AND DINNER AUCTION
Jimmie Johnson will be in San Diego, Calif. June 21-22 taking part in the 5th Annual Jimmie Johnson Foundation golf tournament and dinner auction. The event has raised more than $500,000 annually. Funds raised by the events help fund Toolbox for Education Champions Grants in the hometowns where Johnson and his wife, Chandra, grew up and currently reside.
JOHNSON TO PILOT SPECIAL PAINT SCHEME AT INFINEON RACEWAY
Johnson will pilot a specially designed No. 48 Lowe’s/Jimmie Johnson Foundation paint scheme when he takes the track at Infineon Raceway on Sunday. The Foundation is currently celebrating its fifth anniversary and has given more than $4 million since its formation.
FANS AND MEDIA CAN NOMINATE CHARITY FOR
JIMMIE JOHNSON FOUNDATION HELMET OF HOPE
The Jimmie Johnson Foundation launched the 2011 Helmet of Hope program in Kansas on June 3 and announced the American Red Cross would be the first charity to be featured on the helmet and to receive a grant of $10,000. The American Red Cross was selected by the Johnsons to help raise awareness of disaster relief efforts in the wake of the recent tornados across the country.
Last week in Michigan, Johnson drew to more charities to adorn the Helmet of Hope: the Lollipop Theater Network, nominated by Access Hollywood’s Billy Busch, and the Tennessee Chapter of the ALS Association, nominated by Manchester, Pa. resident Justin Ballew.
The Helmet of Hope allows fans and media members across the country the opportunity to nominate their charity of choice to be featured on Jimmie Johnson’s race helmet for the Sprint Cup Series race at Richmond International Raceway in Sept. In addition, each selected charity will receive a $10,000 grant.
A total of 12 charities will be selected to be featured on the one-of-a-kind helmet – six chosen from fan and six by media submissions.
Visit www.HelmetOfHope.org to nominate a charity. Jimmie will select two charities each week concluding with the New Hampshire Motor Speedway event in July.
RACE NOTES
Infineon Raceway
• Johnson has made nine Sprint Cup Series starts at Infineon Raceway, where he has one win, three top-five and four top-10 finishes.
• Johnson has completed 99.3% (988 of 995) of competition laps at the 1.99-mile road course and has led 85.
• He has an average start and finish of 17.9 and 15.6.
Chassis
• Johnson finished 28th in primary chassis No. 543 at Watkins Glen International in 2010.
• Backup chassis No. 442 crossed the finish line seventh at Watkins Glen International in 2008.
Primary Car History – Chassis No. 543
Date Event Start Finish
06/21/2009 Infineon 11 4
08/10/2009 Watkins Glen 1 12
06/20/2010 Infineon 2 1
08/08/2010 Watkins Glen 9 28
Backup Car History – Chassis No. 442
Date Event Start Finish
06/24/2007 Infineon *** 17
08/12/2007 Watkins Glen 7 3
06/22/2008 Infineon 2 15
08/10/2008 Watkins Glen 4 7
JIMMIE JOHNSON QUOTE
ARE YOUR ROAD RACING SKILLS WHERE YOU WANT THEM TO BE?
“I’m in the window that I want to be in. In my eyes, I am kind of on the bottom side of the window in the middle portion of it. We had a great race in Sonoma – at the Glen we had a flat tire early and I was able to carve my way through traffic and I think something else crazy happened. Running well I got turned around by 18 (Kyle Busch) or I can’t remember off of turn 11. Long story short, I’m very confident now on road courses and move forward and am a threat. I still think I can be better though. Still choose to run Grand Am races when it works and anything I can for that matter on a road course to get more experience.”
DID YOU WORK WITH ANYONE TO GET BETTER AT ROAD RACING?
“I didn’t work with anyone directly. The closest thing to working with someone would have been at the Grand Am races I have competed in and looking at the data from the other drivers who have been Mark Goossens when I drove for Riley – Butch Leitzinger if you go all the way back when I first drove a DP car. Elliott Forbes-Robinson and then most currently with John Fogarty and Alex Guerny. In that environment you can and with the other stuff it’s really just been laps and seat time. I’ve been to the Bondurant school to learn – we’ve tested like crazy and I’ve run some Nationwide races just all trying to get reps and trying to let me search around and see what I need to do.”
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 (82).
• 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 four (Michigan, Chicago, Watkins Glen, Homestead) of the 22 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 342 Sprint Cup Series starts, Johnson has posted 139 top-five and 212 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 11,470 laps (of 98,949) in his Sprint Cup career, covering over 132,469 miles.
• He has finished on the lead lap 265 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 three times, in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
