Team 48 Dover International Speedway Preview

RACE NOTES
Dover International Speedway

• Johnson has made 17 Sprint Cup Series starts at Dover International Speedway, where he has earned five wins, seven top-five and 11 top-10 finishes.
• Johnson’s five wins at the one-mile track tie him with David Pearson for victories at the venue, behind Richard Petty and Bobby Allison who each have seven.
• He also has the most Dover wins of any active driver. Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon have four each.
• Johnson has completed 97.3% (6619 of 6804) of competition laps at the one-mile oval and has led 1431.
• He has an average start and finish of 11.4 and 10.2.

Chassis

• Johnson last piloted chassis No. 558 to a 22nd-place finish at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July.
• Backup chassis No. 553 was driven to Victory Lane by Johnson at Auto Club Speedway in February.

QUOTES
TALK ABOUT GOING TO DOVER THIS WEEKEND COMING OFF OF THE FINISH IN NEW HAMPSHIRE: “I’m excited to get back to the track after last weekend. We definitely need to get things going and couldn’t pick a better track for the Lowe’s team to go to and get some points. So we’re excited for it and we’re looking forward to this weekend.”

HOW MUCH DO YOU WORRY ABOUT LAST WEEK IN NEW HAMPSHIRE OR HOW MUCH DO YOU JUST TALK TO CHAD ABOUT DOVER THIS WEEKEND AND ON? “We by all means did not want to finish 25th. I don’t think it’s taken us out of the drive for our fifth championship. We still have that opportunity. We can’t have another bad race. We have to be spot on from here on out, I believe. Other guys are going to have some trouble at some point – at least I’m hoping for that. But that’s the thing – you just never know what the finishing average is going to be for the champion. And opening with a 25th isn’t the right thing. But we’re a great race team. We showed up and performed well, had a mistake on pit road and then the issue of being caught up in some wrecks and spun around and all of that, so we have to pick our chins up and lift our heads up and go to work and show up at Dover and give 100% once again and be ready to work, bottom line.”

SPRINT CUP SERIES CAREER NOTES
Career Wins

• Johnson has 52 wins in his Sprint Cup Series career, his most recent coming at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on June 27, 2010.
• The El Cajon, Calif.-native is currently 10th on NASCAR’s all-time wins list, two victories behind Lee Petty.
• 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 was the first driver to win three of the first five races in The Chase.
• 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 24 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 Bristol Motor Speedway on Aug. 20, 2010.

Career Starts

• In 27 2010 starts, Johnson has collected five wins, 10 top five and 14 top-10 finishes.
• 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 318 Sprint Cup Series starts, Johnson has posted 127 top-five and 194 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 10,764 laps (of 91,426) in his Sprint Cup career, covering over 122,579 miles.
• He has finished on the lead lap 244 times.