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Team Lowe's Racing - Jimmie Johnson - Lowe's Motor Speedway Preview

Wednesday October 15, 2008

 

Jimmie Johnson and Team Lowe’s Racing travel to Martinsville Speedway for Race 6 of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup this weekend. Heading into the event, Johnson has a 69 point lead over Jeff Burton in the Championship standings.

Johnson has found success at Martinsville Speedway in the past, collecting four wins and 12 top-10 finishes in 13 starts. He has won three of the last four races at the .526-mile track and has finished outside the top nine just once, in April of 2002.

In addition, Johnson has collected more points at Martinsville than any other driver over the past 10 races and has finished in the top three in each of his last six visits.

JOHNSON QUOTES:
Are you really confident going into Martinsville, having won there before? “I feel good about Martinsville. I think we’ll be real good over there. It’s been a great track to us so I’m excited to go and hopefully we can take advantage of going somewhere we’ve had success.”

HOW MUCH HAS IT CONTRIBUTED TO YOUR SUCCESS THAT YOU HAVE HAD SO MANY FAMILIAR FACES ON YOUR CREW WITH CHAD (KNAUS) SINCE THE BEGINNING? “It really does help. I think it is a huge part of what has gone on. If you look through the management role at Hendrick Motorsports, you look at our engine department, chassis shop, there are a lot of layers that exist there that are the same people and they just continue to fine-tune and make their programs better. It all transfers over to the race track.

“I have had Ron Malec (car chief) working on my race car since I have driven a stock car, it is comforting to know his watchful eyes are over it. I know him so well, I don’t have to worry about anything. I know he has his side covered. The same with Chad. So those things build a lot of confidence in myself and we build that in each other and we just focus on what we need to do and worry about what we can control and go on from there. I think it buys us some free time to either relax or focus harder on our given areas.”

RACE NOTES
Martinsville Speedway
Johnson has made 13 starts at Martinsville Speedway in his Cup Series career, collecting four wins, nine top-five and 12 top-10 finishes.
Johnson has one pole position at the .526-mile track, April 2006.
The Team Lowe’s Racing driver has completed 99.2% (6452 of 6506) of competition laps and has led 1006.
He has an average start and finish of 8.8 and 9.1.

Chassis
The primary chassis for Sunday’s event will be No. 520, which Johnson drove to Victory Lane at Richmond International Raceway in September.
Johnson’s backup chassis will be No. 424. Its resume includes six starts, three wins and six top 10 finishes.

CAREER NOTES
Career Wins
Johnson has 38 wins in his Sprint Cup Series career, his most recent at Kansas Speedway.
The El Cajon, Calif.-native is 16th on NASCAR’s all-time wins list.
He also has the third-highest win total among active drivers, behind Jeff Gordon (81) and Bill Elliott (44).
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 seven full-time seasons.
Johnson has won Sprint Cup Series races at all but six (Bristol, Michigan, Infineon, 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 18 poles in his Sprint Cup career.
He has one pole, April 2006, at Martinsville Speedway.
The championship driver has earned at least one pole a year since his first full-time season in 2002. He has a career-high five this season.
Johnson’s most recent pole position was in the Sept. 28 event at Kansas Speedway.

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.
This is Johnson’s fifth consecutive year in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
In 250 Sprint Cup Series starts, Johnson has posted 98 top five and 153 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 6,853 laps (of 71,770) in his Sprint Cup career, covering over 96,393 miles.
He has finished on the lead lap 192 times.

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This report was provided by an outside PR source and posted by Kim DeHaven.

 

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