Catchfence

2009 NSCS Jimmie Johnson - (Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Current Driver Point Standings: 3rd Points Behind Leader: -290

Finish at Atlanta: 36th September 2008 Richmond Finish: 1st

Two Additional Charities Selected for Johnson’s Helmet of Hope

Loaves & Fishes and CureSearch Newest Additions

Loaves & Fishes (Charlotte, N.C.) and CureSearch (Bethesda, Md.) are the two latest charities to be featured on the Jimmie Johnson Foundation Helmet of Hope, the race helmet Johnson will wear during the Sprint Cup Series event at Auto Club Speedway in October.

NASCAR Scene’s Bob Pockrass nominated Loaves & Fishes. Believing that all people in our community should be able to meet their basic hunger needs and that we are called to share our resources, Loaves & Fishes’ mission is to provide groceries and support to people in crisis.

Heidi Milhous of Uniontown, Ohio nominated CureSearch, a National Childhood Cancer Foundation dedicated to raising private funds for childhood cancer research for the Children’s Oncology Group, the world’s largest cooperative cancer research organization.

Lowe’s Toolbox for Education also is featured on the helmet. The foundation is partnering with the Lowe’s program to raise funds for education initiatives in Johnson’s hometown of El Cajon, Calif. The funds will be raised through the 3^rd-Annual Jimmie Johnson Foundation Golf Tournament to be held on Oct. 7 in San Diego.

TO NOMINATE A CHARITY, VISIT WWW.JIMMIEJOHNSONFOUNDATION.ORG.

Johnson will draw two charities each race weekend through the New Hampshire event in September, collecting a total of 12 winning organizations.  Current selected charities include Victory Junction (Randleman, N.C.), Zepp Children’s Foundation (Westminster, Md.), National Multiple Sclerosis Society Mid Atlantic Chapter (Charlotte, N.C.), KidsPeace (Raleigh, N.C.), Special Operations Warrior Foundation (Tampa, Fla.) and The Taylor Brooks Foundation (Lawrenceville, Ga.).

New to the program this year, the foundation will donate $1,048 to each selected charity and distribute 100% of the proceeds from a special Helmet of Hope t-shirt between the organizations.  The t-shirt will feature each charity’s logo and is on sale now at www.jimmiejohnsonfoundation.org.

RACE NOTES

Richmond International Raceway

• Johnson has made 15 Sprint Cup Series starts at Richmond International Raceway, earning three wins, four top-five and four top-10 finishes.
• The three-time champion has won three of the last five events at the .75-mile oval.
• Johnson has completed 92.2% (5536 of 6003) of competition laps at the track and has led 369.
• He has an average start and finish of 12.1 and 18.7.

Chassis

• Johnson will pilot chassis number 461 in Saturday night’s race. He last drove that car to a runner-up finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last fall.
• Johnson last piloted backup chassis number 520 to a 36^th-place result at Richmond in May.

JOHNSON QUOTES

WHEN YOU SAY KEEP IT SIMPLE (IN REGARDS TO THE CHASE), THAT’S ONE THING. IN SOME WAYS YOUR LAST THREE CHAMPIONSHIPS HAVE MADE KEEPING IT SIMPLE OBSOLETE. YET IT SEEMS LIKE YOUR TEAM HAS PERFECTED A WORKING AND WINNING FORMULA. “Yeah, there are some contradicting thoughts that go along with all that. I’m a big believer in keeping it simple and I’ve said that over the last couple of Chases. I do disagree that every race in the Chase is the same. You might want to tell yourself that it it’s the same and that it’s no big deal. But I tell myself that. I climb in the car. And I know it’s a Chase race no matter how often I tell myself its no big deal, it’s no big deal. You know what’s on the line.

“I think that what we’ve been able to do really good over the last three Chases is to understand and deal with and kind of manage the emotions that are going with each race and do the best job we can. So in that sense, keeping it simple to where you don’t have to think about the walk-off home run. You’ve got to do your job. You give 100 percent; no more, no less. If you can rule out all the other tricks you’re trying to play with people or tricks with the set up or funny strategy or whatever it may be and just go out and run your race and do your job and everybody leave that race weekend and know they gave 100 percent, you’re going to have good results. That’s really what we have done. We try to put blinders on and run our race and do our thing and don’t leave anything at the track.”

SPRINT CUP SERIES CAREER NOTES

Career Wins

• Johnson has 43 wins in his Sprint Cup Series career, his most recent coming at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 26, 2009.
• The El Cajon, Calif.-native is 15^th 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 20 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 Watkins Glen International on Aug. 10, 2009.

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 one of only two drivers to qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup every year since the format was adopted in 2004. Matt Kenseth is the other.
• In 280 Sprint Cup Series starts, Johnson has posted 110 top-five and 171 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 8,695 laps (of 80,383) in his Sprint Cup career, covering over 107,989 miles.
• He has finished on the lead lap 216 times.

- GMR Live Marketing for Team Chevy Racing, Press Release