Catchfence

Jimmie Johnson

Current Driver Point Standings: 1st
Leading By: 73 Points
Finish at Texas: 38th
November 2008 Finish at Phoenix: 1st

RACE NOTES

Phoenix International Raceway

• Johnson has made 12 Sprint Cup Series starts at Phoenix International Raceway where he has earned three wins, seven top-five and 10 top-10 finishes.
• The three-time champion has won three of the last four events at the one-mile track and has six consecutive top-five finishes.
• Johnson has completed 100% (3748 of 3748) of competition laps at the track and has led 506.
• He has an average start and finish of 11.2 and 5.4.

Chassis

• Johnson will pilot chassis number 540 in Sunday’s race in Phoenix. He last drove it to a runner-up finish at Martinsville Speedway in October.
• Backup chassis number 520 has won four of its five starts (Richmond, Fall 08, Martinsville Fall, 08, Phoenix, Fall 08 and Martinsville, Spring 09).

JOHNSON QUOTES

Considering that Hendrick Motorsports cars have won the last five Cup races in a row at PIR, does that previous success give you a little more comfort level going into that race in terms of the championship? “Yeah, I would say that looking at the schedule, the best track remaining for us would be PIR.  We had a really fast car in the spring and had some different issues on pit road and some bad luck with the timing of the caution that kept us back in the pack, and still ended up with a reasonable finish but we passed a lot of cars, and in our opinion felt like we had the strongest car.

“So going back to Phoenix is exciting for us, and it’s one of the tracks I was mentioning in my opening statements there that I feel we can get a victory at, and hopefully make some more cool things take place in the points.

“For me it’s a great track but it’s also a great track for Jeff.  He runs very consistent there, and then Mark won in the spring.  The two guys I’m trying to stay ahead of in the points have that track as a strong one, as well.

“At the end of the day I feel very confident.  I feel very strong about the performance Hendrick Motorsports will have.  I just hope it’s the 48 car on top of the heap. “

It’ll be the first use of the double wide restart rule at PIR.  Do you think the inside or the outside line will be favorable, especially because a couple of years ago the wall in turn 2 was moved back a little bit to open it up? “The double file restarts will be interesting.  The bottom will probably be the preferred line.  I think in Turns 1 and 2 the outside will do a really good job of hanging on and can maintain down the back stretch.  But in most cases the bottom of 3 and 4 is the preferred line, and we’ll probably end up prevailing through the length of the race.

SPRINT CUP SERIES CAREER NOTES

Career Wins

• Johnson has 46 wins in his Sprint Cup Series career, his most recent coming at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Oct. 17, 2009.
• The El Cajon, Calif.-native is tied for 13^th on NASCAR’s all-time wins list. Buck Baker also has 46 wins.
• He is second in total wins among active drivers, behind Jeff Gordon (81).
• 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 is 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 22 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 Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Oct. 15, 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 the only driver to qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup every year since the format was adopted in 2004.
• In 289 Sprint Cup Series starts, Johnson has posted 115 top-five and 178 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 9,415 laps (of 83,231) in his Sprint Cup career, covering over 111,487 miles.
• He has finished on the lead lap 224 times.

- GMR Live Marketing for Team Lowe’s Racing, Press Release