Tuesday

Jimmie Johnson, 2010 NSCS Price Chopper 400 Race Preview

Jimmie Johnson in car - Photo Credit: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images

2010   Starts: 28   Wins: 6   Top 5: 11   Top 10: 15

Current Driver Point Standings: 2nd    Points Behind 1st: 35

Finish in Dover: 1st    October 2009 Finish at Kansas: 9th

NEWS SAMSUNG HELMET OF HOPE FOR MORE: Jimmie Johnson will be a guest on SPEED Channel’s Trackside Live Friday night from Kansas Speedway. Johnson will be announcing the winner of the Samsung Helmet of Hope for More campaign, an online voting initiative in which one of the 12 charities selected to adorn Johnson’s race helmet will receive an additional $20,000.

Participating charities each received a $10,000 grant and placement on Johnson’s Sprint Cup Series race helmet for the Oct. 10 event at Auto Club Speedway.

Individuals can vote once per day for their favorite Samsung Helmet of Hope charity at www.helmetofhope.org. Voting ends Sept. 29 at 5 p.m. EDT.

JIMMIE JAM LIVE BROADCAST: Team Lowe’s Racing is bringing race fans to the front row for the action during the Kansas race weekend with a live webcast of its exclusive Jimmie Jam series featuring Team 48 driver Jimmie Johnson and musical guest Jimmy Wayne.

The special live coverage of the Jimmie Jam event can be viewed Thursday, Sept. 30 at 9:45 p.m. ET by visiting lowesracing.com.

It provides fans a chance to tune in on their computers for a free glimpse into the evening – including a performance by Wayne and story-telling session with four-time, reigning NASCAR champion Johnson. The Jimmie Jam event will only be broadcast online, so Team Lowe’s fans will have a chance to see a very unique, exclusive event – from the very front row.

The private Jimmie Jam event will be held in Kansas City for a limited number of guests. For more information about the live webcast of Jimmie Jam from Kansas, visit www.LowesRacing.com.

RACE NOTES Kansas Speedway

• Johnson has made eight Sprint Cup Series starts at Kansas Speedway, where he has earned one win, two top-five and six top-10 finishes.
• Johnson has completed 98.6% (2050 of 2079) of competition laps at the 1.5-mile oval and has led 304.
• He has an average start of 5.6, his lowest average of all Sprint Cup Series tracks.
• His average finish is 10.2.

Chassis

• Johnson last piloted chassis No. 592 to a third-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway in September.
• Backup chassis No. 553 was driven to Victory Lane by Johnson at Auto Club Speedway in February.

QUOTES JIMMIE JOHNSON: TALK ABOUT GOING TO KANSAS: “For a mile-and-a-half, I think that Chicago and Kansas are pretty similar. In years past, mile-and-a-halfs have been our bread and butter and have been really good for us. And Kansas has a really cool transition in and off the corners where you can run second and third lane. It is pretty friendly and you can search around and try to find a line. The asphalt has aged pretty quick there too which has allowed us to run multiple lanes and move around. So in general, it is a track with options. For a mile-and-a-half race track, it has a lot of options and I have enjoyed racing there over the years and have been able to get a win there.”

CHAD KNAUS: CAN YOU SAY WHAT YOU’VE LEARNED AS FAR AS THE CHASE IN THE FIRST TWO RACES OR YOU DON’T LEARN ANYTHING TILL THE MILE-AND-A-HALFS? “I feel good about it. If you go back and look at our performance in Chicago, we qualified respectable. We led a good portion of that race. I think if you go back and you look at how we ran at Charlotte Motor Speedway, we ran very competitive there. We basically took ourselves out of both of those races.”

I think leading into that with Kansas being very similar to Chicago, looking forward to it. I think the performance we had in Atlanta was definitely a direction that you can see where we’re headed toward going into Charlotte Motor Speedway, Homestead, and definitely Fontana, we’re always excited to go there. We obviously won there in the spring. I think our big track stuff is pretty close. We’re excited about it. We know we’re never as good as what we want to be. We’re definitely going to be continuing to work on it, trying to improve our product, but I’m looking forward to it, definitely.”

SPRINT CUP SERIES CAREER NOTES Career Wins

• Johnson has 53 wins in his Sprint Cup Series career, his most recent coming at Dover International Speedway on Sept. 26, 2010.
• The El Cajon, Calif.-native is currently 10th on NASCAR’s all-time wins list, one victory 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 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

• In 28 2010 starts, Johnson has collected six wins, 11 top five and 15 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 319 Sprint Cup Series starts, Johnson has posted 128 top-five and 195 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 10,955 laps (of 91,826) in his Sprint Cup career, covering over 122,979 miles.
• He has finished on the lead lap 245 times.

Primary Car History – Chassis No. 592

Backup Car History – Chassis No. 553

Jimmie Johnson – Kansas Speedway

Jimmie Johnson – Year-by-Year Cup Statistics

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No. 48 At-Track Crew List

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