Mar 01, 2011
Tuesday
Jimmie Johnson, 2011 NSCS Kobalt Tools 400 Race Preview
Press Release
March 1, 2011 – 3:33 pm | Print
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| JIMMIE JOHNSON 2011 STARTS: 2 WINS: 0 TOP 5: 1 TOP 10: 1 CURRENT DRIVE POINT STANDINGS: 13th POINTS BEHIND 1st: 21 FINISH IN PHOENIX: 3rd SPRING 2010 FINISH AT LAS VEGAS: 1st |
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
| • | Johnson has made nine Sprint Cup Series starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where he has earned four wins, four top-five and five top-10 finishes. |
| • | Johnson has completed 99.9% (2421 of 2424) of competition laps at the 1.5-mile track and has led 320. |
| • | He has an average start and finish of 15.3 and 10. |
Chassis
| • | Johnson will pilot chassis No. 623 in Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 400. He last drove that car to a ninth-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway in Nov. 2010. |
| • | Backup chassis No. 592 crossed the finish line in the runner up position at Kansas Speedway last October. |
2011 NSCS Jimmie Johnson - Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images for NASCAR
ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THE LAS VEGAS RACE? WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO GET AROUND THAT PLACE?
“Vegas, the last few times, has had so much grip between the re-surfacing they did a few years back and the progressive banking and the new tires that we take to the track. So when I think of Vegas, I think of pulling (his belts) tight and taking a deep breath, especially in qualifying. You go out there and lay it all on the line (during qualifying). And in the race, you’re not tiptoeing around there either. In the race you’re laying it on pretty hard.”
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’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
| • | 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 329 Sprint Cup Series starts, Johnson has posted 135 top-five and 204 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 11,015 laps (of 94,729) in his Sprint Cup career, covering over 127,041 miles. |
| • | He has finished on the lead lap 254 times. |
Primary Car History – Chassis No. 623
| Date | Event | Start | Finish |
| 10/16/2010 | Charlotte | 10 | 3 |
| 11/07/2010 | Texas | 17 | 9 |
Backup Car History – Chassis No. 592
| Date | Event | Start | Finish |
| 05/30/2010 | Charlotte | 5 | 37 |
| 08/01/2010 | Pocono | 6 | 10 |
| 09/05/2010 | Atlanta | 7 | 3 |
| 10/03/2010 | Kansas | 21 | 2 |
Jimmie Johnson – Las Vegas Motor Speedway
| Date | St | Fn | Laps | Status | Led |
| 03/03/02 | 25 | 6 | 267/267 | Running | 6 |
| 03/02/03 | 10 | 11 | 267/267 | Running | 2 |
| 03/07/04 | 12 | 16 | 267/267 | Running | 5 |
| 03/13/05 | 9 | 1 | 267/267 | Running | 107 |
| 03/12/06 | 3 | 1 | 270/270 | Running | 1 |
| 03/11/07 | 23 | 1 | 267/267 | Running | 89 |
| 03/02/08 | 33 | 29 | 265/267 | Running | 0 |
| 03/01/09 | 3 | 24 | 284/285 | Running | 92 |
| 02/28/10 | 20 | 1 | 267/267 | Running | 18 |
Jimmie Johnson – Year-by-Year Cup Statistics
| Year | Starts | Wins | Top 5 | Top 10 | Poles | Final Points |
| 2001 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 52 |
| 2002 | 36 | 3 | 6 | 21 | 4 | 5 |
| 2003 | 36 | 3 | 14 | 20 | 2 | 2 |
| 2004 | 36 | 8 | 20 | 23 | 1 | 2 |
| 2005 | 36 | 4 | 13 | 22 | 1 | 5 |
| 2006 | 36 | 5 | 13 | 24 | 1 | 1 |
| 2007 | 36 | 10 | 20 | 24 | 4 | 1 |
| 2008 | 36 | 7 | 15 | 22 | 6 | 1 |
| 2009 | 36 | 7 | 16 | 24 | 4 | 1 |
| 2010 | 36 | 6 | 17 | 23 | 2 | 1 |
| 2011 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 13 |
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Article Tags: 2011 Kobalt Tools 400, Chevrolet Impala, Chevy Impala SS, Hendrick Motorsports, Jimmie Johnson, Las Vegas, Las Vegas (NV), Las Vegas Motor Speedway, LVMS, NASCAR, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, No. 48 Lowe's/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet Impala SS, NSCS, Team Chevy, Team Lowe's Racing
