Tuesday
Jimmie Johnson, 2011 NSCS TUMS Fast Relief 500 Race Preview
Press ReleaseJIMMIE JOHNSON 2011
STARTS: 32 WINS: 2 TOP 5: 13 TOP 10: 20
CURRENT DRIVER POINT STANDINGS: 7th (-50)
FINISH IN TALLADEGA: 26th 2010 FALL FINISH AT MARTINSVILLE: 5th
NEWS
Johnson will drive the No. 48 MyLowe’s paint scheme in Martinsville. MyLowe’s is an integrated online tool on Lowes.com that helps keep track of everything in your home. Users will never have to remember paint colors, warranty information or room dimensions again. When using the My Lowe’s card, purchases will all automatically upload to the users MyLowe’s site and can be customized from there. Johnson also will run the scheme in Texas.
RACE NOTES
Martinsville Speedway
| • | Johnson has made 19 Sprint Cup Series starts at Martinsville Speedway, where he has six wins, 13 top-five and 17 top-10 finishes. |
| • | Johnson has completed 99.4% (9465 of 9519) of competition laps at the .526-mile track and has led 1616. |
| • | He has an average start and finish of 12.2 and 5.6. |
Chassis
| • | Johnson will drive chassis No. 653 in Sunday’s race. He finished 11th in that chassis at Martinsville in April. |
| • | Johnson finished 31st in backup chassis No. 590 at Richmond International raceway in September. |
Primary Car History – Chassis No. 653
| Date | Event | Start | Finish |
| 04/03/2011 | Martinsville | 17 | 11 |
Backup Car History – Chassis No. 590
| Date | Event | Start | Finish |
| 03/29/2010 | Martinsville | 3 | 9 |
| 09/11/2010 | Richmond | 11 | 3 |
| 02/27/2011 | Phoenix | 28 | 3 |
| 04/30/2011 | Richmond | 30 | 8 |
| 07/17/2011 | Loudon | 28 | 5 |
| 09/10/2011 | Richmond | 3 | 31 |
“Quirky tracks have always worked for me. And this track certainly is that. When I first came here, the first year or year and a half, there was no way I thought this track would be one that I liked. But in time, and in learning how to drive it, there is just one way to really get around here. And a lot of tracks have a lot of other options but there’s one very specific line you have to run and when a guy finds it, and he can set his car up to it, you go and go and go for years. And that’s what Denny (Hamlin) has been able to do and what we’ve been able to do and Jeff (Gordon) has done. So I really think it falls into that category. You go to a big track and there are three or four lanes to run on, you can move around and find somewhere that works for your set-up if you missed it (and) for your own driving style. That’s not the case here. There’s one way to drive this place and that’s it.”
SPRINT CUP SERIES CAREER NOTES
Career Wins
| • | Johnson has 55 wins in his Sprint Cup Series career, his most recent coming at Kansas Speedway on Oct. 9, 2011. |
| • | The El Cajon, Calif.-native is currently tied with Rusty Wallace for eighth on NASCAR’s all-time wins list. |
| • | He is second in total wins among active drivers, behind Jeff Gordon (85). |
| • | 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 five (Michigan, Chicago, Watkins Glen, Homestead, Kentucky) of the 23 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 359 Sprint Cup Series starts, Johnson has posted 147 top-five and 223 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 12,048 laps (of 103,382) in his Sprint Cup career, covering over 138,901 miles. |
| • | He has finished on the lead lap 280 times. |
Career Recognition
| • | Johnson was named by Forbes as the Most Influential Athlete in 2011. |
| • | In 2009, Johnson became the first race car driver to be named Male Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press in its 78-year history. |
| • | Voted Driver of the Year four times in his career (2006, 2007, 2008, 2010), Johnson joins Jeff Gordon as four-time winners of the prestigious award. |
| • | Johnson has won an ESPY for Best Driver four times, in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. |
Jimmie Johnson – Martinsville Speedway
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| * Dates in RED, BOLD indicate Martinsville Chase Race Results. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Race 7 of 10 – Chase Stats
| Year | Track | Points Coming Into Event |
Starting Position | Finishing Position | Points After Event |
| 2004 | Atlanta | 4 | 8 | 1 | 2 |
| 2005 | Atlanta | 2 | 12 | 16 | 2 |
| 2006 | Atlanta | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| 2007 | Atlanta | 2 | 6 | 1 | 2 |
| 2008 | Atlanta | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 2009 | Talladega | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
| 2010 | Talladega | 1 | 19 | 7 | 1 |
Jimmie Johnson – 2011 Results
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| *Second in points after race. Points reset heading into Chase – Johnson 6th. |
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 |
- GMR Live Marketing for Team Lowe’s Racing, Press Release
Article Tags: Chevrolet Impala SS, Chevy Impala SS, Hendrick Motorsports, Jimmie Johnson, Martinsville, Martinsville (VA), Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, NASCAR, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet Impala SS, NSCS, Team Lowe's Racing, TUMS Fast Relief 500
