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| Johnson looks for first Firecracker win at Daytona |
Daytona International Speedway
• Johnson has made 19 Sprint Cup Series starts at Daytona International Speedway, where he has one win, six top-five and nine top-10 finishes.
• Johnson has completed 97.3% (3242 of 3333) of competition laps at the 2.5-mile superspeedway and has led 60.
• He has an average start and finish of 9.5 and 16.8.
Chassis
• Johnson won at Talladega Superspeeway earlier this year in primary chassis No. 628.
• Backup chassis No. 618 crossed the finish line fourth at in this year’s Bud Shootout in Daytona.
JIMMIE JOHNSON QUOTES
HOW HAS THE RACING CHANGED AT DAYTONA IN 10 YEARS?
“We thought there was some change from year to year and then this whole push drafting thing came around with the new asphalt that has been put in and I would say that’s been the biggest change. I would say to plate racing ever. People picked up the draft early on and understood how that worked, but to take the drafting experience to the next level like we have – that started at Talladega a year and a half ago and now it’s the norm and a totally different environment.”
WAS DRAFTING THE SAME BEFORE THE PUSH DRAFTING?
“For a while it was picking the right lane and always having someone to work with has been there, but that then led to the slam drafting where all the cars were so equal and everyone was so good at drafting, we would sit side by side and there wouldn’t be any lead changes or your lane wouldn’t advance so we would just start slamming each other. Then you might remember we had to stiffen up all the bumpers to allow the cars to do that. That was the only way we could create movement in a lane was just drill the guy in the front of you, let him drill the guy in front of him and then send that upstream and hopefully you would advance your lane one slot or one spot. That just got kind of old and tired and I know some fans really enjoyed seeing us in a big pack, but now I feel like we can race a little bit and set people up.”
SPRINT CUP SERIES CAREER NOTES
Career Wins
• Johnson has 54 wins in his Sprint Cup Series career, his most recent coming at Talladega Superspeedway on April 17, 2011.
• The El Cajon, Calif.-native is currently tied with Lee Petty for ninth on NASCAR’s all-time wins list, one victory behind Rusty Wallace.
• 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 343 Sprint Cup Series starts, Johnson has posted 139 top-five and 213 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 11,470 laps (of 99,059) in his Sprint Cup career, covering over 132,469 miles.
• He has finished on the lead lap 266 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 three times, in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
- GMR Live Marketing for Team Lowe’s Racing, Press Release
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