TEAM LOWE'S RETURNS TO THE IRISH HILLS OF MICHIGAN
Johnson looks to better his effort from earlier this season
BROOKLYN, Mich. (Aug. 14, 2003) - Team Lowe's Racing hopes its return to Michigan International Speedway (MIS) will bring better results than its trip earlier this season when it posted a 16th-place finish, one lap down from the leaders.
Over the years, Team Lowe's driver Jimmie Johnson has become quite fond of MIS, posting two top-10 finishes during his Busch career and leading 25 laps in his Winston Cup debut. But just when it looked as if Team Lowe's was ready to break through on the historic track, along comes the spring race of 2003 and an uncharacteristic performance by what is uniformly regarded as one of NASCAR's most consistent teams.
Following a solid performance last weekend at Watkins Glen, Team Lowe's arrives for this weekend's GFS Marketplace 400 with the confidence they need to be more competitive during the final race at Michigan this season.
Jimmie Johnson on racing at Michigan International Speedway
"Michigan is a great racetrack. Despite what the record books show, Team Lowe's is really strong on it and we're confident that we'll be strong again this weekend. In last season's spring race at MIS, we lead some laps and were in great position to finish in the top-five, if it wasn't for a late race caution that allowed the field to catch up to us. Chad and I elected not to pit and everyone behind us pitted and got fresh tires. When the race went green with just under 10 laps remaining, guys just made some crazy moves that left us in a bad position. I made contact with a couple of race cars on the restart and that took all my momentum away. As a result, we fell to 14th-place and left MIS frustrated, but eager to get back there and have a good run."
Jimmie Johnson on his performance in the first Michigan race earlier this season
"At the beginning of the race and during restarts, we had a really strong race car. We just couldn't get the right set-up during the long runs. I started out strong and then became tight. Next run I would start out tight and become loose. We would make the proper changes, but it just seemed like the conditions of the race car would go from one extreme to the other and we couldn't find the sweet spot. Sometimes you have weekends like that and you just need to pull together as a team and get all of the points you can out of the race. We didn't force anything, remained patient and posted a 16th-place. Were we happy with it? No. Did we learn from it? Yes. So when we unload this weekend, Team Lowe's will be competitive and more importantly, a better team."
Jimmie Johnson Fast Facts
Johnson ranks fourth overall in the Winston Cup Series championship standings, just 82 points out of third place.
Johnson has two wins (Lowe's Motor Speedway and New Hampshire International Speedway), five top-five (Daytona - 3rd, Lowe's Motor Speedway - 1st, Chicagoland - 3rd, New Hampshire - 1st and Watkins Glen - 3rd) and nine top-10 finishes (Daytona - 3rd, Rockingham - 8th, Bristol - 8th, Texas - 8th, Martinsville - 9th, Lowe's Motor Speedway - 1st, Chicagoland - 3rd, New Hampshire - 1st and Watkins Glen - 4th).
Johnson has led nine out of the 22 races this season (Daytona, Las Vegas, Talladega, Lowe's Motor Speedway, Dover, Pocono, Pepsi 400, Chicagoland and New Hampshire).
Johnson has been in the top-10 in NASCAR Winston Cup points for 55 consecutive weeks, the longest current streak in Winston Cup.
Johnson won his first pole position of 2003 at Pocono Raceway.
Johnson is only the seventh driver in history to win a race starting from 35th or worse.
Johnson has five career Winston Cup victories and five career Winston Cup pole positions.
Johnson won the 2003 The Winston all-star event at Lowe's Motor Speedway, taking home the largest purse in its 19-year history, $1 million.
Jimmie Johnson at Michigan International Speedway
In the Winston Cup Series, 18th is his average start and 12th is his average finish.
Sirius Satellite 400 - 2003: started 11th and finished 16th
Sirius Satellite 400 - 2002: started 14th and finished 14th
Pepsi 400 - 2002 (fall): started 29th and finished 7th
No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet Fast Facts
Team Lowe's Racing will bring car 4853.
This is the same Lowe's Chevy that Johnson has used for all three of his Winston Cup races at Michigan. Johnson also drove this Chevy to his first Winston Cup
victory (Fontana).
Broadcast Schedule
Qualifying - Friday, Aug. 15 at 3:05 a.m. (ET) on SPEED; 3:05 a.m. (ET) on MRN
Race - Sunday, Aug. 17 at 1:30 p.m. (ET) on TNT; 1:30 p.m. (ET) on MRN
