Race 2 Win: Dodge/Save Mart 350 - Jimmie Johnson Notes

Nextel Cup Series

Dodge/Save Mart 350 - Jimmie Johnson Notes

Team 48 Infineon Raceway Preview

Lowe’s Monte Carlo driver Jimmie Johnson and Team 48 travel to Infineon Raceway this weekend for Sunday’s NASCAR Nextel Cup road course race. Johnson leads Matt Kenseth by 74 points in the season point’s race.

DRIVER JIMMIE JOHNSON QUOTES:

HAVE YOU TAKEN ANY ROAD COURSE CLASSES THIS YEAR? “No this year I didn’t have the time. We have had a few test sessions at a local road course around here, so I’ve had a lot of seat time in our road course car. We’ve worked on some different handling issues with our race cars to make them better, so I feel that I’ve had more seat time in our car coming into a road course race than any other event in my career so far. We’ve been competitive. We’ve been able to run well in the race and have fast times but something has gone wrong. We’ve had some issues with flat tires and a broken rear end gear one time and last year we had a transmission issue. I know we have the speed; I just need to get up there and have a clean weekend and hopefully we can do that.”

INFINEON TRACK: “The track - there are only a couple chances to really pass someone if they are competitive and running fast speeds so it is really frustrating trying to set someone up for an entire lap to pass in turn 11. Obviously the guy in front of you knows what is coming and he is defending it and blocking it. Your frustration gets pretty high at that race track so remaining calm and relaxed and not making mistakes on your own behalf is really the suggestion I would give to a rookie coming in.”

WHY ARE THERE SO MANY WEST COAST DRIVERS IN NASCAR NOW? “I don’t know if I have the answer. I think in the past that the West Coast was not really thought of for racing. People may not have realized how many different forms of racing there were and how many great drivers. When I look around in the Midwest – I spent a lot of time running up there in the ASA series. I know that there is a strong racing group up there and up north. Really it is more of a national deal than it is a southern sport anymore. I don’t know why there is a surge of west coast drivers, so I can’t really answer that. You look at what David Gilliland did last weekend in a Busch car – he’s a west coast guy that came out and did the unexpected. I don’t know what it is to be honest with you.”

Race Notes

Chassis

Team 48 will use chassis 48386 as the primary car this weekend at Infineon. This chassis has never raced, but tested at Virginia International Raceway. Chassis 48287 will serve as the backup. This chassis raced at Infineon in 2003.

Infineon Raceway

Johnson has not won in his four starts at Infineon. He has completed 433 of 440 laps. He has not led a lap on the road course. He owns an average start of 22 and an average finish of 23.2.

Season

Johnson has completed 4,766 of 4,779 laps and led 328 laps in 2006. He owns an average starting spot of 11.1 and average finishing position of 6.8.

Career

Johnson’s victory at Talladega was the 21st of his Nextel Cup career. This win tied him with Benny Parsons, Bobby Labonte, and Jack Smith for 27th for most victories since 1949. Only five active drivers have more victories. Johnson’s pole at Martinsville was the ninth of his career. In 161 starts, Johnson has posted 60 top-5 finishes and 97 top-10 finishes. He has a top-10 finish at every track on the NASCAR Nextel Cup series circuit. Indianapolis and Kansas are the only two tracks where he has not posted a top-five finish. Johnson has led 3,669 laps and driven 46,611 laps in his Nextel Cup career covering 62,105 miles. He has a career average starting spot of 12.5 and an average finishing position of 12.3. He has finished on the lead lap 123 times.

Previous Infineon Race

Johnson qualified second and ran in the top five in the early going as it appeared he would be one of the cars to beat on the twisty circuit. But just 15 laps in to the 110-lap race, Johnson reported transmission problems and began rapidly fading through the field. By the time a much needed caution flag flew on lap 20, the Lowe’s Chevrolet ran in 34th place. He climbed back up to 22nd before finishing 36th.