Team 48 Richmond Preview

Lowe’s Monte Carlo driver Jimmie Johnson and Team 48 travel to Richmond International Raceway for Saturday night’s 400-lap NASCAR Nextel Cup race. Johnson leads Matt Kenseth by 21 points in the season’s points race. Johnson’s victory Monday was the third of the season and second consecutive in a restrictor plate race. Johnson and his teammates tested at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.

Note: Johnson will drive the No. 48 Lowe’s Monte Carlo in the May 27 Busch Series race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. This marks Johnson first appearance in the Busch Series in 2006. Johnson plans to test the car at LMS next week. He plans to race the Busch car at California Speedway in September and LMS in October.

DRIVER JIMMIE JOHNSON QUOTES:

RICHMOND: “I think the drivers and fans both like Richmond. It’s a great facility in a great location and its great for the fans – plus, there’s two and sometimes three-wide racing. Add the excitement of Saturday night short track racing and you see why all of us like the place.”

TALLADEGA: “The victory was great for the Lowe’s team. We put a lot of effort into restrictor plate racing. I have been working very hard, as a driver, to perfect that craft and understand what is going on in the draft. To get the results we have had in the last two plate races meant a lot to myself and to Hendrick Motorsports which worked very hard to give us competitive cars. DEI had a period time when it was very dominant. Rick didn’t like that and our organization didn’t like that so we put some things in place that have really stepped up the plate program and got us the results that we have been after. The hard work is definitely paying off.”

MAINTAINING PERFORMANCE AFTER SUCCESS: “It’s very tough and it is something I am proud that we have been able to do. On top of having great equipment, the team doing their job on pit road, there is an element of luck as well. We have been good and lucky. Hopefully we can be a champion some day but I am very proud of the record we have. The worst we have been in the points is fifth and that is something to achieve.”

TESTING AT LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY THIS WEEK: “I was here a month or so ago at the Goodyear tire test. The track seemed to me very forgiving, easy to get around in a sense, and the speeds were very high. We came back (this week) with a harder tire – compound wise and construction wise. It has made the car tough to drive. It has been a handful out there. The pace has been quite a bit slower when the sun was out. We have had a few spins and some guys got into the wall. As we got into the night the track finally got some rubber down and it started to stabilize a little bit and I don’t think we had any issues once the sun went down. Right now we are collecting data so when we go home and sift through it all we will come back here with a better package.”

Race Notes

Chassis