Race 2 Win: NEXTEL Cup Series Race Notes

Nextel Cup Series

USG Sheetrock 400 - Jimmie Johnson Notes

Jimmie Johnson
Chicagoland Speedway Preview

This weekend Lowe’s Chevrolet driver Jimmie Johnson and the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series travel to Chicagoland Speedway for Sunday’s race. Johnson has never finished outside the top six at the Joliet, Ill. track. The 2006 Nextel Cup Champion finished 10th in Saturday’s race at Daytona and is fourth in the 2007 points race trailing Jeff Gordon by 407 points. Johnson and teammate Gordon are tied for the most victories with four each.

DRIVER JIMMIE JOHNSON QUOTES:

CHICAGOLAND: "This is one of the bigger races in our series. The Chicago area is a great sports town. I think the interest in NASCAR grows there each year. I love the track. My worst finish in five years there is sixth, but we have never won there. Winning is fun anywhere but winning in Chicago would be especially cool.”

SEASON: "Well we've been running well. There are some tracks in there where we had maybe not our best track like Sonoma but we still got out of there with a decent finish. When I think of Dover, we were running second and had a flat. I think at Pocono we were in the top 10 and had a flat so we've recognized this as a team and we're not finishing where we want and we're not finishing like we did at the start of the season but it's been crazy circumstances. Some of it's been fuel mileage, some of it's been those two flat tires, so we feel that we're doing the right things. We still feel that we have that speed that we did at the beginning of the season even though the competition I feel has caught up some and maybe some other teams are showing a little more muscle right now but we're right there with them.”

HEAT: “This is the time of the year when we have some very hot weather. I work out pretty hard to stay in shape. It changes per week but I try to really get some miles on foot, anywhere from 10 to 15 miles a week on foot with two or three days of weightlifting. I love to cycle and if I'm home in Charlotte I can usually spend a lot more time working out but on the road you can really just take your running shoes and it's tough. Cycling is great. I can get probably 80 to 100 miles in a week on a bicycle with some guys and it really helps for the duration of time that you find yourself in a race car and also with the heat and hydration aspect. It's great training mentally, physically and really is good for racing."

NOTES

Chassis

Johnson will drive chassis 363 at Chicagoland while chassis 297 will serve as the backup. See chassis history below.

Chicagoland Speedway

In 5 starts, Johnson has completed all 1,338 laps. He owns an average starting spot of 10.4 and average finish of 3.6. He has led 79 laps. He won the pole for this race in 2005 and has never finished outside the top six.

2007 Season

Johnson and teammate Jeff Gordon are the only drivers with four victories.

Chevrolet has won 14 of the season’s 18 races.

Hendrick Motorsports has won 10 of the season’s 18 races.

Hendrick Motorsports has won 5 of the 8 “Car of Tomorrow “races.

Johnson has led in 11 of 18 races for 681 laps in 2007.

Career

Johnson has won at least three 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 six full-time seasons.

Johnson’s victory at Richmond on May 6 was the 27th of his Nextel Cup career. This win gives him sole possession of 22nd place on the list for most victories since 1949.

Johnson’s owns nine poles in his career. He has won a pole in each of his first five seasons – the longest streak among active drivers.

History

In 201 starts, Johnson has posted 75 top-5 finishes and 121 top-10 finishes. He has a top-10 finish at every track on the NASCAR Nextel Cup series circuit. Kansas is the only track where he has not posted a top-five finish. Johnson has led 4,876 laps and driven 57,765 laps in his Nextel Cup career covering over 77,284 miles. He has finished on the lead lap 153 times. He owns a career average start of 12.4 and an average finish of 12.2.