Race 2 Win: Sprint Cup Series Race Notes

Sprint Cup Series

UAW-Dodge 400 - Jimmie Johnson Notes

Team 48
Las Vegas Motor Speedway Preview

Lowe’s Chevrolet driver Jimmie Johnson heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway looking to add a fourth consecutive Sprint Cup Series win to his résumé at the 1.5-mile superspeedway. In addition to winning the last three Sprint Cup Series events at the track, Johnson has never finished outside the top-20 in a Cup race at Vegas.

JIMMIE JOHNSON QUOTES:

ON GOING FOR HIS FOURTH WIN IN A ROW AT VEGAS: “It would be great to get that fourth win, but we won’t approach this weekend any differently than we would at a track where we’ve never won. We go into every weekend hoping to win, but so does every other team out there.

“I have every confidence in the equipment and the crew to get the job done, but anyone who’s ever been to Vegas will tell you you’ve got to have some luck on your side, too. If you’ve ever watched a poker tournament on TV, you know even the most experienced players can get beat. We won’t take anything for granted.”

ON THE VEGAS TRACK: “The track seems the same in a lot of ways. The cars drive differently. The feel of it, looking for it, it's tough to get that same feeling back to the car we ran here last year. We have a different tire. There (are) some other variables in there that are challenging us right now.

“But at the end of the day, it still drives and acts like it did last year. That's been one thing that's been surprising to all of us. We've all had issues with the Car of Tomorrow, thinking it's going to be less of a car to drive.

“The competition and the show we put on for the fans I think we all we all felt would be there. But if you're driving the car, if you go from one or the other, it's much less vehicle. It's got less downforce and all these things that make it harder to drive.

“But we still end up with the same race. Martinsville was still an awesome race. Dover was the same. Talladega was awesome. You get back to that same thing. It's still a race car on that track, and we're still seeing that same stuff here.”

ON WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THE VEGAS RACE: “At the Vegas test, you could really attack with the car. It seemed like the track was getting a middle lane, if not an outside lane. So as we get into that weekend and all that activity on track, I hope that the track really widens out. I think it’s going to be a better show for us to put on because we can really be aggressive with the cars. At California Speedway, there’s not a lot of banking to tiptoe around, but at Vegas you can really charge.”

Race Notes

Chassis

Team Lowe’s Racing will race chassis 48419 in Sunday’s 400-mile race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The team tested with this car at Gateway International Raceway last year, but this weekend’s event will mark the first race for this chassis.

California

In six Cup Series starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Johnson has completed all 1,605 laps of competition. He owns three victories, three top-five and four top-10 finishes. His average starting spot is 13.7 and average finish is 6.0, and he’s won over $1.5 million in Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sprint Cup Series events.

Johnson’s three Sprint Cup Series victories at Las Vegas Motor Speedway are the most of any Cup Series driver. Jeff Burton and Matt Kenseth each have two wins.

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 most recent victory at Phoenix was the 33rd of his Sprint Cup career. The win ties Johnson with the legendary “Fireball” Roberts for 18th on NASCAR’s all-time wins list. Johnson has the fourth-highest win total among active drivers, behind Jeff Gordon, Bill Elliott and Mark Martin.

Johnson has won Sprint Cup Series events at all but seven of the 22 tracks where the series competes.

Johnson’s 10 wins in 2007 is the highest number of wins 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 Championship ties a modern-era NASCAR record.

History

In 221 Sprint Cup Series starts, Johnson has posted 87 top-5 finishes and 135 top-10 finishes. He has a top-five finish at every track on the NASCAR Sprint Cup series circuit. Johnson has led 5,561 laps and driven 63,319 laps in his Sprint Cup career, covering over 87,000 miles. He has finished on the lead lap 169 times.