GM Racing Communications, Press Release

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S IMPALA SS met with media at California Speedway during preseason testing and discussed the test, the new Impala SS, racing Impala SS full-time in '08, difference in handling characteristics at tracks and more.

Transcript follows:

An interview with: JIMMIE JOHNSON

THE MODERATOR: We have Jimmie Johnson, the defending Sprint Cup Series champion.

Jimmie, can you tell us how your first morning testing has gone out here at California Speedway.

JIMMIE JOHNSON: We haven't had any fun yet. It's been a pain in the butt, so we're hopeful that after lunch we hit on some things.
Vegas was difficult. At the end of it we got on the right track and finally found the speed that we needed for the car and the balance, but we're still searching this morning. And have had a long morning already.

THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up to questions.

Q. What's the problems? Speed?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: It's not driving worth a damn (laughter). If I had the answer, we'd fix it. We're working hard on it. The car has had a major push in it. It's early. We've got a lot of time to figure stuff out and teammates to lean on now that were on break and try to figure out what's going on.
I think Casey (Mears) is in a similar boat. Jeff (Gordon) seems to be a little bit better. Junior (Dale Earnhardt, Jr.) will be on the track this afternoon. We get all four teams out there working together, we'll cover more ground, and try to get things working in the right direction.

Q. There's been talk about increasing the age limit of Cup drivers, going to 21. When you got your Cup ride, did you feel you were ready for it, or do you feel you could have used some more seasoning at the Nationwide Series? What do you think about changing the age limit?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: I feel that today I could still use more experience and do a better job where I'm at in the Cup Series. I think that 18 should be the limit. You can vote. You can go to war for your country. Why couldn't you drive a NEXTEL Cup car or Sprint Cup car?
I don't see why that would be of anyone's concern or interest to say now 21 is the legal age. I don't understand that.

Some of our best drivers that are coming along are young and they're in that age bracket. Yeah, they make mistakes, but that's part of being a rookie. You have kids going right out of high school to play in the NBA and to play in other pro sports. I think the age limit of 18 and the format we currently have is fair and works really well.

Q. (No microphone.)

JIMMIE JOHNSON: I can't say that we've had any big issues with the tire. If your car's working well and the tire matches up to your setup, you love it. If it doesn't work out, you're upset, making comments.
So even through the tough times that may have existed last year, there still were teams that were happy throughout all of that. It just depends where you're at.

The things I look at, are the tires consistent? Do they repeat? Are we blowing them out? No, they haven't done any of that. I think they brought a good product. Could I use a tire that gave me more front grip right now? Oh, yes.

It just really depends on where you're at in the scheme of things. But so far, so good.

Q. I know Chad Knaus isn't going to take any time off. Coming off back-to-back championships, how do you think that affects this year, raising the bar for other teams, whether it's you having more confidence? Any impact?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: Yeah, it does build more confidence in us that we're doing the right things, working the right areas, all the pieces are in place. It does build confidence there.
At the same time, we'd be foolish if we let it carry over much more than that. Last year was last year. January 1 we had to close the books on it and leave that there. This is a new year with new challenges.

The Car of Tomorrow is full-time, and there's no guarantees how it's going to work out. It's our jobs to stay focused, and in some ways have the desire and hunger as if we haven't won a championship. Because the hungrier survive in this sport. That's just the way it is.

Q. I've talked extensively to NASCAR about the Car of Tomorrow last year. If you could convince NASCAR to change anything about the car, is there anything would you ask them to change?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: Yeah, the aero balance is really the thing we're struggling with the most. There's been a lot of changes. I understand it it's to slow the cars down. We'll end up with these cars being as fast as the old cars, which is hard to believe.
If you asked me a year ago if we'd end up there, I'd say, There's no way. So in a year's time working with the Car of Tomorrow, we found a lot of speed with it. We're going to continue to do that.

From my driving style, the way we used to build bodies on our old cars, had a lot more front downforce. Right now with the wing on the car, the fenders placed the way that they are, there's very, very little front downforce.

It's been a big challenge for us through the two days in Las Vegas and so far here.

Q. Texas is going to be the first track you get to where you haven't had either a test or race experience. Kevin just said he thought that Vegas answered a lot of questions about how the car is going to behave on downforce tracks. Do you agree with that, or do you think it going to be more challenging at a place like Texas?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: I agree, we did learn a lot in Las Vegas. The one thing we're trying to be prepared for is right now, when you're testing, it's easy to look at the suspension travel of the car, the right height of the car, and to really fine-tune that.
The splitter hits the racetrack every lap somewhere. With the old car, we had a very good understanding of when the valance would touch. Was it on the corner? Was it on the straightaway? We just had a lot of experience with it and could science that out and get the car sealed up and around the track.

Well with the splitter heights, just driving in and out of the garage area you hit the splitter. It's very tough for us to know where the contact is being made, where the attitude of the car is, the right height of the car is. Moving into the season, that's going to be the challenging thing: keep the car off the ground so the tires have the weight on them and can work and do what they need to.

We are a lot smarter after these test sessions. I think as we go to new tracks, that's going to be one of the biggest hurdles to get over, is it the splitter on the ground? Is the height right? Then you start perfecting that and getting the car right, and then you start working on the handling characteristics of the car.

Q. What are your thoughts on the sport's moving to an international level with international drivers and Toyota coming into the sport all at once?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: I think it's exciting for our sport to have all these international drivers come in. Diverse backgrounds, different nationalities. NASCAR, in my mind, has been the best form of racing worldwide. To see these guys commit to our sport, come in and compete, says a lot for what we're doing here, the level of competition that we have.
I'm excited to see them come into the sport and the challenges that they're going to face.

Q. You said in the past that you don't like to get comfortable in a race car. Is that cautious approach common at this level, and is it a big factor in winning also?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: It's not necessarily a cautious approach. In the car, it's more of a mental thing that I focus on, that the times in my life where I've been confident, felt like things were going to come easier, I had it made, I had it figured out, I'd go out there and just the opposite would happen: things wouldn't work out; I wasn't fast.
So I try to keep myself mentally sharp with that tool or mechanism that goes on in my head.

But as far as on track, you have to go out and find the speed. There are times when the car has the speed in it, it's comfortable to drive, and you can protect yourself or protect things, protect your equipment at that point.

There's other times where you've got to go and the car is not driving right. You've got to suck it up and drive on that other side of that line of comfort. So it just depends where the car is at.

Q. How much different do you think the February race is going to be from all the rest with this new car? Are we going to see a close race for a change?

JIMMIE JOHNSON: I really think with the experience we've had with the Car of Tomorrow, every track raced the same way. Bristol is still Bristol. Dover was Dover. Loudon was Loudon. You go down the list. Phoenix was Phoenix. Just a different car out there.
I think the racing you'll see will be the same. There's nothing to really change that.

I feel that you may have your hands full in traffic, and I haven't been in a big group of cars. But this car punches a bigger hole in the air. We saw it in Daytona in the draft, where it's really using a single-car draft to handle well and hang on. That the third and fourth cars in line had a hell of a time hanging on.

The cars were really out of control at that point. So that's telling me there's a lot of turbulent air, not much air for the cars deep in the pack to have on them to give them balance.

I feel that one area that we need to look at of moving forward at all the tracks is how do we create more lanes of side-by-side racing. The shortest distance around is always the fastest way. But if you make a track that's really abrasive to where running a wider arc saves the tire, does that put on a better race? Is it progressive-bank racetracks?

I know there's a lot of arguments, a lot of thoughts out there. Some tracks have had success with progressive banking. That seems like the best option as of now.

But we've worked hard on these cars, put a big strain on these teams to convert from one car to the next. The product is still very similar. I think NASCAR has closed up the gap in the garage area. That was a big goal that they had.


If the concern is on the action on the track, I think we got to look in a different direction than the cars. We've been changing a lot. Teams are tapped out. They spent a lot of money, a lot of resources and things just to get prepared for this Car of Tomorrow. We've got to start looking elsewhere now. Q. What is the difference in this car as opposed to last year on this track? JIMMIE JOHNSON: Getting the right height of the car, the front of the car, has been really difficult. Probably the biggest challenge that we've experienced so far. I think what we're now getting into as practice wore on there is that the setup that we've had here before, our line of thought here before, we had a lot more front downforce so we were able to do different things with the car setup.

Now we don't have that front downforce, so we're trying to learn that balance of how do we get the car balanced aero-wise, then find mechanical grip. Where before we knew the aero balance we had. It was kind of a given factor. We knew it and we just worked on drivability.

Now it's kind of the reverse order now: we're trying to find that aero balance and then work on mechanical grip. So it's a little out of sequence of what we're used to. It's a new car, so it's not surprising to me that we're going through all this.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks for coming in, Jimmie.

JIMMIE JOHNSON: Cool.

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GMR Live Marketing For Team Lowe's Racing, Press Release

The 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season begins Saturday night, Feb. 9, with the Bud Shootout at Daytona International Speedway, followed by qualifying on Sunday for the Feb. 17 Daytona 500.

Series champion Jimmie Johnson is looking to earn his second checkered flag in the non-points race. The 2005 Shootout winner and driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet has never finished outside the top-10 in this event. The 23-driver field will draw for starting positions on Thursday night.

DRIVER JIMMIE JOHNSON QUOTES:

BUD SHOOTOUT: “I’m looking forward to getting back on the track in race conditions. We’ve made a lot of laps in testing the past few weeks, but there’s no comparison to being out there in the battle. It’s going to be interesting to see how the cars handle in a big pack. I think it will be a good show for the fans.
“Being in the shootout is a definite plus as far as letting us be among the first to see how this new car design is going to react in a race at Daytona. Plus, it’s just a ‘no-holds-barred’ great race for the fans and the drivers. Having your first race of the season be a non-points race is a great way to get back in the groove without the added pressure of knowing points are on the line.”

LOOKING AHEAD: "We’ve all enjoyed celebrating the championship, but that’s over and done with. It’s a new year, a new season, and a whole new set of challenges. When you’re the ones on top of the hill, everybody’s looking to knock you off. As a team, we kind of like the view from up here, so we’ve got the same focus and drive we had before that first championship ever came along.

“This sport is unforgiving. Guys who are too busy looking back at what they’ve accomplished are the guys who are going to get their butts handed to them. We don’t intend to be those guys.”

OFF SEASON: “The off season was pretty hectic, but we had a lot of fun. Some of my friends ask me why, after a 38-race season, I don’t just go home and sit on the couch for awhile. If you’re fortunate enough to win a championship, it gives you the opportunity to go places and do things a lot of people don’t get the chance to do. I’m trying to take it all in and make the most of it, and hopefully help some people along the way.

“This past weekend, I left California (Speedway) after testing and headed to Phoenix. My buddy Nick (Lachey) and I held our first Super Skins celebrity golf tournament on Saturday. We had a blast and raised some money for some great charities. When you’re having fun and doing some good at the same time, it’s hard to question why you’re not sitting at home.”

QUALIFYING: “It would be a real honor to win the pole for the 50th running of the Daytona 500. Any time you have success at Daytona, it’s special. This place just has so much history and so many legends have competed here, it’s humbling to have your name mentioned in the same breath as those drivers.

“It was such an incredible rush to win my first Cup series pole at Daytona (in 2002). Being a rookie, it was a lot to wrap your head around. All the media, the cameras, the excitement and the prestige – it was a lot to take in, but I loved every second of it.

“If we aren’t fortunate enough to win the pole, I just hope for a good starting spot for the Twin 150’s. The Hendrick engine department has done an amazing job with the restrictor-plate program, so I’m confident we can start near the front.”

Race Notes

Chassis

· Team Lowe’s Racing will take chassis 48413 to the Bud Shootout this weekend. Jimmie Johnson finished 16th with this chassis in the very first car of tomorrow race at Bristol Motor Speedway in March, 2007, and third at Darlington Raceway in May.
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 219 Sprint Cup Series starts, Johnson has posted 86 top-5 finishes and 134 top-10 finishes. He has a top-five finish at every track on the NASCAR Sprint Cup series circuit. Johnson has led 5,484 laps and driven 62,889 laps in his Sprint Cup career, covering over 83,980 miles. He has finished on the lead lap 167 times.

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GMR Live Marketing For Team Lowe's Racing, Press Release

Lowe’s Chevrolet driver Jimmie Johnson returns to his home state of California, the site of his first career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win. Johnson went to victory lane at California Speedway in his rookie season on April 28th, 2002, in just his 13th Sprint Cup Series start. Johnson is also the defending champion of the Labor Day Weekend Sprint Cup Series race at the facility, having won the Sharp Aquos 500 on Sept. 2, 2007.

JIMMIE JOHNSON QUOTES:

ON RETURNING TO HIS HOME STATE OF CALIFORNIA:

“You want to win every race, but you especially want to win in front of the home crowd. It can be a little bit of a challenge to try and visit with everyone, though. You can only do so much. I just try to spend as much time as I can with everyone, but when it comes time to get in the car, I set all that aside and focus on getting the job done.”

ON LAST WEEKEND’S DAYTONA 500:

“It was a disappointing finish, no doubt. When you start on the front row, you definitely want to try and finish there. We had a couple of setbacks, but as a team, we know it’s how we respond to those setbacks that will dictate where we are in points at the end of the year. Even with the problems, we managed to stay on the lead lap. I’m proud of the team for that.

“We bounced back from a bad finish at Daytona last year, so last weekend didn’t shake our confidence at all. You’d definitely like to head to California in the top-10 (in points), but this early in the season, you just have to try and be consistent and get the best finishes you can. Everyone’s going to have a bad day at some point, so as long as we don’t have too many bad days ourselves, it will all shake out.”

Race Notes

Chassis

· Team Lowe’s Racing will race chassis 48465 in Sunday’s Auto Club 500. The team tested with this car at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and California Speedway earlier this year, but this weekend’s event will mark the first race for this chassis.
California

· In 10 Cup Series starts at California Speedway, Johnson has completed all 2,505 laps of competition.
· Of the 24 drivers who’ve competed in 10 or more Cup races at California Speedway, Johnson is the only one to have completed every lap.

· Johnson owns two victories, six top-five and six top-10 finishes at California Speedway. His average starting spot is 11.6 and average finish is 6.8, and he’s won over $1.8 million in California Speedway Sprint Cup Series events. Johnson’s average finish is the best among active drivers who have five or more starts at California Speedway.

· Johnson’s two victories at California Speedway ties him with Matt Kenseth for the second-best win total among drivers. Only Jeff Gordon, who has won at California Speedway three times, has more.

Career

· Johnson’s win in last year’s Sharp Aquos 500 at California Speedway on Labor Day Weekend was his fifth victory of the 2007 season.

· 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 220 Sprint Cup Series starts, Johnson has posted 86 top-5 finishes and 134 top-10 finishes. He has a top-five finish at every track on the NASCAR Sprint Cup series circuit. Johnson has led 5,484 laps and driven 63,069 laps in his Sprint Cup career, covering over 84,480 miles. He has finished on the lead lap 168 times.

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DAVID POOLE
The Charlotte Observer

Jimmie Johnson was never a factor last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a place where he’d won three straight races.

So the fact that he swept last year’s races at Atlanta Motor Speedway might not be all that much reason for optimism.

“It was definitely a disappointment,” Johnson said of his 29th-place finish. “But no one is down about it. It just makes us that much more determined.

“We have a lot of talented mechanics and engineers back at the shop who won’t stop until they figure out what was going on with the car.

"Sometimes you can learn a lot more from overcoming setbacks than you do from your successes. We’ll get it figured out," Johnson said.

"One thing this team doesn’t do is give up.”

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GMR Live Marketing For Team Lowe's Racing, Press Release

For the first time this season, Lowe’s Chevrolet driver Jimmie Johnson will pilot the No. 48 Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools Chevrolet Impala SS in Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Johnson is the defending winner of this race, and also went to Victory Lane at Atlanta during the Chase for the Championship last October.

JIMMIE JOHNSON QUOTES:

On last Sunday’s finish:

“It was definitely a disappointment, but no one is down about it. It just makes us that much more determined. We have a lot of talented mechanics and engineers back at the shop that won’t stop until they figure out what was going on with the car. Sometimes you can learn a lot more from overcoming setbacks than you do from your successes. We’ll get it figured out. One thing this team doesn’t do is give up.”

On the race:

“This is a big weekend for Lowe’s and Kobalt Tools, and for our team. We’re looking to bounce back from last weekend, we’ve got a chance to make it three (wins) in a row at Atlanta and we’re running a Kobalt paint scheme, so we’ve got a lot of motivation to do well.”

On qualifying:

“It’s a unique situation at Atlanta. I don’t know of any other track where we qualify at night and then run the entire race during the day. Chad (Knaus) and the engineers have to make their best guess on what the track’s going to do. We’ve qualified well there, so I’m confident we can do the same this weekend.”
Race Notes

Chassis

· Team Lowe’s Racing will use chassis No. 48480 in Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 event at Atlanta Motor Speedway. This weekend’s event will mark the first race for this chassis. The team will use chassis No. 48465 as a backup. That chassis finished second at California Speedway two weeks ago.

Atlanta

· In 13 Cup Series starts at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Johnson has completed 4,131 of 4,152 laps of competition. He has three wins, eight top-five and nine top-10 finishes. His average starting spot is 8.5 and average finish is 9.4.
· No driver has scored more points than Jimmie Johnson at Atlanta Motor Speedway over the past 10 Sprint Cup Series races. Johnson has 1592 points in his last 10 Cup starts at Atlanta, while his nearest competition, Tony Stewart, has 1,487.

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 222 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 63,584 laps in his Sprint Cup career, covering over 85,000 miles. He has finished on the lead lap 169 times.

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GMR Live Marketing For Team Lowe's Racing, Press Release

Lowe’s Chevrolet Impala SS driver Jimmie Johnson and his No. 48 Team Lowe’s Racing crew are looking to move up into the top-10 in points this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway. Johnson, who is currently 13th in the Sprint Cup Series drivers’ points standings, has six top-10 finishes in Cup events at the half-mile track.

JIMMIE JOHNSON QUOTES:

IT’S BEEN SAID THAT YOUR TEAM CAN’T FIND THE MAGIC THIS YEAR. HOW FAR FROM MAGIC ARE THE REASONS FOR YOUR TEAM’S DOMINANCE AND RESILIENCY IN THE PAST FEW YEARS?

“We’ve looked back through the notes and our concerns for the bigger tracks. Coming into this season we didn’t spend any time testing on any of the big tracks. We’ve been on track. We’ve been learning. We’ve been making improvements if you look at Vegas and Atlanta. We still have a very loose race car but we made up a lot of ground. We finished on the lead lap in 13th. It wasn’t the day that we wanted, but we’re definitely going down the right road. We’re excited to get on the short tracks. Bristol isn’t my best short track; we all know that. But when we get to Martinsville and Richmond and some of the other tracks where we’ve been strong with the COT, we hope to be right back where we were. We’re just learning the 1.5-mile stuff. My teammates have shown well. I ran well at California. But even with those runs, we weren’t the best car. And that’s what we’re trying to find as a company, and what we’re trying to find in the No. 48 car is how we can be the best car.

“The No. 99 (Carl Edwards) has shown the strength, I think, is the best car week in and week out. The No. 18 (Kyle Busch) ran awfully good last week and has been strong in the past, but I think we need to give the award to the No. 99 right now as being the strongest car. We’ve got a little bit of learning to do. So it’s just part of the game. It’s so tough when you’re riding a wave and winning all the races and doing well, you know you’re just an adjustment or two away from not having that magic. And we’ve made those comments in the past. And where we are right now, we know we’re not that far off from being back in that position. It’s just finding the right things. We’re just working hard at it and I’m sure we’ll be where we want to. If we keep our goals in perspective and look at the Chase and making the Chase, we’ll get stuff together and be a threat toward the middle part of the season.”

LOOKING AHEAD TO BRISTOL, THIS IS THE FIRST TRACK WHERE THE COT RETURNS FOR THE SECOND YEAR. IS IT GOING TO BE HELPFUL THAT YOU HAVE NOTES FROM TWO RACES THERE EVEN THOUGH THE SURFACES WERE DIFFERENT?

“It should. I think a lot of guys struggled with the new surface. There were a couple of teams that hit on it and dominated the weekend. We’re excited to get back into it and see what’s going to happen. Bristol is not my best track, so I’m going in with mixed emotions (laughs) and hopeful that we have the right set-up and can figure that place out and have a good day.”

Race Notes

Chassis

· Team Lowe’s Racing will use chassis No. 48433 as its primary car in Sunday’s 500-lap event at Bristol Motor Speedway. Johnson drove this chassis to a 22nd-place finish in August, 2007, at Bristol. The backup car, chassis No. 48424, was driven to wins in both Sprint Cup races at Richmond International Raceway last year.
Bristol

· In 12 Cup Series starts at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Johnson has completed 5,860 of 6,004 laps of competition. He has two top-five and six top-10 finishes. His average starting spot is 17.2 and average finish is 16.0.
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 223 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 63,909 laps in his Sprint Cup career, covering over 85,878 miles. He has finished on the lead lap 170 times.

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