Jimmie Johnson, 2009 LENOX Industrial Tools 301 Sprint Cup Race Preview

Press Release

RACE NOTES

New Hampshire Motor Speedway

• Johnson has made 14 Sprint Cup Series starts at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, where he has collected two wins, four top-five and nine top-10 finishes.
• Johnson’s last victory at the 1.058-mile track came in 2003, when he won both the fall and spring events.
• The three-time Champion has completed 98.4% (4032 of 4099) of competition laps in New Hampshire and has led 181.
• Johnson has an average start and finish of 8.9 and 9.9

Chassis

• Brand new chassis No. 543 will be the primary car for Sunday’s Sprint Cup event.
• Johnson piloted backup chassis No. 442 to a seventh-place finish at Watkins Glen last August.

JIMMIE JOHNSON QUOTE:

IS LOUDON LIKE A BIG MARTINSVILLE? “Yeah, it is. We’ve been pretty competitive up there the last few years, so I’m excited about the race. It’s fun because it’s such a short distance race and you really run every lap as hard as you can and fight hard for position. So it’s going to be a good race for us. I’ve been close to winning there the last couple of times, so hopefully we can.”

SPRINT CUP SERIES CAREER NOTES

Career Wins

• Johnson has 42 wins in his Sprint Cup Series career, his most recent coming at Dover International Speedway on May 31, 2009.
• The El Cajon, Calif.-native is 15th on NASCAR’s all-time wins list.
• He also has the third-highest win total among active drivers, behind Jeff Gordon (81) and Bill Elliott (44).
• Johnson has won at least three Cup 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 seven full-time seasons.
• Johnson has won Sprint Cup Series races at all but six (Bristol, Michigan, Infineon, Chicago, Watkins Glen, Homestead) of the 22 tracks on which the series competes.
• Johnson’s 10 wins in 2007 was the highest number 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 NASCAR Sprint Cup ties a modern-era NASCAR record.

Career Poles

• Johnson has collected 19 poles in his Sprint Cup career.
• The championship driver has earned at least one pole a year since his first full-time season in 2002.
• He had a career-high six poles in 2008.
• Johnson’s most recent pole position was at Phoenix International Raceway on Nov. 9, 2008.

Career Starts

• Johnson has finished in the top five in the Sprint Cup Series point standings each year since his first full season in 2002.
• Johnson is one of only two drivers to qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup every year since the format was adopted in 2004. Matt Kenseth is the other.
• In 271 Sprint Cup Series starts, Johnson has posted 108 top-five and 166 top-10 finishes.
• He has a top-five finish at every track on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series circuit.
• Johnson has led a total of 8,237 laps (of 78,231) in his Sprint Cup career, covering over 104,648 miles.
• He has finished on the lead lap 209 times.

- GMR Live Marketing, Press Release

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