Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 Lowe’s Team head to Infineon Raceway this weekend for the series’ first road-course event of the season.

With only one top-five finish at the 1.99-mile track, Johnson hopes to improve his resume there, one of only seven venues in which the back-to-back champion hasn’t gone to victory lane.

Johnson competed in the Rolex 24 Grand Am Sports Car event at Daytona’s 3.56-mile, 12-turn speedway in January. Johnson finished second in the No. 99 Lowe’s/Gainsco Pontiac Riley with teammates Alex Gurney, Jon Fogarty and Jimmy Vasser.

JOHNSON QUOTES:

DO YOU FEEL MORE COMFORTABLE ON THE ROAD COURSES NOW? “I do. Sonoma is one of the tougher tracks for me. I love road course racing. I run the Rolex events and do all that other stuff on the side and really enjoy it and run well, but I just haven’t figured out Sonoma yet. But this year I’m feeling good about it and we’ll get out there and see what happens.”

WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT SONOMA THAT YOU STRUGGLE WITH? “If I knew the answer, it would be nice. It seems that we can run a fast lap for qualifying and be competitive on the short runs, but keeping the rear tires on the car is the hard part for me. I’m thinking I’m probably a little impatient and burn the rear tires off, so I’ll work on that when we get out there and hopefully we’ll be competitive in the long haul.”

RACE NOTES:

Infineon Raceway

Johnson has made six starts at Infineon Raceway, collecting one top-five and two top-10 finishes. The 1.99-mile road course is one of only seven NASCAR tracks in which the back-to-back champion hasn’t visited victory lane. He has completed 98.9% (653 of 660) of competition laps there. Johnson has an average start and finish of 24.3 and 20.0.

Chassis

Johnson will drive chassis No. 442 in Sunday’s road-course race, the same chassis he piloted to a third-place finish at Watkins Glen International last fall. The backup chassis will be No. 419.

CAREER NOTES:

Career Wins

Johnson has 34 wins in his Sprint Cup Series career. 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 six full-time seasons. Johnson’s most recent victory at Phoenix (April 12, 2008) moved Johnson past 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 (81), Bill Elliott (44) and Mark Martin (35). Johnson has won Sprint Cup Series races at all but seven (Bristol, Michigan, Infineon, Chicago, Watkins Glen, Kansas, Homestead) of the 22 tracks in which the series competes. Johnson’s 10 wins in 2007 is 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 Championship ties a modern-era NASCAR record.

Career Poles

Johnson has collected 14 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 four in both 2002 and 2007. Johnson’s most recent pole position was in the Feb. 17 Daytona 500.

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. In 234 Sprint Cup Series starts, Johnson has posted 90 top five and 141 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 6,057 laps (of 67,672) in his Sprint Cup career, covering over 90,363 miles. He has finished on the lead lap 177 times.