Team 48 Las Vegas Motor Speedway Preview
JIMMIE JOHNSON
CURRENT DRIVER POINT STANDINGS: 12TH POINTS BEHIND LEADER: 78
FINISH IN CALIFORNIA: 1ST FEBRUARY 2009 FINISH AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY: 24TH
MEDIA ADVISORY
GARTH BROOKS TO JOIN JIMMIE JOHNSON FOR ANNOUNCEMENT AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
WHO: JIMMIE JOHNSON, FOUR-TIME REIGNING SPRINT CUP CHAMPION AND GARTH BROOKS, THE NO. 1 SELLING SOLO ARTIST IN THE UNITED STATES
WHAT: BROOKS AND JOHNSON WILL ANNOUNCE A NEW PARTNERSHIP
WHERE: LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY MEDIA CENTER
WHEN: SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27 AT 9:40 A.M.
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RACE NOTES
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
• Johnson has eight Sprint Cup Series starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, collecting three wins, three top-five and four top-10 finishes.
• Johnson has completed 99.9% (2154 of 2157) of competition laps at the 1.5-mile track and has led 302.
• He has an average start and finish of 14.8 and 11.1.
Chassis
• Johnson will pilot a brand new chassis - No. 580 - in Sunday's event.
• Backup chassis No. 534 was last driven to a 13th-place result at Pocono Raceway last August.
JOHNSON QUOTE
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT AT LAS VEGAS? WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE GOOD? "With the paving job they did a couple of years ago, the track is a lot faster than it's been in the past. I'm not sure what the asphalt has done over the off-season and how much speed it's lost, but that track went from being a slippery track that you had to manage your time and manage your lap time around the track to a place that you have to manage. So It's a really fun race track to drive. I hope it's still that way where you have to attack and drive every lap like a qualifying lap."
WHAT DO YOU DO TO USUALLY PREPARE FOR THESE RACES? WHAT IS YOUR RACE STRATEGY? "Strategy wise, you know, Chad and the engineers do a lot to understand trends and cautions, you know, the way races play out. Then again, it's just statistics that are showing that. It's difficult to really base a lot on that. I leave a lot of that to them.
"I just really focus on doing my job, make sure I'm well rested, well hydrated, energy is up, in shape, do a very good job of explaining what I feel in the car. Without having data acquisitions on the car, I'm responsible for telling them what's going on, good and bad. I just really have to work on my communication skills and then being sensitive enough to understand what the car's doing."
SPRINT CUP SERIES CAREER NOTES
Career Wins
• Johnson has 48 wins in his Sprint Cup Series career, his most recent coming at Auto Club Speedway Feb. 21, 2010.
• The El Cajon, Calif.-native is tied with Herb Thomas for 12th on NASCAR's all-time wins list.
• He is second in total wins among active drivers, behind Jeff Gordon (82).
• 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 is the first driver to win three of the first five races in The Chase.
• 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 23 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 Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 20, 2009.
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 the only driver to qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup every year since the format was adopted in 2004.
• In 293 Sprint Cup Series starts, Johnson has posted 118 top-five and 181 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 9,782 laps (of 84,245) in his Sprint Cup career, covering over 113,162 miles.
• He has finished on the lead lap 227 times.
