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Jimmie Johnson

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Jimmie Johnson
For the former NFL coach and current television broadcaster, see Jimmy Johnson (football coach). For the Hall of Fame football player, see Jimmy Johnson (football player).

Template:NASCAR current driver


Jimmie Johnson (born September 17, 1975 in El Cajon, California) is a NASCAR Nextel Cup race car driver who currently drives the #48 Lowe's Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS owned by teammate Jeff Gordon and operated by Rick Hendrick's Hendrick Motorsports. One of the sport's most consistent and talented drivers, he never finished below fifth in the final Nextel Cup points standings and finished second twice in the 2003 Winston Cup and 2004 Nextel Cup. Since his rookie season Johnson ranks second among all active Nextel Cup drivers with an average of 4.5 wins a season (behind Jeff Gordon's 5.6) and second in average top 10 finishes a season with 21.25 (behind Tony Stewart's 21.28). Johnson also won the 2006 Daytona 500 and is the only driver to win three Coca-Cola 600s in a row.

Background

Jimmie Johnson qualifying at California Speedway

Jimmie Kenneth Johnson began his racing career in several off-road leagues including SODA, SCORE International and MTEG. He accumulated over 25 wins and 100 top-three finishes and received Rookie of the Year honors in all three leagues.

In 1998, Johnson joined the American Speed Association (ASA) circuit, finishing fourth in the season while picking up Rookie of the Year honors. During this time, Johnson also began racing in the NASCAR Busch Series, driving in three events. In 1999, Johnson continued to run in both the ASA and the Busch Series, winning twice and finishing third in the ASA point race. By 2000, Johnson became a Busch Series driver with Herzog Motorsports, finished 10th in the points standings and third in the Rookie of the Year standings. He won his first Busch Series race in 2001 at the Hills Brothers Coffee 300 at Chicagoland Speedway.

He currently resides in Charlotte, NC with his wife, Chandra.

NASCAR NEXTEL Cup

2002 Season

In 2002 Johnson joined the Nextel Cup series and in his rookie campaign, became one of the seasons biggest surprises. After winning three times and becoming the first rookie in Nextel Cup history to ever lead the point standings (he eventually finished fifth overall); all after a mediocre, at best, career at the NASCAR Busch Series level, where he only had one win and 22 top 10s in 81 races. Johnson's first Winston Cup win was at his home region of California Speedway, he then swept Dover International Speedway. He was eventually runner-up to Ryan Newman for Rookie of the Year.

2002 Statistics

  • 5th Place in NASCAR Winston Cup points standings
  • Wins - 3
  • Top 5 - 6
  • Top 10 - 21
  • Ave Finish - 13.5

Wins

2003 Season

For the 2003 campaign, Johnson had three victories, 14 top-five finishes and 20 top-ten finishes. He finished the season second in the points standings to Matt Kenseth.

Johnson also began his prowess of Lowe's Motor Speedway at the time, winning Nextel All-Star Challenge, and the Coca-Cola 600, his first win in NASCAR's four majors.

2003 Statistics

  • 2nd Place in the NASCAR Winston Cup points standings
  • Wins - 3
  • Top 5 - 14
  • Top 10 - 20
  • Ave Finish - 11.4

Wins

2004 Season

In 2004, Johnson started slowly, with some early disappointments in weeks two and three at Rockingham and Las Vegas. However, he quickly rebounded with a week five win at the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington Raceway. Subsequent victories at the Coca-Cola 600 and the Pocono 500 helped solidify his place in the NASCAR Chase for the Cup towards the end of the season. However, poor finishes at Talladega (37th) and Kansas (32nd) nearly sank his chances to win the Nextel Cup, but four subsequent victories put him 18 points behind leader Kurt Busch going into the final race. The second victory at the Subway 500 in Martinsville, Virginia on October 24, 2004, was marred by tragedy when Rick Hendrick's son, Ricky Hendrick, nieces and brother were killed in an airplane crash en route to the race. All eight passengers and both pilots died in the incident. He eventually finished second in the Nextel Cup, losing to Kurt Busch by just 8 points.

Johnson also became the first NASCAR driver since Jeff Gordon to win two legs of the Grand Slam, a feat no longer possible since then because of a settlement in a lawsuit which removed the fourth leg, the Southern 500, of the sport's Grand Slam.

2004 Statistics

Wins

2005 Season

In 2005, Johnson stayed in the top five in the points standings all year, having wins at Las Vegas, Lowes Motor Speedway, Dover International Speedway, and again at Lowes Motor Speedway. Johnson now has four straight wins at his sponsor, Lowes, sponsored track in Charlotte, North Carolina, and became only the second driver to win three consecutive races in one of NASCAR's majors. (Owner Jeff Gordon won four consecutive Southern 500 titles from 1995-1998, but that leg of the Grand Slam was eliminated in the Ferko lawsuit.) Johnson had a chance to win the championship coming into the November 20 season finale at Homestead Miami Speedway, but finished 5th in points after crashing in the midway point of the event. Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, and Mark Martin all finished ahead of the #48 Chevrolet.

2005 Statistics

  • 5th Place in NASCAR Nextel Chase for the Cup
  • Wins - 4
  • Top 5 - 13
  • Top 10 - 22
  • Average Finish - 12.7

Wins

2006 Season

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Jimmie Johnson celebrating his 2006 Daytona 500 victory

The 2006 season got off to a bad start, with crew chief Chad Knaus being suspended a week before the Daytona 500 for making illegal adjustments to the car. However, with temporary crew chief and Hendrick engineer Darian Grubb atop the pit box, Johnson was able to get his first victory in the Daytona 500, and second consecutive said race win for owner Rick Hendrick.

Current 2006 Statistics

  • Wins - 1
  • Top 5 - 2
  • Top 10 - 2
  • Average Finish - 1.5

Wins

Hendrick Motorsports

Jimmie Johnson's car is operated by Hendrick Motorsports, a powerhouse in NASCAR throughout the 1990's and continuing today. His Crew Chief is Chad Knaus, who is in charge of working on the car on the day-to-day basis, and is in charge of everything that happens with the Lowe's #48 Team at the track.

Other Recent Events

Johnson has also participated in some more-recent off-road events, including a winning drive with Team USA at the 2002 Race of Champions. Johnson appeared there again in 2004.


Criticism

Although Jimmie Johnson has enjoyed plenty of success at the Cup level, he has been the target of many experts criticism. Primarily that the Hendrick Motorsports operation was only concerned with Jimmie Johnson's racing effort to win the championship, during the 10-race Chase for the Nextel Cup, in 2005.

A significant amount of controversy has surrounded the #48 team and crew chief Chad Knaus. During the 2005 Cup season and going into Daytona 2006, Knaus had received fines and suspensions for various NASCAR rulebook infractions.

At Daytona speedweeks in 2006, Knaus was accused of "cheating" during Johnson's Gatorade 125 qualifying run. Knaus made an illegal adjustment to the rear window, which resulted in his suspension from Cup events until March 22nd. Despite the loss of his crew chief, Johnson won the 48th running of the Daytona 500 with interim crew chief, Darian Grubb. As expected, the car was submitted to a completely thorough, three-hour post-race inspection. To the credit of Johnson and the #48 crew, the car passed the inspection, proving that Johnson legitimately won the race.

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