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Team 48 All-Star Race preview
05/14/2008

Jimmie Johnson heads to Lowe's Motor Speedway vying for his third All-Star Race win. Saturday night's non-points event will be the seventh of his career. If Team Lowe's Racing finds victory lane, Johnson would tie teammate Jeff Gordon and the late Dale Earnhardt for the most All-Star wins.

Johnson has been the driver to beat at Lowe's Motor Speedway since his first All-Star win there in 2003. Since then, the Lowe's driver has won six more races at the 1.5-mile venue.

JIMMIE JOHNSON QUOTES

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE EXCITEMENT AROUND THE NIGHT OF THE ALL-STAR RACE? "It is a great night. I think everybody looks forward to it. It doesn't matter if you are a driver or a crew member or whatever that may be, everybody is fired up for that race. The cool million at the end of the night is something everyone wants a shot at, too. I really do love it. I really, really enjoy the All-Star event and am glad to see that it is growing in popularity and that Sprint is getting behind it. They have been advertising it like crazy. So I am excited to see all that and look forward to putting on a good show."

YOU HAVE TWO WEEKS IN CHARLOTTE. IS IT LIKE A VACATION BEING HOME FOR TWO WEEKS? "No, not for me. Being the Lowe's driver at Lowe's Motor Speedway is pretty busy for me. It's that way for a lot of the teams. You're able to sleep in your own bed and enjoy that, but that's a hometown track. There's just a lot going on. All sponsors, NASCAR, Sprint -- you know everybody involved does whatever they can to really blow out being at home and everybody does a great job. It's an active week, two weeks for us. On top of that, with all the testing we have now with the Cup car, the Nationwide test and then we're trying to get prepared for the road-course events coming up with some road-course testing, this month is really, really busy for this Lowe's race team and I assume it's that way throughout the garage."

WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO DO THE BURN-OUT COMPETITION? "It's just something different. Something cool. We sit around all day long and really don't do much. So we might as well do something. The unique opportunity like this I'll definitely carve the time out for and have some fun and put on a good show for the fans."

WHEN YOU DO A BURN-OUT, IS IT JUST A MATTER OF PUTTING ONE FOOT ON THE ACCELERATOR AND ONE ON THE BRAKE AND HOLDING ON? "It kind of depends. I didn't practice the burn-outs. So I'll just kind of be there and see what the car will do. I'm not sure how much horsepower we'll have or what the tire situation will be on the cars, but I'll watch the guys. Hopefully I'm not the first guy, but I'll watch the guys in front of me and just have some fun and let 'er rip."

PART OF THE ALL-STAR WEEK IS THE PIT CREW CHALLENGE. IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN DO TO PUMP YOUR GUYS UP FOR THAT? ARE YOU GOING TO SHOW UP AND BE A CHEERLEADER ON THE SIDELINES? "Absolutely. I'll be there to cheer my guys on. There is nothing I can really do. They've been practicing and working on whatever techniques are needed for that event. I would imagine it's a lot like last year, which is much different than a normal pit stop. So they're working hard on it and everybody wants those bragging rights. So I know everybody is going to put a lot into it, and I'm going to be there to cheer them on."

RACE NOTES

Chassis

Chassis No. 480 will be used as the primary for Team Lowe's Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup All-Star Race. In its only other start, Johnson drove the car to a 13th-place finish in March at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

The backup chassis is No. 417, which Jeff Gordon finished third in at Darlington Raceway last weekend. Gordon has collected three top-five finishes in that car, including a win at Darlington in May 2007.

Lowe's Motor Speedway -- All-Star Events

In six All-Star Race starts, Johnson has five top-five finishes, including two victories (2003, 2006).

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) was the 34th of his Sprint Cup career. The win moves 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 where 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.

History

In 230 Sprint Cup Series starts, Johnson has posted 90 top five and 138 top-10 finishes. He has a top-five finish at every track on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series circuit. Johnson has led 5,896 laps and driven 66,519 laps in his Sprint Cup career, covering more than 88,532 miles. He has finished on the lead lap 175 times.

TELEVISION SCHEDULE (All times Eastern)

Lowe's Motor Speedway

The All-Star Race

Friday, May 16

All-Star Race final practice, 1:30 p.m. on SPEED

All-Star Race Qualifying, 6:15 p.m. on SPEED

Saturday, May 17

All-Star Race, approx. 9 p.m. on SPEED

PRIMARY CAR HISTORY: CHASSIS NO. 480

Car Date Event Start Finish
48-480 3/10/2008 Atlanta Race 11 13

BACKUP CAR HISTORY: CHASSIS NO. 417

Car Date Event Start Finish
24-417 3/25/2007 Bristol Race 1 3
24-417 5/13/2007 Darlington Race 10 1
24-417 2/9/2008 Daytona Bud Shootout n/a 4
24-417 3/16/2008 Bristol Race 2 11

JOHNSON'S ALL-STAR STATISTICS

Event Start Finish Notes
2007 2 2 Avoided three accidents in the final segment to finish second to Kevin Harvick by hundredths of a second. Started second in the first segment. Started third and finished eighth in the second segment. Started eighth and finished eighth in the third segment. Started eighth in the final segment.
2006 2 1 Started second in the first segment and finished 12th despite a pit lane speeding penalty that almost cost him a lap. Started 12th in the next segment and finished second. Started second in final segment and passed Harvick with 18 laps to go.
2005 6 5 Started sixth in first segment and finished seventh, avoiding multi-car wreck, finished seventh in second segment, started final segment in seventh finished fifth.
2004 11 17 Caught up in lap 11 wreck and finished 11th in first segment, finished 17th after a spin on lap 54 in 2nd segment, didn?t race in final segment.
2003 16 1 Second in first segment; seventh in second; started fourth in final segment; was Humpy Wheeler's pick to win the event.
2002 17 5 Won first two segments, but inversion dropped him to seventh before final segment.

JOHNSON'S LOWE'S MOTOR SPEEDWAY STATISTICS

Race Start Finish Laps Status Led
10/7/2001 15 39 192/334 Accident 0
5/26/2002 1 7 400/400 Running 263
10/13/2002 3 6 334/334 Running 66
5/23/2003 37 1 276/276 Running 34
10/11/2003 3 3 334/334 Running 104
5/30/2004 1 1 400/400 Running 334
10/16/2004 9 1 334/334 Running 35
5/29/2005 5 1 400/400 Running 11
10/15/2005 3 1 336/336 Running 13
5/28/2006 3 2 400/400 Running 24
10/14/2006 10 2 334/334 Running 72
5/27/2007 21 10 400/400 Running 83
10/13/2007 2 14 337/337 Running 95

JOHNSON'S 2008 STATISTICS

Race Site Start Finish Laps Status Led Pts Pt. total Pt. pos.
1 Daytona 1 27 200/200 Running 1 87 87 25
2 Fontana 1 2 250/250 Running 76 180 267 8
3 Las Vegas 33 29 265/267 Running 0 76 343 14
4 Atlanta 13 13 325/325 Running 0 124 467 13
5 Bristol 1 18 504/506 Running 14 114 581 13
6 Martinsville 10 4 500/500 Running 135 165 746 10
7 Texas 5 2 339/339 Running 65 175 921 6
8 Phoenix 7 1 312/312 Running 120 195 1116 4
9 Talladega 10 13 188/188 Running 1 129 1245 5
10 Richmond 12 30 400/410 Running 0 73 1318 7
11 Darlington 3 13 367/367 Running 0 124 1442 6

NO. 48 AT-TRACK CREW LIST

Name Shop Job Track Job Hometown
Knaus, Chad Crew Chief 48 Crew Chief 48 Rockford, IL
Bazzell, Kyle Truck Driver 48 Truck Driver 48 Fairburg, IL
Bosserman, Todd Shock Specialist 48 Shock Specialist 48 Waynesboro, VA
Bradshaw, Marcia N/A Scorer 48 Charlotte, NC
Claridge, Joe Mechanic Mechanic 48 Barrington, NH
Emerick, Danny Engine Tuner Engine Tuner 48 Bryn Mawr, PA
Evans, Brandon Engineer Engineer South Hill, VA
Gober, Ken Truck Driver 48 Truck Driver 48 Manchester, NH
Gutierrez, Rich Mechanic Gas Man 48 Yorba Linda, CA
Ives, Greg Race Engineer Race Engineer 48 Bark River, MI
Kerlin, Sean Mechanic Tire Specialist 48 Marysville, PA
Knauer, Mike Mechanic Catch Can 48 Cambridge, MD
Lingerfelt, Mike Mechanic Front Tire Changer 48 Greenville, SC
Malec, Ron Mechanic Car Chief 48/Rear Tire Carrier 48 Franklin, WI
Morin, Greg Pit Crew Coach Pit Crew Coach Waltham, MA
Nicely, Bobby Asst. Pit Crew Coach Asst. Pit Crew Coach Virginia Beach, VA
Puchalski, Marc Mechanic 48 Mechanic 48 San Jose, CA
Purcell, Kenneth Mechanic Jackman 48 Savannah, GA
Reeves, Stevie Machinist Spotter 48 Speedway, IN
Simmons, Art Chassis Set Up Front Tire Carrier 48 Kirksville, MO
West, Jeremy Mechanic Rear Tire Changer 48 Harbor City, CA
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