With two races into the Chase, Jimmie Johnson sits quietly at fourth on the Grid. That was not a typo, quietly. As is expected, the defending Chase winner would be getting some more hype.
If anything, he is trying to join Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty at the pinnacle of the sport as the only seven-time series champions.
Lately, Johnson’s quest for NASCAR immortality has been over shadowed by the performance of Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon and Team Penske. But this may change over this weekend as he heads into the final Challenger Round race at Dover International Speedway for Sunday’s AAA 400 at 2 p.m. ET.
Dover International Speedway is where he has been more dominant than any active driver by a landslide. Johnson has a track-record of nine wins, beating the next best driver, Gordon, by five wins.
Johnson also owns 18 top tens, 13 top fives, and an otherworldly 122.5 driver rating in 25 starts at the track.
“I love Dover,” Johnson said. “It’s one of the best tracks for this Kobalt /Lowe’s team. I think it goes back to my off-road days, this track just suits my driving style.”
Regardless of his past success, Jimmie Johnson is now focused on the present.
“It’s awesome to have tracks that you love and tracks that you’ve had success at in the Chase and I feel like seven or eight of them have been historically awesome tracks for us,” he said.
“That part is great. Stats are nice to look at, but you have to live in the present. Just because we’ve been good at those tracks before doesn’t guarantee us anything going back.”
The 39-year-old No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet driver has traditionally run well at Chase tracks. Apart from Dover, Johnson leads active drivers in wins at Charlotte and Martinsville, both of which come in a different Chase round.
