Team 48 Daytona International Speedway Preview

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HELMET OF HOPE

Jimmie and Chandra Johnson announced last week that in conjunction with the Jimmie Johnson Foundation's 2nd-Annual Golf Tournament, race fans and media members will have the opportunity to participate in the Helmet of Hope initiative, which allows them to nominate charities which they feel should be featured on the race helmet that Johnson will wear at the Auto Club Speedway in August.

Fans can nominate their charity by visiting www.jimmiejohnsonfoundation.org and explaining why their organization should be chosen.

"We get a number of requests to help so many worthy charities throughout the year, but unfortunately we aren't able to assist everyone," said Chandra Johnson, co-founder of the Jimmie Johnson Foundation. "The helmet is our way of getting some recognition for charities that are special to people who follow and work in the racing community. We are all a family and most of us have a personal tie to a charity. This helmet is our small way of honoring those causes." 

Johnson will draw two charities during each weekend beginning in Daytona and ending at Michigan. When he climbs behind the wheel of the Jimmie Johnson Foundation/Lowe's Chevrolet for the Cup race in August, he will have 12 winning charities featured on his helmet.

Johnson will be in the Daytona International Speedway media center for his media availability at 2:45 p.m. on Friday, at which time he will draw the first two winning charities, one submitted by a fan and the other by a member of the media.

Media members may pick up charity-nomination forms at the front desk of the media center.

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Team Lowe's Racing will visit the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway for this Saturday night's Sprint Cup event.

In his 12 Cup Series starts at Daytona, driver Jimmie Johnson has collected one win, five top-five and eight top-10 finishes. He started from the pole in this season's Daytona 500 and finished 10th in last year's summer classic.

JOHNSON DAYTONA QUOTES: 

ON RETURNING TO DAYTONA:  "I'm ready to go back to Daytona and see what we can get done in the Lowe's Impala SS. I felt like we had a car that could win there in February, especially in the beginning of the race. But we lost some track position and it was hard to work through traffic and get the track position back.

"We're taking the same car we had in Talladega this year and we had a pretty good run there. Restrictor-plate racing is all about patience so hopefully we can stay out of trouble and get a good finish."

ON THE HELMET OF HOPE:  "There are so many great charities and Chani (wife, Chandra) and I have a hard time really deciding where and what we support and who we support.  At the same time, we feel this is a great opportunity for the fans and for the media to bring some recognition to charities that are important to them.

"We just thought it would be a great way to keep everybody involved and also to bring recognition to a lot of these charities. I'm looking forward to drawing the first two organizations this weekend and getting the Helmet of Hope underway."

RACE NOTES:

Daytona International Speedway

• Johnson has made 12 Cup Series starts at Daytona International Speedway, collecting one win (Feb. 2006), five top-five and eight top-10 finishes.
• He has completed 98.7% (2247 of 2277) of competition laps at the 2.5-mile track and has led 55.
• Johnson has an average start and finish of 8.6 and 13.2.

Chassis

• Johnson's primary chassis in Sunday's Sprint Cup event will be No. 482, which he drove to a 13th-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway in April. His backup chassis, No. 419, grabbed a runner-up finish at Talladega last season.

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 were 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 236 Sprint Cup Series starts, Johnson has posted 90 top five and 142 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 6,084 laps (of 68,068) in his Sprint Cup career, covering over 90,887 miles.
• He has finished on the lead lap 179 times.

Primary Car History - Chassis No. 482

Backup Car History - Chassis No. 419 

Jimmie Johnson - Daytona International Speedway

* Red indicates Daytona July events

Jimmie Johnson - 2008 Statistics 

Jimmie Johnson - Year-by-Year Cup Statistics

No. 48 At-Track Crew List