48 Lowe's-sponsored Chevrolet. Jimmie Johnson, making his return to stock car racing after a two-year dalliance in IndyCar, topped the first practice session for the Daytona 500 on Friday. 48 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports in the Cup Series, doing so for 20 seasons (19 as a full-time driver). At Talladega, Johnson was spun by Paul Menard and got involved in a multi-car accident with 28 laps to go, finishing 22nd. [71] Afterward, Johnson finished sixth after winning his first pole position of the season in the Quaker State 400. [3] By 1997, Johnson had progressed to SODA's Class 8; Class 8 is short-course off-road racing's class of two-wheel-drive Trophy Trucks which generate about 800 horsepower. He also capitalized on Kenseth suffering from a poor-handling car. Hill passed Chandler Smith for the lead with one lap remaining Saturday and won the 300-mile Xfinity race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Although the three bubble drivers avoided a late wreck in the final stage, Johnson was collected in "The Big One" with two laps remaining. [10] Johnson finished second in the two races at Fairgrounds Speedway he participated in over those two years. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for diecast 1:24 nascar Junior Johnson at the best online prices at eBay! [154] Johnson finished 31st after being involved in an overtime crash. Junior Johnson, a stock-car racing giant whose career spanned the sport's history from its moonshining roots to its modern era as a fierce, hard-nosed driver and an innovative mechanic and team. 1 (lap 2628): Speeding through pit road) Johnson rallied to finish 10th. He progressed through the field, cracking the Top 10 quickly, but remained stagnant around fifth-place for a majority of the race. By just about every metric, Jimmie Johnson is one of NASCAR's . 18th of 36 points races on the 2023 schedule, what would be just the fifth ever Memorial Day Double attempt. However, on a restart on lap 246, Johnson was slow to get up to speed and was subsequently touched and spun by Joey Logano, costing Johnson a shot at the win and giving the race to Matt Kenseth. [49] While at Chicagoland Speedway for the GEICO 400, Johnson finished 10th. 48. Statistically, 2014 was one of Johnson's worst seasons to date. Owner Rick Hendrick's son Ricky, twin nieces, brother, and chief engine builder Randy Dorton as well as Joe Turner, Scott Lathram were killed in an airplane crash en route to the race. Jimmie Johnson | Biography, Titles, & Facts | Britannica Adam Lacy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images. After more than 20 years in NASCAR, Jimmie Johnson has made a lot of friends. The 47-year-old El Cajon, California native, who joined the team not only as a part-time driver but as a co-owner, plans to attempt to qualify for the season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, February 19. When the IndyCar season ended I started on this journey of what was next. 84 the reverse of his longtime No. At the Coca-Cola 600, he qualified second, losing the pole position to Kurt Busch by 0.009 seconds. Fresh off his second Daytona 500 victory, Johnson challenged host Ellen DeGeneres to a go-kart race. At Kentucky, Johnson started sixth and ran inside the Top 10 for most of the night, finishing ninth. Second place was Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron, who ran 185.153. Im 85 years old, so Im not going to be here for another 15 or 20 years, and then Jimmie can kind of take over. Posted on . [224], Johnson, along with teammates Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, and William Byron, were featured on the cover of NASCAR Heat 3. On November 26, 2018, Johnson participated in a motorsports cultural exchange with two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso at Bahrain International Circuit, where both drivers compared their respective race cars.