CONCORD, N.C. – With 36 races in the NASCAR Cup Series season it is no surprise that drivers and teams go through peaks and lulls throughout the year.
Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 Lowe’s team are no strangers to these ups and downs.
So far in 2017, Johnson has acquired three wins, two of which came in April and the other in June. Since then, the No. 48 team has been working diligently to score their next victory.
During playoff media day yesterday at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina, Johnson shared his thoughts on the highs and lows of his season thus far.
“The unfortunate thing about peaking is that you really don’t have the ability to choose when you peak,” Johnson said. “We won early, had good speed early, and in the back of my mind I was thinking that I hoped we were not peaking too soon. Then the summer happens and then as you are in the middle of summer the silver lining is that we are going to get through this eventually and come out on top.”
Johnson attributes some of the results to the lineup of racetracks.
“I have put a little more weight in the tracks and the lineup of the tracks than I do anything else,” he shared. “There’s guys that get hot in the summer and guys that are not hot in the spring and fall and get the summer. We are kind of the opposite. So, I really feel like the tracks have something to do with it.”
Dover International Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway are just four of the 10 tracks on the playoffs schedule – and they just so happen to be the top four tracks where Johnson has logged the most victories.
And he has the statistics to back himself up. The driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevy has the most wins all-time at Dover with 11, Charlotte with eight and Texas with seven wins. In addition, he leads all active drivers at Martinsville with nine victories.
Fortunately for Johnson, the summer is over and the playoffs are on.
“We are very focused on winning the championship and being on top.”
The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs kick off Sunday, Sept. 17, at Chicagoland Speedway. Tune in to NBC Sports Network, MRN or Sirius XM at 3 p.m. ET to see how Johnson fares at the tri-oval track.