CONCORD, N.C. – This Sunday at Pocono Raceway, Jimmie Johnson will reach a rare milestone.
The driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s for Pros Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 is set to make his 600th career NASCAR Cup Series start.
He will be just the 30th driver in Cup Series history to reach that elusive number, and 10 of those drivers – including Johnson – have raced for Hendrick Motorsports.
“I’m not huge into milestones but I really can’t believe I am sitting here at 600 starts,” Johnson said. “All I ever wanted to do was win a race and now we are here with seven championships, 83 wins and hopefully there are many more to come.”
Those 83 wins put Johnson in elite company. Not only is he tied for the sixth-most all-time, he also already has the third-most wins through a driver’s first 600 starts.
On the list, he’s surrounded by NASCAR Hall of Famers. Richard Petty leads the way, having earned 150 wins through 600 starts. He’s followed by Darrell Waltrip with 84, Johnson is at 83 and Gordon is fourth with 82.
If Johnson were to win Sunday, he would be just the second driver ever to win on his 600th start – Petty did so when he earned victory No. 150 at Richmond in February 1973.
To honor the milestone 600th start, the No. 48 team will run a special decal on Johnson’s Lowe’s for Pros Chevy.
In addition to his 83 wins over his first 599 starts, Johnson has amassed 35 pole positions, 224 top-five finishes, 348 top-10s and 18,678 laps led – in addition to a record-tying seven Cup Series championships.
He’ll try to add to those stats this weekend at Pocono, where he has won three times.
“I’m proud to have come all this way with one sponsor in Lowe’s and hope that this weekend will be a good one for this No. 48 team,” Johnson said. “I definitely want to try to get more wins for Lowe’s before they exit the sport.”