Cowboy hat, six-shooters top Jimmie Johnson's agenda for Texas

FORT WORTH, Texas – They say everything is bigger in Texas, and that includes the Victory Lane celebration at Texas Motor Speedway where winners celebrate by wearing a cowboy hat and firing two six-shooter pistols into the air. Jimmie Johnson has been there before, and he is looking forward to the NASCAR Sprint Cup event on Saturday night at the speedway. 

“I would love to (wear the cowboy hat),” Johnson said. “Obviously a cool trophy, and those six-shooters – everybody wants those thing and everybody wants a picture wearing the hats and guns. Hopefully we can do it. We’ve been able to do it one other time.”

The driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s/KOBALT Tools Chevrolet first visited Victory Lane there in November 2007. Including his win, Johnson has earned seven top-five finishes and 11 top-10s in his 15 Cup starts at the 1.5-mile track. At last year’s April race at the speedway, Johnson finished second and led 175 laps.

Johnson enters Saturday’s 501-mile event ranked third in the driver standing after finishing 11th and leading 65 laps in last week’s Cup event at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The five-time defending Sprint Cup champion is looking to capitalize on the No. 48 team’s progress this year

“Texas has been good to us in the spring,” Johnson said. “We’re hopeful to go back and do that again. I think we’re certainly going down the right road with our cars. We're more competitive each and every week off the truck. Regardless of how we unload, we seem to find ourselves in contention. I think that speaks a lot to our team and the way we're able to work through a race.”

The 334-lap event airs Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET on FOX. Pre-race coverage begins at 7 p.m.