BRISTOL, Tenn. – There’s just something about “The Last Great Colosseum.”
“I think as a racer -- it doesn’t matter the discipline, the vehicle, the series – there are certain tracks that you say, ‘I want to drive there. I want to experience that,’” Jimmie Johnson said. “And this is one of the top three-to-five tracks, I think, around the world that people want to experience.”
Bristol Motor Speedway, the site of Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, is an important venue to Johnson “for a lot of reasons.”
“To grow up watching it, being a fan of it, having barbecues and throwing parties and watching the race, going to parties and watching the race, and then actually being in it, it’s just a cool arc of things to take place,” he said.
But racing there didn’t always come easy to the six-time Sprint Cup champion.
“I was sorely disappointed that I didn’t take to the track as well as I had hoped with all the fun I had surrounding watching the races and leading up to it -- I thought I could come here and take to it real quick,” he said. “It took me a long time to figure it out and I did get that one win.”
The win came on March 21, 2010, when Johnson started fourth and led 84 laps – including the final seven – en route to Victory Lane.
“I’ve only done it once, so I’m very fond of that moment,” he smiled.
While the win stands alone, the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s ProServices Chevrolet SS has found plenty of success at the 0.533-mile oval. According to NASCAR's loop data statistics, Johnson has the eighth-best driver rating at Bristol with a score of 92.3 during the past 10 years at the track.
And since 2009, he has nine top-10 finishes -- including his win -- in the past 13 races at Bristol.
“Our last few trips here we’ve been in the top five and very competitive – finished second on Matt Kenseth’s bumper in the spring race,” Johnson said. “So we have a lot of hope and high expectations.”