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In each of the last four season-openers, Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s/ Kobalt Chevrolet) has begun his title defense with a stinker.
Weird, but true. And apparently, not at all season-threatening.
Johnson’s Daytona 500 clunkers haven’t seemed to phase him all that much.
In 2007, Johnson finished 39th in the 500. In 2008, he finished 27th. Last year, he was 31st.
Now, once again, he finished outside the top 25, ending Sunday’s race 35th.
But Johnson’s early-season Rx has been Auto Club Speedway, where he has followed up a bad Daytona 500 with a top-10 finish — or better.
Johnson has finished in the top five in two of the last three February ACS races, and has been the class of the field at Fontana practically every race since 2007.
In the last six ACS races, Johnson has three wins, a Driver Rating of 134.7, an Average Running osition of 3.4, 619 Laps Led and 347 Fastest Laps Run. He has led at least 31 laps in every race since 2007. (See Johnson’s ACS race log below).
Actually, in one race, dominance morphed into perfection. In the summer race of 2008, Johnson scored a perfect Driver Rating of 150, posting an Average Running Position of 1.2 and leading 228 of the 250 laps.
It was Johnson’s first perfect Driver Rating since the Loop Data statistic’s inception in 2005. He has since scored another one, at the May
CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR 0 David Reutimann Toyota Aaron's Dream Machine 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet GoDaddy.com 6 David Ragan Ford UPS 7 Robby Gordon Toyota Warner Music Nashville / Whitney Duncan 9 Kasey Kahne Ford Budweiser / Team USA 9 Aric Almirola Chevrolet Phoenix Racing 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Freight 12 Brad Keselowski Dodge AAA 13 Max Papis Toyota GEICO 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet Old Spice / Office Depot 16 Greg Biffle Ford 3M 17 Matt Kenseth Ford Crown Royal 18 Kyle Busch Toyota Interstate Batteries 19 Elliott Sadler Ford Stanley 20 Joey Logano Toyota The Home Depot 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 26 Boris Said Ford Stoddard's Cleaning 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet Caterpillar 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet Cheerios / Hamburger Helper 34 Travis Kvapil Ford Long John Silver's 36 Mike Bliss Chevrolet Wave Energy Drink 37 Kevin Conway* Ford Extenze 38 David Gilliland Ford Taco Bell 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet Haas Automation 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet Target 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford Best Buy 46 Terry Cook* Dodge Whitney Motorsports 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota Armor All 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe's / Kobalt Tools 55 Michael McDowell Toyota Prism Motorsports 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota NAPA Auto Parts 66 Dave Blaney Toyota Prism Motorsports 71 Bobby Labonte Chevrolet TaxSlayer.com 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge Auto Club 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet Furniture Row Companies 82 Scott Speed Toyota Red Bull 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota NEMCO Motorsports 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet Amp Energy Juice / National Guard 98 Paul Menard Ford Energizer / Menards 99 Carl Edwards Ford Aflac 135 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet Tommy Baldwin Racing 190 Casey Mears Chevrolet Keyed-Up Motorsports
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