CUP: Johnson – Four Tracks To Go

Sprint Cup

CUP: Johnson – Four Tracks To Go

Jimmie Johnson has never won at Watkins Glen, site of Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race...

Mike Hembree | Posted August 03, 2010 Charlotte, NC

Jimmie Johnson scored his first road-course win earlier this year at Sonoma. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Jimmie Johnson ended the “he can’t win at a road course” talk in June by finishing first in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway in California.

Now Johnson, eyeing his fifth straight Sprint Cup championship from the fourth position in points, looks to trim the list of tracks where he remains winless. Watkins Glen International (site of Sunday’s Heluva Good at the Glen), Michigan, Chicagoland and Homestead are the only speedways where Johnson has failed to score.

“The Glen’s been the better of the two tracks for me,” Johnson said. “So I feel real good about going back there. Two totally different types of road course racing for our cars. The Glen is much more of a flowing track, a lot higher speeds, where Sonoma’s very technical.

“I hope that I learned enough, and I certainly have more confidence after winning the race and running so well all day long that mentally I know what sensations I need in the car. I know what I need to feel on the brake pedal, braking zones, on throttle. So I feel good about going back.”

Johnson was 12th at the Glen last season. He has three top-fives and four top-10s in eight races there.

Johnson, whose team has excelled in the Chase as he has piled up championships, said he is optimistic entering the season’s critical weeks.

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“We’re getting to that part of the year,” he said. “I've had strong years where we’ve entered the Chase with a lot of momentum and have won a championship. And we’ve had years where we didn't have the best summer and have still gone on to win the championship. So I don't think there's a rhyme or reason to it.

“The 10 tracks in the Chase, a lot of them are much different than anything we run on during the summer and very special and unique into their own.

“So, I'm optimistic. I look at Loudon. I look at Dover. And both of those races were really good for us this year. Martinsville is typically good for us, although we didn't have the best spring race there this year. I think we’re getting smarter on the bigger tracks, the 1.5-mile and 2-mile stuff. We seem to be making small gains, although we haven’t really finished on one of those tracks recently like we should have. I feel like we’re getting better there. Our team always responds well at the end of the year and especially under pressure.”

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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Mike Hembree

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