Victory lane was awash in a rainbow of colors last June at Dover (Del.) International Speedway when Jimmie Johnson and the rest of the No. 48 Lowe’s team made a stop there to pick up their seventh trophy in 21 visits to the high-banked, concrete oval known as the “Monster Mile.” While Johnson put on a monster of a performance during the 400-mile race, spontaneous mischief erupted afterward when he and the team donned rainbow-colored circus wigs in victory lane.

 Safe to say there will be no wigging out for the No. 48 team when it arrives for Sunday’s AAA 400, the third of 10 races in the 2012 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship. Johnson’s record is stellar at the Monster Mile. His driver rating is tops among active drivers and his seven wins in 21 races ties him with NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty and Bobby Allison for most wins at the track.

 In the last nine Dover races, Johnson has just one finish outside the top-10 and he has four wins in those nine races. Johnson and crew have only three finishes in 21 Dover races outside the top-15. So while there is a lot on the line as the Sprint Cup competitors prepare for the third race in the Chase, including Johnson’s tenuous one-point lead atop the championship standings, he and the team know there’s no reason to wig out – at least if you look at the stats.

Here’s what Johnson had to say about Dover:

You have seven wins at Dover. What do you love about the track?

“The intensity you have to drive that track with. It really fits my style. It’s the closest track we have to being airborne each lap with the drop-off into turns one and three. It’s just cool you’ve got to bring your big-boy pants every lap there and I love it.”

Brad (Keselowski) and Denny (Hamlin) have been pretty outspoken about how much they are dreading this weekend. Safe to assume you have the opposite view? Do you feel like you go in there with a little bit of an edge?

“Well, I do. They are both great drivers and great teams. They have the ability to figure out that racetrack. From my own experiences, tracks that were hard on me I was able to figure them out over time and learn how to win at those tracks. I’m not ruling them out but, when I look through the Chase tracks, there are certain guys I expect to be strong at whatever racetrack. At Chicago, I felt like the No. 2 (Keselowski) was going to be strong and he certainly was. At New Hampshire, I look to the No. 11 (Hamlin) and what he did in the spring. This week, I feel the No. 24 (Jeff Gordon) is going to be a big threat. He got off to a bad start at Chicago. You start thinking through who you feel you are going to have to race on what track and what might be your strong tracks versus your weak tracks. I feel like this weekend is a good opportunity for the No. 48 on a lot of the field, a lot of the Chasers, to get some points on them.”

Is Dover always your kind of ace in the hole in the Chase?

“Yeah, so far it’s been a great track for us. The thing there that is tough, and we have been very fortunate to miss it, if something happens, we know it’s a self-cleaning track and you get torn up pretty bad because you are going so fast. If we can run up front and kind of control the race and control who we are racing around, I feel we can make up a lot or hopefully distance ourselves. I want to come out of there with the points lead and hopefully we can distance ourselves from the guys.”

How do you control that race? Is that just strategy with Chad Knaus or just the fact that you lead so many laps?

“Running up front, in the top-three, top-five, especially, early to midway through the race, are just generous to a large degree and not pushing the issue. When you are back in 15^th, 20^th, it’s cut throat. At a track that fast, a small mistake happens, it could take you right out of the race. Running up front, you really can have the best chance of controlling your own destiny.”

Race Stats

• Seven wins (June and September 2002, September 2005, June and September 2009, September 2010 and June 2012) and three poles (September 2009 and 2010, June 2011).
• 10 top-five finishes (47.6 percent) and 15 top-10s (71.4 percent) in 21 starts.
• Two DNFs (did not finish – June 2003 and 2004).
• Average start of 9.7 and average finish of 8.9.
• Completed 8,219 of 8,404 laps (97.8 percent) and led 2,275.
• Sprint Cup’s best driver rating (120.6 average of a possible 150 points).