Subscibe to our feedJohnson Seeks 4th Win at Atlanta Motor Speedway
After celebrating its final off week of the season, Team Lowe’s Racing is back in gear and heading to Atlanta Motor Speedway for this weekend’s Labor Day event.
Driver Jimmie Johnson, who has tallied three wins at the 1.54-mile Georgia track, expects to see a lot of good racing Sunday night, when the Sprint Cup field takes the green flag under the lights in Atlanta.
“Under the lights the track gains a lot of grip and picks up speed and changes the balance of what we’re used to compared to a day race,” said Johnson, who has completed 99.6% of laps there. “We’ve had some races finish up in the twilight and even a night one if I remember right or something and it really changed the balance of our car and we had a hard time getting the car set up right. So I think the night race will throw a lot of challenges at the teams from a handling standpoint.”
But Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus are ready for the challenge – looking for their fourth win of the season before the Chase for the Sprint Cup kicks off in two weeks. Next week’s event at Richmond International Raceway will be there last chance before the 10-race finale.
“Truthfully Atlanta has been tough on us in the past,” said Johnson. “We’ve been able to get some good finishes based on Chad’s creativity. Last year in the Chase when he put tires on at the end and I was able to driver to second, but before that we were like a 10th, 11th place car all day. So it didn’t hurt my feelings to see Atlanta taken out of the Chase then California Speedway put back in. Especially in the fall race we’ve won the last couple of times there. Hopefully that works with us for the Chase.
“This weekend we’ll look for a win to help boost us up in the standings when the Chase begins.”
Sunday night’s race will broadcast live on ESPN beginning at 7 p.m. ET.
RACE NOTES
Atlanta Motor Speedway
- Johnson has made 16 Sprint Cup Series starts at Atlanta Motor Speedway, earning three wins, nine top-five and 11 top-10 finishes.
- The three-time champion has completed 99.6% (5111 of 5132) of competition laps at the track and has led 385.
- Johnson has an average start and finish of 8.1 and 9.1.
Chassis- Johnson will pilot brand new chassis number 558 in Sunday night’s race.
- Johnson last drove backup chassis number 504 to a 13th-place finish at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in May.