The Inside Line: Here comes Jimmie Johnson and his 48 team

In a period of one week, the team won the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway,
the NASCAR Sprint Cup Pit Crew Challenge in Charlotte and the NASCAR Sprint
All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Johnson led a race-high 134 laps at Darlington, en route to his 56th career
win, which placed him in sole possession of eighth on the Sprint Cup Series’
all-time race winners list. He also gave team owner Rick Hendrick his long-
awaited 200th victory in NASCAR’s premier circuit.

“So glad to have it behind us and glad for this moment to be here for Rick,
the company, all the people that have contributed to the 200th win,” Johnson
said after winning the May 12 race at Darlington.

Johnson delivered HMS its 199th win last October at Kansas Speedway. It took
Johnson and the racing organization 17 races to get back into victory lane.

Last Thursday, Johnson’s team beat Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing
squad in the pit crew challenge. The No. 11 crew had won the event the past
two years.

“Those guys did such a fantastic job at the pit crew challenge Thursday night,
beat the defending champions, not only once, but twice,” Johnson’s crew chief,
Chad Knaus, said. “I think it speaks volumes about how good those guys are.”

The 48 team capped off its perfect week with Johnson’s victory in the all-star
race. Johnson benefited from winning the first segment of the event, as he was
guaranteed to be the first driver onto pit road during the mandatory stops
prior to the 10-lap shootout to the finish.

Johnson made numerous pit stops after segments one, two and three — each 20
laps in length — to improve the car. After beating Matt Kenseth and Brad
Keselowski off pit road. Johnson led the way for the final segment. He ran in
front for the last 10 laps, beating Keselowski to the finish line by just
under one second.

Johnson, who also won the all-star race in 2003 and ’06, tied Jeff Gordon, his
teammate at Hendrick, and Dale Earnhardt Sr. for most victories in this event
with three.

“It means a ton to me,” Johnson said. “Those are two of the greatest drivers
that have ever been in a stock car. I want to set my goals high and be
considered one of the best to sit in a stock car. The only way you do that is
by winning races and piling up those stats.”

After their record string of five consecutive Sprint Cup championships came to
an end last year, Johnson’s team endured a rough start to this season in
February at Daytona International Speedway.

Johnson’s Daytona 500 car failed opening-day inspection when officials found
an illegal C-post panel on it, prompting NASCAR to issue a hefty penalty to
the team after Speedweeks at Daytona had concluded. Knaus and car chief Ron
Malec received a six-race suspension, while Johnson was penalized with a loss
of 25 points.

To make matters worse, Johnson finished 42nd in the Feb. 27 rain-delayed
Daytona 500 after he was involved in a multi-car crash on just the second lap.

Johnson went to Phoenix the following weekend minus-23 in points.

But things turned around for the team on March 20. In its second and final
appeal, HMS had its penalties overturned when National Stock Car Racing Chief
Appellate Officer John Middlebrook rescinded the suspensions for Knaus and
Malec as well as removed the points deduction for Johnson.

Despite a 35th-place finish earlier this month at Talladega Superspeedway,
Johnson has bounced back nicely from Daytona, as he currently sits fifth in
the rankings (39 points behind leader Greg Biffle).

Johnson enters NASCAR’s longest race of the season — the Coca-Cola 600 — on
Sunday at Charlotte with a whole lot of momentum. Charlotte had been known as
“Jimmie’s House,” as he won five times in a six-race period there from
2003-05.

His sixth victory at this track in October 2009 placed him a tie with NASCAR
Hall of Famers Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip for most wins at this track.

Can Johnson become the all-time leader in race wins at Charlotte as well as
give his boss victory No. 201 this weekend?

“After you win the 200th, that was kind of a monkey on our back for awhile,”
Hendrick said. “To get the pit crew deal done, then coming here (last Saturday
night) and running this well, just excited about the 600, excited about the
rest of the year. … Everything has been clicking for us lately.”

With the way their running right now, Johnson’s team is certainly looking like
the favorite to win the 600-miler at Charlotte.