FONTANA, Calif. — When it comes to hometown favorites, perhaps no combination in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is as good as Jimmie Johnson at Auto Club Speedway.
The California native, who grew up two hours south of the two-mile Fontana oval in El Cajon, won his first-ever Cup race there in 2002 and has since added five more victories at ACS in the 15 years since, giving him a track-record six trophies over the course of his storied career.
Chief among those half-dozen wins includes a stirring performance in last year’s Auto Club 400, in which Johnson charged past fellow Californian Kevin Harvick on an overtime restart, leading the final two laps en route to his 77th career Cup victory and breaking a tie with NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt for seventh on the series’ all-time wins list.
It’s a performance that Johnson hopes to replicate in Sunday’s renewal of the event, but he admitted Friday that he’s simply happy to be back home for a weekend.
“Man, it’s just fun to go back and see the spots and places I used to haunt … and even talk to a few old friends,” Johnson said. “And then to come to this race track where I won my first event, I guess that photo is right there (points in the media center) to remind me of it, which is pretty cool. It’s just fun to be back.”
“I really enjoy racing here. We have all watched this track age and turn into a facility that puts on one heck of a show. I’m excited to be back.”
The seven-time Cup champion tied Earnhardt and Richard Petty on top of the titles list last November at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but admittedly hasn’t been off to the best start so far this year.
A crash in the second half of the Daytona 500, followed by a pair of speeding penalties in Atlanta and two nondescript efforts at Las Vegas and Phoenix have left many onlookers questioning if the No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet team’s magic has finally begun to fade.
Don’t worry, Johnson said; they’re not gone from the conversation and have no plans to be anytime soon.
“Sixteen years, 80 wins, and seven championships and people want to question us? I mean, come on,” he scoffed.
“You can’t be on top forever. I think that we do have some work to do, especially on the short run. We haven’t executed as cleanly as we need to. Daytona, we were running second or third and get crashed, last week we were a good top five, maybe top three car on the long run, but finished with some short restarts … and that was our weak point. Yeah, sure, absolutely we have work to do, but nobody should panic.”
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