Milestone weekend could give Johnson larger lead

There will be no talk of restrictor plates this weekend. There will be no controversy when a driver makes a pass below the yellow line; there is no yellow line. What there will be, if history is any indication, is a lot of Jimmie Johnson.

Fast facts

What	Bank of America 500
When	7:40 p.m. ET Saturday
TV	ABC, 7 p.m. ET
Radio	PRN (Sirius Ch. 28), 7:25 ET

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Johnson has dominated Lowe's Motor Speedway like no other since joining the Sprint Cup Series full-time in 2002. He's scored five wins -- tied for the most among active drivers with Jeff Gordon, eight top-five finishes and 11 top-10 finishes in just 14 career starts. His average finish is an impressive 9.1. Even when he's not driving to Victory Lane he's at the front: Johnson has led 1,169 laps in 14 races. His only finish outside the top 15 at Lowe's since 2002 came this spring when he had an engine failure and finished 39th.

Not that Johnson needs any additional motivation, but Saturday's Bank of America 500 is his 250th career series start. Johnson would like to deliver a big win and solidify his lead in the Chase. He currently leads Carl Edwards by 72 points with six races left.

"I can't believe this weekend is my 250th start," Johnson said. "I've been very lucky in my career that I've had one sponsor, Lowe's, since I started racing in the Sprint Cup Series. It somehow seems fitting that we'll be able to celebrate the occasion together at Lowe's Motor Speedway."

Johnson has been the strongest driver at LMS since 2002, but that's not to say he always finds it to be an easy track to navigate.

"Since the track has been repaved, we end up competitive at the end of the race to get things right, but we've had tough practice sessions in the past and tough tests in the past," Johnson said. "The test that we had a couple of weeks ago didn't go as we wanted it to there. But I have a lot of confidence in the team and I know when we get into race conditions that our stuff will be where it needs to be."

If Johnson wants to get back to Victory Lane he'll need to dethrone the latest king of Lowe's Motor Speedway: Kasey Kahne.

After Johnson's streak of five wins in six races from May 2003 through October 2005, Kahne has been the man to beat at LMS. He won both points races in 2006, and although he had a dismal 2007 season, he rebounded this year, winning the Sprint All-Star Challenge and the Coca-Cola 600 in May. A win this weekend would make Kahne the first driver ever to win all three Sprint Cup races at LMS in a single season.

"Lowe's is definitely one of my favorite tracks and we have a unique opportunity to win all three races here this year," Kahne said. "We've won all the races here -- we are just trying to get it done in one year. It would be a huge accomplishment for me personally and everyone at Gillett Evernham Motorsports to be able to complete the sweep."

One driver who could play the spoiler role this weekend is Mark Martin. Martin has four wins at LMS and leads all active drivers with 17 career top-five finishes. He's also scored four top-10 finishes in his past five starts this season, and he ranks Lowe's as one of his favorite tracks.

"There is no better track on the circuit than Lowe's Motor Speedway," Martin said. "I absolutely love racing there, and it's probably my favorite track that we go to. I can remember the first time that I ever went there in 1981 and thinking, 'Wow, this is just like a small quarter-mile track somewhere, except it's huge,' but you could race just like that. Normally when we go to Charlotte, I'll take one or two laps and come across the radio and remind my team just how much I love racing there."