WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- When Jimmie Johnson first arrived in NASCAR eight years ago, he figured road courses would be one of the smoother parts of his transition. Growing up in Southern California, he had excelled at making both left and right turns, winning a trophy case full of championships in motorcycles and off-road vehicles long before he gravitated to stock cars. That background, he figured, would make him a natural at places like Watkins Glen International.

“

It's been kind of a weird thing for me, and I don't understand it. I usually am a slow learner, but once I get something, I own it and I don't let go of it.

”

-- JIMMIE JOHNSON

And yet, here is Johnson, with three championships and 43 race wins on NASCAR's premier series, and still searching for his first victory on a road course. He's zero-for-eight at Infineon Raceway, and zero-for-seven at Watkins Glen entering Sunday's Cup event on the 2.45-mile layout. It's a notable omission for a driver who's seemed to have won everything else during his tenure in NASCAR thus far.

"I was shocked when I learned that Jimmie hasn't won on a road course, because he's as good as anybody," said former road-course ace Marcos Ambrose, who now races the full Cup schedule for JTG Daugherty Racing. "I've followed him, and he races me hard, and if I'm looking at the list on any week at a road course race of who's expected to win, Jimmie's on my list. So I'm surprised that he hasn't managed to close the deal."

Even Johnson -- who's been competitive in two starts in the 24 Hours of Daytona sports-car event, and won a road race at the Race of Champions in 2002 -- struggles to comprehend it.

"It's been kind of a weird thing for me, and I don't understand it," he said. "Certainly, I hopped in other vehicles. I hop in a Grand Am car and am on pace with my teammates that are extremely fast and won a championship. So I don't know what it is about the Cup car that I've had some troubles with. But I am getting closer, and I think more seat time is helpful. I usually am a slow learner, but once I get something, I own it and I don't let go of it. I feel like I'm chipping away at it." (Continued)