Slow start at Daytona no big deal for Johnson

Johnson top-three at ACS in five of past six starts

By Official Release
February 17, 2010
01:06 PM EST

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In each of the past four season-openers, Jimmie Johnson has begun his title defense with a stinker.

Weird, but true. And apparently, not at all season-threatening.

Johnson's Daytona 500 clunkers haven't seemed to phase him all that much.

In 2007, Johnson finished 39th in the 500. In 2008, he finished 27th. Last year, he was 31st. Now, once again, he finished outside the top 25, ending Sunday's race 35th.

But Johnson's early-season prescription has been Auto Club Speedway, where he has followed up a bad Daytona 500 with a top-10 finish -- or better.

Johnson has finished in the top five in two of the past three February ACS races, and has been the class of the field at Fontana practically every race since 2007.

Jimmie Johnson

Auto Club Speedway Race Log (2007-09)

Date	Finish	Avg. Run Pos.	Fastest Laps Run	Laps T-15%	Led	Rating

2/07	3	7.4	24	92.8	31	118.2
9/07	1	4.2	40	96.4	84	135.5
2/08	2	2.4	30	99.6	76	134.9
8/08	1	1.2	133	100	228	150
2/09	9	3.4	38	100	74	121.3
10/09	1	2	82	100	126	148.5
Total	2.8	3.4	347	98.1	619	134.7

In the past six ACS races, Johnson has three wins, a Driver Rating of 134.7, an average running position of 3.4, 619 laps led and 347 fastest laps run. He has led at least 31 laps in every race since 2007.

Actually, in one race, dominance morphed into perfection.

In the summer race of 2008, Johnson scored a perfect Driver Rating of 150, posting an average running position of 1.2 and leading 228 of the 250 laps.

It was Johnson's first perfect Driver Rating since the Loop Data statistic's inception in 2005. He has since scored another one, at the Dover race in May 2009.

Auto Club Speedway

Single Race Bests (Driver Rating, Avg. Position, Fastest Laps)

Pos.	Driver	Date	Rating	Pos.	Driver	Date	ARP	Pos.	Driver	Date	FLR

1.	J. Johnson	8/08	150.0	1.	J. Johnson	8/08	1.2	1.	J. Johnson	8/08	133
2.	J. Johnson	10/09	148.5	2.	J. Johnson	10/09	2.0	2.	J. Johnson	10/09	82
3.	K. Kahne	9/06	144.1	3.	J. Gordon	2/09	2.3	3.	C. Edwards	2/08	72
4.	M. Kenseth	2/07	141.5	4.	J. Johnson	2/08	2.4	4.	G. Biffle	2/06	65
5.	Ky. Busch	09/07	136.8	5.	J. Montoya	10/09	2.5	5.	Dale Jr.	9/06	56

Chase Predictor

Statistically, Auto Club Speedway might be a foreshadowing of the Chase. Nine drivers in the top 12 of ACS pre-race Driver Rating made the Chase last season. The three who did not: Matt Kenseth (109.7), Kyle Busch (102.9) and Kevin Harvick (89.0).

Fantasy Fix

Pre-race ACS Driver Rating has been spot on when handicapping the event. The last eight ACS race-winners have ranked in the top 10 in pre-race Driver Rating.

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