Inside the Numbers: Jimmie Johnson’s pursuit of 80 wins

A look at some interesting stats along the way: The Californian's first career Sprint Cup victory appropriately came at California Speedway in 2002. The then-26-year-old bettered Kurt Busch by .620 seconds to win. Four NASCAR Hall of Famers -- or impending inductees -- were immediately behind Johnson that April afternoon, including Bill Elliott (fourth place), Mark Martin (fifth place), Dale Jarrett (sixth place) and Rusty Wallace (eighth place).

The longest span between victories for the 79-race winner is 25 starts, and that happened this year. Johnson won in March at California but not again until October at Charlotte (pictured).

There are only four venues on the schedule where Johnson has not celebrated in Victory Lane, and two of the four are in the Chase. Johnson has not won at Chicago or Miami (pictured). The only other places he hasn't hoisted a trophy are Kentucky and Watkins Glen.

The farthest back on the grid Johnson has had to come to win is the 37th position. And he won twice after starting 37th -- the Charlotte 600-miler in 2003 and in 2015 at Atlanta (pictured).

Johnson has won 14 times from the pole position, the last in May of 2014 at Charlotte. In six of his last 10 wins, Johnson has started his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet from outside the top 10.

This week's venue, the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway, has been 'Jimmie's House' most recently. He has won three of the last four races there, five of the last eight, and his six-win grand total on the Texas high banks is the all-time best.

Should Johnson win a seventh Sprint Cup Series championship, he would be the youngest seven-timer in NASCAR history. Johnson celebrated his 41st birthday on Sept. 17. Richard Petty was 42 when he won his seventh title in 1979, and the late Dale Earnhardt was 43 when he won his seventh championship in 1994.

In position to challenge for the 2016 championship at Miami in two weeks, Johnson has at least secured a fourth-place finish in the title hunt. Since he started racing in the Sprint Cup Series full-time 16 years ago, he will have 12 top-five season finishes. The only times he has failed to finish among the top six were the last two seasons under the new Chase playoff guidelines (2015 pictured).

With 79 wins, Johnson is one trophy away from joining an elite six-driver group with 80 wins in NASCAR's premier series. Johnson is four wins shy of tying Cale Yarborough (pictured) at 83 victories, five away from Darrell Waltrip and six back of Bobby Allison.

Only one season in Johnson's illustrious 16-year career has he not netted double-digit, top-five finish (2002). In 2004 and 2007, he had 20 top-five finishes in 36 races. He scored 18 top-fives in 2012.