“Our house is a very, very, very fine house.” Graham Nash wasn’t referring to Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway when he wrote the song “Our House.” But Jimmie Johnson would agree that the track, which is quickly becoming like home, is a very fine one, indeed.
Johnson won a record fourth Sprint All-Star Race Saturday evening. The victory in the non-points-paying event made him the all-time winningest driver in the event, breaking a tie with the legendary Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon. A win in this weekend’s 600-mile event would be his seventh overall at the track, making him its all-time winningest driver and breaking a tie at six wins apiece with Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip.
Johnson has three wins in the Memorial Day-weekend race, including his last win in the 600-mile event in 2005. The only time he has swept the All-Star Race and 600 was in 2003. While he owns the best driver rating among current drivers and has the best average running position, Johnson hasn’t scored a top-10 finish in the Memorial Day-weekend event since 2007.
A recent repave at Charlotte may have slowed Johnson’s dominance, a fact the five-time champion acknowledges. “We knew, literally, what time in the afternoon, what adjustment needed to be made to the car, and it was like clockwork, didn’t matter the year, just every single time. It’s not that way anymore.”
Saturday’s win was certainly a step in the right direction and, while Johnson may not have “two cats in the yard,” he would most surely agree that Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway is a “very, very, very fine house,” one he may own by the time he gets finished wheeling his No. 48 Lowe’s “Patriotic” Chevrolet SS 600 miles Sunday evening.
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