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In Concord, Lowe's 'gamble' rules
The sponsor of the No. 48 car wasn't sure in 2002 whether Jimmie Johnson was the driver they wanted. They're sure now.Date published: 5/26/2006 By JIM McCONNELL It's taken less than five years for Jimmie Johnson to complete the transformation from nervous rookie to de facto owner of Lowe's Motor Speedway. His victory in Saturday's Nextel All-Star Challenge gave Johnson wins in seven of his last 10 starts on the 1.5-mile track in Concord, N.C. He's won the last four points races there and five of the last six, including an unprecedented three consecutive Coca-Cola 600 titles. Still, for a variety of reasons, Johnson remembers the October 2001 Lowe's race weekend like it was yesterday. Then a Busch Series regular, Johnson already had landed a Cup ride with Hendrick Motorsports for 2002. In preparation for his promotion, Hendrick arranged for Johnson to start three Cup races late in the '01 season. Johnson's Cup debut was slated for Lowe's Motor Speedway, a track that sits only a couple miles from Hendrick's palatial race shop. If that wasn't enough pressure, Johnson wasn't assured a spot on the 43-car starting grid; he had to post a qualifying lap or face the humiliation of watching the race on television. "Stressed out, nervous, every emotion you could imagine," Johnson recalled during Tuesday's weekly NASCAR teleconference. Johnson held it together long enough to qualify 15th for the UAW-GM 500. Later that evening, however, he dealt with a different emotion: grief. Johnson's closest friend, Blaise Alexander, crashed and died during an ARCA race at Lowe's. Two days later, Johnson also wrecked and wound up with a 39th-place finish. "That was a tough, tough weekend," Johnson said. He couldn't have known it at the time, but it was the defining weekend in his racing career. Lowe's, which had experienced little success as sponsor of Robby Gordon's No. 31 car, was in negotiations with Hendrick to take over primary sponsorship on the fledgling No. 48 team. But before they would commit millions of dollars, officials from the retail giant had some questions about their talented-but-young new driver. "At the last meeting we had, the chairman of Lowe's looked at Jimmie in the eyes and said, 'Can you win?' And I think my heart stopped because I was waiting for Jimmie's answer," team owner Rick Hendrick said yesterday. "Jimmie said, 'I definitely can win.'" Lowe's gamble has paid off quite handsomely, thank you.
Date published: 5/26/2006
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