Darlington Raceway Names Backstretch Suites The Jimmie Johnson Champions Club
by Hunter Thomas September 6, 2020 0 commentsDARLINGTON, S.C. – Darlington Raceway (Darlington) will recognize the career accomplishments of seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson by naming the backstretch suites in his honor. The three, eight-person suites that sit atop Colvin Grandstand will now be called the Jimmie Johnson Champions Club.
“Jimmie Johnson is a legend as he stands with the greatest competitors in the history of motorsports,” said Kerry Tharp, Darlington President. “He represents all that is good about the sport on and off the track, so we honor his significant and lasting accomplishments by naming our backstretch suites the Jimmie Johnson Champions Club.”
“It’s such an honor to have my name on anything at Darlington. The history of the sport runs so deep here, it’s so special to me,” said Jimmie Johnson. Not many people know this but my first time testing a Busch Series car was when I was ‘discovered’ by Ricky Hendrick and Jeff Gordon and my Cup career at Hendrick Motorsports got started. I love this track, the racing is second to none, always exciting and am humbled by the support over the years.”
Johnson is a three-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner at Darlington. He was victorious in the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 in 2004, Mountain Dew Southern 500 in 2004, and Bojangles’ Southern 500 in 2012. In his career, he has nine Top-5 and 13 Top-10 finishes in the Cup Series at Darlington.
He is one of an exclusive list of nine drivers in track history to sweep a NASCAR season at the Darlington with Richard Petty (1967), LeeRoy Yarbrough (1969), Bobby Allison (1975), David Pearson (1976), Bill Elliott (1985), Dale Earnhardt (1987, 1990), Jeff Gordon (1996), Jeff Burton (1999), and Johnson (2004). He is also one of only 16 drivers to win back-to-back races on different years at the track Too Tough To Tame.
Johnson will compete in his final NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington as a full-time competitor in the 71st running of the Cook Out Southern 500® tonight at 6:00 p.m. The race will be televised nationally on NBCSN and air on MRN and its network of nationwide affiliates, in addition to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
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About Darlington Raceway
Darlington Raceway, nicknamed The Lady in Black and the track Too Tough To Tame, is home to the award-winning Official Throwback Weekend of NASCAR annually hosting the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series on Labor Day Weekend. Opening in 1950, Darlington Raceway is “A NASCAR Tradition” and NASCAR’s original superspeedway with its famed 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval, challenging the sports best in one of the most iconic NASCAR races, the Cook Out Southern 500®. For more information about Darlington Raceway, visit darlingtonraceway.com.
About NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for the No. 1 form of motorsports in the United States and owner of 16 of the nation’s major motorsports entertainment facilities. NASCAR consists of three national series (NASCAR Cup Series™, NASCAR Xfinity Series™, and NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series™), four regional series (ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series East & West and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour), one local grassroots series and three international series. The International Motor Sports Association™ (IMSA®) governs the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship™, the premier U.S. sports car series. NASCAR also owns Motor Racing Network, Racing Electronics, Americrown Service and ONE DAYTONA. Based in Daytona Beach, Florida, with offices in eight cities across North America, NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races in more than 30 U.S. states, Canada, Mexico and Europe. For more information visit www.NASCAR.com and www.IMSA.com, and follow NASCAR on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat (‘NASCAR’).
Source: Darlington Raceway
Photo Credit: John K. Harrelson/Harrelson Photography
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