Talladega stands statistically as Jimmie Johnson’s worst-performing track based on his Driver Rating of 81.5. Johnson, however, has won twice at ‘Dega, most recently in the spring of 2011. Johnson has performed at the 2.66-mile superspeedway when it counted most with top-10 Chase finishes in four of his five championship seasons.

The exception was 2006 when Johnson was swept up in a final-lap accident, finished 24th but still came back to claim his first NSCS title. He was 26th a year ago when the championship streak ended. Johnson has been snake-bitten to say the least in 2012 restrictor-plate races with finishes of 42nd, 35th and 36th.