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A LITTLE BIT OF
EVERYTHING
Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion
and three-time NHMS winner, Jimmie Johnson,
isn’t just going to miss racing at “The Magic Mile.”
by Jared Turner
When Jimmie Johnson straps in his race car for Sunday
afternoon’s Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 and takes the
green flag for what will likely be the final time at New
Hampshire Motor Speedway, it will almost certainly be
a particularly bittersweet moment for the seven-time
NASCAR Cup Series champion.
After all, Johnson’s connections to this part of the country
run much deeper than his on-track success at NHMS, where
he’s captured three premier series victories – the last of
them coming in 2010. In addition to all of this, Johnson has
a special affinity for the area within reasonable distance
of the track, extending as far as an hour and 15 minutes
southeast to Boston where he fulfilled a lifelong dream by
competing in the 2019 Boston Marathon.
For Johnson, trips to New Hampshire Motor Speedway
are about more than jumping in his No. 48 Hendrick
Motorsports Chevrolet and trying to perform well on Sunday
afternoon. They’re also about great memories, and Johnson
has made an awful lot of them, both here at the track and
nearby, since coming to “The Magic Mile” for the first time
as a NASCAR Cup Series driver in July 2002.
What will Johnson miss about New Hampshire race
weekends? In short: a little bit of everything.
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