By Sarah Handy, Staff Writer
In this week’s edition of Throwback Thursday, Kickin’ The Tires relives NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson’s emotional win in his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports at Martinsville Speedway on October 24, 2004.
In the race, Johnson started 18th in his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports but with seven laps remaining in the Subway 500 from Martinsville Speedway Johnson was able to pull away from competitors Rusty Wallace and Ryan Newman on the restart.
The victory, Johnson’s first at the track known as the paperclip climbed the El Cajon, CA native four spots in the Chase playoff standings leaving him 207 points behind competitor Kurt Busch who led a race-high 120 laps.
However, Johnson’s celebration would be short lived after doing a victory burnout on the front stretch for the fans in attendance.
Shortly following the Subway 500, Johnson and his Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jeff Gordon, Brian Vickers and Terry Labonte all learned about the fatal Hendrick Motorsports plane crash that killed all 10 people on board.
Before the race a Beechcraft Super King Air carrying 10 people crashed into nearby Bull Mountain. Seven of those who lost their lives were Hendrick personnel including John Hendrick (Rick Hendrick’s brother), his two daughters Kimberly and Jennifer, Ricky Hendrick (Rick’s son), Jeff Turner the Hendrick Motorsports general manager, Randy Dorton the Hendrick’s Director of Engine Operations, Joe Jackson an executive for Jeff Gordon’s sponsor DuPont, Scott Lathram a pilot for Tony Stewart as well as pilots Richard Tracy and Elizabeth Morrison.
(Photo: Hendrick Motorsports/Twitter)
NASCAR officials learned of the crash during the race but opted to wait until the event was over to tell the Hendrick drivers or the race fans.
As expected, the victory lane celebration was cancelled.
Following the plane crash the Hendrick Motorsports drivers ran an ‘Always in Our Hearts’ schemes on their race cars. The scheme ultimately debuted at Atlanta a race Johnson ended up winning, and fans quickly fell in love with the scheme due to its sentimental value.
(Photo: Darrell Ingham/Getty Images)
Career Update:
Jimmie Johnson has gone on to see a multitude of success in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Since his first win at the paperclip in 2004 Johnson has won at the short track eight other times for a total of nine wins at Martinsville Speedway to go along with 19 Top-5s and 24 Top-10 finishes.
Furthermore, since 2004 Johnson has won seven Cup Championships tying him with the late Dale Earnhardt Sr as well was ‘The King’ Richard Petty.
Currently, Johnson is in a career high race slump and hasn’t found victory lane since the AAA Drive for Autism from Dover International Speedway in May of 2017.
However, that doesn’t take away from the fact that he as 83 MENCS victories, 227 Top-5s, 364 Top-10s and 36 pole awards heading into this weekends First Data 500 from Martinsville.