Johnson wants to earn home-track win for Knaus

CONCORD, N.C. -- Jimmie Johnson has visited Victory Lane 69 times in his Sprint Cup Series career.

He has earned multiple wins at 16 tracks, and is even one victory away from double-digits at Dover.

But he has yet to win at Chicagoland Speedway.

"I’ve been so close to winning there," Johnson said. "My own personal goal and really, kind of a team goal, is to win there for (crew chief) Chad (Knaus)."

Knaus hails from Rockford, Illinois, just north of the 1.5-mile speedway.

So the hometown track holds a special place for the crew chief.

"I think for sure that obviously growing up in Rockford, Illinois, which is 90 miles away from there, you have a little bit of a sense of ownership to the racetrack," Knaus said. "Unfortunately it hasn't been the best for us -- we've had a lot of good, strong finishes there and a lot of really strong runs, but we haven't had the victory yet."

In 10 of his 12 starts at Chicagoland, Johnson has finished in the top 10. He has seven top-five finishes and has led 577 laps at the track. But he has yet to find Victory Lane.

Still, his average finish of 8.9 leads Johnson to feel that Chicagoland is a "strong track" for the No. 48 team.

For Knaus and Johnson, winning there this Sunday to kick off the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup would mean one thing -- advancing.

"We would make it to the next Chase segment, and that's all that really matters at this point," Knaus said.

It would also check another "winless" track off of the No. 48 team's list, following Johnson's first-ever win at Michigan International Speedway earlier this season.

"It'd be nice to get another one," Knaus said.

But Johnson reiterated that he also wants to earn the win "at Chad’s home track.”

And the crew chief -- who said his father and brother plan to attend this Sunday's race -- acknowledged that he appreciates Johnson's sentiment.

"He knows that I want to win there badly, obviously," Knaus said. "Jimmie, as silly as it is, the guy cares for me for some reason, so he wants to try to make me happy, and that's awesome."