Jimmie Johnson aims to end drought at Chicagoland track in Chase opener

Jimmie Johnson’s dominance on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit is unmatched among his contemporaries.

His six Cup championships rank third all time; only legends Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Richard Petty have more, with seven each. Johnson is also the only driver to have won five consecutive titles.

But he hasn’t won at Chicagoland Speedway.

He will try to end that drought Sunday at the Joliet, Ill., track in the MyAFibRisk.com 400, the opener in the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Johnson, who turned 40 last week, shares the Chase points lead with Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch. He will start 12th Sunday based on Friday morning practice runs as afternoon rain washed out qualifying.

Johnson rebounded during practice runs Saturday with a 10-lap average speed of 180.035 mph, topping a 27-driver field.

Though he hasn’t won in 13 races at Chicagoland, he does have three second-place finishes, most recently in 2012. He also has the top driver rating and best average top running position — 7.129 — at Joliet among the 16 Chase contenders.

Johnson, who drives the No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, has four victories, 11 top fives and 17 top 10s this season. Three of his wins have come on 1.5-mile tracks similar to Chicagoland, but he hasn’t won since May 31.

Because of that, he’s rarely mentioned among the favorites to win the Cup despite his success.

“It’s hard to call a six-time champion a sleeper, but nobody thinks he’s going to win it this year,” said rival Brad Keselowski, who won last year’s Chase opener at Chicagoland. “He enters with very little to no media [attention and] that makes him a sleeper.”

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The Xfinity Series race was a rout for Joe Gibbs Racing as Kyle Busch won after he and Kenseth combined to lead 186 of the 200 laps. Kenseth slid past Busch to take control with two laps remaining, but Busch snatched the lead back and sailed off to his record 74th career Xfinity Series victory. Kenseth was stuck behind John Wes Townley over the final lap, which held him up and prevented him from making another attempt at the win.

“The best car didn’t win tonight but the best driver did,” Kenseth said.

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John Hunter Nemechek grabbed the first victory of his career by capitalizing in the Truck Series race when others didn’t have the fuel to make it to the finish. The second-generation NASCAR driver was running second behind Kyle Larson when Larson ran out of gas two laps from the finish. With Larson coasting on the bottom of the track, Nemechek cruised past him to grab his first national series victory. Nemechek turned 18 in June and drives for a team fielded by his father, journeyman Joe Nemechek.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.