WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT YOUR FIRST CUP START? JIMMIE JOHNSON -"My first Cup start was here (Lowe's Motor Speedway). It was such a wild weekend. One of my close friends was killed in the ARCA race and that day I qualified for the race, we didn't have provisional, points or anything at the time, whatever that situation was-I think it was provisionals. So to have the ultimate high of qualifying 15th, Robby Gordon was in the Lowe's car at the time and they missed the event, so it looked really good on Hendrick's behalf and my behalf in starting a relationship. Left here with the high of highs, driving up the street and got a phone call that Blaise (Alexander) was in a bad crash and later found out that he has passed. So it was a really tough weekend for me on that front.

"The Busch race on Saturday was very tough for me. Then as I got in to the race on Sunday, I was excited about the opportunity and some of the pain started to slip away. I was able to go out and focus on my job and ran a good first part of the race.

"I spun out right in front of the pack, I think I was running well at the time. I remember sliding in to the wall in three and four and the No. 24 (Jeff Gordon) coming straight for me.

"I thought man, if I crash him, he's in a championship points battle, if I crash him right now, this will not be good for my job. Fortunately, he missed us. It was just so overwhelming to be on this track, especially then and how difficult the track was to drive. I remember my first pit stop, I Ieft the pits, I was in between Mark Martin and Dale Jarrett and it really hit me at that point. I am like WOW, I'm out here with the big boys, this is pretty cool."