TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Jimmie Johnson was limbering up before a 62-mile open-road ride through rustic and rolling Alabama when he veered his borrowed Trek down Talladega Boulevard. The Bourbon Street meets Bowery of the interior campground of Talladega Superspeedway was sedate at mid-afternoon, perhaps as the denizens slept off the after-effects of the parade and barbecue sauce wrestling from the previous night. Some had already mounted elevated positions and pressed against the two-by-four guard rails of their campers to await the Xfinity Series race.
As the six-time Sprint Cup champion swooped through the six-point intersection, down the corridor of campers and tents, he rode next to a group of young men with matching female bikini body T-shirts and six packs in their mitts.