Question: who drove the 48 car before jimmie johnson

title: Jimmie Johnson
text: Johnson began the 2016 season with a 16th - place finish at the Daytona 500 . In the next race at Atlanta Motor Speedway , he won his 1st race of the season and the 76th of his career , tying Dale Earnhardt for seventh on the all - time wins list . Johnson finished third and eleventh in the next two events of the season at Las Vegas and Phoenix . His second victory of the season came in the fifth race , the Auto Club 400 , where Johnson passed Harvick in an overtime finish . It was also the first time since 2011 that he finished in the top five at the Auto Club Speedway . In the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway , Johnson recorded a 9th - place finish after moving through the field after qualifying 24th . One week later , Johnson finished fourth in the Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway despite suffering minor damage during a 13 - car accident that occurred within 50 laps of the finish .