Lowe's bet on a rookie, and hedged the bet

Lowe's was not new to racing when it met Jimmie Johnson. The home-improvement chain dates its first car sponsorship to 1960. It came into modern Cup racing in 1995 with team owner Junior Johnson and driver Brett Bodine, then moved to Mike Skinner's No. 31 at Richard Childress Racing in 1997. From 1999, Charlotte's speedway carried its name as Lowe's Motor Speedway.

So Lowe's knew what a race program could do. What made its next move unusual was who it chose.

An unproven driver, and a safety net

In 2000, Johnson was a Busch Series driver who went to Jeff Gordon for advice. Gordon ended up pushing Rick Hendrick to hire him, and became a partner in the new No. 48 team. Lowe's, then headquartered in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, signed on as its multi-year primary sponsor.

Lowe's also took an associate sponsorship on Gordon's No. 24 at the same time. That was the hedge: if the unknown rookie didn't work out, Lowe's would still be on a proven winner's car. Lowe's marketing chief later said the company dropped that associate deal quickly, because it turned out not to be needed.

Johnson made three Cup starts in the No. 48 Lowe's car in 2001. His first Cup car wore a red, white and blue "Power of Pride" scheme, put on shortly after September 11. In 2002 he put the car on the pole for the Daytona 500 as a rookie, and won his first Cup race at California on April 28.

1. 2001Three Cup starts in the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet, in "Power of Pride" colors.
2. 2002Daytona 500 pole as a rookie. First Cup win at California in April.
3. 2006–10Five straight Cup championships.
4. 2013Sixth title.
5. 2015Lowe's extends through 2017. Johnson has made 497 Cup starts, every one with Lowe's as primary sponsor.
6. 2016Seventh title, tying Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt.
7. 2018Lowe's announces it won't return in 2019, and later leaves NASCAR altogether.

What 17 seasons looked like

By the time Lowe's announced its exit in March 2018, it had been the No. 48's only primary sponsor since 2001. Over that stretch the team won seven Cup titles, 83 points-paying races and 35 poles, with 222 top-fives and 341 top-10s. Johnson won at least three races in every full season from 2002 through 2015. ESPN reported Lowe's was likely paying more than $20 million a year.

Why it held

Winning is the obvious reason, but it isn't the only one. The core group stayed together: the same driver, the same sponsor, and crew chief Chad Knaus from 2002 onward. Lowe's framed the program around its more than 265,000 employees as much as its customers. And it used the car for its own brands, with a Kobalt Tools scheme in 2010 and "Lowe's For Pros" in 2018, instead of only the corporate logo.

The program also lived inside the stores. Lowe's put No. 48 race-car shopping carts on the sales floor for families to push around, which turned a TV sponsorship into something a kid could sit in on a Saturday morning.

How it ended

On March 14, 2018, Lowe's announced it would not return after that season. The reason it gave was strategy, not results: it was evolving its approach and redirecting the investment. Later that year, under new CEO Marvin Ellison, Lowe's confirmed it was leaving NASCAR entirely.

There may be one more chapter. In August 2026, Motorsport.com reported that Johnson revealed Lowe's will return as a co-sponsor of his farewell start in the 2027 Daytona 500.