NASCAR Cup Series

Johnson enjoys new role - for a day

Published Mar. 25, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Don’t expect five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson to quit his day job any time soon.

But Johnson’s return to Southern California on Wednesday presented the perfect opportunity to test his acting chops for an upcoming episode of FOX’s "Breaking In!"

The 35-year-old El Cajon native played himself in the storyline, which will air on April 20.

“There’s a situation that we have as a race team and the show is based on this,” Johnson said. “Christian Slater runs and owns this investigative service company and we have some issues on our team and we need their help. I go in and talk to his group and go through some things, get some help and they help us solve our problem.

“We have somebody that’s on the radio during the races and they affect me in a way to where I lose the race. We go to them for help. The whole episode is kind of built around the team, the car, us, so it’s going to be really cool and I’m glad to be a part of it. That took most of (Thursday) to be honest. It was a long day. Didn’t seem like it, but once we looked at the watches when we got out of there, it took a full day.”

Fred Savage, director of "Breaking In!," and several of the show’s writers visited Johnson two weeks ago in Las Vegas to gather preliminary information for the shoot. Johnson shot his scenes Thursday at Sony Studios in Los Angeles.

Johnson says he has had no formal acting training. His prior experiences have all been “trial and error.” He credits his time shooting commercials for sponsor Lowe’s as sharpening theatrical skills. Johnson will tackle another Lowe’s spot on Monday before heading back to North Carolina.

Johnson also appeared in an episode of "Las Vegas" in 2006 in which he “had more on camera time and dedicated three or four days to doing” that show.

“We spent a lot of time just doing the same thing over and over,” Johnson said. “They would change cameras and get different angles, close-ups of each person involved. Five or six hours went by and we taped a 2-minute piece just for that. It was a long day with the different scenes we ended up taping.

"The cast, there’s some characters on that cast and there wasn’t a dull moment all day long. I had a great experience with it. It’s an edgy show. Some of the stuff that the actors are going through, there’s no way it will make television, but it was good for laughs and had a great time with it.”

The camaraderie Johnson developed with the other actors created a comfortable environment where he was able to blossom.

“I knew Christian from the different years that he has been out here promoting other programs and projects so (I) hung out with him and talked and then the rest of the cast as well,” Johnson said at Auto Club Speedway. “They’re all going to come out for the race as well, we got them hooked up to come out. Hopefully you guys can grab them.

“The actor that was on Smallville (Michael Rosenbaum), if you look on the website, his hair is all spiky. That guy is a riot. If you have a chance to ask him some questions, you’ll get quality answers. Not sure you can write or repeat much of what he says, but he’ll be entertaining.”