Junior Johnson had been one of NASCAR's most charismatic and fearless drivers during the 1950s and early 1960s before transitioning to team ownership. Drawing on his experience as a competitor and his deep understanding of race-car mechanics, Johnson built an organization that prioritized engineering excellence and driver talent. The team ran under various names across its lifespan, including a period as Johnson Hodgdon Racing after Johnson sold 50 percent of the business to California investor Warner W. Hodgdon in 1982; the partnership lasted until 1985.
Johnson's operation started in 1953 with him driving a No. 75 Oldsmobile at the Southern 500, but the team was largely inactive through the late 1950s before returning to competition in the 1960s. Johnson himself scored thirteen wins in 1965. The team used several drivers in 1966 including A. J. Foyt and Curtis Turner, before LeeRoy Yarbrough joined in 1968.
Yarbrough delivered the team's most celebrated early season in 1969, winning the Daytona 500, the Rebel 400, and the World 600 — becoming the first driver to win NASCAR's unofficial "Triple Crown" in a single season. Yarbrough added four more wins that year for a total of seven, making it one of the most successful seasons any Johnson-led car produced in that era.
Following a period of reduced activity in the early 1970s, Johnson revived the team in 1974 with Canadian rookie Earl Ross, who won at Martinsville and claimed Rookie of the Year honors. Cale Yarborough joined the team alongside Ross and scored four victories. After Ross departed, Yarborough remained and became the driver most associated with Johnson's championship success.
Between 1976 and 1978, Yarborough and Johnson achieved three consecutive Winston Cup championships, a feat that has never been equaled. The Tyson Foods-sponsored cars were a dominant force across superspeedways and short tracks alike. Yarborough narrowly missed a fourth consecutive title at the dramatic 1979 Daytona 500, where a last-lap crash involving Yarborough, Donnie Allison, and the Allison brothers handed victory to Richard Petty. Yarborough departed after the 1980 season, choosing to reduce his racing schedule.
Johnson replaced Yarborough with Darrell Waltrip, who arrived from DiGard Motorsports along with his Mountain Dew sponsorship and crew chief Tim Brewer. Waltrip and Johnson immediately clicked, claiming twelve victories and the 1981 championship. After Brewer left, jackman Jeff Hammond stepped up to crew chief; the combination produced another twelve wins and the 1982 championship, edging Bobby Allison in a tight title battle.
The team switched to Pepsi sponsorship in 1983, and while Waltrip scored wins at Bristol and North Wilkesboro late in the season, he could not wrest the championship from Bobby Allison's DiGard team. Pepsi departed after 1983, and Johnson secured Anheuser-Busch and its Budweiser brand as the new primary sponsor.
With Budweiser funding, Johnson expanded to a two-car operation, adding Neil Bonnett in the No. 12 alongside Waltrip's No. 11. The pair were a dominant combination, scoring sixteen wins across 1984 and 1986, with Waltrip claiming the 1985 championship — his third with Johnson and the team's sixth overall. After 1986, Bonnett's operation was disbanded, and Waltrip departed to join Rick Hendrick.
Johnson signed Terry Labonte to drive the No. 11 for 1987 and 1988. Though Labonte delivered solid top-five points finishes and a win each season, the team did not contend for the championship. For 1989, Johnson switched from Chevrolet to Ford, and Labonte won twice before leaving for Precision Products Racing after the season.
Geoff Bodine replaced Labonte in 1990 and posted two wins, finishing third in the championship standings — the best result the team managed in the post-Waltrip era. Johnson added a second car for 1991, the No. 22, assigning it to Sterling Marlin, who finished seventh in points.
Bill Elliott joined the No. 11 for 1992 in what became one of the most dramatic championship battles in Winston Cup history. Elliott won four of the first five races and led the points for much of the year. In the season finale at Atlanta, Elliott, Alan Kulwicki, and Davey Allison were all mathematically in contention. Kulwicki held off Elliott with a crucial lead-laps bonus, winning the title by eight points despite finishing second in the race. A late pit call by crew chief Tim Brewer, recalled to lead the car, cost Elliott the laps-led bonus that would have given him the championship. Johnson fired Brewer immediately after the race.
For 1993, Elliott remained but the team lost key sponsor Maxwell House Coffee to Bill Davis Racing and reorganized its second car as the No. 27, fielded by Hut Stricklin. Johnson failed to win a race as owner for the first time in the modern era. Jimmy Spencer was hired for the No. 27 in 1994 and won twice — at Talladega and Daytona — but inconsistency plagued the car overall. Elliott secured the final win of the organization's flagship No. 11 at the 1994 Southern 500, but then departed to form his own team, taking the McDonald's sponsorship with him.
Brett Bodine was hired to drive the No. 11 for 1995, with Lowe's as the new sponsor, but the team could not return to victory lane. Bodine finished twentieth in the standings. The No. 27 similarly struggled through a rotation of drivers including Loy Allen Jr., Jeff Purvis, Elton Sawyer, Greg Sacks, and Jimmy Horton.
After 1995, Johnson stepped back from active management. Bodine purchased the No. 11 outright and raced it as Brett Bodine Racing until 2003. The No. 27 was sold to attorney David Blair, who ran it with Elton Sawyer until 1998 before shutting down. The remaining assets were acquired by Travis Carter, who renumbered the car to No. 66 and fielded it for the final seasons of Darrell Waltrip's full-time career.
Junior Johnson & Associates compiled six Winston Cup championships — three with Cale Yarborough consecutively (1976–1978) and three with Darrell Waltrip (1981, 1982, 1985) — a record for a single team owner. The organization served as a proving ground for some of the sport's greatest talents and was central to the growth of NASCAR as a major professional sport during the 1970s and 1980s.