The American sprintcar star has been making the trip Down Under for 14 years and, while he is yet to taste ultimate success in the Lucas Oil Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic, he has come close a couple of times.

He finished runner-up to three-time champion Kerry Madsen in 2008 and was third in 2011 behind Steven Lines, who claimed a hat-trick of wins from 2011-2013, and Brooke Tatnell, another three-time champion.

But still riding a high from his Knoxville win in August, Johnson thinks 2017 could be his year.

“I feel we have a team with the calibre capable of winning a classic,” he said.

“But fate will run its course.

“With the format (at Premier Speedway), obviously you know you’ve just got to be spot on every time you hit the racetrack.”

The 40-year-old is paying a whirlwind visit to Australia, landing in the country on Wednesday ahead of Mount Gambier’s Kings Challenge on Thursday night, ahead of launching his Classic campaign on Saturday night.

At Borderline Speedway, Johnson won the first heat of the night, starting out of pole, and moving up to eighth in his second heat after starting from the back of the field.

The results earned him a start out of spot five for the A-main, which was abandoned due to rain.

“We felt really good … in the feature, we started out of fifth and we got up to third at the point the rain came,” Johnson said.

“But I felt like we had a car that could’ve carried on (to win).”

Johnson will take on the likes of south-west hopes Jamie Veal, who is reigning champion, and the in-form James McFadden on night two of the Classic, as well as past champion Max Dumesny.

Johnson said he had been receiving a lot of positive feedback from fellow competitors, speedway fans and marketing partners since he took out the Knoxville Nationals in August last year – a thrilling win over Knoxville star Donny Schatz, who has finished on the podium of the famous race 12 times.

“To be able to pull off a victory racing against Donny – it’s not like he had failure or had trouble – it was more a shoulder-to-shoulder with him,” Johnson said.

“I feel like, since Knoxville, our team has more confidence there and the guys are upbeat because they know we’re capable of winning prestigious races.”

Johnson thanked the Australia team he has signed on with, Diamond Bay Motorsport, as well as good friends Gary and Tracy Douglass. “They always open their doors and welcome us in,” he said.