Jimmie Johnson’s Hall of Fame NASCAR career may be over, but the seven-time Cup Series champion is far from retired.
His career has simply taken a new direction with the NTT IndyCar Series his new focus. Johnson will drive the No. 48 Carvana/American Legion Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing in 13 road course races this season.
“This has been the busiest offseason I’ve ever had,” Johnson said. “I was in the Indy car immediately following the last NASCAR race at Phoenix. The IndyCar team at Chip Ganassi Racing and then the IMSA prototype, there is a sim for both cars, there are seat fittings for each car, getting to learn the names of crew members, teams and systems, it has been by far the busiest winter.
“Chani (Johnson’s wife) and I joke all the time, here I thought I was slowing down, but it’s been way busier than any offseason I’ve ever been a part of.”
Johnson started his first NASCAR Cup Series season by winning the pole for the 2002 Daytona 500 and won three races before the end of the year.
Nineteen years later, Johnson is a rookie again, this time in IndyCar as he gets to compete in the series that fueled his interest in racing when he and his family attended the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
“The Long Beach Grand Prix as a kid, just the anticipation and excitement from the parking lot all the way into wherever you are watching the race from, watching the cars go by was exciting,” Johnson recalled. “There’s such a neat environment that’s involved.
“I remember parking our car, hearing the engines running, the shifts, the rev limiters, just all the sounds you have at a street circuit race. My heart would start racing, excitement to catch a glimpse of a car going by, crossing over a pedestrian bridge, hearing them scream underneath you, would just get your adrenaline pumping.
“When I went to St. Pete last October, it was funny how familiar that was, how similar it was when I was a kid going to the Long Beach Grand Prix.”
Tony Kanaan, the 2004 IndyCar Series champion and 2013 Indianapolis 500 winner, will drive the No. 48 car in the four oval races on the schedule.
Johnson’s new challenge has reinvigorated a driver who is easily one of the greatest stock car drivers of all-time.
With 83 Cup Series victories, Johnson is the only driver in NASCAR history to win five straight (2006-’10) championships.
“Emotionally, I’m really excited for the experiences ahead and being able to run in a series I dreamed of running in as a kid is a really special opportunity for me,” Johnson said. “But at the same time, it’s not going to be easy. I’m not going to look very good for a while, so I know I have a lot of work ahead of myself, but I’m really enjoying the process and enjoying this journey.”
As a 45-year-old IndyCar Series rookie, Johnson is realistic in his approach to the new series. He got his first real taste of Indy car racing during tests at Sebring (Fla.) Int’l Raceway in January and California’s WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in early February.
“There are so many things that are foreign to me, working through a lot of those little technicalities with the car, with the cockpit, procedures, then trying to get some laps in there as well,” Johnson said. “There were so many cars here. To get out on the track, find a clean spot to run and take my time getting up to speed has been a bit challenging with the heavy traffic and how fast these guys are.”
During the Sebring test, Johnson turned a session-high 160 laps with a fast time of 53.691 seconds. His CGR teammate, six-time IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon, was the fastest with a 52.350-second lap.
“They handed me a sheet that compared me to Dixon,” Johnson explained. “The slow-speed stuff I was really trending well, didn’t have a lot to work on there. It was the high-speed corners, the flat-out corners where you have to trust the vehicle, trust the downforce that the vehicle provides. That’s where I had my biggest gap. I assume that’s still the case. I look forward to more reps really to help close that gap.”
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