MOORESVILLE, N.C. – Jimmie Johnson confirmed on Tuesday that his first oval test in an Indy car will likely take place at Homestead-Miami Speedway in August.
“Yeah, we’re looking at a Homestead test in August,” Johnson said Tuesday evening. “I’ve been kind of out of pocket on vacation for the last week or two and need to dive back in, but last I heard things were really heading that direction for late August.”
That will be the next step in the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and current NTT IndyCar Series rookie potentially running in the 106th Indianapolis 500 in 2022.
He believes his experience in NASCAR on ovals will translate much better to an Indy car than what he has experienced so far as an IndyCar rookie, competing on just the street and road course races on the schedule.
“I feel like there’s some carryover, and if there is — of all the tracks we run on, street, road and oval, there should be some crossover on oval,” Johnson said. “I found there to be zero crossover on road courses, so that’s interesting.
“I spent some time talking with Juan Pablo Montoya, and he felt like when he was able to return to IndyCar after his NASCAR experience that there was a lot of knowledge that he could bring over and driving technique, and he felt like he had a leg up on the traditional IndyCar drivers at that point.
“That’s the carrot that’s hanging out in front of me. I’m running around the back of the pack now on street and road courses, and thinking, ‘Man, if I was on an oval where would I be?’
“That’s the balance I’m fighting with right now, the risk versus reward during an oval race.”
Johnson also said that depending on how well he does in the test, he likely would not run the full season in IndyCar. It would be to help prepare himself for a potential run in next year’s Indianapolis 500.
“It’s just too early to tell,” Johnson said. “Right now, it’s really just focused on getting ready for the 500. It would depend on how the test would go. Honestly to run a full schedule next year would really be complicated, so I don’t know how realistic that opportunity would be at the end of the day.
“We have a commitment with Tony Kanaan and the 48 car and all the sponsors that he was able to raise and bring on board to run those four races, so to run a one off at the 500 is a more realistic option than looking at the full schedule, but we’ll just have to see how things unfold.”
Jimmie Johnson. (IndyCar Photo)