Jimmie Johnson only just retired from racing full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series last month, but he was back at Daytona International Speedway this week preparing for the 24 Hours of Daytona — also known as the Rolex 24, an endurance race in January at the iconic track.
While he’s making his eighth Rolex 24 start — it’s also his first since 2011 — with an all-star team that includes 2019 Indy 500 champ Simon Pagenaud, that wasn’t the only topic he addressed Wednesday during a press conference.
Despite Johnson’s NASCAR retirement, he’s still eligible for The Clash, a preseason exhibition race on Daytona’s road course just days before the 2021 season-opening Daytona 500. He won the race in 2019 and 2005.
But the 45-year-old driver said he’s not considering running the upcoming Clash event, nor has anyone called about it.
Jimmie Johnson, at his Rolex 24 test, says he hasn’t had any calls about the Busch Clash and he indicated that he needs to stay out of stock cars while learning IndyCars: pic.twitter.com/jss0OAM6dd
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) December 9, 2020
Johnson explained why the exhibition race isn’t on his radar right now, noting that he’s more focused on his transition to racing in the IndyCar Series next year for Chip Ganassi Racing.
When FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass asked Johnson if he would entertain the idea of running The Clash, he said:
“I don’t think so right now. I feel like just in pure transparency that I need to not drive a stock car for a while to really reprogram my senses and my brain to drive downforce. It’s just a totally different way to get through a center of the corner.
“I’m even spending time right now driving in a street car at the track with tons of teenagers. I’m the old guy showing up with grey in his beard around a bunch of teenagers, but it’s really a great tool for me to learn how to use downforce and how quickly things come at you in a car with downforce. So right now, I really need to stay focused on developing the right habits for an Indy car.”
Johnson is running run 13 road and street course races in 2021 for Chip Ganassi Racing in the No. 48 car, while IndyCar legend Tony Kanaan will handle the car on the oval races, including the Indy 500.
After the Rolex 24 at the end of January, Johnson will have a little more than a month to prepare for the start of the 2021 IndyCar season in St. Petersburg. He’s talked about the “very steep learning curve” in his transition to a totally different style of racing, so it sounds like he wants as much practice and training as he can get.
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