Jimmie Johnson is in the middle of his rookie IndyCar Series season and still working through the steep learning curves of piloting an open-wheeled race car.
The seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champ retired from racing stock cars full time at the end of the 2020 season to make the jump to IndyCar and live out a childhood dream. So far, his best finish was 19th in his IndyCar debut in the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama in April, and most recently, in the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix on a Nashville street course, he wrecked during qualifying and in the race, failing to finish.
But Johnson said he’s “open” to possibly returning to NASCAR for a moonlighting gig if the right opportunity presents itself.
In a Q&A published Wednesday by The Charlotte Observer, when asked if he’d come back to NASCAR if it adds a street race, Johnson laughed and said:
“I’m open. More than anything, I’m trying to keep my race count around 20 races a year and with my road and street courses in IndyCar and then the four IMSA races I’m running for Action Express Racing; I’m right around that 20-race mark. So I’m open, and if a good opportunity came along I would seriously consider it.”
In the IndyCar Series, Johnson is behind the wheel of the No. 48 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, and because Chip Ganassi Racing fields two NASCAR cars as well, returning to stock cars could have been a real option for him.
However, Trackhouse Racing — the NASCAR Cup Series team co-owned by international superstar Pitbull and Justin Marks — announced in June that it’s buying Ganassi’s two-car NASCAR team and will take over in 2022. And Johnson’s former NASCAR team, Hendrick Motorsports, already has a maximum of four cars in the field, so that’s not currently a plausible option for him either.
Johnson also addressed how Ganassi’s exit from NASCAR could impact a potential NASCAR return. More from The Charlotte Observer:
“[T]hat seemed like a very easy, logical path to come run some NASCAR events. There’s the Hendrick Motorsports alliance, plus obviously driving the Ganassi IndyCar, so there’s the crossover. Now that opportunity is no longer there, but the phone has been ringing some. There is some interest from other NASCAR teams out there. I wish that the rules would allow Hendrick to run a fifth car because I would love to come back with Mr. Hendrick and moonlight a little bit in one of his cars, but I don’t know if there’s a realistic way to pull that off.”
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