[10] Johnson finished second in the two races at Fairgrounds Speedway he participated in over those two years. [17], Johnson formally moved to Hendrick in 2002, driving the No. Im 85 years old, so Im not going to be here for another 15 or 20 years, and then Jimmie can kind of take over. Returning to Daytona, Johnson started 12th and led 35 laps before finishing second to Dale Earnhardt Jr., in a repeat of the Talladega race. This was followed by a streak of three poor finishes of 36th at Bristol, 28th at Atlanta, and 40th at Richmond due to crashes and mechanical failures. The next week at Texas, Johnson was again one of the fastest cars, putting up a Top 10 lap before getting loose and hitting the wall in stage 2. Im looking further down the road. [85] He almost won the pole position at Indianapolis but was bumped to second by Ryan Newman. After having two separate spins, he drove his way through a large multicar accident off turn 2, involving Playoff drivers Matt Kenseth and Jamie McMurray, and rebounded with an 11th-place finish. He led 43 of the first 80 laps before he cut a right-front tire that knocked a spark plug loose and affected the handling of the car. Instead, the wreck only spoiled Johnson's race Ericsson . . [151][152], On January 11, 2023, the team was rebranded under the name Legacy Motor Club, with Johnson announced to be running the No. At Sonoma, Johnson led the most laps at 45 laps, but a late-race caution caused by Casey Mears' broken wheel axle cost him, and he was passed by Kyle Busch with five laps to go and slipped back to sixth place. Johnson said he still has a great relationship with Chip Ganassi Racing, whom he raced with in IndyCar the past two seasons. [147], During the fall Texas race, Johnson would gain publicity by running a special scheme created by designer Noah Sweet, otherwise known as Lefty or Lefty Designs. 48 Lowe's-sponsored Chevrolet. Junior Johnson, a stock-car racing giant whose career spanned the sport's history from its moonshining roots to its modern era as a fierce, hard-nosed driver and an innovative mechanic and team. In 2008 Jimmie Johnson also raced in his first-ever truck series race, the O'Reilly 200 at Bristol, where he led 28 laps before spinning out on lap 101. Three years later, Johnson drove for Herzog Motorsports in the off-road truck series in 1996. [5] He also won the season's third event at Antigo before finishing second to Gaughan at Antigo's second race. Seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson has weighed in after making his return to the NASCAR Cup Series. He became NASCARs third seven-time Cup Series champion in 2016, joining Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt. He made . [63] In the following event, the Samsung Mobile 500, Johnson finished second after leading much of the race before he was passed by Greg Biffle. Smith took third, followed by Kyle Busch and Josh Berry. Afterward, he was able to win the UAW-GM Quality 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Two years later, he entered two events, which were both held at Daytona International Speedway. Im looking forward to having him as a part of our team and seeing what we can build together.. He also was able to win the All-Star race for the first time, as well as finishing second with just 90 points behind Matt Kenseth and 207 ahead of his future teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr.[22], In 2004, Johnson started slowly at Rockingham Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway with results of 41st and 16th, after a Top 10 finish in the Daytona 500. In 2013, Johnson began his season with a 14th-place finish in the 2013 Sprint Unlimited when he crashed on lap 14 along with Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, and Denny Hamlin. Johnson will be teamed with Petty GMS full-time drivers: Jones (who delivered the teams first win at the Southern 500) and incoming rookie Noah Gragson. So Im very excited about this.. This would eventually be Johnson's final NASCAR Cup Series win. He was starting over at 44 when he made his first IndyCar debut in April 2021 at Barber Motorsports Park. After running up to the lead through pit stop strategy, Johnson lost an engine on lap 55, relegating him to a 40th-place finish. The following week, he won the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta.[90]. No one in the modern era of NASCAR has won more than Jimmie. If Im going to commit to something like this, I want to make a difference and have something tangible to show for it when its all said and done. [141], The final three races of the regular season saw Johnson battling with Byron and Matt DiBenedetto for the final playoff spots. Alongside Pagenaud and Kobayashi, he will participate in all IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup races for 2021 which include Sebring, Watkins Glen and Road Atlanta. At the Coca-Cola 600, he qualified second, losing the pole position to Kurt Busch by 0.009 seconds. [66] A week later, he matched Gordon and Dale Earnhardt with three wins in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race after winning the 2012 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. He raced in Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group (MTEG), Short-course Off-road Drivers Association (SODA), and SCORE International, winning rookie of the year in each series. 48 Lowe's SS. Johnson will also drive in select races for the team. [223] Johnson, along with Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch, provide commentary in the expansion as the "voices of motorsport". With the retirement of his teammate and mentor, Jeff Gordon, Johnson assumed the active wins record with 75. In 2008, Johnson moved to Bob Stallings Racing with Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty to race in the 2008 Rolex 24 at Daytona, where the team finished second. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. American football coaching legend, Jimmy Johnson, has a net worth of $40 million. Team ownership makes so much sense at this stage of my career and after spending time with Maury and his family, talking with Mike (Beam), Dave (Elenz, crew chief of the No. From my standpoint, its a big, big step. Early life and race career. He is tied in first with Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Richard Petty for most NASCAR Cup Series championships, with 7. [226], This article is about the racing driver. For most of the event, he was in the Top 10 and led 10 laps; he finished seventh.[123]. Jimmie Johnson: Wife, Dating, Family . At Watkins Glen, despite suffering two penalties (lap 3: Overshooting the entrance to the inner loop, and caution No. [130], On July 3, 2020, two days before the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis, Johnson announced he had tested positive for the coronavirus, forcing him to miss the race and Justin Allgaier to take over the No. [212][213], In 2016, Johnson appeared in Blaze and the Monster Machines with fellow NASCAR drivers Chase Elliott, Kasey Kahne and Danica Patrick. Jeffrey Earnhardt finished three laps down in 29th. 1 on Forbes.com's list of "Most Influential Athletes" for two consecutive years (2011, 2012). One week later, Johnson recorded his second victory of the season in the Hollywood Casino 400. He also won Tony Stewart's charity race, the Prelude to the Dream, his first victory on a dirt oval. A man walks into an airport, walks up to the giant board titled . Jimmie Johnson. The pairing of two of NASCARs three seven-time Cup Series champions was announced Friday morning at Phoenix Raceway. Both Johnson and McMurray were uninjured in the accident. Hill, 28, took the races second stage, leading Brandon Jones, Kyle Busch, Sam Mayer and Sammy Smith to the finish line. Johnson entered the 2006 Race of Champions but did not start due to injury received just days before the race. Johnson is also one of the six cover drivers of NASCAR Kart Racing. Harrison Burton admits there was a time when he was not a fan of Jimmie Johnson. I tried once and moved him. A seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, he competes part-time in the series, driving the No. He recovered to finish ninth after being two laps down. Related sponsored items. Harrison Burton crashed in practice after debris apparently punctured his radiator. His talent was noticed by Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon, who convinced owner Rick Hendrick to sign Johnson in the Winston Cup Series full-time for 2002, with Gordon as a part-owner of his car. Johnson's consistency was enough that there were points in the summer where he was more than a full two-race wins' worth of points ahead of Carl Edwards or Clint Bowyer. The following week at Phoenix, Johnson started inside the Top 10 and finished second behind Carl Edwards. [18][37], In December 2007, Johnson commenced a program of exercise sessions and a run schedule supervised by John Sitaras, in order to balance his strength. One highlight of the season was when he saved the car from slamming into the wall when he spun out during qualifications at the first Dover race. One of those included Phoenix in which he won on low fuel and high tire wear after crew chief Chad Knaus decided to stay out late in the race. [211], In 2015, Johnson appeared on the series Repeat After Me and voiced a lobster named Jimmie on the animated kids show Bubble Guppies. [219], Johnson makes a cameo appearance as a pilot in the music video for The Avett Brothers' "Ain't No Man", the lead single from the album True Sadness (2016).[220]. No financial terms were disclosed, and Johnson said he had no partners in the deal. At the second stop in Pocono, Johnson, along with two of his Hendrick teammates, Jeff Gordon, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr, took advantage of several cars running out of fuel to finish in the Top 6 (Gordon finished third, Dale Jr. took fourth, Johnson grabbed sixth). He followed up by finishing 19th. Me and Maury talk all the time about what can we do to improve our situation, make our business bigger, win some more races, Petty said. Despite the poor finishes, Johnson qualified fourth for the Chase. Johnson made his Indianapolis 500 debut later in the year. John Raoux/Associated Press. [125] He bounced back with an 11th-place run in Charlotte's next race Alsco Uniforms 500. Smith led more than half of the race but was caught and passed by Hill and Justin Allgaier near the finish. Feedback on our suggestions. [59] On May 6, 2012, Johnson started 19th in the Aaron's 499 at Talladega, but finished 35th after suffering a broken oil pump belt on lap 62. I felt like we had a decent car. During that stretch, in the 2017 Brickyard 400 on a late race restart, Johnson's Lowe's-sponsored Chevrolet started billowing smoke while running in third-place. [102], Entering the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, the defending champion was still one of the favorites to win the title, despite his results over the summer stretch. He finished 19th at Michigan after the race was called for rain on lap 138. At Kansas, he led nine laps and finished third behind Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne. He started the season by finishing fifth in the Daytona 500 for the second year in a row. During 2009 and 2010, the foundation awarded $1.5million for the Education Champions Grants program. No products in the cart. Jimmie Johnson sent a jolt through the track when he shot to the top of the leaderboard in practice for the Daytona 500. [178] He finished second for a third time in his career. Not just for one year. At Chicagoland Speedway, Johnson started fourth and took the lead on lap 7 from Austin Dillon. Johnson admitted that seeing teammate Alex Palou walk away from a 220mph shunt during practice for the Indianapolis 500 has played a part in helping ease his safety concerns, as has the. This marks the first time in Johnson's NASCAR Cup career that he has finished outside of the Top 10 in the final points. [58] Afterward, he finished fourth and second in the Subway Fresh Fit 500 and Kobalt Tools 400. Johnson appeared as a moonshine runner along with Ryan Newman in the opening scene of the 2004 NASCAR 3D: The IMAX Experience. An announcement is expected this week. Johnson starred in an episode of the television series Las Vegas in 2005. In December 2010, Johnson visited Collinswood Language Academy.