Seven time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson has tested positive for COVID-19, Hendrick Motorsports announced Friday evening.
The driver of the #48 was set to compete at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend as part of his last full season in the Cup series on his way to retiring from the series.
“My first priority is the health and safety of my loved ones and my teammates,” said Johnson.
“I’ve never missed a race in my Cup career, but I know it’s going to be very hard to watch from the sidelines when I’m supposed to be out there competing.
Although this situation is extremely disappointing, I’m going to come back ready to win races and put ourselves in playoff contention.”
The news comes on the same day that it was announced that Felipe Nasr had tested positive for COVID-19. Nasr was scheduled to drive the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-VR at Daytona this weekend, but will sit out this and future IMSA rounds until he has recovered.
Johnson was tested early on Friday after he learned that his wife had tested positive for the virus, and received his own positive result shortly after. The rest of his team and NASCAR were immediately notified of the result, and one crew member who was in recent contact with Johnson will also be quarantined.
Xfinity series regular Justin Allgaier will step in to run the race at The Brickyard this weekend in Johnson’s car.
In a statement, NASCAR said, ”[We have] outlined the steps for Johnson’s return, in accordance with the CDC’s current guidelines, which includes that Johnson is symptom-free and has two negative COVID-19 test results, at least 24 hours apart.
“NASCAR requires Johnson to be cleared by his physician before returning to racing.”
Johnson was also set to test an IndyCar with Chip Ganassi Racing on the road course at IMS next week, but now that session has been called off. He had an IndyCar test scheduled for earlier in the year as well, before that one was cancelled due to general COVID-19 precautions rather than a specific incident.
Johnson has shown interest in open wheel racing over the past few years, participating in a ride swap with Fernando Alonso in 2018 and attending the IndyCar open test session at Circuit of the Americas this past February.
