NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson will make his IndyCar oval debut this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, and he is letting himself have higher expectations for the familiar track.
Many people have placed their own expectations upon Johnson since he joined IndyCar, saying that he should be more competitive despite changing disciplines after many years driving stock cars.
But he has allowed himself to have those same high expectations for this weekend’s race from Texas, which places him in more familiar territory. Johnson will be able to put the racecraft he honed for over 20 years to use on the 1.5-mile oval.
The 46-year-old has led a combined 1,152 laps at Texas Motor Speedway over the years, and has even had the victory circle named in his honor on account of his past performances at the track.
Speaking ahead of the event, Johnson revealed that he is optimistic about his chances of a good result this weekend, and he is expecting to have one of his best open wheel races to date.
“I certainly do have higher expectations of myself moving on to the ovals,” said Johnson. “I really feel like I need to be further up in the field or would like to be further up in the field.
“I certainly feel like qualifying, having the opportunity to qualify on the oval this weekend, in the equipment I’ll be in, I should be able to have a career-best starting position. Then look forward from there, try to understand traffic, race my way into the top 10, top 5 if possible.
“I have not been in traffic yet, so I know I still have a huge hurdle there with racecraft, getting into things.
“For qualifying I feel more optimistic than I have for any qualifying session. And I haven’t been in an oval qualifying session yet. Excited to get there, get going and see where I stack up.”
In addition to this weekend’s race at Texas, Johnson is contesting the entire IndyCar schedule this season, including the Indianapolis 500.
