Jimmie Johnson is wrapping up his sophomore season in IndyCar, and still finds himself loving every minute of the second stage of his lengthy career.
After putting an end to his Hall-of-Fame career in NASCAR in 2020, Johnson looked around to see what other adventures he could embark upon in his ‘retirement.’
He was able to convince Chip Ganassi to place him in a fourth car, boosted by significant sponsorship funding from Carvana and The American Legion, in order to tackle a new challenge.
Despite not lighting the world on fire with his results, Johnson is still greatly enjoying his journey in IndyCar and he feels that he’s learning more every time he’s behind the wheel.
“I’m much more comfortable and still loving every minute that I’m in the car,” Johnson told MotorsportWeek.com. “I wish my comfort showed up more on the stopwatch from time to time.
“But I really feel like I’m improving each and every time I’m on the track. I’ve had some new career highs this year on road courses and also had a respectable finish at Iowa. The second half of Gateway really clicked for me, and we got going then.
“It’s been a journey. I did not expect it to be this challenging of a journey. Thankfully I’m in the spot right where I want to experience anything and everything I can, and this is one of those things that is very high on my list. And it hasn’t disappointed one bit.”
Johnson earned his first top five finish in the second race from Iowa Speedway, using his decades of oval experience to find grip on parts of the track that others were not running.
He is still struggling to match his competition’s pace on road courses, but he is much more competitive than last season and has broken into the top 20 a few occasions.
Johnson’s future plans are still not settled, but he and the team are working hard to keep their relationship going so he can drive the #48 entry for at least another year.
“Absolutely,” confirmed Johnson. “Still working hard on it. Thankful to have all our great partners on the car, and the partnership I have with Chip Ganassi Racing. We’re working very hard to keep everything together and keep it going.
“[Keeping Carvana] would be the plan. They have been so supportive of me. I’m really thankful for the working relationship I have with them, and also the friendship that’s built over the past few years.
“It’s just a matter of getting everything put together, and hopefully we will have some progress here shortly.”
