By Mike Haag, Raceday San Antonio
FORT WORTH – He’s back!
Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Jimmie Johnson is back racing this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.
The 48-year old Johnson will be making his second start of the season in the No. 84 Advent Health Toyota Camry XSE for Legacy Motor Club.
Johnson, who has not raced since competing at the Daytona 500 in February where he started 23rd and finished 28th, is racing on a part-time basis in 2024. In addition to racing at Texas, Johnson will also race at Dover Motor Speedway (April 28), Kansas Speedway (May 5 and Sept. 29), Indianapolis Motor Speedway (July 21), Charlotte Motor Speedway (May 26), Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Oct. 20) and Phoenix Raceway (Nov. 10).
Johnson has a storied history of great success at TMS. He leads the NASCAR Cup Series in wins with seven victories (2007, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 sweep and 2017) in 35 starts.
“It’s funny now, the way the place drives, just have a lot of anxiety about turns one and two,” Johnson said. “In the previous configuration, that was really the most fun you could have on a mile-and-a-half was turns one and two. Bummed that it’s still not there, but it is the same for everybody – it is what it is.
“The track, where I’ve had my most success, is a track that you could run from line to wall. The bumps were in the worst place possible, but that was great and that created mistakes for the drivers and technical challenge for the teams, and I thought it made it where you really had to race the racetrack.”
During the 30-minute morning practice session on Saturday, Johnson only completed nine laps. He got loose and hit the wall in the first turn and damaged the race car. Not only did the incident force him to skip the rest of the practice session, but he also missed qualifying while his crew made repairs to the car. He was 34th after the practice session with a best lap time of 29.204, 184.906 mph.
“It is a bit different – there is no doubt,” Johnson said while comparing the track’s current configuration to the track he raced on prior to his retirement of full-time racing. “I felt like we did a nice job trying to get me ready in the simulator. Unfortunately, I just got a little loose in turn one – I caught it – but it is such a narrow lane, that once I caught the car I was in the wall, and I was kind of along with the ride then. We’ve got the car in the garage area – there is no doubt the AdventHealth Toyota won’t make qualifying, but it’s unclear if it’s a back-up car or just fixing the body and the right rear corner.”
Johnson, who will start 37th on the grid for Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 race, said he is still trying to get used to the NASCAR Next Gen car.
“I found last year with the limited races that I’ve run is really, really different,” Johnson said. “I think the first 80 percent is normal, maybe 90 percent. But that last little bit and where you run the car – I spent a lifetime running a car off the right rear. This car you just cannot do that. From the aero platform, the tire and I believe the side wall stiffness of the tire, you can’t slip and slide this car around like I like to do.”
Johnson added, “Of course, I want to run as well as I can. I want to run all the laps. I want to help our company grow and really work through this first quarter, first half of the season with our change to Toyota. There is just a lot of new things that we trying to get our arms around. We’ve had some speed at times, but consistently having the speed is a big objective for us right now, and I hope that my participation this weekend helps us take a step in the right direction.”
Media Center Interview
Jimmie Johnson (No. 84 Legacy Motor Club Toyota) –
