Chip Ganassi Racing has confirmed seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson has signed a two-year deal with the team to explore opportunities to run in the NTT IndyCar Series.
Johnson is looking to take part in a full road and street course programme in both the 2021 and 2022 seasons, but has expressed interest in participating in the Indianapolis 500 in his second season.
In July, Johnson tested Felix Rosenqvist’s No.10 Ganassi-Honda on the Indianapolis road course and he is now set to pursue a career in IndyCar.
“When I tested Chip’s Indy car earlier in the year, it only lit the fire more,” said Johnson.
“I found that I wanted to do it more than ever before. Scott [Dixon] was just incredible to work with and in a short time I found out very quickly why Chip and his teams have won 12 IndyCar Championships.
“As part of a natural progression, I wanted to publicly show the alignment with Chip Ganassi Racing to kick the sponsorship programme into high gear.
“The goal is to run the full road and street programme and today is a very important first step in accomplishing that goal.”
Johnson now has to secure a financial package to run his desired programme in what would be a fourth car for the Ganassi outfit with Dixon, Rosenqvist and Marcus Ericsson already signed up.
“It is always difficult to find great drivers but for them to be great guys too makes it even that much more challenging,” added Team Owner Chip Ganassi.
“To pair Jimmie with the likes of Scott Dixon is quite an opportunity. They are truly in rarified air and I think everyone knows by now that ‘I like winners’.
“The goal right now is for us to run Jimmie in an IndyCar for at least the next couple of seasons, and we want to show people we’re serious about the program.
“We felt it was important to get the partnership done and start putting the financial building blocks in place to make this a reality.
“Jimmie’s record speaks for itself and we feel a championship-level driver of his calibre can only make our team better.”
