Jimmie Johnson retired from full time IndyCar racing at the end of last season, but still has ambitions to run the Indianapolis 500 an additional time this year.
The 47-year-old Hall of Fame driver recently formalized some of the details of his NASCAR ownership ambitions by announcing a name change for his team, rebranding Petty GMS to Legacy Motor Club.
Johnson plans to contest this year’s Daytona 500 as a driver as well as a few other races throughout the season, but his full schedule is not yet finalized.
Driving for Chip Ganassi Racing in IndyCar for the past two seasons has given the California-native an easy path to run in the Indy 500 this year if he wants, and CGR has shown willingness to run a fifth entry to accommodate him.
Johnson acknowledges that CGR needs a final decision from him soon so that it can prepare appropriately before the late-May event.
“The [NASCAR] All-Star race is really high on my personal list, so I hope to do it, but there’s the Indy 500 piece that is out there on the IndyCar side and that would be a conflict,” Johnson told the Associated Press.
“I know that CGR needs a decision soon. They’re going to allocate engine sets and still trying to get the pieces to fall into place, and part of that is from sponsorship perspective.”
Johnson went on to say that even though his NASCAR involvement is with a Chevrolet engines, he has permission to run the Indy 500 in a Honda-powered CGR entry if he wants to do so.
He also maintains personal sponsorship deals with Carvana, which could help make a second Indy 500 possible, despite the company’s struggles over the past year.
