NASCAR: Regan Smith thinks 2018 season will be Jimmie Johnson’s last
By Asher Fair
Former full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver Regan Smith thinks the 2018 season will be seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson’s final season in the sport.
Will the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season be the final season during which seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, 42, drives the #48 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports as a full-time driver? One former full-time Cup Series driver thinks so.
Regan Smith, 34, said on NASCAR Race Hub that he believes the 2018 season, which is set to be Johnson’s 17th season as a full-time driver in the sport dating back to 2002, will be his final season as a driver in the sport.
Here is what Smith, who last drove full-time in the Cup Series in the 2016 season and has one career win, which was at Darlington in the 2011 season, to his name in 213 races, had to say about the subject, according to Auto Zaurus.
"“I think this is the last year we see Jimmie Johnson race. I think he’s going to retire after this year. I don’t have any inside information, but something tell me has to be getting to that point in his career.”"
Smith also drove in two races in the 2017 season for Richard Petty Motorsports as a replacement for the injured Aric Almirola in the #43 Ford.
More from Jimmie Johnson
- NASCAR: Lowe’s leaving as sponsor following conclusion of 2018 season
- NASCAR: Jimmie Johnson/Danica Patrick comparison is completely inaccurate
- NASCAR: Jimmie Johnson now on career-long winless streak
- NASCAR Cup Series: Will 2018 season be Jimmie Johnson’s last?
- NASCAR: Are Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus the Bill Belichick and Tom Brady of NASCAR?
Johnson, meanwhile, has driven in 579 career Cup Series races since starting out as a part-time driver in the 2001 season. He has driven in every single race from the 2002 season all the way up until now, and he has won 83 races, which is one win away from a 4th place tie on the all-time Cup Series victories list.
Johnson has never won fewer than two races in a full season, and he has won as many as 10 races in a single season before. He pulled that off back in the 2007 season. His seven championships have come in the 2006 season, the 2007 season, the 2008 season, the 2009 season, the 2010 season, the 2013 season and the 2016 season.
Johnson is the only driver in Cup Series history to win more than three championships in a row, and he won five in a row from the 2006 season to the 2010 season. An eighth championship would give him the all-time record not only in the Cup Series but across IndyCar and Formula One as well.
Next: Top 10 NASCAR drivers of all-time
Will the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season be the last time Jimmie Johnson drives the iconic #48 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports as a full-time driver? The season is set to get underway with the 60th annual Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 18th.