NASCAR: Top 3 replacement candidates for Jimmie Johnson at Hendrick Motorsports

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FONTANA, CA – MARCH 17: Tyler Reddick, driver of the #9 Nationwide Children’s Chevrolet (Photo by Sarah Crabill/Getty Images) /

Tyler Reddick

Tyler Reddick, 22, is probably the most likely option to replace Jimmie Johnson in the #48 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports at this point once he retires from NASCAR Cup Series competition. That said, this could definitely change, as Johnson’s contract does run through the 2020 season.

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Reddick currently drives the #9 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, the team co-owned by Hendrick Motorsports team owner Rick Hendrick, in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Of the team’s four drivers, he is the only one under age 31 at age 22.

The three Hendrick Motorsports drivers not named Jimmie Johnson are all 24 years or younger right now. Given the current youth movement in the Cup Series right now, it is hard to see Hendrick Motorsports hiring any of the other three JR Motorsports drivers, who are 31-year-old Justin Allgaier, 31-year-old Michael Annett and 42-year-old Elliott Sadler, over the 22-year-old Reddick to replace Johnson.

Reddick drove part-time in the Xfinity Series for Chip Ganassi Racing in the 2017 season after driving full-time for Brad Keselowski Racing in the Truck Series in the 2015 season and the 2016 season and part-time for the team in the 2014 season. He won his first Xfinity Series race as a full-time driver for JR Motorsports at Daytona to open up the 2018 season, and he did so by beating Sadler to the finish line in what is the closest finish in NASCAR history.

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Which driver will end up replacing Jimmie Johnson at Hendrick Motorsports in the #48 Chevrolet once he retires from his NASCAR Cup Series career? Will it be one of the three drivers discussed in this article, or will it be another driver?

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