NASCAR Cup Series: A change in Jimmie Johnson’s plans?
By Asher Fair
Jimmie Johnson has stated that he now has “no clue” about retiring after the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season. But would he really change his plans?
A question that many NASCAR fans had when the 2020 Cup Series season was effectively put on hold indefinitely as a result of the coronavirus pandemic had to do with seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson.
Johnson, who has driven the #48 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports since 2001 and as a full-time driver since 2002, announced last November that the 2020 season would be his 19th and final season as a full-time driver in the series.
The question is simple: will Johnson still retire after 2020 regardless of how this unprecedented global crisis plays out?
The 44-year-old El Cajon, California took to Twitter to provide his best answer at this point, and his best answer is that he has “no clue”.
Johnson is right in that “we will all be smarter in the weeks to come”. That statement in itself illustrates how little any of us know, even about our own personal plans.
He truly doesn’t know if the 2020 season will be his last, because none of us knows how the 2020 season will play out, if it does, in fact, play out at all.
But let’s use what we do know as of right now. What we do know indicates that it is still unlikely that he will return in 2021 for beyond maybe a race or two, which is something he never ruled out to begin with.
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I’m not a medical expert and have no idea when the current situation will change. We could go back racing in May like NASCAR is currently planning on. We could go back racing in August. We may not go back racing in 2020. These possibilities exist only as possibilities, not as facts. But there are a few facts we have to work with.
Based on what we know now, including but not limited to the fact that NASCAR has already run four races this year, none of the seven postponed races have been canceled, everything is on the table (no fans in attendance, doubleheaders, midweek races, etc.) and the fact that NASCAR still plans to run all 36 races, I can’t see Johnson feeling the need to return next year, especially since he has embraced this season as his last ever since making his retirement announcement in November.
Even if we do end up in a situation that results in something like 25 or 27 races being contested, would missing a handful races really make Johnson want to return for another 36-race campaign? Doubtful.
But again, he still has “no clue”, and that is 100% believable given the current climate.
Some might argue it depends on which tracks end up with canceled races and whether or not those tracks only have one date on the calendar. But let’s not forget two other important details: the Daytona 500 already happened, and Johnson’s home race at Auto Club Speedway already happened as well. Both were highly publicized as his “final” start in each.
But let’s say that he unexpectedly returns.
Certainly a Johnson return in 2021 would be to the #48 Chevrolet at Hendrick Motorsports. I don’t foresee a Tom Brady-like scenario in which the seven-time champion makes the move to Stewart-Haas Racing or Joe Gibbs Racing after two decades at one organization like Brady did by leaving the New England Patriots for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This isn’t even a remote possibility.
No, he doesn’t have a contract set in stone for past 2020. If he doesn’t retire, he would technically be a free agent after signing a three-year extension back in June of 2017.
But Ally Financial signed an extension with the #48 team last October to remain the full-time primary sponsor through the 2023 season. If Johnson ends up wanting to return, bringing him back would be a no-brainer to say the least, even though Hendrick Motorsports are in a unique position to pick whoever they want, thanks to Ally’s backing.
Let’s also not forget that the team made clear after the 2019 season ended that finding a replacement for him was not a priority. Now it is probably even less so.
At the end of the day, the odds that Jimmie Johnson returns for another NASCAR Cup Series season are small, and the idea that they could increase hinges on the idea that the 2020 season will be drastically shortened. “We will all be smarter in the weeks to come” could perhaps turn out to be one of the most accurate quotes throughout this pandemic on many levels, and it certainly applies here.