NASCAR: Jimmie Johnson hasn’t missed a race in 19 years

By Asher Fair | Jul 5, 2020

Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports, NASCAR, Cup Series (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /

You have to go back to the 2001 season finale at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to find the most recent NASCAR Cup Series race in which Jimmie Johnson did not compete.

When Terry Labonte, Jeff Gordon and Jerry Nadeau drove the #5 Chevrolet, the #24 Chevrolet and the #25 Chevrolet in the 2001 NASCAR Cup Series season finale at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, it would be the last time Hendrick Motorsports’ lineup did not consist of Jimmie Johnson for the foreseeable future.

Johnson had made his Cup Series debut in October of that year driving the #48 Chevrolet at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and he then competed in what were initially slated to be the season’s final two races at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Due to the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which had been scheduled to take place on Sunday, September 16, was moved back to Friday, November 23 as the new season finale.

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The El Cajon, California native landed a full-time ride with Hendrick Motorsports for the 2002 season, and he hasn’t missed a single race since then.

Entering the 2020 season, he and Ryan Newman were tied atop the list of consecutive starts made at 648. Both had competed in the 2002 season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway and not missed any races since then.

Johnson was able to break that tie in the 2020 season’s second race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Due to a horrifying last lap crash in this year’s Daytona 500 that left him with a head injury, Newman was sidelined for three races.

Now Johnson’s own streak is set to come to an end 15 races into the 2020 season at 663 consecutive starts. The 44-year-old tested positive for COVID-19 and has been sidelined for this afternoon’s Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Had the seven-time champion been able to compete in all 36 races this season, that would have put him at 684 consecutive starts heading into retirement. The all-time record is 797, set by Gordon from 1992 to 2015.

With Johnson’s 663-race streak set to come to an end when the green flag waves to get today’s160-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) oval in Speedway, Indiana underway, the driver with the next longest active streak of races contested is set to be Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick.

Harvick has competed in 655 consecutive races going back to the 2002 season. The last race he missed took place at Martinsville Speedway, and he missed it as a result of a suspension.

Prior to that race, Harvick had competed in each of the 42 races which had been contested since the death of Dale Earnhardt in the 2001 Daytona 500. Harvick made his debut at Richard Childress Racing as Earnhardt’s replacement following that tragic accident, and he stayed with the team until he was signed by Stewart-Haas Racing ahead of the 2014 season.

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JR Motorsports Xfinity Series driver Justin Allgaier is set to make his first Cup Series start since 2016 and his first ever start for Hendrick Motorsports as Johnson’s replacement behind the wheel of the #48 Chevrolet. No driver other than Johnson has piloted the #48 car since 1993 when the late Trevor Boys drove the #48 Pontiac for Hylton Motorsports in one race.

The Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 is set to be broadcast live on NBC beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET.

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