IndyCar: Jimmie Johnson to Ed Carpenter Racing in 2021?

By Asher Fair | Aug 3, 2020

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

Jimmie Johnson wants to run IndyCar races in 2021 after he retires from NASCAR Cup Series competition, and Ed Carpenter Racing could be a good fit.

After missing out on the opportunity to test an open-wheel car twice due to reasons pertaining to the global coronavirus pandemic, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson finally got the opportunity to get behind the wheel and test for Chip Ganassi Racing’s IndyCar team at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on Tuesday, July 28.

Johnson, who announced last November that the 2020 Cup Series season will be his 19th and final season as the full-time driver of the #48 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, has long said that he wants to compete in IndyCar road course races once his stock car career concludes.

He has since added that his test behind the wheel of the #10 Honda only further lit that fire underneath him.

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Several potential landing spots have been discussed for the 44-year-old El Cajon, California native, should he end up competing in the highest level of American open-wheel racing next season, most notably Arrow McLaren SP and now Chip Ganassi Racing.

Johnson attended preseason testing at Circuit of the Americas back in February as a guest of McLaren and had been slated to test a car for the team at Barber Motorsports Park back in April before the pandemic caused those plans to be canceled. The team even acquired the number 48, something it is hard to see a team doing for a simple one-off test.

Johnson has been a Chevrolet driver for his entire career, so Chip Ganassi Racing and their Honda-powered outfit weren’t initially seen as being much of a fit.

However, Chip Ganassi Racing run Chevrolets in the Cup Series and have a technical alliance with Hendrick Motorsports, and they are more than familiar with Johnson and what he is capable of. Additionally, his test with the team in Felix Rosenqvist’s #10 Honda did go very smoothly to say the very least, drawing praise from five-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon.

But another team that should be noted is Ed Carpenter Racing. They are the only team in the series that run a full-time driver (in the #21 Chevrolet) along with another full-time car, the #20 Chevrolet, that is split between an oval driver and a road and street course driver. Team owner Ed Carpenter has been the oval driver since the team started this rotation back in 2014.

The road and street course #20 Chevrolet could be a perfect fit for Johnson.

Plus, Ed Carpenter Racing’s recent history in regard to NASCAR is worth noting. While they don’t compete in stock car racing, they have made a lot of recent hires and had a lot of recent discussions regarding additional hires of individuals within the NASCAR community.

Could Johnson be next?

They recently named Cole Pearn, who led Martin Truex Jr. to three consecutive top two finishes, including the 2017 championship with Furniture Row Racing, and served as his crew chief for five seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series, the lead engineer for Conor Daly’s #47 Chevrolet for this August’s Indy 500.

Pearn stepped away from racing following Truex’s runner-up finish in the 2019 season in what many considered to be an unexpected departure. Now he is back — but in IndyCar.

And he happens to be back right after Johnson made his testing debut.

That in itself got fans and pundits alike thinking.

After this week, has anyone else besides me wondered what it would be like to see Cole Pearn work as lead engineer for Jimmie Johnson for an IndyCar race?
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) July 29, 2020

Of course, it is worth noting that Pearn’s deal is only for the Indy 500 and it is for Ed Carpenter Racing’s third Indy 500-only entry, so that in itself is by no means an indication that Johnson will end up here.

For what it’s worth, it isn’t even an indication that Pearn will be back with the team beyond Sunday, August 23. This is a one-race deal as things stand right now, and given the fact that the Indy 500 is the only race in which the team run three cars, it may stay that way.

However, there are more details that would suggest that Ed Carpenter Racing could be a serious possibility for Johnson, and Pearn could end up playing a role in that if it comes to fruition.

Let’s take a look at the notable NASCAR ties Ed Carpenter Racing have developed in recent years.

Already at Ed Carpenter Racing is Pete Craik, and he has been with the organization since last year. He worked for Furniture Row Racing alongside Pearn before they folded after the 2018 season.

Craik was a part of Truex’s 2017 championship-winning season, during which the #78 Toyota found victory lane a series-high eight times, which remains tied for the highest single-season win total since Carl Edwards won nine races in 2008.

Craik serves as the lead engineer for the #20 Chevrolet, the full-time entry that is split by Carpenter himself on the ovals and another driver, this year Daly, on the road and street courses. This is likely the car Johnson would drive if he were to compete for the team.

Additionally, Ed Carpenter Racing have hinted at potentially fielding a future Indy 500 entry for two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, who is allowed to compete in the event but only with a Chevrolet-powered team due to his ties to Toyota through Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota’s global rivalry with Honda.

Let’s also not forget who Ed Carpenter Racing hired to run the 2018 Indy 500. Sure, she had competed in IndyCar before, but not for seven years. Danica Patrick, following six full seasons in NASCAR, returned to open-wheel racing and had a solid month of May, making it into the Fast Nine and qualifying in seventh place before a wreck ended her final professional auto race.

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Ed Carpenter Racing may not be Jimmie Johnson’s most likely landing spot should a 2021 IndyCar ride materialize, but this team can’t be ignored. It is certainly hard to see them not making a play to get the seven-time champion behind the wheel of one of their fast Chevrolet-powered cars.