NASCAR: 5 drivers who could’ve replaced Jimmie Johnson

Possible Jimmie Johnson replacements: “Dark horse” – Kyle Larson

Crazy, isn’t it? Even if not for the iRacing incident, Kyle Larson still easily could have been the driver whom Hendrick Motorsports called upon to replace Jimmie Johnson in 2021.

Johnson announced that the 2020 season would be his 19th and final season as a full-time driver in the Cup Series shortly after the 2019 season ended, and Larson was immediately believed to be the top candidate to take the seat.

While the end of Larson’s run with Chip Ganassi Racing didn’t happen as anybody could have predicted it would, he was due to become a free agent at the end of the 2020 season anyway.

He was thought to have three major options: stick with Chip Ganassi Racing, move to Hendrick Motorsports, or move to Stewart-Haas Racing.

Loyalty to Chip Ganassi Racing had always been important to Larson before, but Rick Hendrick later admitted that Larson was always number one on his list to replace Johnson upon Johnson’s big announcement.

The fact that Larson went on to win 10 races, something that no driver had done since Johnson pulled it off in 2007, in his first year with the team — plus the championship — justified it.

The Stewart-Haas Racing possibility was quite an interesting one though, considering how many times Tony Stewart had previously tried to get Larson behind the wheel of one of his cars. After the incident happened, however, Stewart stated that the major obstacle which prevented him from making Larson an offer was Ford. As mentioned on the previous slide, they would not approve of bringing Larson aboard.