IndyCar: Jimmie Johnson Indy 500 deal out of the picture?

With Chip Ganassi Racing’s driver lineup coming together for the 2023 IndyCar season, does Jimmie Johnson still have a chance to compete in the Indy 500?

Jimmie Johnson made the announcement shortly after the 2022 IndyCar season ended that he would not be back as a full-time driver in 2023. He drove the No. 48 Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing full-time in 2022 after driving it in the road and street course races as a rookie in 2021.

Johnson didn’t completely rule out returning to America’s top open-wheel series in some capacity in 2023, with primary sponsor Carvana having committed to supporting him for whatever his racing future entails.

He is set to return to the NASCAR Cup Series, where he won a record-tying seven championships, in a driver-owner role with Petty GMS Motorsports. He is set to compete part-time, though his exact schedule hasn’t yet been determined. In fact, the number of races in which he is set to compete hasn’t even been announced.

Chip Ganassi Racing have already confirmed Johnson’s replacement for the road and street course races, with Marcus Armstrong set to pilot a renumbered No. 11 Honda in those 12 races on the 17-race calendar.

Given Johnson’s NASCAR commitment, in addition to the number change, it’s hard to imagine that the 47-year-old El Cajon, California native will be back for all five oval races on the 2023 schedule. In fact, there have been a number of drivers, two in particular, who have been discussed as possibilities for the No. 11 Honda in the oval races.

Does this mean that Jimmie Johnson won’t compete in the Indy 500 next year?

There has long been talk of Johnson potentially running the Memorial Day Double, starting with the Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and ending with the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway later in the evening. The 19-time Coca-Cola 600 starter — and four-time winner — made his Indy 500 debut in 2022, crashing out near the end of the race.

Just four drivers have ever attempted the Memorial Day Double, the most recent of whom being Kurt Busch in 2014, and just one driver, Tony Stewart, has ever run all 1,100 miles on the same day. He did so in the second of his two Memorial Day Double attempts in 2001.

With Johnson’s NASCAR return set, that is certainly a possibility in 2023, even though he probably isn’t going to be the oval driver of the No. 11 Honda — not even for a single race.

Johnson could very well run a fifth entry for Chip Ganassi Racing in the 107th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. Tony Kanaan, who drove the fifth entry for the team in the 2022 Indy 500, is set to pilot a fourth entry for Arrow McLaren SP in 2023, and it’s hard to see Johnson competing in the race for any team other than Chip Ganassi’s organization.

Kanaan put together the funding for that entry himself, so it’s no sure thing that the team would field a fifth entry again in 2023. However, given Carvana’s commitment to Johnson, it wouldn’t be surprising if he too can put together the funding for a fifth entry.