NASCAR: 5 possible car numbers for Jimmie Johnson
By Asher Fair
Jimmie Johnson is set to return to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2023 with Petty GMS Motorsports, but he doesn’t yet have a car number.
Near the end of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, Petty GMS Motorsports announced that they had signed seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson as not only a part-time driver for the 2023 season but as a co-owner of the organization.
Johnson spent 19 seasons competing full-time in the Cup Series, all with Hendrick Motorsports, before retiring at the end of the 2020 season and going to IndyCar.
In all 686 of his Cup Series starts — and even all 29 of his IndyCar starts — he used the No. 48. However, with Rick Hendrick’s team keeping the No. 48 for Alex Bowman’s Chevrolet in 2023, that number isn’t an option for Johnson in 2023.
A Petty GMS Motorsports announcement is scheduled for later today, though there is no confirmation regarding whether this will have anything do with Johnson’s number.
Which number will he ultimately run? Here are five possibilities.
Possible Jimmie Johnson numbers: No. 1 – No. 94
When Richard Petty Motorsports, which already ran the No. 43 Chevrolet, joined forces with GMS Racing ahead of last season to become Petty GMS Motorsports, the decision was made to have the second Chevrolet use the No. 42 as a nod to the Petty family legacy.
GMS Racing had initially planned on entering the Cup Series for the first time as a one-car team in 2022, with Ty Dillon as their driver. But Dillon, who did end up driving the No. 42 Chevrolet last year, was originally supposed to drive the No. 94 Chevrolet.
With the addition of Johnson, could Petty GMS Motorsports ultimately go with the number that the majority owner of the team was planning on using?