Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson competed full-time in the Busch Series for two seasons before landing his full-time Cup ride with Hendrick Motorsports, a ride he remained in for the entirety of his 19-year career as a full-time driver from 2002 to 2020.
But he never ran full-time in the Truck Series, and he only ever competed in one Truck Series race during his full-time career at the Cup level, with that start coming all the way back in 2008.
In that lone race at Bristol Motor Speedway, he qualified ninth and led 29 laps around the four-turn, 0.533-mile (0.858-kilometer) high-banked Bristol, Tennessee oval before crashing out on lap 102.
He drove the Lowe's and Kobalt Tools-sponsored No. 81 Chevrolet for Randy Moss Motorsports, the Mooresville, North Carolina-based team owned by NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver Randy Moss and David Dollar, in the O'Reilly 200. But ever since that wreck, which also involved Jeff Green, he has never returned to the Truck Series.
In fact, he has only competed in four NASCAR national series races other than Cup Series races since then, and none of those starts have come since 2013, when he made his final Nationwide Series start at Phoenix Raceway for JR Motorsports.
That is set to change in June.
Johnson is set to drive the No. 1 Toyota for Tricon Garage in the inaugural Truck Series race at the Coronado Street Course on Naval Base Coronado in San Diego, California, just a short drive from his hometown of El Cajon, on Friday, June 19.
That start is set to end an 18-year absence from the Truck Series and a 13-year absence from lower NASCAR national series action.
With Johnson already lined up to drive the No. 84 Toyota for Legacy Motor Club in the inaugural Cup Series race at the 16-turn, 3.4-mile (5.472-kilometer) temporary street circuit on Sunday, June 21, the Truck Series announcement implies that NASCAR will allow drivers to compete in more than one race, something they did not allow when the Chicago Street Course made its debut in 2023.
The O'Reilly Auto Parts Series is also set to race at the track that weekend, with that race scheduled to take place on Saturday, June 20, but Johnson does not currently have a ride lined up for that event.