MIAMI _ Jimmie Johnson still gets a certain feeling in his gut whenever he makes the trip down south to Homestead-Miami Speedway with the NASCAR Cup Series.
It's where all seven of his Cup Series championships have been clinched, the final site at the end of a 36-race season.
There's no championship race for Homestead this year, a first since Johnson joined the Cup Series circuit full time in 1992. Homestead's race, now called the Dixie Vodka 400, is a midseason affair for 2020 and takes place Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
But that doesn't take away the feelings Johnson associates with Homestead-Miami Speedway.
"It's a special track," Johnson said. "That's been the championship track. ... There's just this energy around a champion being crowned that I've always associated with the racetrack. And I've been back to do media events, and it's amazing how I show up at that deal it still hits my gut. So they go there this year and not be the championship race will be a much different experience. I'm glad I won't have many there without that experience. I love the pit it puts in my stomach. The impact of champions weekend will always be there. So, I've loved that feeling when I go to the track."
Homestead's move up in the Cup Series schedule, however, was one of the few changes Johnson was able to anticipate when he announced in November that the 2020 season would be his last as a full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver.
What he probably couldn't have envisioned:
_ A monthlong delay four races into the season due to the coronavirus pandemic.
_ A packed schedule when the season finally returned in mid-May. Sunday's Dixie Vodka 400 is the eighth Cup Series race in 28 days.
_ More than 20 of the series' top drivers having to join together to condemn racism following the social unrest around the globe caused by the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, on May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer drove a knee into Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes while he was face down on the ground.
"What a wild reality for us all to absorb," Johnson said.
And what a peculiar season for Johnson to bid adieu to the sport he has been part of for almost two decades.
He will finish his career as one of the sport's best. His seven career Cup Series titles are matched only by Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt. Johnson is still the only racer to win the Cup Series five consecutive years (2006-2010).
His 83 wins are the most among active drivers and one shy of putting him inside the top five in NASCAR history.
"I'm assuming when I'm really staring at that reality, the emotions will draw and it'll be easier to articulate," Johnson said, "but where I sit now, I'm so proud of the journey I've been. And it hasn't been a solo journey. There's so many people along the way who believed in me and helped me through my career. I just take great pride in journey that I've been on and the relationships that have helped me really reach my potential along that journey."
He will have time to fully reflect on that after the season.
For now, he wants to keep making an impact on and off the track.
Heading into Sunday, Johnson is 11th in the points standings and has six top-10 finishes through 11 races.
"I feel like we've been really competitive," said Johnson, who drives the No. 48 Chevrolet. "We've done a nice job of elevating our competitiveness for the season. I still want to get to a dominant form. I feel like we have a little bit of work to do to get there, but we've been competitive."
And he's continuing to be a vocal leader for the sport off the track, as well.
Johnson was involved with organizing more than 20 NASCAR drivers past and present to put together a video before Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 in Atlanta last Sunday saying they can no longer be silent in the face of racism and that they are ready to listen and learn.
NASCAR president Steve Phelps addressed the field in Atlanta before the race pledging that the sport is sensitive to the country's current social unrest and committed to improving race relations.
"Our country is in pain and our people are justifiably angry, demanding to be heard," Phelps said. "Our sport must do better. Our country must do better."
NASCAR on Wednesday banned the confederate flag from its races and properties. That came two days after Bubba Wallace, the only full-time black driver on any of NASCAR's three national circuits, called for NASCAR to make that move.
"I know for myself, what I've been through, and some great conversations with Bubba at the beginning of the week were very good for me," Johnson said after the Atlanta race. "I just called him. I just wanted to check in on him as a friend and where our conversation went was good for me. ... There's a lot of noise out there, but the conversations I had on just basic human rights and being kind to one another rung true for me, and I know that's where it came from for myself."
