Jimmie Johnson has been ready to get behind the wheel for an IndyCar test for months, and Tuesday, he was able to make it happen finally at the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion is retiring from full-time racing at the end of the 2020 season, and he’s repeatedly expressed interest in trying out other types of racing, including IndyCar. So he teamed up with NASCAR-IndyCar team Chip Ganassi Racing to test one of its open-wheelers on Indy’s road course, rather than the oval.
Johnson was originally supposed to have an IndyCar test in April at Barber Motorsports Park, and he even brought an iRacing rig to “prepare for ’21 and ’22 for the different bucket list races” he has in mind. But the coronavirus outbreak led to that test being canceled.
Then he had another test planned for the iconic Indy track in early July after, for the first time, NASCAR and IndyCar raced at the same venue over the same weekend. But his positive COVID-19 test nixed that too.
So, “Third time’s a charm” for the 44-year-old Hendrick Motorsports driver, who also made his IndyCar iRacing debut at Watkins Glen International in March when real-life racing was still on hold.
And as Chip Ganassi Racing managing director Mike Hull tweeted, Johnson was having a great time:
Johnson’s Twitter account also shared the first look at him driving an IndyCar machine, one of Ganassi’s regular rotation cars set up for when IndyCar took on Indy’s road course on July 4, Hull tweeted last week.
And Johnson got an extra hand from five-time IndyCar Series champion and longtime Ganassi driver Scott Dixon.
More from Johnson’s Instagram stories Tuesday:
In 2018, Johnson tried out another open-wheeled car when he and two-time Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso swapped rides at Bahrain International Circuit.
