NASCAR Champion Jimmie Johnson Adds Races To His Schedule

Jimmie Johnson will be back on a NASCAR track sooner than anyone thought he would. Johnson and Legacy Motor Club, the team he co-owns, announced Tuesday that the 7-time NASCAR champion will race in the NASCAR Cup series race at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin Texas on March 26 and the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte in May.

Johnson retired from NASCAR after the 2020 season earning 83 wins to go with his 7 championships in 687 career starts. He left a fulltime IndyCar ride at the end of last season to return to NASCAR as a team owner. He entered this year’s Daytona 500, a race he won in 2006 and 2013, as part of a limited schedule for the team. When the limited schedule was announced, only the Daytona 500 and the Chicago Street Race in July were mentioned. These were in addition to his entry into this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans as part of the Garage 56 collaboration with NASCAR and Hendrick Motorsports. With Tuesday’s announcements, he will now have two races before heading to France in June.

Johnson has never raced at COTA, a track that was added to the Cup schedule in 2021.

“COTA has been on my racing ‘bucket list’ for a very long time,” said Johnson. “But my timing was off by a year or so. I was hoping it was going to be on the IndyCar schedule – and it wasn’t – and then they added it to the NASCAR schedule after I left.

“From everything I’ve heard, NASCAR drivers have had a lot of fun racing at COTA, so to say I’m looking forward to it is an understatement.”

Johnson has won the Coke 600, NASCAR’s longest race, four times; he’s won a total of 8 races at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“The Coke 600 is one of those premiere races on the schedule,” said Johnson. “For fans, it’s truly one of the greatest days in motorsports with Monaco (Formula 1), IndyCar’s Indianapolis 500, and then NASCAR’s longest race that starts in the afternoon and ends at night. Last year I lived out another ‘bucket list’ item and was able to race in the Indy 500.”

Johnson will be joining an already full field at COTA that includes former F1 drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button; Button and Johnson are teamed up for the Garage 56 effort at Le Mans. The COTA effort and the 600 race will have sponsorship from Wyndham Resorts through its Club Wyndham brand.

“Club Wyndham owners and Legacy Motor Club fans know what it means to be a part of a club. It means finding a place to make memories with friends and family around shared passions,” said Tom Shelburne, chief marketing officer for Club Wyndham. “

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Wyndham has been affiliated with Legacy team ambassador Richard Petty for more than two decades.

We are excited about this new partnership with the Legacy M.C. team, growing from our long relationship with Richard Petty. This new agreement will be great for our owners, race fans, and our business. We can’t wait to see Club Wyndham on Jimmie Johnson’s No. 84 Chevrolet.”

This is the first time the Club Wyndham branding will be featured prominently on a racecar.

“NASCAR has always been a great place to identify and develop b2b relationships,” said Legacy Motor Club’s president of business operations, Bruce Mosley. “At Legacy M.C., we are looking to accelerate results and create a model that surpasses anything ever done before in this space. The foundation we intend on creating will deliver a 1+1 = 3 platform for our partners and deliver a strong return on their objectives.”