Jimmie Johnson, an IndyCar rookie, hopes to test on the oval at Homestead-Miami Speedway in August as part of a plan to compete in next year’s Indianapolis 500.
Johnson, a seven-time NASCAR champion, switched to IndyCar this season and has competed in seven races for Chip Ganassi’s squad. He’ll race again in Nashville next weekend. This season, Johnson hasn’t finished higher than 19th.
Johnson, 45, only intended to race on road and street courses this season, but he wants to race at Indy next season. To compete on the Indy oval, Johnson would have to complete the Rookie Orientation Program later this year.
Johnson was watching fellow IndyCar rookie Romain Grosjean’s oval test at World Wide Technology Raceway outside of St. Louis on Tuesday. Like Johnson, Grosjean, a former Formula One driver, committed only on road and street course races.
On Tuesday, Johnson texted Grosjean, asking for advice on how to handle the oval course.
“I’m trying to find my comfort with the ovals,” Johnson said. “I think he’s in a similar place. We’ve both been chatting over the course of the year about ovals. Really, about the experience altogether. I get more and more comfortable with ovals. Hopefully, the test, when it happens in late August, will go well and I’ll continue to work closer toward the Indy 500 or ovals in general.”
Johnson is tied with Hall of Famers Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt for the most NASCAR championships with seven. When Johnson attempts the open wheel run in the Brickyard, he believes there should be some carryover from his NASCAR career at Indianapolis.
“Of all the tracks we run on,” Johnson said, “there should be some crossover on the oval. I found there was zero crossover on the road courses, so that was interesting.”
Johnson will compete in the IndyCar race on Aug. 21 at the track outside of St. Louis for the rest of the season. It’s a mile-long oval track. This season, Johnson shares No. 48 with Tony Kanaan, who worked the Indy 500 as an analyst for NBC this year. Kanaan will return to the ovals in 2022.
Johnson, who is used to the more demanding NASCAR schedule, will compete in 12 road and street course races and will forgo the four oval events.
“I’ve really wanted to slow down this year and try something new,” Johnson said. “Both of those things are definitely happening.”
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