Last November, Jimmie Johnson thought that the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season would be his 19th and final one on a full-time basis. After the 2019 season ended, Johnson thought enough was enough. He wasn’t sick of racing per say, he just was getting burned out on racing 38 weeks out of the last 18 years.

But, through the first four months of this year, he’s only raced during five weekends. January and half of February he knew that he’d be off, but missing the last five weeks now and knowing that he has at least five more weeks off before he can even think about returning, has Johnson questioning on if he should walk away after 2020 or return for 2021 and make that his swan song season instead.

“I really don’t have any answer just yet because I don’t know what’s going to happen in the coming months and if we’ll be able to run the full season or not,” Johnson said on Thursday. “I feel like I set out to make 2020 my last full time year, but I’ve always left the door open for other racing and NASCAR and abroad for the future and I feel like I’m still pretty much on that path. I am hopeful that we get our full year in and we can get that going here in a month or so or whatever the latest projected number possibly could be and I that can run the season in its entirety. I really don’t have an answer. It’s up in the air just as so much is in the world right now.”

NASCAR is supposed to return on May 9 at the Martinsville (VA) Speedway but Virginia is under a stay-at-home order through June 10. There’s really no way that they can race that weekend. Then, the next points paying race is May 24 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. But that race is in question too.

In all reality, everything in this world is in question for the foreseeable future — NASCAR isn’t sparred. When can Johnson and his counterparts return this year or can they at all? Does Johnson want to make his final full-time campaign five races? The fluid nature of the situation has him questioning his future plans. Can he even return for 2021 in his No. 48 Chevrolet seat? Hendrick Motorsports likely would keep that seat open as the sponsor is there through 2023, but if NASCAR can return, how many races can they run and will that be enough for Johnson to constitute a full season in his mind?

“I can only imagine the balancing act that NASCAR, TV, and these tracks will need to do,” Johnson said on overhauling the 2020 schedule to get going again. “Every weekend that goes by just complicates that situation more and more. I feel like many of our contracts and much of the structure that exists revolves around 36 races. And I would assume that’s the highest priority is to have those 36 points-paying events. How that happens for me, I’m totally fluid. I’m totally open. I know we’re in unchartered territory here and I’ll do my part and whatever I can to certainly support whatever decisions are made to try to get in all 36 races.”

Johnson, feels worst for his fans though. The seven-time series champion and winner of 83 races has been through it all in NASCAR and has been on top of the hill for more years than not. But, his winless streak dates back to 2017 and he wants his fans to see him go out in style, not like this.

“For me in my final year in a Cup car, I feel more for the fans that wanted to see me at their track and experience that and have it. I know where I am and I’m very content and fulfilled with the career I’ve had. Sure, I want to be on track. Sure, I want to go to these places a final time. I feel more for the fans that aren’t having that opportunity right now that I long for myself to experience it and to be there, if that makes any sense. And that’s only a small piece in the grand scheme of things when you look at all the individuals that are affected by the Coronavirus and the families that have been affected, and the economy, and businesses and business owners. This is way bigger than me and way bigger than what was going to be my final time at these tracks. So, that stuff hasn’t really even crossed my mind, honestly, is why I bring it up. There have been so many other issues at-hand to think about and be concerned with, that I haven’t thought much at all about it being my final year and what I might be missing for myself. It’s been more about others and more about the fans and what I see on my social thread, I see people that have been lifelong fans that are sad they don’t get to see me run. So, it’s been about others far more than it’s been about what affect this has had on me, personally.”

Johnson, says while he waits in the meantime, there’s not much he can do to stay fresh. With North Carolina on a stay-at-home order through April 29, it’s not like he can go to the shop and hangout with his guys either.

“There’s really very little we can do. We can work on our computers, but Hendrick has been shut down for a while now. There has been an agreement reach where teams aren’t sending employees into work and not only from the NASCAR point, but obviously what the governor has said on the amount of people that can gather at a given place. There are many reasons why none of the teams are working and moving forward in groups and physically working on cars. The world of SIM, and it’s hard to regulate that, I know that a lot of these are ways we advance our cars and physically taking vehicles to the wind tunnel and shaker rigs and 7-Post rigs, that’s also been banned. So there has been a big effort made to kind of freeze the sport. I know our team, much like many other teams, is spending a lot of time on the phone trying to strategize on where to work or what to look at, but we physically can’t go anywhere or do anything right now. So, I feel we really are in a freeze of sorts right now.”

On Wednesday, NASCAR honored Johnson with it being “4/8” and he was privileged to see the memories brought forth that day.

“There were so many amazing memories that came about yesterday, it would be impossible to pick just one. The range from drivers that I’ve built friendships and relationships with, use Tony Stewart as an example there, my teammates and the influence I’ve had on guys like William Byron and Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott, Aric Almirola when we were on baby watch and the doors that opened for him. The crew guys, the bicycle rides that we do on Saturdays, and really across the gamut, even moments I’ve had at tracks, it really was special for me and my family yesterday to click through on various social media platforms and see these experiences and memories and what people had to say, it was a special day.”