INDIANAPOLIS — When it was announced that Jimmie Johnson would test an NTT IndyCar Series machine on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course this past June, it got everyone wondering if this could lead to more.

Johnson, is a seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and a victor 83 times in his career. So, while he said that as a kid that he had always dreamed of racing in the Indy 500, his stats show that he made the right path for himself early.

But, as his NASCAR career winds down in 2020, Johnson’s path in 2021 could take him to his boyhood dream of racing in an IndyCar race, just maybe not the 105th Running of the Indianapolis 500 yet.

But, Johnson said it this summer and said it again on the Dale Jr. Download, he’s very interesting in racing on road and street courses in the NTT IndyCar Series next year. While he’s stopping full time racing, he’s not retiring and noted that he’s willing to do all 12 or 13 road course races if he can find a team to compete with for 2021.

“Literally following that test date, it sparked what I needed,” Johnson said. “I’ve been able to tell the teams that I’m talking with that, hey the interest is there.”

That’s why that test was so big. Johnson said that it was a test for himself to see if he would be competitive in an Indy Car. If he was way off, then what’s the point. But, if he ran competitive lap times, then he’d be willing to do more.

Johnson, says more is full time road or street course.

“It’s a tricky time right now with the marketing dollars being hard to find with the COVID situation,” said Johnson. “So we’re out trying to find funds and literally trying to raise sponsorship funds to go run the full road course and street circuit schedule. That would be my dream world.”

Johnson, says that he’s open right now and speaking to quite a few teams, not necessarily Chevy. He is willing to race for anyone and are actively seeking out funding to make it happen.

If he can secure a deal, he’s interest in a two year contract to do all the road and street courses then maybe the Indy 500 for 2022. He says he has his eyes on the Aeroscreen and as of now, it’s passing his eye test.

“I think that they’re stronger is some respects to a NASCAR vehicle. I really think they raised the threshold”

If this works out, he says that he hopes that he can break down a barrier between IndyCar and NASCAR to allow more drivers to do both.

“I know there are many IndyCar drivers interested in trying stock car and I do know there are many stock car drivers that was to try IndyCar,” Johnson said on a conference call with the media on Wednesday. “So hopefully I can be someone that can help take down this barrier between the two sports here in North America and we can see a lot more crossover.”