Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) today announced a partnership with 7-Time NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) Champion Jimmie Johnson that will see the 83-time NCS winner officially explore the possibility of racing a full road and street course calendar in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES for the 2021 and 2022 racing seasons.

In late July, Johnson tested with CGR on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and fulfilled a childhood dream of driving an Indy car.

“When I tested Chip’s Indy car earlier in the year, it only lit the fire more,” Johnson said. “I found that I wanted to do it more than ever before. Scott [Dixon] was just incredible to work with and in a short time I found out very quickly why Chip and his teams have won 12 INDYCAR Championships. As part of a natural progression, I wanted to publicly show the alignment with Chip Ganassi Racing to kick the sponsorship program into high gear. The goal is to run the full road and street program and today is a very important first step in accomplishing that goal.”

Johnson co-holds the NCS record with Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty for most premier series championships and is the only driver to win five consecutive titles (2006-2010). Johnson’s 83 career wins is tied with Cale Yarborough for sixth all-time and is tops among active drivers.

“It is always difficult to find great drivers but for them to be great guys too makes it even that much more challenging,” team owner Chip Ganassi said. “To pair Jimmie with the likes of Scott Dixon is quite an opportunity. They are truly in rarified air and I think everyone knows by now that ‘I like winners’. The goal right now is for us to run Jimmie in an Indy car for at least the next couple of seasons, and we want to show people we’re serious about the program. We felt it was important to get the partnership done and start putting the financial building blocks in place to make this a reality. Jimmie’s record speaks for itself and we feel a championship-level driver of his caliber can only make our team better.”

Johnson was competitive in his test. So much so, he wanted more.

“That was incredible,” Johnson said that day. “Today more than exceeded my expectations. Sign me up for more.”

Johnson, said that if the test went well, then he’d be willing to run literally every road course on the IndyCar schedule in 2021 in fact. It sounds like it went well too. 

“There’s 12 on the schedule right now and I’d be open to run all 12 if the right opportunity came along,” Johnson said of the road courses in IndyCar.

So, what about the Indy 500? That’s his biggest dream. Johnson, admitted last year that he had a chance to race in the event over a decade ago but Chevrolet said no since IndyCar was under only Honda power at that point.

Then, factor in once Chevy was back in IndyCar in 2012, his wife was a firm no on racing an open wheel car on an oval. She was okay with it until they started having kids. Now, it’s not even a discussion.

But, with the safety that’s come this year in terms of an Aeroscreen, that option may be back on the table too.

“I’m going to keep a close eye on things, Johnson admitted. “Their safety on ovals has dramatically increased this year with the windscreen that they have. I’ll keep a close eye on things there to see how the safety level looks.

“I’ve always wanted to race the ‘500. I’d have to do a lot of selling to my wife to get that hall pass to do it. But, my true desire right now is to run the road courses.”