INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson brushed off any worries about a contract extension with Hendrick Motorsports at the end of his current contract, which expires at the end of the 2015 season.
Johnson isn’t worried about remaining the driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet SS, but the 74-time Cup winner said that a few items, including crew chief Chad Knaus’s extension, as well as the renewal of sponsor Lowes still need to be finalized as well.
“We are obviously not concerned,” said Johnson. “We have been getting things buttoned up with Lowe’s, with Hendrick, with Chad and myself, all of that.”
Johnson calls Hendrick Motorsports home and remains adamant that the powerhouse team is where he wants to be from now until the end of his blockbuster career.
“Like I said, I think last week, I’m home it’s just a formality at this point to get everything kind of finished up and done,” he added.
Just past the halfway point of the season, Johnson has four wins, the most of any driver on the circuit and sits fourth in the championship point standings entering Sunday’s The Crown Royal
presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard.
It would be hard to imagine that Johnson, considered by many one of the sport’s greatest drivers of all time to race with anyone else. After all, in 15 seasons at HMS, Johnson has mounted 74 wins, 203 top-fives and 305 top-10s. The 39-year-old has racked up more than $147 million dollars in career earnings.
On Sunday, NASCAR will debut a new aerodynamic package that features a higher drag package and a taller spoiler in an effort to improve the on-track product. Before the first practice session at IMS, Johnson said there were still a lot of questions to be answered.
“I’m excited to get on the track and figure out what the effort level is going to be. The driver’s inputs have such an outcome on the set-up of the race car, that from there, once we all get a rhythm, on the race track we can start making good changes,” said Johnson.
“I know the team has lots of questions about power band and how we go about working this car. That tail section on the back of the car that we run on the superspeedways, that creates a lot of drag, so the ride-height of the vehicle is going to be real crucial and there’s varying theories on where that needs to be. So, today is going to be a very busy day and I’m not sure we’ll get all the answers we want, but we’ll at least get going in the right direction.”
In 13 starts at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the El Cajon, California native has four wins, five top-fives and six top-10 finishes. He carries an average finish of 15th at the 2.5-mile historic oval.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
