Jimmie Johnson will go after another championship, this time in IMSA sports car racing. The seven-time NASCAR Cup champion will compete for IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup in Ally Cadillac with Action Express Racing it was announced Tuesday.
Coming off of a second-place finish at the Rolex 24 At Daytona four weeks ago, Johnson, who has been preparing for a partial IndyCar season with Chip Ganassi Racing, will team with IndyCar Champion Simon Pagenaud and two-time Rolex 24 winner Kamui Kobayashi for the remaining IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup. Those races include: the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, and Motul Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.
“I had such a great experience at the Rolex 24 At Daytona finishing second in the Ally Cadillac DPi-V.R that I want to continue and run the rest of the IMSA long events,” Johnson said. “The whole experience working with the Action Express Racing team, sharing the Ally Cadillac with Simon, Kamui and Mike just made me want to do more racing in the series. The Cadillac DPi-V.R is such a great car to drive. I can’t wait to turn some laps at Sebring, The Glen and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
“Ally was open to the idea, so we are committing to the remaining IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup events. It will be a busy year adding these races to my IndyCar commitments, but I am really looking forward to it.”
Team director Gary Nelson witnessed the passion Jimmie Johnson has for sports car racing first-hand at the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
“Everyone involved with the Ally Cadillac program at the Rolex 24 had a great experience,” Nelson said. “I don’t think Jimmie slept. Every time I went to the engineering stand, he was sitting there observing, watching over the shoulders of our technical staff.
“All of the drivers contributed to a strong second-place finish. At the Rolex 24 we were honored to get support from Chad Knaus and several of the Hendrick Motorsports pit crew members. We are excited that we will be getting that help again for the remaining Endurance events and appreciate the commitment from Rick (Hendrick). We are looking forward to running the car at the three remaining IMSA endurance races and seeing how we come out in the season ending standings come October.”
The next race for the team will be the Twelve Hours of Sebring March 17-20 at Sebring International Raceway.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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