Why Is Jimmie Johnson Not Racing at Chicago in the 2024 NASCAR Season?

Newly inducted NASCAR Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson is all set to drive in nine Cup Series races in the upcoming NASCAR season. He finalized his schedule last week after adding the marquee Daytona 500, Brickyard 400, and Phoenix finale to it. Recently addressing his move to veteran reporter Bob Pockrass, Johnson answered why he left the Chicago Street and All-Star races out of the radar.

“Chicago was certainly on the list but trying to manage personal, business, and racing… I hope to be traveling with my family in July and wanted to leave that one out to a time hope”, he said. Reasoning his coming absence in the All-Star race, he continued, “I have considered it. Unfortunately, it hasn’t come through our orbit, in the sense relative to partners, but that’s one of the few tracks on the schedule I have not driven on.”

The 7X Champion retired from full-time racing after the 2020 season and currently co-owns Legacy Motor Club along with businessman Maury Gallagher. Despite the tall demands of his job, Johnson has always found the time for speed. He drove in select Cup Series races last year behind the #84 Legacy Motor Club Chevrolet. He came 31st in the 2023 Daytona 500 and finished at 38th and 37th at COTA and Charlotte (Coca-Cola 600) respectively.

The nine Cup Series races that Johnson is preparing to drive in

An announcement came from Johnson’s camp earlier this month that he will be participating in 6 Cup Series races including the ones at Texas, Kansas, and Las Vegas. Before long Daytona, Indianapolis, and Phoenix found their ways to the schedule. Talking about it, the driver expressed how he had a 10-race window open to satisfy his craving for stock car races whilst staying committed to his other duties.

He added, “I was very excited to expand to the nine races. There still is room for another or some other stuff that I want to do. I’d like to do some classic car racing, some sportscar racing if the opportunity came about, but it just really came together in a nice way, and I’m really excited about my schedule.”

Jimmie Johnson explains why he has nine Cup races on his schedule. And why Chicago and all-star — two races that would seem like naturals — are not on his current list. pic.twitter.com/NqpIjnyCy7

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) January 23, 2024

Johnson emerged the victor in 83 races throughout his Cup Series career. 40 of these wins came at the tracks that he has on his 2024 schedule. The upcoming season is when fans will be seeing most of him behind the wheel since his retirement. In a slight change to what the fandom is used to, the icon will be driving a Toyota instead of a Chevrolet.