Driver expects to be with Hendrick beyond 2015 season
SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Insisting with a big smile that he was “home” for good, Jimmie Johnson told reporters Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway that he fully expected to remain at Hendrick Motorsports with crew chief Chad Knaus and sponsor Lowe’s.
In fact, Johnson was so confident in the final outcome of his current contract negotiations, he wasn’t even sure of all the details.
“We still have, is it next year on our contract? I don’t even know. … We are obviously not concerned,” Johnson said.
“We have been getting things buttoned up with Lowe’s, with Hendrick, with Chad and myself, all of that. 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.”
Johnson last signed a contract extension with Hendrick in 2009 that would carry him through the 2015 season. This new one will be the fourth contract he’s had with the team since his Cup series debut in 2001, and it’s the only organization he’s ever driven for at NASCAR’s elite level.
Lowe’s has been with him as a sponsor for the long haul as well, signing a two-year extension in 2013 to coincide with Johnson’s contract terms.
When Johnson signed his last contract, team owner Hendrick proclaimed, “We’ve caught lighting in a bottle with this combination” and promised more success.
He was correct in his prediction as Johnson went on to win his fifth and sixth Cup titles (in 2010 and 2013), leaving him one shy of Hall of Famers Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt for the most championships all-time.
Johnson currently leads the series with four victories through 19 races this season and sits fourth in the points standings entering Sunday’s Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard, where he has four wins and finished first (2012) or second (2013) in two of the last three years.