BUY TICKETS: See the races in Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS – If you were to break out the bicycle in the infield of any given race track on a Saturday morning or afternoon, you’d likely have some elite company.
Matt Kenseth has embarked on both long and short cycling excursions. Kasey Kahne could show up, or Trevor Bayne.
But perhaps one of the most familiar faces and leaders among the cycling groups at the track is reigning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson.
A seasoned athlete in a variety of athletic pursuits from cycling to running to snowboarding in his new home of Aspen, Colorado, Johnson has accomplished some feats that only experienced athletes could achieve: He and Kenseth completed a 130-mile ride for charity in March 2016 from Asheville, North Carolina, to Charlotte, North Carolina. He celebrated his 40th birthday in 2015 with a 101.2-mile bike ride, and joined Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kahne for Johnson’s first of many triathlons. That first one was in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2012, just one day after competing in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
The driver of the No. 48 Kobalt Chevrolet supplements his regular weekday training with these group cycling or individual running sessions during downtime at the track.
"It’s easy to sleep in in the motor home or sit on the couch between qualifying and practice and eat," Johnson told NASCAR.com on Friday morning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the site of Sunday’s Kobalt 400. "There’s a four-hour window there; you could be out on the bike, go for a run, burn some calories instead of ingesting them."
But the group rides at the track accomplish more than just an elevated heart rate — even with a group of competitive NASCAR drivers riding.
"It seems that during the week we’re serious about those disciplines, kind of putting in your gym time, your speed work — the weekend rides are much more (easygoing)," Johnson said. "So, we’ll sit side-by-side, chat, talk, talk about life. It’s much more of a social thing than really a hardcore ride.
"Granted, we do race in Pocono, we do race in upstate New York. There are some areas, what I’m getting at, where there’s some serious climbing. And the competitive spirit kind of kicks in and guys kind of try to bury each other and race up mountains."
It was the social aspect of physical fitness that became Johnson’s main case for his Hendrick Motorsports teammates to commit to a company-mandated workout on a regular basis.
"For me, the social component is what has made this last so long for me," Johnson said. "I think we all start a crash diet, we all say we’re going to the gym and you’re lucky to make three or four months because it’s kind of monotonous and not a lot of fun. There’s not a social element to it.
"So, I pushed hard to set some minimum requirements for our Hendrick drivers and then trying to get us together. Weekend rides, there are some great social media apps that keep you connected with what your friends are doing. You can follow them, they can follow you. The one we like to use is Strava and it’s amazing if you can just have a little spin on it and make it a social thing, your interest goes up tremendously. You have accountability and before you know it, you’re putting in quite a few hours a week and you’re pretty fit."
Johnson’s teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. discussed the new workout plan at length on his Dirty Mo Radio podcast Monday. The drivers have set hours for cardio and strength exercises each week that they must complete and log into the Strava app. The drivers also have access to Hendrick Motorsports’ top-notch facilities, trainers and nutritionists used by the pit crews, as well as Johnson’s own personal triathlon trainer Jamey Yon, to help aid their health journeys.
RELATED: Junior talks about his first cycling trip
Earnhardt took his first cycling trip with Johnson last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, pulling out the bike that "Seven-Time" gifted him about a year ago. The trip began with the humorous struggle of getting Earnhardt comfortable with the spandex cycling attire.
"I told Jimmie, I said, ‘Look, I’m going to meet you outside the track,’ " Earnhardt said on the podcast. "Ain’t no way in hell I’m going to let anybody see me ride through the infield wearing this bike gear, spandex stuff."
Johnson smiled at the experience.
"I couldn’t believe my eyes, to be honest," Johnson said of his reaction to Junior agreeing to a cycling trip. "He was a little worried about the attire, but I promised him you really feel weird standing around other people in street clothes when you’re in the attire. When you’re in a group of guys, proper attire really makes a big difference.
"So, he cleared that hurdle, which I wasn’t sure we could get on Ride 1, and through the course of the ride, his comfort grew tremendously. The speed came up and his bike handling skills and stuff came right around. So, he’s excited to ride this weekend and looking forward to getting him on a bike again."
Johnson’s passion for physical fitness is evident, his love for outdoor activities strong. He uses activities as a way to socialize, train and escape from the stresses of his high-speed career.
"It’s been really good for me physically, but more mentally on a lot of levels," Johnson said. "I can have an afternoon to clear my mind, I find that all I think about is the race car and I get my thoughts in order and really handle the race car situation to the best of my ability."
But as Johnson’s interests in the field vary and grow, his passion also has transcended as a way to help others: In 2016, Johnson lent his personal trainer Yon to No. 41 crew chief and longtime friend Tony Gibson and offered to help him get on track physically.
RELATED: Crew chief’s health boost from Johnson
"He’s like, ‘Look, I’ve been thinking about you for the last three weeks,’ and he said I want to get you healthy," Gibson said prior to the start of the 2016 season. "He said, ‘We’ve known each other since I got into this and you’ve been a great friend to me.’ He said, ‘I’m worried about you. I’m worried about your health and I want to see you get healthy.’ So I’m like, ‘OK.’ The next step was we got together and he’s like, ‘I’ll take care of everything, I’ll handle everything. We’ll use my trainer. You just have to do it.’
"So I said, ‘You know, if he’s willing to go to the length of that and put that much effort into it, then I’m a fool if I don’t.’ So I took him up on it and I’ve been losing weight ever since."
But while Johnson enjoys helping others achieve their physical goals and has many fitness goals after he’s done driving ("there’s quite a few endurance races that I want to do from triathlons to mountain bike races," he says), he doesn’t necessarily envision a career in personal training after he’s hung up his fire suit.
"I love helping people — that’s in my DNA," Johnson said. "Fitness has been a hobby of mine, a passion of mine for a while now and I’ve been able to influence many. But I just enjoy being there for others and tell my story — maybe I can be there for them."
