Jimmie Johnson is making a return to the Cup Series. And is reportedly set to also own part of a team.
According to The Athletic, Johnson is finalizing an agreement to have an ownership stake in Petty GMS Racing. The agreement would include Johnson running part-time in NASCAR in 2023.
The seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion announced his retirement from full-time racing at the end of the 2022 IndyCar season. He raced full-time in IndyCar in 2022 and made his Indianapolis 500 debut in what was an otherwise disappointing season. Johnson had two top 10s in 17 starts and had an average finish of nearly 19th. He finished ahead of just three other full-time drivers in the standings.
Johnson retired from NASCAR at the end of the 2020 season and said he wanted to explore other racing endeavors. He raced part-time in IndyCar in 2021 before running a full schedule this past season and has run part-time in IMSA over the past two seasons. He’s been mentioned as a possibility to run in the 24 Hours of Le Mans this summer as part of a NASCAR effort to run a car in the iconic endurance race.
Johnson said at the end of the 2022 season that he still wanted to race on a part-time basis and has never ruled out a return to select NASCAR events.
Petty GMS is set to complete its first season of its current existence in Sunday’s season finale at Phoenix. The former Richard Petty Motorsports team was acquired by Xfinity and Truck Series team GMS Racing ahead of the season and expanded to two cars. Erik Jones is in the No. 43 car while Ty Dillon has one more race to go in the No. 42. Dillon will be replaced by Noah Gragson in that car in 2023.
