Johnson flashes speed, charm in first shot at winning Indy
Indianapolis — Jimmie Johnson shared late-night laughs with Jimmy Fallon, crushed the fastest speeds of his life, signed autographs for fellow drivers and saved a sideways slide in his first Indianapolis 500 qualifying run.
All that's left for the 46-year-old Indy rookie is winning the race.
Johnson has had the confidence of a champion at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. His team owner noticed. So have other Indy drivers. Even former competitors in his old NASCAR life are watching how Johnson fares at the Brickyard.
He's not the favorite today to win the 106th Indianapolis 500, but Johnson is the driver to watch for good reason: A victory in his first try would put Johnson alongside A. J. Foyt and Mario Andretti as the only drivers to win both the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500.
If Johnson pulls it off, just try to argue he's not one of the greatest ever in American motorsports.It's not like he wasn't already in the conversation.
That's the wild part. Johnson doesn't even need to be soaking in the sights and sounds among the bricks, the milk, the belting out of “Back Home Again in Indiana.” He won 83 times in NASCAR, claimed a record-tying seven NASCAR championships and could have walked away from racing after 2020 with his legacy secure.
But instead of enjoying the riches and spoils of his fame, or settling into a comfortable retirement with his wife and two young daughters while splitting time between his lavish homes, he was drawn to Indianapolis and the lure of open-wheel cars.
Johnson jumped to IndyCar last season to drive for Chip Ganassi Racing. But he skipped the ovals, where speeds top 200 mph and danger beckons on every turn. Johnson's wife, Chani, had deep apprehension about the safety of open-wheel racing and the driver respected her concerns.
His first Indianapolis 500 was last year, only as an NBC Sports analyst and sidelined in street clothes.
Johnson was instantly hooked on the pageantry and the thrilling ending. For a driver with speed in his DNA, he could not sit out the race again.
He convinced his wife that safety advancements such as the cockpit-protecting aeroscreen lessened the risk in open-wheel racing of deadly injury. So he's back at the Brickyard in the familiar No. 48 and he's in Indy to win it — with his dad along for the ride working as a spotter.
“This isn't Indy Light this year,” Johnson said. “It's Indy Heavy.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr., a former NASCAR teammate with Johnson at Hendrick Motorsports, empathized with Chani Johnson's fears of watching Johnson try to tame the crowded field and the risky maneuvers required at Indy.
“I am full of anxiety that he's going to push, push, push too hard, and somehow that might put him in a bad situation,” Earnhardt said. “He's gotten so, so close a few times already this month to some bad situations. But he's a pro. You trust that he knows what he's out there doing, understanding the limits of the car.”
Johnson scared even himself during qualifying when he wrestled his car out of a sideways slide that seemed headed toward a massive crash at 230 mph. He lost his shot at the pole and starts 12th. He's on the outside of Row 4 with former Indy 500 winners Will Power and Takuma Sato.
But Johnson is the A-lister at Indy. He has made the promotional rounds from late-night TV shows to early morning risers, traditional sports programming and even People magazine.