Winning the Cup Series championship is one of the biggest achievements for any driver competing in NASCAR. Lifting the trophy even once is one of the biggest honors for a race car driver.
Several NASCAR drivers — well-known names, with full-fledged racing careers and plenty of victories — have been unable to win the championship. Now, if a driver has won the most prominent trophy a whopping seven times in his or her career, well, they are bound to be legendary in any sport.
Jimmie Johnson is one of the only three drivers to have achieved this feat alongside Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Richard Petty. Recently, on a podcast, Johnson candidly opened up on why he left NASCAR for other ventures.
Jimmie Johnson on His Departure From NASCAR
Johnson announced his full-time retirement from NASCAR in 2020, promising to remain involved in the sport. He participates in select races, qualifying for the Daytona 500 back in February, while serving as principal owner of Legacy Motor Club. He was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2023.
In his final season of full-time racing, the No. 48 driver managed to land a top-five spot on five different occasions but was unable to win a race. Johnson finished fifth in his last race at Phoenix and ended the 2020 season ranked 18th overall.
Johnson’s end-of-career success rubbed a lot of racing fans the wrong way. They believed the seven-time Cup Series champion still had enough left in the tank to keep going. It didn’t help that Johnson never got the farewell he deserved due to empty racetracks and strict rules amid COVID-19 restrictions that year.
I’m excited to see the championship return to a place that’s been a defining part of my legacy. https://t.co/8VU02d2NP5
— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) May 8, 2025
During a recent appearance on “The Big Three” (via Donuts Podcast), Johnson spoke about his early beginnings riding motorcycles and behind the wheel of Baja trucks before the doors of NASCAR opened for him. After touching on several aspects of his legendary career, the former HMS driver finally arrived on the topic of his retirement.
He was asked, “You left NASCAR, and then you went to Open Wheel, talk to us about, I guess, why, and what that experience was like?”
In response, Johnson talked about growing up on the West Coast where IndyCar was a big deal. He didn’t know much about NASCAR in his childhood days.
Johnson said: “Worldwide Sports or something would come on, and you guys remember that? Yeah. Yeah, you get like three or four different shows for small little bits. That was all I knew of NASCAR.”
Growing Up Idolizing IndyCar Legends
Johnson was in tune with the top drivers in IndyCar as a youngster, initially thinking he would follow in their footsteps.
Johnson said: “Rick Mears, Roger Mears, Robby Gordon … they all came from off-road racing and went to IndyCar. And if I wanted to have a professional career, that was kind of the road that was traveled in front of me.”
Only when Chevrolet told Johnson that it was pulling out of open-wheel racing did he decide to move to North Carolina and give NASCAR a shot.
“After I had one of my meetings with the head of Charlotte racing, two weeks later, I bought a one-way ticket to Charlotte in 1997,” Johnson said. “Basically, I’ve been there ever since.”
Even when he was racing in NASCAR and winning titles, Johnson always had a secret desire to go for “The Double” — the rare feat involves competing in the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day — but could never pull it off for various reasons.
