Jimmie Johnson Confirms 700th Career Start Will Not Be His Last

The video was captioned by Johnson with, "Been a long road. Wouldn't change a mile."

The social media post led many fans to believe that the post from Johnson was alluding to Sunday's race at Charlotte Motor Speedway being the last of his NASCAR Hall of Fame career. Fret not, fans. In a media availability on Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Johnson confirmed that Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 will not be his swan song.

"No," Johnson laughed when asked if Sunday's race would be the final of his career.

Johnson continued, "No, it was just great editing. Proud of our digital department for doing a great job."

The driver, who is also a co-owner of LEGACY MOTOR CLUB, the team he will drive the No. 84 Toyota Camry XSE for in Sunday's race, hasn't competed in the NASCAR Cup Series since a third-place finish in the season-opening Daytona 500. Johnson knows being out of the car for so long will make Sunday's race an extreme uphill battle.

"Yeah, from a driving standpoint, it's halfway through the race before I stop thinking and just react and drive. And that's a tough thing to spot the field in qualifying, and half of a race," Johnson explained. "So, that part works against me coming into, especially at a track like Charlotte. Not being in the cars all the time has its consequences."

While there are some downsides to driving part-time in an "open" entry, Johnson does enjoy the aspect of his driving role, which allows him to help the LEGACY MOTOR CLUB team gain additional data points from his car. Johnson also loves being able to give development crew members and mechanics a chance to get their feet wet with his No. 84 car's program.

Johnson admits that the nine-race schedule that he set for himself in 2024 was a bit too much for the LEGACY MOTOR CLUB team to handle, the legendary driver hopes to compete in more than two races in 2026.

"Last year, I ran nine, and it was a little too much on the organization," Johnson said. "This year, I'm at two. Maybe we can do a few more. As we plan for next year as long as it doesn't take away from our full-time cars, we hope to run an unchartered vehicle and have me in it. Use that to develop talent, and also help develop partnerships and such."

But Johnson wanted to make one thing clear, his NASCAR Cup Series career will not conclude with an even 700 starts on his career stats sheet.

"Rest assured, there's more than 700 starts and I'll be jumping up and down asking for more races than two," Johnson quipped.

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