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Jimmie Johnson (left) visits with Tom Brady during the 2025 Indianapolis 500. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Jimmie Johnson reflects on his rare opportunity on world stage

By Samuel Stubbs | Last updated Jun 11, 2025 12:11 PM ET

Jimmie Johnson's racing resume needs little introduction to most auto racing fans. Seven NASCAR Cup Series championships. Two Daytona 500 victories. A start in the Indianapolis 500.

In June 2023, Johnson bolstered his resume when NASCAR did something it hadn't since 1976: enter the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans, perhaps the most prestigious auto race in the world, with Hendrick Motorsports and NASCAR's "Garage 56" program.

One of the best race drivers of the 21st century was bright-eyed and filled with wonder as he prepared to be part of the three-man crew that would pilot NASCAR's Le Mans entry. This year's Le Mans race is Saturday and Sunday at the Circuit de la Sarthe in France.

"There's so much for me that went into it," Johnson said during a virtual news conference Wednesday. "Being back with Hendrick Motorsports, being able to go to Le Mans, I'm not sure I'll have another chance to race at Le Mans (again). I'd love to, but the way life is twisting and turning, that might be my one shot to do it."

As foreign as the experience was for Johnson, who still races part time on the NASCAR Cup circuit, there was still some familiarity in the paddock. Not only was Hendrick Motorsports — the organization Johnson has won 83 races and seven NASCAR championships with — behind the effort, but so was Chad Knaus, Johnson's crew chief from 2002 to 2018.

"I was able to go back with Hendrick Motorsports, work with Chad Knaus, Greg Ives, folks at Chevy, Goodyear — my whole NASCAR career, we were all back together for that moment."

Along with Johnson, 2010 Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller and 2009 Formula One champion Jensen Button drove NASCAR's Le Mans entry, giving the project a diverse range of experience as NASCAR attempted to prove that it belonged on the world stage.

"The experience we had, the friendship that grew from that, the time we spent together, the race itself — there are just so many emotional pieces to the event that I don't think I could've experienced elsewhere," Johnson said. "When you're racing for a trophy and racing for points, you're in a different headspace."

NASCAR's involvement in the race wasn't looked on as fondly by those outside of the Garage 56 project. Doubts about the competitiveness of a heavy NASCAR stock car competing against GT vehicles made other competitors nervous, but it put a chip on the shoulders of Johnson and the rest of the Garage 56 team.

"I feel like we all knew we had something to prove with this car," Johnson said. "The other categories were a little nervous about us being out there. I'll never forget the first drivers meeting, they were trying to put a special light on our car to notify us differently, as other cars would approach us at such a high rate of speed that we were going to be in the way."

'We all took offense to it, and everyone knows how quick the car was."

When the clock struck zero on the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans, NASCAR's Garage 56 Chevrolet finished the race, proving that a stock car was capable of enduring the conditions of a 24-hour race and making Johnson's experience that much more special.

"There's various layers that we collectively worked through and collaborated on that made it an extremely special opportunity, different from anything I've experienced," Johnson said.

The 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans is also another bullet point on the resume of Johnson, who continues to add to one of the more impressive legacies in auto racing history.

All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Samuel Stubbs

Hailing from the same neck of the woods as NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin, Samuel has been covering NASCAR for Yardbarker since February 2024. He has been a member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) since October of 2024. When he’s not writing about racing, Samuel covers Arkansas Razorback basketball for Yardbarker

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