Jimmie Johnson clears the air on his NASCAR retirement after milestone start at the Coca-Cola 600

Jimmie Johnson is all set to make his 700th career start this coming Sunday (May 25) at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The seven-time Cup champion retired back in 2000 but never really gave up racing. If opportunities present themselves, he will get in the car next year as well.

Recently on the Rubbin' is Racing podcast, the NASCAR legend shunned the rumors of his 'retirement' while clarifying his feelings about giving up his firesuit. The 49-year-old said,

“It really is just luck that the 700th start ends up at Charlotte and the track where I had my first start. I think we ran nine (races) last year and once we started planning for this year in the Daytona 500, we realized 700 would be in Charlotte.” (0:09 onwards)

Named Coca-Cola 600, the upcoming 400-lap race at Charlotte marks the 66th running of the crown jewel event. Throughout his career, Johnson won eight races at the Concord-based racetrack, four of which were the Coke 600.

"I'm a numbers guy, but I literally have not been paying attention to this. It would have been amazing to plan at being done at 700 or some element of, but that's really not the case,” he added.

The Daytona 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 were the only races that Jimmie Johnson was tabbed to run in 2025. He wants to race a few more times in 2026, and then the following year, he wants to help build Legacy Motor Club into a three-car team. The Statesville-based outfit currently fields two cars, the No. 43 driven by Erik Jones and the No. 42 driven by John Hunter Nemechek.

“We're looking at that as one of the many options which would then put me in the car a fair amount next year,” he added.

The Coca-Cola 600 happens to be the longest race of the season. Fans can watch the event on Prime Video, 6 pm ET onwards or listen to live radio updates on PRN (Performance Racing Network) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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Jimmie Johnson recalls unfinished business with Team Penske amid Hendrick Motorsports ace’s “Double” duty

This year, Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy, will run the infamous Double, which includes competing in the Coca-Cola 600 and the Indianapolis 500 on the same day. Just recently, Jimmie Johnson revealed that there was a time when he, too, was close to getting inside a Penske car and attempting the feat.

However, several factors stood in his way, one of which was the lack of support from Rick Hendrick, his then-boss. Honda was the only engine supplier in NASCAR at the time.

“As we got closer to making a decision, I could sense Rick (Hendrick) wasn’t really a fan of it,” Jimmie Johnson said on the latest episode of NASCAR’s Hauler Talk podcast (quoted by The Daily Down Force). “I still had the home hurdle to clear. And then, from a manufacturers standpoint, it just didn’t seem possible”.

Before joining hands with Chevrolet, Team Penske used to run engines manufactured by Honda between 2006 and 2011 on the IndyCar side of things. Notably, Jimmie Johnson won his first Cup Series championship during that timeline.