Jimmie Johnson has a firm end date on his NASCAR Cup Series driving career: the 2027 Daytona 500 will be his last race in the series, closing out a run that includes seven championships and a share of the all-time title record with Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty.
One More Lap Around a Track He’s Already Conquered Twice
Johnson, 48, is set to compete in his 23rd Daytona 500 this Sunday. He’s won the season-opening race twice before, in 2006 and 2013, and both of those seasons ended with him hoisting the Cup Series championship trophy. That history makes Daytona a fitting bookend for a driver whose career has been defined as much by big-race moments as by season-long championship consistency.
The Road Since Full-Time Racing Ended
Johnson stepped away from full-time Cup competition after the 2020 season but never fully left racing behind. He spent two years in IndyCar, including an Indianapolis 500 start in 2022, then competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2023 as part of the Chevrolet Camaro NASCAR Garage 56 program, a project that put a Next Gen Cup car on the world’s most famous endurance racing stage. Even while scaling back his Cup schedule, he’s kept making select starts, including last year’s Daytona 500, where he avoided a last-lap crash and came home third.
Not Quite a Full Goodbye to Racing
Johnson hasn’t ruled out future appearances in NASCAR’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series or the Craftsman Truck Series, but he’s been clear that the 2027 Daytona 500 will be his final Cup Series start regardless of how the race itself plays out. He’s also scheduled for one more Cup race this season with Legacy Motor Club, the team he co-owns, when NASCAR makes its first visit to Coronado Naval Air Station in San Diego.
Where His Focus Is Headed Next
Johnson has said his attention is increasingly turning toward building Legacy Motor Club into a top-tier organization rather than chasing more starts behind the wheel. Since his full-time Cup debut in 2002, he’s become one of the most decorated drivers in NASCAR history, and with a retirement date now locked in, the 2027 Daytona 500 shapes up as the closing chapter of a driving career that helped define an entire era of the sport.
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