NASCAR legend admits wife struggled with career change

NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson has admitted that he had some trouble convincing his wife that a move to IndyCar was a good idea.

The seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion raced his final full-time season in the competition back in 2020, moving instead to race in IndyCar with Chip Ganassi Racing.

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Johnson initially began racing on a part-time basis, refusing to race on ovals in 2021 due to concerns about the safety of running open-wheel cars on such tracks.

He did relent for the 2022 season though, running the full calendar and even taking his only top 10 finishes – 6th and 5th respectively – on the ovals of the Texas Motor Speedway and the Iowa Speedway that year.

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Speaking in an appearance on the High Performance Podcast this week, Johnson admitted that his wife Chandra had a hard time dealing with the shift, concerned for her husband's safety.

“I guess on the opening lap obviously I was in the car and couldn’t see it," he said, "but some of my friends said she turned around and ran from the grandstands because we went by it like 230 – 240 [mph] on the opening lap and she’s like I can’t watch this and ran."

He added: “It was a long slow process but she eventually is like, ‘look if this is what you want to do and you’re going to fully commit to it then you have my support.’ I was very smart though and I wouldn’t let her come to any of the oval test sessions. The first time she saw a car go around or me in an Indy car going around was at Texas.”

Johnson's sojourn in IndyCar ended after the 2022 season, instead coming back into NASCAR on a part-time basis, running in nine of 2024's 36 races.

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