Bank of America Stadium has been a quiet place over the past few weeks, as the Carolina Panthers are now nearly a month removed from the conclusion of their 2018 season. But in just a few short weeks, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion Jimmie Johnson’s 2019 season will begin: One week after the clock hits triple zero in Super Bowl LIII, Johnson and the rest of stock car racing’s best will convene in Daytona Beach, Florida for Speedweeks leading up to NASCAR’s season-opener and biggest race, the Daytona 500.
In the aftermath of the season that was and in preparation for the season to come, worlds collided at Bank of America Stadium on Wednesday. In a post on his Twitter account, Johnson posted a picture of him and his Hendrick Motorsports crew in the Panthers’ locker room, where they had been as part of a kickoff event for their season of racing.
A great kickoff event for the team today, thanks for showing us around @Panthers. pic.twitter.com/lmlyS0dRBb
— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) January 24, 2019
Johnson has been involved with the Panthers in the past. In 2014, Johnson served as the “Keep Pounding” drummer for a Week 15 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that the Panthers won on their way to an improbable playoff berth at 7-8-1.
In the NASCAR world, Johnson’s accolades speak for themselves: His seven Cup Series championships place him alongside Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt for the most in NASCAR history, and he ranks sixth on NASCAR’s all-time Cup wins list with 83. But in 2018, Johnson finds himself in unfamiliar territory: He has not won a race since June of 2017, enduring his first-ever winless season in 2018. Chad Knaus, his crew chief since entering the Cup Series in 2002, has moved on. So has longtime sponsor Lowe’s Home Improvement.
When Johnson takes to Daytona’s high banks in his No. 48 Ally Financial Chevrolet prepared by crew chief Kevin Meendering, it will be as drastic a change as Johnson has ever seen – And one that comes in the midst of a 59-race winless drought.
“I’ve never been in this position, I know that much,” said Johnson on Tuesday, according to a report by Jim Utter of Motorsport.com. “There is a lot of ‘new’ to it, there’s no way around that. But I do have the history of knowing everybody here at the shop and the history of the No. 48 and all that. So it doesn’t feel totally new, but largely new for sure.”
Johnson will be among the drivers trying to lead a resurgence for Chevrolet, whose new Camaro ZL1 struggled to the point of only winning four of the Cup Series’ 36 races in 2018 between two drivers (Chase Elliott and defending Daytona 500 Champion Austin Dillon). Johnson, who will compete in his 18th Cup season, is the elder statesman of a Hendrick team that includes fellow drivers Chase Elliott, William Byron Jr., and Alex Bowman.
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