Jimmie Johnson, Scott McLaughlin, and Romain Grosjean, oh my! That’s quite the rookie class for IndyCar, which opens the season Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama, stacked with storylines throughout the grid. Johnson brings seven NASCAR championships to Chip Ganassi Racing for a career reset at 45 years old. Although he always wanted to be an IndyCar driver, his opportunities came in stock cars until Johnson could call his shots. The transition will be tough. The opening practice Saturday on the road course will be the first for Johnson, who will be doing nearly everything for the first time this weekend.
“If there’s a rocky day, will I be surprised? Probably not,” team owner Ganassi said Wednesday. “He’s a damn hard worker, and he sets the bar at a new level for the amount of work a driver puts in. He’s always in the simulator, on the computer, on the phone, making calls, asking questions, working out, talking to sponsors, talking to the team. “I mean, the guy doesn’t slow down. I had no idea what I was up against when racing against him in NASCAR, and now I’ve got a little feel for it.” Grosjean comes to IndyCar from Formula One, where he’d grown frustrated at team disparity that prevented him from winning in nine seasons. His F1 career came to an abrupt halt after a fiery November crash in Bahrain, and instead of taking a ride with another team not capable of winning, the Frenchman signed with Dale Coyne Racing.
Like Johnson, Grosjean does not plan to race the four ovals on IndyCar’s 17-race schedule.
McLaughlin is the three-time defending Australian V8 SuperCars champion who moved to the United States to drive the entire season for Team Penske and will resurrect the iconic “Yellow Submarine” paint scheme in the Indianapolis 500 driven by Penske winners Helio Castroneves, Rick Mears, and Johnny Rutherford.
“I didn’t think I’d be racing Jimmie Johnson and Romain Grosjean. It’s wild. Very exciting,” McLaughlin said. “It just shows what IndyCar is all about right now. I hope the fans relish it.”
full schedule, but he’s set his sights on winning races and even competing for the championship. But the fierce competition starts at the top with six-time champion Scott Dixon and Team Penske.
Dixon will try to tie A.J. Foyt’s for seven championships while leading an expanded Ganassi organization. The team will field four cars this season, with only Marcus Ericsson returning for a second year. Dixon will be acclimating to new teammates Johnson and second-year IndyCar driver Alex Palou.
In 20 seasons, Dixon has never won back-to-back titles, but his current streak of two in the last three years is the best of his career. He turns 41 this July but noted Tom Brady recently won a sixth Super Bowl at 43.
“I don’t think you can ever really put a time scale on it or an age or anything like that,” Dixon said. “I think we’ve seen the longevity, not just in our sport but across sports in general; there are so many different ways, whether it’s the mental game, training, or anything like that.”
Penske has three IndyCar champions on its roster: Josef Newgarden has two titles, while Simon Pagenaud and Will Power each have one. Power has confirmed he’s in a contract year this season, while Pagenaud declined to comment; Roger Penske said contract talks are ongoing with all his drivers, but he’s generally been on record instead of fielding four teams.
Penske has plenty on his plate beyond driver contracts as he begins his second season as IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner. The pandemic decimated his first year of ownership, and he was forced to host the Indianapolis 500 without spectators for the first time in history.
