Just weeks before NASCAR’s “silly season” of accelerated contract negotiation and frenzied driver movement speculation, six-time Sprint Cup champion #48-Jimmie Johnson remains without an extension to remain at Hendrick Motorsports. But that sounds like just a formality. Before the 5-hour Energy 301 on Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Johnson told USA TODAY Sports that while there was “nothing new” in completing negotiations, he doesn’t foresee a move from the team with which he has raced his entire 15-year Sprint Cup career. “(Team owner) Rick (Hendrick) likes to get things signed up and done well in advance, so there definitely have been conversations,” Johnson said. “We’re kind of going down the road to get that all buttoned up and put together. But I’m home. I’m not going anywhere.”(USA Today)(7-20-2015)
UPDATE: Johnson met with members of the media at Indianapolis and discussed his contract extension, the transcript in part:
Q) WHAT IS THE LATEST ON YOUR CONTRACT EXTENSION AND WHETHER OR NOT YOU EXPECT CHAD (KNAUS, CREW CHIEF) TO BE BACK NEXT YEAR?
Johnson: “We still have, is it next year on our contract? I don’t even know. We are obviously not concerned. We have been getting things buttoned up with Lowe’s, with Hendrick, with Chad and myself, all of that. Like I said, I think last week, I’m home it’s just a formality at this point to get everything kind of finished up and done.”(Team Chevy)(7-29-2015)
UPDATE2: Rick Hendrick confirmed Tuesday that an announcement is likely next week in regards to Jimmie Johnson, crew chief Chad Knaus and sponsor Lowe’s. All three are in the final year of their contracts with Hendrick Motorsports. “You might not have to wait a week,” Hendrick said with a smile. “It’s just a matter of rolling it out, probably next week.” Johnson last signed a five-year contract extension that carried through this season. Lowe’s signed a two-year extension in Feb. 2013, putting its deal in line with Johnson’s and Knaus’.(NBC Sports)(9-8-2015)
UPDATE 3: Lowe’s Companies Inc. has extended its longtime relationship with Hendrick Motorsports after signing a two-year agreement that will continue its full-season primary sponsorship of the #48 NASCAR Sprint Cup team and six-time series champion Jimmie Johnson in 2016 and 2017. In addition, Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports have agreed to a two-year contract extension that will keep the driver behind the wheel of the #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS through 2017. The agreements build upon a partnership launched in 2001 when Johnson was selected to drive for the new #48 Hendrick Motorsports team. Now in its 14th full season, the sponsor-driver-team relationship has become one of the most successful in NASCAR history. Lowe’s, whose NASCAR involvement dates back to its first car sponsorship in 1960, has been Johnson’s primary sponsor for each of his 497 career Sprint Cup starts. Since his first full-time Sprint Cup season in 2002, Johnson has earned 74 victories “ the most in the series during that span “ and averaged a third-place (3.07) championship points finish. Led by crew chief Chad Knaus, whose contract with Hendrick Motorsports runs through 2018, the #48 Lowe’s team has scored at least three Sprint Cup wins in each of its 14 full seasons (2002-15). Johnson’s six championships trail only first-ballot NASCAR Hall of Fame drivers Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty, who each posted seven.(Hendrick Motorsports)(9-14-2015)