If you thought the motorsports world had had enough of the Oscar Piastri announcement meme template, well, you’d be wrong. Because seven-time NASCAR Cup champion, Jimmie Johnson is here to stay after he announced he’s there to go.
The former Hendrick driver had recently announced his ‘retirement’ from full-time racing after his rookie season in INDYCAR.
But soon after, Alex Bowman, the driver who succeeded Johnson in the #48 HMS car, announced that he’d be running for his World of Outlaws team for the 2023 season.
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Without @JimmieJohnson’s consent I’d like to announce that @JimmieJohnson will be running the full @WorldofOutlaws sprint car tour in 2023 for ABR with @allyracing. While slowing down in retirement the 92 race schedule is exactly what he’s been looking for. pic.twitter.com/SAzjWu5V2m
— Alex Bowman (@Alex_Bowman) September 27, 2022
The fun bit was that Johnson had scheduled an announcement, and Bowman ignored that and announced the news anyway, to which, the veteran replied, “I understand that, without my agreement, @Alex_Bowman has put out a Tweet this afternoon that I am driving for him next year. This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alex for 2023.”
“I will not be driving for ABR next year.”
This invited Bowman to bring in another announcement reference from within NASCAR only, along with a bunch of reactions from the fans as well as Hendrick Motorsports.
The timing of this announcement could not be any worse
— Alex Bowman (@Alex_Bowman) September 27, 2022
Show us the paperwork!
— Hendrick Motorsports (@TeamHendrick) September 27, 2022
here before the McLaren news hits
— DennyDeliversYT (@DennyDelivers) September 27, 2022
Why is Jimmie Johnson acting like Tom Brady bruh? 😂😂
— DarkusHero (@GoizuetaVictor) September 27, 2022
@JimmieJohnson can I interest you in driving the bulldozer around Texas Motor Speedway and then an asphalt paver so it doesn't suck anymore?
— Watty (@expertapexer) September 27, 2022
— 𝚂𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚘𝚗 𝚃𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚢 (@ShannonTeachey) September 27, 2022
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Jimmie Johnson on his ‘retirement’
In a statement in which he announced his retirement from full-time racing, Jimmie Johnson accepted that he still has a desire to go run in INDYCAR for a second season, but he simply doesn’t have enough gas in his tank for a full schedule anymore.
“I don’t have that passion that I need for myself to commit myself to a full season,” he described.
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Johnson admitted that retirement was “a difficult choice“, but in his heart, he knows it’s the right one.
Having said that, the former Hendrick Motorsports driver admitted that he remains open to opportunities that make sense to him (one of them clearly did), and that he still has a lot to cross off his list.
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“I still have a bucket list of racing events I would like to take part in,” he added.
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