“Jimmie Johnson is the Greatest of All Time”: Austin Cindric praises NASCAR legend and hopes to ‘Trade some paint’ with 7x champion

The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series regular season is all set to kick off this Sunday as the sport heads to Daytona International Speedway for the 65th run of the iconic Daytona 500. The build-up to the prestigious 500-mile-long race has been extra special this season, with seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson returning to stock car racing.

The former Hendrick Motorsports driver will be seen gracing the Cup Series field on a limited schedule this year, which will also involve the upcoming Chicago Street Race.

After trying his luck in the open-wheeled genre of motorsports at the NTT IndyCar Series, Johnson returns to his roots following a rather lackluster campaign. The 47-year-old will go toe-to-toe with StockCar Racing's finest young talent.

Noah Gragson, Chase Briscoe, Ty Gibbs, and last year's Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric will be competing against the #84 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 driver on the NASCAR track this year. Elaborating on his thoughts on racing a name as big as Jimmie Johnson, Austin Cindric said:

“I think Jimmie Johnson is the greatest of all time because of the format changes, the car changes and the dominance in such a short amount of time, winning all those races. I want to see how he handles himself in those types of situations."

"It’s going to be new for him, racing the Next Gen car. He spent the last couple of years at a pretty steep learning curve in IndyCar and I have a lot of respect for that. Looking forward to it. Hopefully, we can trade some paint.”

The NASCAR Cup Series goes live from Daytona International Speedway this Sunday.

Jimmie Johnson elaborates on his choice of number ahead of NASCAR return

Jimmie Johnson's return to the highest echelon in NASCAR is all set to kick off this Sunday, with the seven-time champion destined to race in the #84 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Legacy Motor Club, a team he co-owns. Elaborating on why he specifically chose the #84 over any other, Johnson said:

"Go back to my childhood racing days. The No. 4 and the No. 8 have always been significant numbers for me. Looking at the list at what was available, 84 is on there and they are two numbers I can't live without. So 84 it is. ... It was more of a secondary, kind of nod. I have 83 wins and looking for 84 wins and the 84 car added another layer to why we did it."

Watch Johnson race in the 65th Daytona 500 which goes live this Sunday at 2:30 pm ET.