With the recent news of 7-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson buying an ownership stake and part-time seat at Petty GMS Racing, rumors and rumblings have swirled on social media as to what Johnson’s number will be.
The obvious one that comes to people’s minds is his trademark 48 that he ran with Hendrick Motorsports from his first start in 2001 all the way until his full-time racing retirement at Phoenix in 2020.
With this number, Johnson experienced an unprecedented amount of success.
The California native became the first rookie to hold the points lead during his stellar 2002 campaign, and he finished top-5 in points in each of his first four seasons.
After a late-season collapse in 2005, team owner Rick Hendrick orchestrated a milk and cookies meeting between Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus.
From 2006-2010, Jimmie and Chad racked up 35 wins, 81 top-5s, and 117 top-10s on their way to a record-breaking five consecutive championships.
Needless to say, those milk and cookies must’ve been damn good.
The 48 team lagged back in 2011 and 2012, but they stormed back in 2013.
Taking the first victory of the Gen6 era at the Daytona 500, Johnson and Knaus also took home their sixth title after a dominating six-win season.
Lackluster points results in 2014 and 2015 didn’t tell the whole story of those seasons, but a relatively meandering 2016 season showed signs of decline.
At least until the Playoffs.
In a vintage championship run, Johnson took advantage of the win-and-your-win format and notched victories at Charlotte and Martinsville to punch his ticket to his first championship race berth.
Homestead was a microcosm of their season and their partnership together.
Despite running between 6th and 13th all race, Johnson maneuvered his way toward the front as the laps wound down, and a fortunate late-race caution lined the 48 team up for the money stop.
The green flag flew, and two of Johnson’s title rivals tangled while the veteran snuck by to safety.
On the final restart, Johnson claimed the lead from the dominant Kyle Larson and planted his name in the history books by winning the race and his seventh chip.
With the sky being the limit, Johnson and Knaus flew too close to the sun like Icarus before them, weakening their relationship over the course of the next two years.
Retirements of veteran teammates and the introduction of the Camaro clouded Johnson’s twilight as he took on a more advisory role to the team’s young talent.
A divorce from Knaus at the end of 2018 didn’t help matters, and a 2019 campaign full of near-misses and misfortune resulted in Johnson missing the Playoffs for the first time in his career.
Johnson’s final full-time season in 2020 was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, his young teammates still finding their way, and the horrible aero package.
Johnson made a charge toward the end of the regular season to make the Playoffs, but missing a race at Indy (because of a positive Covid test) and getting DQ’d from the World 600 ultimately held him back from catching Matt DiBenedetto.
A crash at the fall Daytona regular-season finale was the nail in the final coffin for his Playoff hopes, falling six points short of making the Playoff field.
Despite a pedestrian Playoff run, Johnson was able to bookend his career with HMS on a high note, scoring a top-5 in his final race in the 48 at Phoenix while watching his protege Chase Elliott claim his maiden title.
Johnson carried the 48 with him to IndyCar and IMSA, running the road and street course races in IndyCar as well as select endurance races in the prototype class.
After two years of modest results in both series, Johnson decided to take a step back from full-time competition as a whole, intending to focus on filling out his bucket list.
Unfortunately, he won’t be taking the 48 with him back to NASCAR.
Per a tweet from Twitter user @KeithMarek, Hendrick Motorsports has already released some merchandise for 2023, with Alex Bowman retaining the 48.
With that door closed but not locked, the other significant theory posits that Johnson will revive a number from his past: #44.
Johnson wheeled the #44 Pennzoil Monte Carlo in his introduction to stock cars in the late 90s in ASA.
Driving for Herzog Motorsports, Johnson won rookie of the year in 1998 before scoring two wins in 1999 before moving up to the NASCAR Busch Series for 2000.
There are a lot of reasons why 44 works for Johnson and for Petty GMS.
For Johnson, it’s a throwback to the beginning of his career in stock cars and an homage to his time with the Herzogs, who believed in his talent so much that they took their successful trophy truck team to stock car racing.
For Petty GMS, their current numbers are 42 (for family patriarch Lee Petty) and 43 (do I really need to tell you who had this number?)
Richard Petty’s son Kyle had a notable Cup career, and after a successful run with Team SABCO, Kyle struck out on his own by creating PE2 Motorsports.
Kyle ran #44 during his team’s two-year run before being absorbed back into the family business. With his son Adam’s sudden rise in ARCA, Kyle felt it appropriate to give Adam #45 for his first Cup start at Texas in 2000.
Soon after, Adam was killed in a practice crash at New Hampshire due to a hung throttle, and Kyle ran #45 until he hung up the steering wheel for good in 2008.
Most recently, Richard Petty’s grandson Thad Moffitt ran some races in ARCA using #46 to continue the family succession of numbers.
With the Petty family’s deep roots in NASCAR, it would be fitting and natural for Johnson to snag the 44 to race with for himself and for the team.
It also doesn’t hurt that 44 is also the number of another 7-time auto racing champion who has displayed considerable interest in running NASCAR races.
As cool as 44 would be, I actually think there’s a secret third option.
Jimmie Johnson’s racing journey began as a fan of motorsports, and one of his heroes in NASCAR was the formidable Cale Yarborough.
Before Johnson’s unprecedented five consecutive titles between 2006-10, Yarborough scored a trio of NASCAR Winston Cups from 1976-78 with team owner Junior Johnson.
After the 1980 season, Yarborough scaled back his schedule to a part-time gig with MC Anderson’s team for two seasons before transitioning to the Lanier-Lundy operation for 1983.
Cale’s success with the team was immediate, and 28 became the number Cale made his own.
In the three years he was with Lanier-Lundy, the South Carolinian tacked on his last nine wins, including two more Daytona 500s.
The number 28 went on to be used most notably by Robert Yates Racing from the late 80s into the early 00s with a myriad of successful drivers piloting the car.
So, why would Jimmie switch to this number outside of it being Cale’s?
Earlier this year, Richard Petty’s twitter account started randomly tweeting out some vague, threatening tweets.
But, why was Richard giving us The Bird?
That’s right. Hardee’s.
The Southern fast food chain entered a partnership with Petty GMS midseason in 2022, and they just so happened to be the sponsor of another famous car.
Who just so happened to sponsor Cale Yarborough’s tenure at Lanier-Lundy.
Jimmie’s hero drove a car that was sponsored by one of Petty GMS’ current partners with a number that is currently wide open and has a lot of historical value.
I could totally see Jimmie Johnson coming back with the number 28 for his limited schedule in an homage to Cale and running a throwback to his Hardee’s car at a throwback event, whether it be the All-Star Race or at Darlington.
I still believe the most likely option is the 44, but I believe the 28 is an equally tempting option for the returning 7-time champ.
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