Jimmie Johnson will get his iconic No. 48 back for his retirement race in Daytona next year. Alex Bowman, who currently drives it, has decided to give it up for one day. Hendrick Motorsports made it happen, with sponsor Ally Financial also signing off. So, this last dance for Johnson was mostly sorted. ‘Mostly’, because the one other thing he wished for couldn’t initially be arranged: bringing long-time sponsor Lowe’s back.
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The brand was on the car for every single one of Johnson’s seven championship victories in the Cup Series. But because of Legacy Motor Club’s deal with Carvana, things looked complicated. Then Lowe’s posted something on Instagram to blow it back open.
The home improvement retail chain tagged Ally Racing and Carvana Racing with a question. “Have any plans on 2/21?” Then the caption: “@allyracing @carvanaracing need an ally for a last ride?”
Johnson jumped straight into the comments. “Let me put you guys in a group chat,” he wrote, tagging all three brands together.
It’s music to the ears for those who wanted to see the band back together one final time. Not long ago, Johnson sat down with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and said: “I wish there was something there, but this seems like too far of a reach.”Now, the possibility doesn’t feel out of reach anymore.
Carvana will not go away for Daytona. They’ve been with Johnson and the team he owns since 2021, and from the beginning, Lowe’s coming back was not technically impossible. It was just going to be difficult to get all the sides to agree on something. But the recent social media activity involving the brands here shows that something is definitely being worked out.
Lowe’s means a lot to Johnson. They were there with him when he made his part-time Cup Series debut in 2001 and were his primary sponsor in NASCAR from 2002 to 2018, after which they left the sport to focus on other avenues.
Eighteen straight seasons as his primary sponsor. Seven championships, five of them consecutive from 2006 to 2010, a run nobody in NASCAR has matched before or since. Johnson also won two Daytona 500s with Lowe’s branding on his car, along with another 81 Cup Series races.
In the mid-200s, when the Charlotte Motor Speedway was called the Lowe’s Motor Speedway, there was a running joke in the NASCAR community that Johnson owned the historic venue in North Carolina. He won four consecutive races there between 2004 and 2005, and also the All-Star races in 2003 and 2006.
The farewell run for Johnson would surely have been incomplete without seeing Lowe’s back one final time. But even before Lowe’s entered the picture, this farewell was already doing something NASCAR has never seen.
Hendrick Motorsports fields Chevrolets. Legacy Motor Club, which Jimmie Johnson co-owns, races Toyotas. So, with Bowman loaning the No. 48, the iconic number will appear on a Toyota for the first time.
Carvana isn’t going anywhere and will remain on the car. Ally Financial, the primary sponsor of Hendrick’s No. 48, also gave its blessing, making the arrangement possible and opening the door for other brands to join in.
Lowe’s didn’t wait to be asked. The home improvement giant jumped into the comments and simply asked if there was room. Johnson’s reply suggests there just might be.