Jimmie Johnson defies trends, gets Ally Financial as full-time sponsor for next 2 NASCAR seasons
By Nick Tylwalk
The seven-time Cup Series champion proved he still is in a class of his own by landing a sponsor who will appear on his No. 48 Chevy in every race.
Most NASCAR Cup Series drivers need a handful of sponsors to appear on their hoods during the course of a season. Jimmie Johnson is not most drivers.
Despite being mired in the longest winless drought of his career and preparing to drive without crew chief Chad Knaus next year, Johnson proved again he’s not like everyone else on Sunday when Hendrick Motorsports announced that it had secured a new full-time sponsor for the seven-time champ’s No. 48 Chevrolet. Ally Financial will serve as primary sponsor for every race during the next two Cup Series seasons, an arrangement that is almost unbelievable in the current NASCAR climate.
Except it isn’t, given who we’re talking about. Johnson has had Lowe’s riding with him for every race for years, even when most of his competitors have been forced to rely on rotating sponsors. Only Denny Hamlin and FedEx have a similar arrangement right now.
“The opportunity to work with a partner like Ally is incredible,” Johnson said in a Hendrick Motorsports press release. “Their commitment to leading in both the workplace and the community is something that resonates with me in a big way. They’ve sent a strong message about how much they believe in me and in our team, and I will do my part to make sure it’s the best investment they’ve ever made. I’m ready to chase more history with Ally on board the 48.”
While 2019 figures to still have its share of adjustments for Johnson, who will work with crew chief Kevin Meendering for the first time, there’s reason for optimism as well. The 48 team will have another offseason to adjust to the Camaro ZL1 body, which seemed to fluster most Chevrolet teams this year, and the new engine/aero package should level the playing field somewhat in terms of big teams all figuring things out at the same time.
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Most of all, though, Johnson knows he’ll enter the next phase of his career with the increasingly unusual comfort that one company has his back week in and week out. It’s hard to overstate how important that could be as he attempts to get back to his winning ways come Speedweeks.