Jimmie Johnson set for 700th career NASCAR Cup Series race

Jimmie Johnson will complete his 700th NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Coca-Cola 600 Sunday, the racetrack that was the site of his series debut in 2001.

Johnson will start 17th in his No. 84 Carvana Toyota, becoming the 21st driver in NASCAR history to start 700 premier series races.

“It’s wild how my first start just coincidentally comes the same place as my 700th start,” Johnson said. “It means a ton to me. I’m a numbers guy, and to have these numbers play out – literally on their own, is really special.”

Johnson, the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, is competing in just his second start of 2025.

The 49-year-old driver has participated in select races since 2023, earning a third-place in the Daytona 500 this year as his highest finish in his part-time NASCAR racing era.

Johnson confirmed to the media Saturday at Charlotte the milestone start will not be his final NASCAR race.

No driver has ever won in their 700th start.

Richard Petty was the first driver to reach the milestone start in 1976, starting first and finishing fourth at Michigan.

Jeff Gordon’s third-place finish at Darlington in 2013 is the highest a driver has scored in start No. 700.

Prior to Johnson, Kyle Busch was the most-recent driver to hit the seven-century mark, finishing 25th at Indianapolis in 2024.

Denny Hamlin is set to be the next driver to make his 700th start, which will happen next week at Nashville Superspeedway.

The Coca-Cola 600 is scheduled for Sunday, May 25, at 6 p.m. ET.

Dominic Aragon is currently the editor-in-chief for The Racing Experts.

From Grants, New Mexico, USA, Aragon started watching NASCAR in 2004 and has been covering the sport since 2009. Aragon is a 2012 graduate of Grants High School and a May 2016 graduate of the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in Mass Communications & Journalism. Aragon has worked in local and national media, as a musician, and an educator. He is co-author of the 2024 book “All of It: Daytona 500 Champion Tells the Rest of the Story” with racer Geoff Bodine.

Aragon, his wife Feliz, and son Christopher currently reside in Grants, New Mexico, USA.

You can reach Dominic at daragon@theracingexperts.net.