A 2007 Chevrolet Impala SS race automobile pushed by NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson is heading to public sale with RM Sotheby’s. It will likely be supplied on the firm’s Phoenix, Arizona, sale on Jan. 26.
Johnson gained seven NASCAR Cup Sequence championships throughout his full-time profession with Hendrick Motorsports, tying Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt for many titles in NASCAR’s essential collection. That included a document five-season championship streak between 2006 and 2010.
This automobile, chassis quantity 48-461, is a part of that historical past. Sporting the blue and silver Lowe’s scheme and quantity 48 most related to Johnson, it was pushed to victory at Martinsville and Phoenix in the course of the 2007 season. Johnson drove this automobile seven instances from 2007 to 2009, in accordance with the public sale itemizing.
Whereas labelled an Impala SS, this race automobile’s tube-frame chassis and rear-wheel-drive system are fairly totally different from the front-wheel-drive Impala sedan of the time. This technology of Impala street automobile did not less than characteristic a V-8 in SS guise, giving it a threadbare connection to the NASCAR Impala.
2007 Chevrolet Impala SS NASCAR Cup automobile pushed by Jimmie Johnson (picture by way of RM Sotheby’s)
This automobile was constructed to the then-new NASCAR “Automotive of Tomorrow” guidelines, characterised by a protruding entrance spoiler, deck-lid-mounted rear wing, and a extra upright profile than the earlier technology of Cup automobiles. The Automotive of Tomorrow was changed by NASCAR’s sixth-generation chassis after the 2012 season, which in flip was succeeded by the “Subsequent Gen” automobile for the 2022 season.
After retirement, chassis 48-461 was restored by Hendrick Motorsports, in accordance with the public sale itemizing. Offered in its 2007 Phoenix-winning guise, the automobile is anticipated to promote for $150,000 to $200,000 at public sale. That is similar to the $165,000 asking value for a 2011 NASCAR Automotive of Tomorrow chassis pushed by Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon, which popped up on the market in late 2022.
2007 Chevrolet Impala SS NASCAR Cup automobile pushed by Jimmie Johnson (picture by way of RM Sotheby’s)
Johnson retired from NASCAR in 2020 and spent the next two years concentrating on an IndyCar marketing campaign with Chip Ganassi Racing. He did not discover a lot success, and introduced that he was retiring from racing in Sept. 2022, however shortly reversed that call. In Nov. 2022, he confirmed his return to NASCAR as a part-time driver and half proprietor of Petty GMS, alongside fellow seven-time champion Richard Petty.
He plans to run a restricted schedule within the 2023 NASCAR Cup Sequence, beginning with the Daytona 500, scheduled for Feb. 19. Johnson will not be driving the quantity 48 automobile, although, as that quantity is now being utilized by Alex Bowman at Johnson’s outdated crew, Hendrick Motorsports.