MONTEREY, Calif. — Jimmie Johnson introduced Friday that sponsor Carvana has agreed to fund subsequent yr’s racing endeavors, and the seven-time NASCAR champion will use the following few weeks to find out his 2023 schedule.

Johnson only a week in the past mentioned he was nonetheless searching for funding for a full IndyCar season. However he is additionally impatiently awaiting IndyCar’s upcoming schedule as a result of he needs to be a part of NASCAR’s particular mission to take a Hendrick Motorsports entry to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

He hasn’t closed the door on operating one other NASCAR race sometime, and he defined at Laguna Seca Raceway that he has a number of affords to compete in a wide range of motorsports collection.

“The good information is Carvana is behind me in no matter I select to do,” Johnson mentioned. “They assist their need to be with me in no matter selections I select to make in 2023.”

Johnson has tried to be affected person the previous a number of months as he awaited sponsorship choices. He spent virtually his whole NASCAR profession with one sponsor till Lowe’s left the game and Ally picked up the ultimate two years of Johnson’s profession.

He made the choice to retire from NASCAR after the 2020 season and pursue his childhood dream of competing in IndyCar. He discovered Carvana on his personal and took the funding to Chip Ganassi Racing, the place Johnson spent his first season operating solely IndyCar’s oval and highway programs.

It was a steep studying curve for the NASCAR champion, and this yr he added the Indianapolis 500 and the rest of the ovals in his first full IndyCar season. He has been superb on the ovals and dazzled at his first Indy 500 by turning laps over 240 mph in qualifying.

Though he nonetheless struggles on highway and avenue programs, he has been fairly respectable on ovals and led 21 laps at Iowa Speedway. He scored finishes of fifth and sixth on the IndyCar ovals at Texas and Iowa.

After saying that Carvana is behind him for subsequent yr, Johnson mentioned he simply does not know at this stage what sort of racing that can contain.

“I want I had extra to share. I do not,” he mentioned. “I must discover the choices that I’ve in entrance of me. I must look within myself and see what my targets are. I am simply taking a while. I do not know what my IMSA plans are; I do not know what my IndyCar plans are; I need to go to Le Mans.

“The entire course of simply take instances, I would like to consider it, see what Crew Johnson thinks and discuss to the ladies [Johnson and his wife, Chandra Janway, have two daughters], however the excellent news is Carvana, they need to keep.”