FORT WORTH, Texas – Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson will hear a familiar voice give the command to start engines when his father Gary Johnson serves as grand marshal for Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
The Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 will be the final race at Texas Motor Speedway in Johnson’s record-setting full-time career in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
“Seven-Time” is the all-time series leader in victories at Texas Motor Speedway with seven. He has five victories in the fall race, with his first in 2007 and four straight from 2012-2015, as well as victories in the 2015 and 2017 spring races.
“I’m excited for my dad to be the grand marshal at Texas to give the command to start the engines,” Jimmie Johnson said of his father. “We have family in Texas so I feel like there’s going to be some extra sentimental value for my dad, knowing his sister lived there and was from that area. He’s been such a supporter of me in my career and I know how special and meaningful it will be for him to be there in my final start at Texas Motor Speedway.”