When the 2018 season starts in NASCAR, Jimmie Johnson will have two new teammates in William Byron and Alex Bowman.
Johnson has already been mentoring the two, and he even took them both to lunch while giving them advice -- though he made the two young drivers sit in carseats in the backseat.
Just taking the kids to lunch.@AlexBRacing @WilliamByron pic.twitter.com/gWrBDVNB08
— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) October 18, 2017
Glad we could carpool! ? https://t.co/KegTbhHK2C
— William Byron (@WilliamByron) October 18, 2017
Related: Another contender dominating practice could actually help Jimmie Johnson
Byron explained how the seven-time champion has helped him while he's competing for the Xfinity Series championship.
"We've kind of been able to spend some time together the last few weeks with just some different team things we've been doing," Byron said. "We were just going out to lunch as a group. We were doing some work in the (simulator) and stuff like that, so it was fun to take that picture. The funny part was supposed to be being in the carseats.
"That was cool to spend time with him and pull from his knowledge and just learn how he was going to approach this weekend. It seems like he's really ready to go, so we're going to take the same approach and try and execute this weekend and hopefully have a good week."
This weekend at Kansas is the most important race of the season for Johnson, who is currently eighth in the points heading into an elimination race. Johnson, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth will likely be the four drivers competing for the last two spots in the field for the Round of 8.
Byron and Bowman will certainly rely on Johnson's expertise next season when they're teammates for Hendrick Motorsports.