It’s been about three decades since Jimmie Johnson last did a desert race. In March, he’ll return to his roots when he enters the Mint 400’s Unlimited Race. Jason Duncan will serve as co-driver of the #84.

“Off-road racing is where I learned how to race,” Johnson stated. “The Mint 400 is raw, demanding, and unpredictable, and that’s what makes it special.”

Terrible Herbst Motorsports and Johnson are well familiar with one another. One channel is Riley Herbst who races in the NASCAR Cup Series for 23XI Racing, a Toyota ally of Johnson’s Legacy Motor Club; Riley is also a two-time Baja 1000 TT Spec winner.

Before becoming a NASCAR legend, Johnson competed in short course and desert racing. The latter entailed racing a Chevrolet truck in SCORE as a teammate to the great Larry Ragland. Perhaps his most infamous story from his time in Baja was the 1995 Baja 1000, where he fell asleep while running third during the night shift and crashed. After the manufacturer curtailed its desert program to focus on SODA, Johnson followed suit and starred there before getting his chance in stock cars.

Since his retirement from full-time Cup racing in 2020, Johnson has tried out a variety of series and disciplines such as IndyCar, Le Mans, and the Race of Champions. In the past year, he participated in the International Concours of Elegance and got to drive the legendary Blue Blaster powerboat.

Of course, he’s also been busy as a co-owner and part-time driver for Legacy Motor Club. The team even set up an Extreme E division in 2024, for which Johnson was slated to run a few rounds before the season was cut short to focus on the transition to Extreme H; LMC did not join the switch. Toyota had also acquired a Pro 4 truck from Greaves Motorsports with the hope that Johnson would do a few Championship Off-Road events, though that never materialized.

The Mint is one of two truck races he’s scheduled to do. In July, he’ll make his first Craftsman Truck Series start since 2008 at Coronado Naval Base.

Herbst certainly hopes Johnson’s time goes better than how the rest of the team has started 2026. In Sunday’s Toyo Tires Desert Challenge, Thor Herbst rolled the #19 while his brother Pierce had to retire with a suspension failure on his #219, leaving EJ Herbst to salvage a seventh overall in the #263.

“Jimmie Johnson represents excellence, adaptability, and credibility across every form of motorsport,” Troy Herbst offered. “The Mint 400 is an iconic event, and teaming up with Jimmie and Terrible Herbst Motorsports allows us to tell a powerful story about legacy, grit, and pushing limits in new environments.”

Featured image credit: Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images