NASCAR's Next Gen Le Mans driver lineup: Jimmie Johnson, Mike Rockenfeller, Jenson Button

After a few months of educated guesses and outright speculation, the driver lineup for NASCAR’s Next Gen effort at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans was announced Saturday morning. To no one’s surprise, seven-time NASCAR champ Jimmie Johnson gets a share of the cockpit.

Johnson’s co-drivers for the 100th anniversary edition of Le Mans, June 10-11, will be veteran sports-car champion Mike Rockenfeller and former Formula One champion Jenson Button.

“You can tell, frankly, we’re not messing around,” said IMSA president John Doonan. “These guys are the best in their trade.”

The NASCAR-to-Le Mans effort replicates, at least somewhat, a two-car effort in 1976, spearheaded by NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. That year, a Hershel McGriff Dodge and Junie Donlavey Ford made the trip but both broke long before the finish. Forty-seven years later, France’s youngest of two sons, Jim, has been the big driver.

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This time, NASCAR’s entry falls into Le Mans’ 11-year-old “Garage 56” category, a one-car class “reserved for cars to test new technologies.”

Remember the Delta Wing?

It began in 2012 with the rocket-shaped Delta Wing, which also raced twice in Daytona’s Rolex 24. This year, a Next Gen Chevrolet, prepared by Hendrick Motorsports, will show NASCAR’s newest automobile, in this instance incorporating hybrid power, on the world’s most historic sports-car stage.

“We’re really pumped about this," Doonan said. "It’s a messaging opportunity to recreate what Jim’s dad did in ’76, and to put NASCAR on a huge global stage.”

Each of the three drivers selected is familiar with big stages — often times, the biggest.

Along with winning seven Cup Series titles and sitting sixth on the all-time wins list (83), Johnson has high-end road-racing experience — he has nine starts in the Rolex 24 — and spent the past two years in IndyCar after retiring from full-time NASCAR racing. He returns to NASCAR as a co-owner and part-time driver this year.

Jimmie Johnson and his Hendrick Motorsports ties

Johnson's recent test-drives in the Le Mans-targeted Next Gen, and his long relationship with Hendrick Motorsports, made him a favorite to land one of the driver assignments.

Rockenfeller, a Germany native, won the 2013 World Endurance Championship (counterpart to IMSA’s WeatherTech Championship), and in 2010 had overall wins at both Le Mans and Daytona’s Rolex 24. He, too, has tested the car.

Button won his F1 title in 2009, when he captured six of his 15 career wins. The British racer has two career starts in 24-hour races, one at Le Mans and one at Spa in Belgium.

“We wanted to make sure we had global reach to tell the NASCAR story,” Doonan said. “We wanted to look even broader. Jenson came to a Sebring test we did right before Christmas. He’s very enthused to be a part of this.”

Also announced Saturday, sports-car veteran Jordan Taylor will serve as a consultant and help in setting up the car.

IMSA, NASCAR’s sports-car division, in recent years has stepped up its relationship with European counterpart ACO (Automobile Club de l'Ouest) and its premier World Endurance Championship.

“The intention is to put NASCAR on a more global stage,” said Doonan, who feels the driver lineup goes a long way in helping that cause.

“We thought, who can put us in the best place for performance on the track, the best place to reach the biggest audience, who can have the right attitude,” he said. “For the top drivers, going there and not competing in one of the classes but competing against the clock … drivers aren’t wired that way.

“They’re wired to go and win a trophy. It takes a special attitude for the drivers who are gonna do this. There’s a bigger cause here. All three of these guys, no doubt, are in the right mindset.”

The Next Gen car has been through extensive testing in preparation for Le Mans. The next test is scheduled for this coming Tuesday and Wednesday at Daytona, where the crew and drivers are expected to put the car through a 10-to-12-hour test. A full 24-hour test is slated for next month at Sebring.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR Le Mans lineup: Jimmie Johnson, Jenson Button, Mike Rockenfeller