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NASCAR: Jimmie Johnson shuts down retirement talk on Dale Jr. podcast

Lately, if people aren't telling Jimmie Johnson to retire from NASCAR, they're asking him when he's going to call it quits. Asking about it is reasonable for the 43-year-old driver, seven-time champion and 18-year Cup Series veteran. And the demands for his retirement - coming mostly from haters, not fans, of course - didn't stop after Johnson crashed at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday , spoiling his last attempt to qualify for the 16-driver, 10-race playoffs this year.

Certainly disappointed and frustrated about missing the playoffs for the first time in his career , Johnson is not ready to walk away from the race track. As a guest on his friend and former Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s podcast this week , the No. 48 Chevrolet driver talked about his future (among many other topics), and without providing specifics, he made it clear he's not planning for retirement at this point.

When Earnhardt asked how much more Johnson wants out of his racing career, he said, via the Dale Jr. Download (this discussion starts just after the 57-minute mark of the podcast):

"I don't know. That's a question that's being asked a lot, and certainly, I think here in the next four to six months, I'm sure Mr. Hendrick's going to be pushing on me for an answer. So I know that's out there, but if I'm forced to make a decision, I'm choosing more years. I'm not done yet. That fire is way too intense."