Watch: NASCAR Legend Jimmie Johnson 'Excited' To Swap Cars With Alonso

Fernando Alonso quit Formula 1 after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday following an emotional final weekend after 17 seasons in the sport. The Spaniard received great tributes from all the drivers on the grid especially fellow world champions Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, who admitted that they will miss him and that it was an honor to drive in the same era as Alonso.

The double F1 world champion made it clear he was only done with F1 as he had achieved everything he wanted to in the sport and that he was still not done racing. And he remained true to his word.

One day after finishing 11th at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, he is back on the race track and this time to sample something he has never tried before. Alonso will be swapping cars with NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson at the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain on Monday – an outing he labeled “just for fun”.

The plan for the two racing stalwarts to swap cars has been in the pipeline for several months and it will come to fruition on Monday. Johnson will drive Alonso’s McLaren F1 car after spending over six hours on the simulator at the team’s headquarters in Woking.

McLaren were quick to post videos of the stock car being prepared for Alonso on Monday morning, while Johnson also gave the Spaniard a quick debrief after an outing to warm the car up. Alonso was also shown how to get in and out of the car.

Alonso, who will race in the Indy 500 in 2019, will continue the 2018-19 season with the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team in the World Endurance Championships, where he has three races remaining and is the favorite to win the title.

The American motorsport has always been on Alonso’s mind and he admitted that he could consider competitively taking part in stock car racing in the future but at the moment it was just for fun.

“It’s pure fun right now,” Alonso said, as quoted on motorsport.com+. “But I cannot say 100% that I will not enjoy that much that I may think in the future to have a go somewhere in a competitive environment. Right now it’s just pure fun.”

“I’ll try to discover another new series, a different concept of racing, completely different car to drive I guess. So a lot of new things I will discover on Monday. I love to discover new things, to discover new motorsport events and series, so it’s going to be a very special day for me," he said.

“It’s going to be quite different to any other car that I drove, but at least we’re doing it in Bahrain, which is a circuit that I know, and it’s not an oval or something that could be more difficult. Everything will be very different, so I’m really excited and looking forward, because that new thing is always waking up your instincts and your driving skills,” he explained.

Johnson, who spent time at the McLaren team headquarters during the week leading up to the swap, also revealed he is excited about jumping in a single-seater race car. He had his seat fitting done prior to him arriving to watch Alonso drive his final F1 race – at least for the moment – in Abu Dhabi.

"I am definitely excited," Johnson said in Abu Dhabi, according to Auto Week. "Wednesday in the simulator was a great experience, and then I spent a few days in Dubai with my family and now I am here, taking it all in.”