Born from the ashes of Richard Petty Motorsports, Legacy Motor Club is now making moves to enter the top elite group of NASCAR. Through the years, the newly branded NASCAR team has had multiple changes within just a short period. The year 2024 witnessed a major revamp in the management of Legacy Motor Club. It all started with Dave Elenz, the former crew chief of Erik Jones, who served as the No.43 Driver for almost three years. Following Elenz’s departure, Jones’s team named Ben Beshore, the new crew chief. His teammate, John Hunter Nemechek, also got a new crew chief, Travis Mack.
This was a bold call, especially since the two drivers were going to pilot the Toyota Camry instead of the Chevy Camaro. They hit a major roadblock, winless the entirety of 2024 and unable to make the playoffs. It felt as if LMC shot themselves in the foot joining the Toyota camp, but 2025 is proving to be a comeback run. Before the Next Gen era began, the Cup Series title was contested between Team Penske, Joe Gibbs Racing, Hendrick Motorsports and Stewart-Haas Racing; these were NASCAR’s Big 4. But ever since SHR’s decline and their departure last year, it has become a three-horse race. And, as things stand, Legacy Motor Club could be the next team in the making to break this equation or reinstate the Big 4 status.
Erik Jones feels LMC is going to be NASCAR’s next powerhouse team
Jones and the #43 team are just 39 points away from the cutline, and after a torrid 2024 outing, Jones has started notching top 5 speeds. Texas was the first race when both Jones and Nemechek finished inside the top 10 together, and the #43 Camry ran well at Atlanta as well. Although this might not look like a giant leap, the two-time Southern 500 winner feels that his team is in the magic moment. Just one step away from decoding the formula that could see them go toe-to-toe against JGR, HMS, and Penske.
“We’re in the magic zone, right? In racing, you’re running 30th, like we were last year. It’s not easy to get better to run top 15 or top 10. But it is a lot easier to go from top 10 to top 5 to winning… I think we’re right there from the step away of being, you know, up there with Penske’s, JGRs, Hendricks. We’re real close to that mark, but it definitely take magic. And its like that in all levels of racing, it always had been for me at least,” Jones said this ahead of the Chicago race.
Back in 2021, LMC had a technical alliance with RCR and Chevy. However, the leadership group realized that the crowded Chevy camp would hinder their growth, and that is why they opted to go with Toyota. Only JGR and 23XI Racing are the teams supported by the Japanese automaker. The big change, LMC didn’t sign a technical alliance, learning from their past mistakes and became a tier-1 Toyota partner, hoping to build their program from scratch.
NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Test Session Jan 24, 2023 Avondale, AZ, USA NASCAR Cup Series driver Jimmie Johnson prepares to climb into his Legacy Motor Club car during testing at Phoenix Raceway. Phoenix Phoenix Raceway AZ USA, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xMarkxJ.xRebilasx 20230124_mjr_su5_002
“The way (the sport) is positioned now, it really a function of the OEMs to collect information and that gets shared through the teams and through the organizations. Our new alignment with Toyota puts us in a very strong positions to control our own destiny as an organization,” Team co-owner, Jimmie Johnson, said this about the decision. But this alliance isn’t always a bust. We saw Tyler Reddick and 23XI Racing reach the championship race last year. Heck, we’ve seen Furniture Row win the Cup Series in 2017, and they had a partnership with JGR.
But, given how LMC is operating, they want to compete with Joe Gibbs Racing or perhaps topple them as the big brother Toyota team in the years to come. They’ve got the financial muscle now with Knight Head Capital investing heavily in the team, and Jimmie Johnson directly calling the shots as the majority owner. Although the road is long, as Jones mentioned, LMC is hungry for more, and they are looking to compete for wins and championships.
Jimme Johnson is eager to expand the LMC driver lineup
As it turns out, LMC is looking to expand their driver lineup. Having signed the new charter deal, they are looking to purchase a third charter to field another entry. The newcomers, 23XI Racing and Trackhouse Racing, have already made their moves, and Johnson wants to follow suit. Currently, the NASCAR charter is worth up to $45 million, and LMC felt they had a deal in place to acquire their third charter from Rick Ware Racing. But, miscommunication between the two parties has resulted in a legal tussle, thus delaying LMC’s expansion project.
But despite the hurdle, Jimmie Johnson remains optimistic about adding another charter to his team. “It’s been a process, unfortunately, but I think we’ll have some form of outcome here soon. It’s our intentions and ambitions to put a third car on the grid in ’26, I’d say worst case scenario would be ’27,” Johnson said on the Never Settle podcast.
With Ram also announcing their plans to enter the Cup Series, a third charter could see them serve as the anchor team for them. This would mean cutting ties with Toyota and moving their base again. But, this could allow them to get out of JGR’s shadow and build a program of their own, and moving forward, perhaps add more teams under their technical alliance umbrella. This does sound ambitious, but that is what LMC has been striving for under Johnson’s leadership.
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