Legacy Motor Club’s big move to Toyota in 2024 sure didn’t deliver the fireworks fans expected. Maybe dropping Chevy’s big backing might’ve thrown a wrench into their progress plans. However, their issues are much deeper when you look beneath the surface. Sure, LMC calls themselves a ‘Tier 1’ Toyota-backed organization, but they’ve also shied away from sharing data with other race teams under the same OEM banner. That surely makes one wonder: are Jimmie Johnson and co. on the right path with Legacy?

They’ve brought in some heavy hitters this year, snagging championship-level backroom talent straight from powerhouse teams like Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing. But as of now, what guys like Rick Hendrick and Joe Gibbs have over Jimmie Johnson in his new role is the experience—not to mention the results. Regardless, the latter has complete faith in his organization breaking through in its separate direction.

Building a winning legacy from the ground up

Call it a coincidence, but Legacy Motor Club’s only Cup Series win in its brief existence has come with Chevrolet equipment. Erik Jones’ Southern 500 triumph in 2022 feels like a while ago, yet it echoes loud these days, especially after both LMC Toyotas struggled to make the top 10 on most Sundays the entire year. Statistically, their #42 driver, John Hunter Nemechek, is the worst-averaging full-time driver in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, with an average finish of 25.4 through all 36 races. Erik Jones doesn’t fall too far ahead at 22.9. Those numbers aren’t fit for a race team with names like Jimmie Johnson and Richard Petty involved in its operations.

Now, let’s not forget that Johnson’s partnership with co-owner Maury Gallagher is still only three years old at Legacy Motor Club. Also, finding the correct pieces of the puzzle to achieve progressive balance is not an immediate process. Hence, he explained in the opening session of the Race Industry Week webinar to NASCAR insider, Jeff Hammond, “It’s tough, I mean you have to put so much trust in other people and you know, it’s your OEM, it’s your own workforce… There’s just so many layers that go with it, and strategically we’ve been making smart decisions as we go, and over time we’ll figure out if those are the right ones.” But it doesn’t stop there.

“I truly believe that the relationship with Toyota is the right decision for Legacy Motor Club,” asserted Johnson. “We’ve had a lot of turnover throughout the course of the years. We’re trying to evolve in the organization we want to be.” Indeed, the Toyota alliance can only get better from this point onwards. After a rough initiation year together, the Japanese manufacturers have left plenty to the imagination with Legacy come 2025. 

Johnson agrees, “That stuff wasn’t fun… But you know, we’ve recruited Jacob Canter from GM. We’ve recruited Brian Campe from Hendrick Motorsports. We have Graham Gott from Joe Gibbs Racing. We have Chad Johnston from Stewart-Haas. Travis Mack from Kaulig… You look around, and we are now attracting higher quality, super-talented individuals and that evolution is going to pull us up the grid and that’s just part of the process…” 

The first name on that list, Jacob Canter, a former Joe Gibbs Racing race engineer, who most recently served in a managerial position at General Motors, is now the Competition Director at Legacy Motor Club. The last name on that list, Travis Mack, John Hunter Nemechek’s crew chief beginning in 2025, is an individual who has worked with names like Chase Elliott, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Daniel Suarez. Alongside Canter and Mack, every other name on that list brings with them a wealth of knowledge to help Legacy’s future advances. 

However, beyond the backroom staff, there’s plenty to learn from multi-time champion owners like Rick Hendrick and Joe Gibbs. But Jimmie Johnson is already aware of that fact.

Jimmie Johnson’s lesson from Hendrick

For more than a decade, Johnson dominated the track in Hendrick Motorsports’ iconic #48, racking up all seven of his legendary NASCAR Cup championships with the team. That also allowed him an additional luxury that very few people have come face-to-face with in their stock car racing careers—learning from the winningest team owner, Rick Hendrick. Since 1984, Mr. H has built his empire through trials, tribulations, and incredible perseverance. And Jimmie Johnson’s time with him throughout the 2000s worked wonders for his brigade.

However, in the words of the man himself, “I guess my biggest lesson, in all of this, is just how slow this stuff moves, at least my role at Hendrick and that #48 car, all those years we can make stuff happen, literally, from one week to the next and change around our little group of 15 people and do whatever we wanted. But in the big scheme of things, as an organization, it takes months for anything meaningful to really come about.”

Now, Legacy Motor Club is some ways out from replicating the success of an older organization like Hendrick Motorsports, or even Joe Gibbs Racing. But in due time, if everyone plays their cards right, nothing can stop Jimmie Johnson and Legacy. After all, holding a team like Rick Hendrick’s as the measuring stick is a step in the positive direction. If only they could become more open to sharing data with their fellow Toyota garage buddies at 23XI Racing or JGR.

Nevertheless, with each passing year, the slate becomes bigger for a race team built on the foundation of those 14 Cup Series championships belonging to Jimmie Johnson and Richard Petty.