Denny Hamlin Claims Jimmie Johnson’s Shift a Key to Toyota’s Dominance in 2024

When Jimmie Johnson and Legacy Motor Club announced their departure from Chevrolet, the NASCAR community was both shocked and felt the move was questionable. After all, Jimmie Johnson and Chevrolet go hand in hand like Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton. But now, Jimmie Johnson and Toyota are already hard at work behind the scenes as key partners.

Joining 23XI Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing, Legacy Motor Club has already undergone major changes owing to the change in manufacturer data and intellectual property. With the launch of the new Camry XSE, Denny Hamlin revealed how Toyota Racing Development has the upper hand on Chevy and Ford when it comes to team collaboration.

Hamlin reveals Toyota Racing Development’s close-knit collaborations with teams

It’s no secret that OEMs are some of the most influential stakeholders in NASCAR. Not only do they decide which team gets how much wind tunnel time but also provide key simulation data essential for strategy. With Toyota Racing Development now adding a third key partner this year, there are already a few collaborations in place between the three TRD teams for 2024.

Reflecting on the changes within Toyota teams since the arrival of Legacy Motor Club and Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin shared, “All the teams are kind of intertwined in different areas for sure, we have an alliance with JGR for some technical stuff, some IP stuff. 23XI has an alliance with Legacy for some pit crew stuff and some other efficiencies.”

With all the teams collaborating on one front or another, TRD has put itself in a position to improve the performance of all their teams in parallel. Hamlin added, “You would argue kind of that Toyota teams intertwine with each other more than other manufacturer teams intertwine with each other. So it certainly allows them to zoom in and laser focus on the teams that they have. That’s resulted in some good benefits and results.”

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We’re yet to see how beneficial the switch to Toyota Racing Development will be for Jimmie Johnson and Legacy Motor Club in the long run. But one thing’s for certain, it’s going to be a long and arduous journey for the new partners to reach the heights that Johnson did with Chevrolet.

“It’s been overwhelming in the greatest of ways” – Johnson’s move to Toyota comes with new challenges

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To accommodate the new move to Toyota, Legacy Motor Club has had to undergo major system changes. Now that TRD will send in data according to their standards, LMC will need to adapt accordingly to maximise their efficiency. For a team and legend that has stuck by one manufacturer for so long, the shift is proving to put up quite a challenge.

Johnson was quoted by motosport.com, “It’s been overwhelming in the greatest of ways. The amount of data that we have; the tools that are included with that, tools that we need to design and create. We literally had to hire software coders to create the tools that we need because this is a new system, new software for us and we have a lot of responsibilities on our side to receive all of this information. But it has been a great journey, a great partnership.”

Johnson and LMC will be entering a season when Toyota has been on the back foot in terms of wins and the championship, but the introduction of the new CAMRY XSE could change that notion fairly quickly. Evidently, Johnson has realistic expectations of the road ahead. “We are thankful that they believe in us, and we look forward to taking a big step forward. We know it is going to be tougher as we go, but it is truly a partnership, and we are very thankful for it.”

Now that Toyota Racing Development’s plan for the Cup Series teams is finally taking shape, do you think the move from Chevy will pay off? Or has Jimmie Johnson made a major blunder?

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