Legacy Motor Club has been a story of failures this season. 7-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson came back to the wheel of a Cup car for the first time since 2020. Yet the former 83-time victor could never regain his spark, as he posted 28th or worse finishes in all his 8 starts. This bleak scenario rubbed off on his rookie driver, John Hunter Nemechek. Despite proving his worth in NASCAR’s lower levels, the 26-year-old still cannot find his mojo in the Cup.

With a nagging tendency to get caught in chaos coupled with a faltering LMC car, Nemechek is in a deep fix. Making the playoffs was out of the question, and Nemechek’s dwindling four top-ten finishes dropped him back to square one. He may need to prove his mettle all over again, as he did after 2020.

John Hunter Nemechek’s days are gloomy

Since 2022, Legacy Motor Club’s days have been murky. Erik Jones won the 2022 Southern 500 and added some spark to the team once owned by NASCAR legend Richard Petty. However, from 2023 onwards, LMC has been on a downward slope. Jones posted only 1 top-five and 7 top-tens, while Noah Gragson was cut off only 21 races into the season. LMC’s shift from Chevy to Toyota also never fully materialized. Unlike 23XI Racing’s alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing, Johnson’s fold is learning all Toyota data by themselves. So these factors, clubbed together with Nemechek’s racing blemishes, made for a particularly disappointing show.

NASCAR expert Eric Estepp emphasized the LMC’s influence on Nemechek’s performance. A peek into his past runs provides ample evidence that John Hunter Nemechek is a racing phenom. “Last season, Nemechek won 7 Xfinity Series races. You don’t win 7 Xfinity races in one season without some talent. His rookie Cup Series season in 2020…Nemechek drove for Front Row Motorsports which wasn’t so competitive at the time. 2020 was also the pandemic season, so Nemechek made his Cup Series debut without any practice, any qualifying, any track time…yet Nemechek showed us he has raw speed.” 

Yet Estepp threw the spotlight on John Hunter Nemechek‘s faults as well. For example, during the Brickyard 400, he slammed into the wall during an overtime restart. So after proving his worth in Truck and Xfinity, Nemechek may be facing his rookie season all over again.

“The knock against rookie John Hunter Nemechek is that he frequently oversteps. He spins out a lot, some mistakes. Nemechek chose wisely to drop back down to Trucks, had some success – moved up to Xfinity last year, and was really, really good…Unfortunately, his current Cup situation is reminiscent of his first Cup situation – a struggling race team, John Hunter’s driving it too hard…He’s got 6 DNFs this year, and 13 finishes of 30th or worse,” Estepp added.

And the 2021 Truck Series regular-season champion might be walking on eggshells.

Getting caught in LMC’s wild shuffles

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Throughout the 2024 season, Legacy Motor Club has witnessed a variety of personnel changes. In August, Bobby Kennedy was named the new general manager, and NASCAR engineer Jacob Canter took over as the director of competition. Most recently, Dave Elenz, who has served as the No. 43 crew chief for three seasons, was let go. Brian Campe has been acting as John Hunter Nemechek’s interim crew chief since the Charlotte race.

LMC shared on social media, “LEGACY M.C and Dave Elenz have parted ways, and the organization would like to thank Dave for his stewardship of the No. 43 over the past three seasons.”

These wild shuffles should ring alarm bells for the No. 43 driver as well. His glory days of collecting back-to-back Truck Series races in 2017 and 7 Xfinity races in 2023 are gone. Nemechek has not yet adapted himself to the Cup Series car, as he continues to falter in races. His latest venture in Homestead ended with a 26th-place finish.

So Jimmie Johnson‘s approach to improving the team might be dangerous for John Hunter Nemechek. “This has been a difficult season and performance hasn’t been where we want it to be. So moves like this are necessary,” Johnson said. “We want to show up, be competitive, and win races. That’s the main goal.”

Evidently, John Hunter Nemechek has his task carved out for him. Pick up in results or fade away from LMC. Let us see how the Xfinity star holds his Cup fortunes together.