Legacy Motor Club’s Bold Chevrolet Exit Was for the Best After a Horrid 2023 NASCAR Season

Let’s face it, the 2023 season was a nightmare for Legacy Motor Club. This was the organization’s debut season since Jimmie Johnson joined the fray in early 2023. Unfortunately, that year was pretty much a trial by fire and they got burned badly. Now, the team is expected to switch from Chevrolet to Toyota for the upcoming season.

Frankly, this is actually for the best for Legacy Motor Club. The team has not enjoyed any success since 2022 when Erik Jones notched up the team’s only win so far, at Darlington. Now, the team has grown disillusioned with Chevrolet, hence the switch to Toyota, who are more than eager for a new customer.

What went wrong for Legacy Motor Club with Chevrolet?

In a recent interview, LMC CEO Cal Wells III confessed that it was necessary to make the team more competitive. According to him, Chevrolet was not allocating an adequate amount of resources for the team’s development. This is considering how much history both parties shared in the NASCAR Cup Series, especially the owners. Wells highlighted the manufacturer’s key partner teams like Hendrick Motorsports, what he dubbed ‘tier one’ teams.

He said in a recent interview as per Autoweek, “One of the things that Jimmie and Maury (Gallagher) realized very early is that they needed to be what is termed in NASCAR vernacular as Tier 1—a team being supported as a Tier 1 member of Chevrolet, Ford, or Toyota. And those are very sought-after and coveted positions within NASCAR.”

Those kinds of teams earn the most support from their respective manufacturers. Apparently, Trackhouse Racing and Richard Childress Racing also enjoy tier-one status. Meanwhile, Wells was of the opinion that Legacy Motor Club should have been part of that tier. Instead, LMC were at tier three, where the information trickled down to them was severely limited and hampered their development. Wells continued, “Unfortunately (GM) just didn’t feel that way. And they left (LMC) at what I would consider a tier three, where the information was very limited and intentional.

READ MORE: “It Was Tough for Jimmie [Johnson]”- Legacy MC CEO Accuses Chevrolet of “Tier Three” Treatment, Reveals Harsh Reality Behind Toyota Alliance

So who stands to benefit from this fallout of epic proportions?

Chevrolet’s loss is Toyota’s gain in the NASCAR Cup Series

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Of course, it would be hard for Chevy to stomach losing a person of Jimmie Johnson’s caliber. However, there were not too many resources to go around, especially with three championship-caliber teams. In essence, the switch to Toyota is solely motivated by performance. Legacy Motor Club obviously felt that their path back to the front would be easier with Toyota, who only have two teams under their umbrella.

What makes things even sweeter for Legacy Motor Club, is the timing. In 2024, Toyota will roll out a brand new Camry, which promises to be much faster. Meanwhile, Chevrolet is not expecting any new car, and to make matters worse, production of the Camaro is stopping in 2024. This could benefit Legacy Motor Club, as there are six superspeedway races, and two of them are in the playoffs.

When LMC was with Chevy, they could not rely too much on their fellow Chevrolet brethren for towing. Once again, this has to do with Wells’ tier system, but with Toyota, maybe they can actually get help and stand a chance.

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