Change is something that not everyone may be comfortable with but it is inevitable. And if there’s any NASCAR team that has had massive changes recently, it’s Legacy Motor Club. The team debuted in the Cup Series in 2022 and their two years have yielded only one race win. At the end of the 2023 season, it was announced that the team would make the shift from Chevrolet to Toyota. As a result, several changes have been made.

Legacy Motor Club will have one of the most promising drivers in NASCAR today in John Hunter Nemechek racing full-time for them starting in 2024. Erik Jones will also be one of the full-time racers in the team and 7-time Cup Series champion and co-owner Jimmie Johnson will run the #84 car on a part-time basis.

Legacy Motor Club owners have invested a lot in the team

In a recent interview with RACER, Legacy Motor Club vice-president Joey Cohen recently spoke about the changes that the team underwent as they switched from Chevrolet to Toyota. One of the main reasons why Jimmie Johnson’s team switched to the Japanese manufacturer is simple. Being one of three Toyota teams rather than one of eight Chevy teams would be better for them in the long run when it comes to car development.

But it takes a lot more than just signing up with a manufacturer with fewer teams to be competitive in the Cup Series. Well, it turns out that Legacy has taken a lot of effort to ensure that happens as well. Firstly, the shop has been redecorated in its entirety to give it a more Cup Series team vibe.

The team owners have also invested a lot of money ahead of the 2024 season. This enabled the team to make several new additions. They have hired and are developing their pit crew which trains alongside Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI Racing crews. They have created their aerodynamics department, added a simulator, and hired software and engineering leads. The total number of employees has increased from 70 to 115.

“Part of that is a direct connection with Toyota – we have responsibilities now and stuff we’re beholden to as a tier one partner with TRD. We have an aero department now that has a lead. We have a quality control department that has a staff of four that has a lead,” Cohen said. 

Cohen went on to say, “We have somebody that’s directly tied in with software development or engineering technology tools that we’re going to start to take on with Toyota and what they do with that type of stuff. We have a simulator that lives here in the shop. Those guys are on that two to three days a week, so that’s a responsibility that needs someone to manage it and operate it. We didn’t have that last year.”

Legacy Motor Club and Toyota’s partnership was announced on May 2 last year. This meant that the team had to spend a whole season with Chevrolet before making efforts to transform into a Toyota team. As per Joey Cohen, the team honored that agreement to the best of its abilities.

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Team vice-president talks about honoring Chevrolet agreement

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It was not an easy last year with Chevrolet for Legacy Motor Club. Not only did the tools and resources dry up, but one of their drivers got into a lot of trouble over his social media antics. The man in question is Noah Gragson who is back in the Cup Series with Stewart-Haas Racing. But the team never budged from honoring their contract with Chevrolet no matter how bad things got.

“We’re bringing tools and people in that needed spaces. So, it was a really good time to tackle that as we’re waiting on the other things to happen,” Cohen said. “We were in the race season, right? We’re actively competing with a Chevrolet team. You have to be respect of your current agreements; you have to honor those. We did that.”

Now that the team is the newest member of Toyota’s NASCAR family, a lot of investment has been made. There won’t be too many expectations in the 2024 season. But the team owners and executives will hope to see an improvement. How do you think Legacy Motor Club will perform this year? Let us know your thoughts.

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