Jimmie Johnson is probably never coming back full-time in a Cup Series car! But with the state of things in the 2024 NASCAR season, never say never. Regardless, at 48 years of age faced with the grand reset of the Next-Gen car, his own fortunes haven’t turned out too sweet either in the part-time #84 entry. Likewise, Legacy Motor Club’s full-time drivers John Hunter Nemechek & Erik Jones linger around the bottom half of the points table in average equipment. Rest assured, Jimmie’s recent actions indicate that he’s implementing some major changes at Legacy next season.

But by now, we all know what happens when a struggling team gets ready to face the silly season; rumors run rampant over the internet, no matter how ridiculous they sound. On that note, a certain rumor has linked ol’ JJ himself to his race team’s #43 car as the replacement of one Erik Jones. And ironically, it is the fans who have snuffed it all out this time, before a flimsy rumor turns into a toxic discussion, yet again.

Rumors swirl around Jimmie Johnson’s full-time return to Legacy Motor Club

Sure, Erik Jones’ playoff-opener win in 2022 feels like a while ago. And a single top-10 at Daytona in 2024 is hardly what one could expect from the first driver ever to win Rookie of the Year in all three NASCAR national touring series. But for now, NASCAR insider Bob Pockrass suggests his seat is quite safe at his current race team. Although he did remind everyone that Erik still hadn’t signed a contract for 2025. 

John Hunter, on the other hand, has a contract next season. On top of that, the rookie has statistically shown out to be better than his sophomore-year Cup Series teammate who drives LMC’s iconic #43, Erik Jones. Nemechek has three top-10s compared to Jones’s one. But with 3 more DNFs than Erik, the #42 driver sits at 31st in the regular season points standings while Jones finds himself four spots above Nemechek at 27th. 

Speculating a win for either could indeed be deemed a lost cause, although we must not forget Erik Jones pulled a rabbit out of his hat only two years ago near about this time at Darlington. As for Nemechek, he has shown speed multiple times this season. And truth be told, the 27-year-old isn’t completely winless in 2024. He has won 2 races in the Xfinity Series, first at Las Vegas and then at Nashville. Essentially, LMC has quite a promising lineup for the future. No puns intended, but Nemechek & Jones are two drivers who could truly uphold the type of ‘Legacy’ that Jimmie Johnson & Maury Gallagher’s team places its foundations on.

For those unfamiliar, the duo established Legacy Motor Club on the bones of Richard Petty’s former race team, Petty Enterprises, in 2021. However, contrary to the 14 championships shared between Petty and Johnson, Legacy Motor Club’s only win in NASCAR was that Darlington triumph by Erik Jones. Surprisingly, Jimmie Johnson doesn’t even have a rare top 10 finish in the ten races he has turned out driving his race team’s part-time #84 entry since 2023.

A mysterious fate follows Legacy this season. And placed under heavy responsibilities as the co-owner, Jimmie Johnson is making his due changes alongside his organization. A few weeks ago in July, competition director, Joey Cohen, went his own way for undisclosed reasons. In his place, former NASCAR crew chief Bobby Kennedy would step up as the General Manager of LMC. Then, after finishing a disappointing 33rd at the Brickyard 400 on July 21st, Johnson’s part-time crew chief for the #84, Jason Burdett, and several other team members received the boot.

Although the motives are still unclear, Jimmie is still on track to run his remaining three races for Legacy at Kansas, Las Vegas, and Phoenix. Who will be his crew chief? It’s been radio silence on that as well. Moreover, he told the IndyStar in a heartfelt disclosure recently, “I want to race, but I don’t want the third car to be a detriment to the other two.” Indeed, that is a sad admission from a former 7x Bill France Cup winner. Regardless, all these negatives have pushed some fans to assume that Jimmie Johnson has a drastic move planned inside his head to help better his race team. And those select few ‘fans’ think Jimmie Johnson could take over Richard Petty’s iconic number #43 as Erik Jones finds a potential 2025 destination at Spire Motorsports.

It sure is quite the nostalgia-inducing move that nobody would see coming if it does happen in the name of “silly season”. But at the age of 48, with a lot more people involved in the equation than just Jimmie Johnson, the counter to those rumors has been equally loud. And you can thank the fans if the probable issue did not sit right with you either.

The seven-time champ’s comeback: fact or fan-fiction?

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One fan rightfully noted, “I think Legacy letting go of the 84 team is more about reevaluating the Jimmie effort in general.” And they’re not wrong considering Jimmie himself admits to the IndyStar that “The revenue [LMC] generate(s) can help us use the third car to develop new talent and can help us develop new setup ideas…” The gist of his statement expressed how it could get distracting for Jimmie to compete against his full-time Cup-running employees. And that operating a car for only 9 races was not very economical now that he had a well-informed view of things. 

But another fan disagreed with the initial statement made by his fellow NASCAR universe member when he referenced the hottest new rumor of the 2025 Silly Season: “With Andretti getting into NASCAR (with Spire), anything is possible…” Laying out their mic drop on the NASCAR subreddit where all the discussions took place, the user wrote, “but I don’t see JJ coming back full-time.”

Others were not so nice, like this fan who chastised the state of Legacy with some stern opinions. “No way in hell would JJ go full-time in the 43. What kind of former 7-time champion would continue to drive an underperforming #43 car and risk their legacy going winless with embarrassingly-bad average finishes?” – they questioned with a touch of reality hanging between the letters.

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These unnecessary rumors had a certain portion of the NASCAR audience on Twitter bewildered. Hence, they asked their social network peers, “Didn’t Bob tweet Jimmy was basically out there collecting data for LMC?” In fairness, he will be for three more races this season. But what happens in 2025 is still TBA for now from Legacy’s end.

To conclude the discussions commendably, this member of the NASCAR community laid out a scathing yet pragmatic observation. “People take his #84 car stint way too seriously. His “real” NASCAR career ended after 2020. And yeah there’s absolutely no way he’d go full-time in one of those cars,” which is probably true for his age and championship-level pedigree.

After all, Jimmie Johnson retired at the very top. Coming back from the Cup Series frying pan and jumping into the fire with these current LMC Toyotas could bear heavily for Jimmie Johnson’s legacy. But can any of you see this one happening soon? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.