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One night, things will not change for Legacy Motor Club, but the end of the Daytona 500 of this past weekend was a much -needed boost for a team that has struggled on the track over the past six months and made significant changes.
Jimmie Johnson’s third place and John Hunter Nemecheek’s fifth place in the Daytona 500 equated to the number of top five finishes Legacy Motor Club had the previous two seasons combined.
With Erik Jones getting thumbs up to win his qualifying race and then finishing 12th in the Daytona 500, the first points of the season were a success for the team owned by Johnson. The key is to carry that momentum in Sunday’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway and beyond.
“We really know that we are better than 2024,” Nemecheek said this week. “I mean, we certainly couldn’t have got much worse.”
The top three national series will take part in Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend.
Last year it was difficult for Legacy Motor Club in the first season with Toyota and switched from Chevrolet. Unlike the fellow Toyota team, 23xi Racing, Legacy Motor Club was not so in line with Joe Gibbs Racing. Without these resources, performance was challenging.
Jones had two top 10 results last year. Nemechek collected four top -10s. Johnson had nothing started in nine. The three combined last season to finish the 25th or worse 50 times.
Such performances led to various management changes.
“One of the worst parts I have experienced as an owner is termination and trying to go from an individual or a department of people and bring someone new,” Johnson said. “I’m not sure if I’ll ever get comfortable with it. So it was difficult, and we went through a lot of it over the previous season. “
Among the most important movements:
Jacob Canter was appointed director of competition on August 9. He was at Joe Gibbs Racing, from Race Engineer to research and development team manager, for almost 16 years. Canter was the engineering driver of vehicle performance at General Motors before joining Legacy Motor Club.
Brian Campe was named the Technical Director on October 4. He had several roles at Team Penke after being at Hendrick Motorsports. Campe rejoined Hendrick Motorsports in 2021 and eventually became the technical director of the organization before going to Legacy Motor Club.
Chad Johnston was named the team’s manager of Ren engineering on November 15. He was a crew head for several organizations, including Stewart-Haas Racing, before joining Legacy Motor Club.
Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano were one of the best drivers on the reconfigured Atlanta track.
The team announced on January 27 that Johnson had become the majority team owner and that the management of the Knightood Capital gained a minority stake in the organization.
“On the competition side, we really restructured the department, reorganized, and you have no choice, but we started in the late spring of 2024 and made changes, developed and eventually tried to recruit individuals at our business,” Johnson said.
‘The process is difficult, above -on people who are available, above contracts and when they are going to be free and work for us. So, in mid -November, maybe even the first December, we all had in the house that we recruited. So there were different steps along the way with people entering.
‘I would say Jacob Cantor was probably the earliest one coming in and his presence, trying to put processes in place and organize the competition section. At least he got an edge of it. We are still playing over and we are not quite where we want to be, but we have taken many massive steps forward. “
Jones knows it will take time to build Legacy Motor Club.
“One thing we can’t rent or buy is time,” he said. ‘We are now with the time to build our SIM program and that side of things. Build out our Aero program and car building. It is just a process that will take time and experience.
‘With that, these guys are very sharp, but it is in new roles. New roles that are more involved than they did in the past. To take nothing away from them, just bigger roles, so it will take a while too. ‘
Thrity-five of the 41 cars in the Daytona 500 were involved in an incident.
Even with the success of Daytona, it is clear that there is work.
Both Jones and Nemechek were unable to progress to the 23-car collision at Bowman Gray Stadium.
While Johnson secured a starting place for the Daytona 500 in the single car qualification, he was 29th on the speed card. Jones was 36th and Nemechek was 38th under 45 cars that made an effort.
“We didn’t have the speed to qualify, but they drove very well in the concept and we know some kind of areas we need to work back, Superspeedway Racing,” Nemechek said.
‘This is a proof of everyone who works hard and very long hours during the off -season in the store and just tries to make the place run smoothly, and as we want it to one day be contender.
“Brick at Brick we want to build this place to try to win races and have the opportunity to win championships.”
