It has been a rough start for Legacy Motor Club.
Since 2023 when the team took its name, its cars have finished in the top ten in just 11% of the races they have attempted. By any measure, that is a struggle.
It has been a focus for every member of the team, with co-owner Jimmie Johnson explaining the total improvement needed for the team to be successful.
“Everywhere,” he said back in 2023 of his focus with the team. “We want to be way up there in the front, so in order to do that we have to do a little bit of work in all areas.”
The results have since taken time to come together. But, as the 2025 season marches on, the Legacy Motor Club cars have been showing up at the front of the pack. Jimmie Johnson started the year with a third-place finish in the Daytona 500, Erik Jones finished fifth at Texas, and John Hunter Nemechek showed speed at both Texas and Kansas.
At Mexico City, the team seemed to demonstrate something just as important as raw speed for a team that wants to run up in the front every week: resilience.
John Hunter Nemechek started the race in 32nd. On Lap 10, he slid off the track during rain early on and on Lap 25 he spun. All of that meant he wasn’t making ground through the field. Still, the No. 42 team hung on. He climbed to 14th by the end of Stage 2 and broke into the top ten for the first time by lap 50, the halfway mark of the race.
Nemechek clawed as high as fourth in a contact-heavy final restart before ultimately losing two positions as he struggled with tire wear to end up sixth.
The result is Nemechek’s best-ever finish on a road course. It’s also the best road course result ever for Legacy Motor Club. Nemechek praised his team’s efforts first and foremost.
“Hats off to this whole No. 42 Legacy Motor Club team,” he said after the race. “I’m super stoked on a sixth-place finish. Our road course program has not been good here at Legacy Motor Club, so a solid run for us after the last three weeks we’ve had – two wrecks, and not so good run in Nashville – we needed this as a team to get back on track.”
He explained that the team, including co-owner Jimmie Johnson, helped him get back on track after the poor qualifying result and his team delivered on race day.
“I had a lot of text messages from my wife and had a lot of text messages from Jimmie yesterday – I was pretty down after qualifying, and beating myself up pretty bad, but we executed during the race. I got spun out a couple of times and still came home sixth,” he said.
“Hats off to [crew chief] Travis [Mack] on the strategy. He called a really good race, and we were able to execute and come home sixth. Proud of the day.”
The other Legacy Motor Club car, the No. 43 of Erik Jones, came home in a less exciting 17th place. However, Jones was able to get into the top ten in the first stage, and by staying out rather than pitting before the stage end, he was able to take home five valuable stage points.
However, that strategy meant he had to restart deep in the field. In the pack, Jones was shoved off track and lost positions before a tire went flat a few laps later and forced an unscheduled pit stop. Jones’ finish was an impressive recovery drive after restarting the final stage in 32nd, but he was never able to reach the front with his teammate.
“Today was honestly a roller coaster,” Jones described his finish. “We had so much speed that first stage and even got bonus points. I think we could’ve worked our way back into the top-10 for the second stage if it weren’t for that flat tire.”
Despite the result, he too praised the Legacy Motor Club team and spoke to the improvements being made by the organization.
“I’m still proud of my No. 43 Family Dollar Toyota team for giving us a fast car this weekend. We’re working on improving our road course package, and I think you’re seeing that overall at Legacy Motor Club,” Jones said.
Turning to the big picture, leaving Mexico City, the team’s two drivers sit 22nd and 23rd in the points. If the team can maintain that position until the end of the year, that would be a major improvement from previous years – and would be the first time its No. 42 car would finish inside the top-twenty in points with any driver.
It’s been a long road for Legacy Motor Club, perhaps longer than Jimmie Johnson might have imagined when he bought into the team. But, in its third full season, the results show a definite improvement, and Mexico was a clear example of Legacy Motor Club putting itself in position.
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