Jimmie Johnson’s Legacy Motor Club (LMC) has experienced a significant turnaround in their 2025 NASCAR season thanks to major shifts in their crew lineup and team dynamics. After a disappointing 2024 marked by a rocky transition from Chevrolet to Toyota, the team made crucial personnel adjustments late last year. Beginning with the November 2024 offseason, new crew chiefs stepped in for their drivers, setting the stage for improved results in 2025. This strategic overhaul instilled fresh momentum for the team as the season progressed.
The focus keyword “Jimmie Johnson Legacy MC Momentum” aptly describes how these changes have helped boost LMC’s standing in the NASCAR Cup Series. By implementing new leadership, such as Ben Beshore for Erik Jones and Travis Mack joining John Hunter Nemechek after departing Kaulig Racing, the club sought to build a stronger foundation to contend for a playoff position.
Strong Performances Spark New Confidence
The turning point for Legacy Motor Club came at the May 4 race in Texas, where both Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek delivered top-10 finishes, signaling their emergence as competitive contenders. Jones followed this with a fourth-place finish at North Wilkesboro Speedway and secured fifth in the Atlanta race. This streak of consistent top performances helped him rise from a struggling position to within striking distance of the playoff cutoff, only 49 points behind.
Erik Jones highlighted the importance of team unity in their recent success. He explained the extensive crew changes, describing the challenge of forming new working relationships after swapping out the entire team, from engineers to mechanics:
We swapped entire teams. So, engineers, mechanics, everybody. Um, so that’s not easy because for a lot of reasons, right? People are used to working with who they’re used to working with. So, there’s some apprehension probably just in a team swap, and then you get settled in. Well, then you got to get to know everybody and figure out what kind of makes them tick and what’s good.
—Erik Jones, Driver
Such profound structural adjustments inevitably require patience as the team builds trust and effective communication, which Jones confirms has begun paying off, especially between him and crew chief Ben Beshore.
Building Synergy Between Driver and Crew Chief
Jones emphasized that understanding each other’s communication styles was critical to improving performance. He revealed that it took several months for him, Beshore, and the team’s engineers to synchronize their efforts fully:
With the crew chief side of things, just learning the language between us, you know, myself and Ben, when I’m asking for certain things, what I’m looking for when he’s asking for, what he kind of wants from me, you know, what he’s most curious about after practice. And so, it took up until probably April to feel like I, you know, Ben and I were really on the same page, and knowing what was going on, and the engineers as well.
—Erik Jones, Driver
The gradual process of developing this rapport illustrates the invisible work behind the team’s on-track success, showing how driver–crew chief communication goes beyond race day to practices and technical feedback sessions.
Matt Kenseth’s Experienced Guidance as Competition Advisor
Another vital component of Legacy Motor Club’s resurgence is the involvement of Matt Kenseth, who joined the team as competition advisor. With 39 Cup Series wins to his name, Kenseth brings extensive experience and mentorship to both the drivers and the operational strategy.
Kenseth’s relationship with Erik Jones has strengthened since their earlier rivalry at Joe Gibbs Racing, where Jones replaced Kenseth in 2018. Their reconciliation within LMC has fostered a positive dynamic that benefits the team’s development.
I see a lot of my younger self in Erik, for sure,
Kenseth reflected.
He’s not nearly as funny, but other than that, there are a lot of similarities. There are certainly a lot of differences, too, but there are a lot of similarities, which helps me with him because I see a lot of things where I feel like I’ve learned from in the past: good, bad or indifferent.
—Matt Kenseth, Competition Advisor
His hands-on guidance in team meetings and strategic planning plays a crucial role in shaping the club’s 2025 campaign as they aim for a strong finish.
Current Standings and Playoff Aspirations
As the 2025 season reaches its midpoint, the team’s progress is evident but incomplete. Erik Jones currently holds 379 points in the 16th position—just shy of a playoff slot—while teammate John Hunter Nemechek trails in 23rd with 346 points. For LMC to punch their ticket to the Cup Series playoffs, a race win or consistent points accumulation is essential.
Jones’ last victory dates back to 2022 with Petty GMS Chevrolet at the Southern 500. He remains confident that the #43 team can translate their recent momentum into wins this year. Similarly, Nemechek, who excelled in the Xfinity Series last season with multiple wins, is eager for a breakthrough to secure his playoff berth.
Jones outlined the team’s pragmatic approach going forward, focusing on targeted efforts at tracks favorable for victory while maintaining steady performance overall:
Obviously a win would be great, but I feel like there’s couple of tracks we really have to target hard. Places where we can win. So for us, its keep doing what we’re doing. If we keep running the way we’ve ran since Charlotte, we’ll probably point our way in, barring another obscure winner farther back in points. So, that’s the plan right now to keep running well and keep racking these points, and I hope it goes well again this weekend.
—Erik Jones, Driver
The team’s focus on accumulating points and aiming for selective victories keeps their playoff hopes alive and underscores their patient, measured strategy in building a competitive program under Toyota from the ground up.
The Broader Impact of Legacy Motor Club’s Evolution
The transformation in Legacy Motor Club’s 2025 season reflects more than on-track results; it demonstrates how structural changes within a NASCAR team — especially with leadership and crew dynamics — can revitalize performance and morale. The efforts to establish rapport between drivers and crew, enhanced by veteran insight like that of Matt Kenseth, have been pivotal in elevating the club from a challenging 2024 season to one filled with promise.
As the season unfolds, LMC’s ability to maintain momentum will be critical not only for their immediate statistical progress but also for solidifying their long-term competitiveness in the NASCAR Cup Series. If they can secure a playoff spot, it would mark a significant milestone in Jimmie Johnson’s vision for the team and validate the organizational changes made over the past year. The summer races and playoff battles ahead will test whether Legacy Motor Club’s momentum can carry them to sustained success.