Why Joe Gibbs Racing and Legacy Motor Club Have Contrasting NASCAR Seasons Despite Toyota Partnership

Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) and Legacy Motor Club (LMC) are both powered by the engine on the Toyota Camry XSE in 2024. The latter outfit made the switch from Chevrolet just at the beginning of this season and one can’t say that they’ve found much fruition for it. JGR, on the other hand, has been tremendously successful this year. So, what is it that makes one team click and the other not?

Championship-winning crew chief (2018), Todd Gordon, believes that this is because JGR has more exclusive resources at its disposal than LMC does. He said on SiriusXM, “Joe Gibbs has their own tools. Their simulation is written in-house. All of their engineering tools are their own. Legacy’s not on their program. Legacy’s on the Toyota program. So that means they don’t have everything that Joe Gibbs has.”

23XI Racing, also a partner of Toyota, has a deal to make use of the resources of JGR. And it has been far more successful as a result than LMC despite being a young team. The crew chief added that there is a development cycle for Toyota’s tools and that it just takes time for a team like LMC to adapt to them. However, he underlined that it won’t be all green just as soon as they do.

️ “Getting to the point where you have factory support is one thing, but getting to the point where you can utilize that factory support is another.”@ToddBGordon on the lack of progress at @LEGACYMotorClub since they’ve joined Toyota ⬇️

More → https://t.co/QcAxDUTVE1 pic.twitter.com/TIETmSEFi7

— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) July 2, 2024

Gordon continued, “Getting to the point where your factory-supported is one thing. But having the personnel to utilize all the factory support is another thing. You need departments you didn’t used to have. And you need to build cohesion in those departments. People that can understand all the other staff. Building all those departments takes time.”

What next for Legacy Motor Club after an extremely mediocre first-half-season in 2024?

The understanding of the needs of LMC, as reflected by Gordon, was clear at the beginning of the season. Signing with Toyota meant that it was an independent operation that needed to build its aero department, pit crews, fire department, and so on. As team co-owner Jimmie Johnson continues working on drawing a full circle on these fronts, his drivers have been trying to make do on the track.

Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek have combined to produce four top-10 finishes in the season so far. Jones sits 28th on the points table heading to Chicago this weekend and Nemechek is a spot above at 27th.

While it is unlikely that either of them will be able to secure a playoff spot, there are plenty of other reasons to race for. LMC, after all, is just getting started under Johnson’s leadership.