As Legacy Motor Club prepares to roll into the upcoming season with three full-time entries, the organization has begun reshaping its competitive structure. After delivering a noticeably stronger campaign last season, the team has opted to realign personnel to sharpen its edge. Central to that strategy is the decision to hand control of the No. 43 Toyota pit box and Erik Jones’s car to Justin Alexander. The shift marks Alexander’s return to full-time Cup Series duty following an 11-year stint at Richard Childress Racing, with his formal arrival at Legacy for the 2026 season.
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Alexander will step into the role previously held by Ben Beshore, who had served as Jones’ crew chief since October 2024 after the departure of Dave Elenz. Rather than exiting the organization, Beshore will move into an expanded leadership position as Director of Race Engineering. During his tenure atop the No. 43 pit box, Beshore guided Jones to four top-five finishes in 2025.
That total represented Jones’ best single-season top-five count since his final year with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2020, when he recorded nine such results. Alexander also has a good history. While at Richard Childress Racing, he worked primarily alongside Austin Dillon and helped steer the No. 3 team to five Cup Series victories. Their partnership produced two of the sport’s marquee wins, including the 2018 Daytona 500 and the 2017 Coca-Cola 600.
After stepping away from RCR earlier in 2025, Alexander took time to reset and focus on family before easing back into the sport. Reflecting on his transition, he explained that he “Came over to Legacy about midway through this past year. Just started doing things for them, helping them out. Really found a good home over here. And really enjoying it being here. The opportunity became available.”
“One of the deals where I feel like I can use my experience that all these years been on the box to help the team out. It was a good fit. We shuffled a few things around, and we made the company stronger as a whole. So I think it’s going to work great,” he added.
️ “It was a good fit and we shuffled a few things around and I think we made the company stronger as a whole.”
Justin Alexander explains why @LEGACYMotorClub presented the right opportunity for him to return to the pit box with @erik_jones.
More → https://t.co/WGRTG5gnEd pic.twitter.com/5hYAxZFHx8
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) January 6, 2026
Alexander views his placement atop the No. 43 as part of a broader organizational blueprint, one that aligns with Legacy Motor Club’s ambitions of operating as a three-car team. The internal reshuffle is a deliberate effort to both recruit and retain experienced personnel while strengthening the foundation already in place.
Promoting Beshore into a senior engineering role, in Alexander’s view, supports that objective by strengthening the operation beyond a single pit box. The former RCR crew chief acknowledged that significant preparation remains ahead as the team eyes further expansion, but he believes the long-term benefits outweigh the growing pains.
From a competitive standpoint, Jones closed last season 24th in the standings, an improvement from 28th the year prior. The gain was a tangible progress in Legacy Motor Club’s second season with Toyota.
While Jones has not returned to Victory Lane since his surprise win in the 2022 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway and has not reached the playoffs since 2019, the 29-year-old Michigan native will have the support of someone as experienced as Alexander next season to deliver better performance.
