Jimmie Johnson took majority ownership of the Petty GMS team from Richard Petty in November 2022 and is steering the outfit into a new chapter. Rebranding the outfit to Legacy Motor Club, the grind has just started for the newly established team under new guidance. Since then, four seasons have come and gone, and Legacy MC is still trying to elbow its way into the fight with the sport’s heavy hitters.
Advertisement
After two years with Chevrolet, the team switched camps and joined forces with Toyota in 2024. Erik Jones, John Hunter Nemechek, and Johnson himself had to learn the ropes with a new manufacturer. But now, two years into the partnership with Toyota, trips to victory lane have stayed out of reach for the whole team.
There were signs of life in 2025. The second half showed progress, with flashes during the summer before the team found its footing again toward the end of the year, according to Erik Jones. But the No. 43 driver believes talk is cheap now, and it is time to put up or shut up. Ahead of the 2026 Daytona 500, while talking to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Jones addressed,
“I think it’s been a long journey. Our first year with Toyota, a couple of years ago, was definitely a long one and a struggle. Last year was some accumulation of getting better, and definitely the second half. And we had some bright spots in the summer, struggled a little bit, and then ended the year on a better note.”
“I feel like this year, it’s really our year that we have to start putting it together. We’ve got people in place. We’ve had time with Toyota. We know what we need from them, what they need from us. We’ve established a working relationship with JGR. So there’s a lot of things in place that should be good. It’s just a matter of seeing how they all come together. So everybody’s settled and in place.”
.@Erik_Jones didn’t mince words about the 2026 season for @LEGACYMotorClub and himself on the No. 43 team.
“It’s really our year that we have to start putting it together.” pic.twitter.com/0jpYVsGbAV
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) February 13, 2026
Johnson’s driver sees the pieces on the board. For instance, unlike previously, the team is no longer scrambling to plug holes with respect to team personnel, and the focus can now shift to growth and results out on track.
Jones admitted to the team members’ high hopes this year, and is eager to see the work pay off. He looks forward to rising to the occasion as a driver as well after admitting to having been ‘riding around’ the past couple of years.
Meanwhile, Johnson himself, who won six of his championships under Chase, is hopeful that the reintroduced format might be a blessing in disguise, given that his drivers would no longer try to risk the whole race and get into wrecks toward the end. Now they would focus more on finishing better consistently, and that’s exactly what the Chase format will reward.
