Jimmie Johnson revealed his NASCAR Cup Series racing schedule for the 2025 season that will feature the seven-time champion from El Cajon, California, pilot his No. 84 Toyota Camry XSE entry from Legacy Motor Club (LMC), his own organization, for select events.
For the 2025 season, Johnson will attempt to qualify for this year’s 67th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, an event he has won twice (2006 & 2013), scheduled for February 16. He will then compete in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, an event he has won four times (2003-05, 2014), on May 25. During both events, Carvana will return to sponsor his entry.
The news comes as Johnson, who is in his third consecutive season as a co-owner of LMC, is coming off a nine-race Cup campaign during the 2024 season, which included competing in the Daytona 500, the Coca-Cola 600 and the series’ return of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Throughout his nine-race campaign, the Californian notched an average-finishing result of 30.6 and recorded a season-best 26th-place finish during the season-finale event at Phoenix Raceway last November.
“I’m thrilled to be returning to competition in 2025,” Johnson said in a released statement. “These two races hold a special place in my heart, and I’ve always loved the energy and excitement that surrounds them. The DAYTONA 500 is a crown jewel of NASCAR – there’s nothing like it. Charlotte Motor Speedway is where I made my first start in the NASCAR Cup Series, and it’s always felt like ‘home’ to me.”
Johnson made his first three career starts in NASCAR’s premier series in the closing events of the 2001 season while driving the No. 48 Chevrolet entry for Hendrick Motorsports. Since becoming a full-time Cup competitor in 2002 before retiring from full-time competition in 2020, he established a Hall of Fame career that included winning 83 career events and seven championships, which placed him in a tie with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt for the most Cup Series championships. Johnson is also the only competitor to win five of his titles in consecutive seasons, which he accomplished from 2006 to 2010.
After retiring from full-time NASCAR competition following the 2020 season, he spent the next two years competing in the NTT IndyCar Series with Chip Ganassi Racing before he returned to NASCAR competition on a part-time basis and in an ownership role for LMC that had been rebranded from Petty GMS Motorsports and Richard Petty Motorsports. During his inaugural season as a co-owner/driver of LMC, he competed in three Cup events, including the Daytona 500 and the Coca-Cola 600. He also represented Garage 56, a NASCAR-endurance team that involved Hendrick Motorsports, during the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans as he competed alongside former Formula 1 champion Jenson Button and former Le Mans champion Mike Rockenfeller.
Amid Johnson’s two-scheduled Cup starts in 2025, a significant milestone start is on the line. Should Johnson qualify for both of his crown-jewel events, he will become the 21st competitor overall to reach 700 starts in NASCAR’s premier series.
Since Johnson is entering this year’s Daytona Speedweeks without a charter for his No. 84 LMC Toyota entry, he will have to rely on either his speed during the Busch Light Pole Qualifying session on February 12 at 8:15 p.m. ET or through his result in the Daytona Duels scheduled for February 13 at 7 p.m. ET to outduel additional non-chartered entries and earn a starting spot for the Great American Race. Both sessions will air on FS1.
The 2025 Daytona 500 is scheduled for February 16 with a coverage time slated to commence at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
Travis Mack has been named crew chief for John Hunter Nemechek and the No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota entry for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.
The news comes as Mack spent the 2024 Cup season as a crew chief for Kaulig Racing’s No. 16 Chevrolet entry that was piloted by five competitors (AJ Allmendinger, Ty Dillon, Shane van Gisbergen, Derek Kraus and Josh Williams) throughout the season. In 32 races, Mack led the No. 16 team to one pole, one top-five result and four top-10 results. Ultimately, Mack would be released by Kaulig and replaced by Darian Grubb and Andrew Dickeson for the remaining five events of the season.
“I’m looking forward to helping LEGACY MOTOR CLUB build something great,” Mack said in a released statement. “There are a lot of talented people here at LEGACY M.C. I worked with Jimmie [Johnson] at Hendrick Motorsports, and I know his work ethic and determination – so his vision for the CLUB is really exciting, and I’m ready to get to work.”
Mack, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, commenced his racing career as a mechanic for Clement Racing in the ARCA Menards Series division. After winning three championships with driver Frank Kimmel, he joined Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) and worked as a shock specialist and front-end mechanic. Nine years later, Mack joined JR Motorsports, where he would spend the next two seasons working with Regan Smith and Chase Elliott in the Xfinity Series before he returned to the Cup Series to work as a car chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 HMS Chevrolet team in 2015.
In 2017, Mack made his first appearance as a Cup Series crew chief in an interim role for Earnhardt Jr. at Richmond Raceway, where the latter finished 13th after leading 13 laps. Mack then became a full-time Cup crew chief in 2018, where he was paired with veteran Kasey Kahne at Leavine Family Racing. Near the halfway point of the 2018 season, however, Mack scaled back down to the Xfinity circuit, where he reunited with JR Motorsports and worked as a crew chief for Michael Annett.
After spending the 2019-20 seasons as Annett’s crew chief in the Xfinity Series, Mack returned to the Cup Series as he was paired with Daniel Suarez and the newly formed Trackhouse Racing, beginning in 2021. The following season, the duo notched their first Cup career victory at Sonoma Raceway in June 2022, which enabled both to make the Playoffs and settle in a career-best 10th place in the final standings.
Through 155 appearances as a NASCAR Cup Series crew chief, Mack has achieved one victory, two poles, one Playoff appearance, 11 top-five and 31 top-10 results while working with eight different competitors.
Meanwhile, Legacy Motor Club’s No. 42 Toyota team is coming off its first campaign with John Hunter Nemechek as a full-time competitor in the entry. Throughout the 36-race schedule of the 2024 season, Nemechek recorded four top-10 results, an average-finishing result of 25.4 and settled in 34th place in the final standings, where they ended up six spots behind teammate Erik Jones and the No. 43 Toyota team. The No. 42 team was primarily led by crew chief Ben Beshore before Brian Campe, Legacy’s technical director, filled in as an interim crew chief for the remaining five events on the schedule.
“Travis is a welcome addition to LEGACY MOTOR CLUB,” Jacob Canter, SVP – Sporting Director for LEGACY MOTOR CLUB, added. “As we continue to make changes and evolve on the competition side, the goal is to place the right people in the right places. That will take some time, but we are thrilled to have a talent like Travis on board and can’t wait to see what he, Ben and the rest of the engineering team can accomplish over this short off-season.”
The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season is set to commence at Bowman Gray Stadium for the Clash on February 2, 2025, with a start time of 8 p.m. ET on FOX. This event will be followed by the 67th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway which is scheduled to occur on February 16 at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
NASCAR released the penalty report following this past weekend’s Xfinity-Cup Series Playoff events at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that occurred between October 19-20, 2024.
In the Cup Series, John Rosselli (front-tire changer) and Kellen Mills (jackman), both of whom work in the No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota Camry XSE team piloted by Erik Jones, have been issued a two-race suspension due to a right-front wheel that detached from Jones’ car towards Lap 70 of 267 during Sunday’s event. The incident occurred during the event’s first caution period that started on Lap 62, when the wheel detached from Jones’ entry on the track entering Turn 1 after the event’s first round of pit stops and after Jones had received the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap.
Following the incident in an event that was won by Playoff contender Joey Logano, Jones would finish in 25th place, a lap down, of the 37-car field.
With the suspensions, Rosselli and Mills will not be present for the upcoming Cup Series Playoff events at Homestead-Miami Speedway and at Martinsville Speedway, respectively.
In the Xfinity Series, three crew chiefs were each fined $5,000 apiece due to their respective entries having a single lug nut unsecured during the post-race inspection process following Saturday’s event.
The crew chiefs that were penalized include Kevin Johnson, crew chief for Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 38 RSS Racing Ford Mustang team; Jonathan Toney, crew chief for Playoff contender Cole Custer and the No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang team; and Shane Whitbeck, crew chief for Jeb Burton and the No. 27 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet Camaro team.
During Saturday’s Xfinity Playoff event at Vegas that was won by Playoff contender AJ Allmendinger, Custer would finish the best of the trio in eighth place while DiBenedetto and Burton ended up 16th and 24th, respectively.
The NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series’ teams return to action alongside the Craftsman Truck Series’ teams this upcoming weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the second of three Round of 8 events for each of the three series. The Truck and Xfinity divisions host a doubleheader feature on Saturday, October 26, that will commence with the Trucks at noon ET on FS1 while the Xfinity division will follow suit at 3:30 p.m. on the CW Network. The Cup Series action at Homestead will occur the following day, October 27, and air at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
Legacy Motor Club announced a change to its current crew chief lineup in the closing stretches of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Dave Elenz, who was in his third season working as a crew chief for the No. 43 Toyota Camry XSE team piloted by Erik Jones, has parted ways with the organization. Ben Beshore, who was working as a crew chief for the team’s No. 42 Toyota Camry XSE entry piloted by John Hunter Nemechek, will now become Jones’ new crew chief. Meanwhile, Brian Campe, who was recently appointed the team’s new technical director, will assume the crew chief responsibilities for Nemechek on an interim role.
Amid the announcement, Cal Wells, III, the CEO of Legacy Motor Club, released a statement:
“LEGACY M.C. and Dave Elenz have parted ways, and the organization would like to thank Dave for his stewardship of the No. 43 over the past three seasons.”
Elenz, a two-time championship-winning crew chief in the Xfinity Series with 15 career victories, all occurring with JR Motorsports, joined Legacy Motor Club when it was branded as Petty GMS Motorsports and fielding Chevrolets in 2022. By then, it was the first time where Elenz was promoted to the Cup Series division to work as a crew chief. Paired up with Erik Jones and the No. 43 team, the duo won the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, which marked Elenz’s first Cup Series victory as a crew chief and Jones’ second triumph in the crown-jewel event. They would proceed to record a total of 12 top-10 results and finish in 18th place in the final standings.
Elenz, who called his 100th Cup Series event as a crew chief this past weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, recorded one victory, five top-five results and 21 top-10 results while working with two competitors overall. With one top-five result and two top-10 results recorded throughout the 2024 season, Jones and the No. 43 team are currently ranked in 30th place in the standings. Jones was absent for two races between late April and early May after suffering a broken compression fracture in his lower back following a multi-car wreck at Talladega Superspeedway in late April, which resulted with Craftsman Truck Series competitor Corey Heim filling in for Jones.
Photo by Adam Lovelace for SpeedwayMedia.com.
Meanwhile, John Hunter Nemechek, who returned to the Cup Series this season after spending the previous three seasons scaling back down to the Truck and Xfinity divisions to regain his competitive form, is ranked in 34th place in the 2024 standings on the strength of three top-10 results. The 2024 season also marks crew chief Ben Beshore’s return to the Cup Series after he spent the 2023 season working with Nemechek at Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series, where the duo won a season-high seven races and made the Championship 4 before settling in fourth place in the final standings. Previously, Beshore spent the 2021 and 2022 seasons working as a crew chief for Kyle Busch in the Cup Series.
Jimmie Johnson, co-owner of Legacy Motor Club, is also in his second season competing on a part-time basis in the team’s No. 84 Toyota entry. Through seven current starts, Johnson’s best on-track results are a pair of 28th-place finishes that occurred in the 66th running of the Daytona 500 in February and at Dover Motor Speedway in late April. Johnson, who competed in his first event with new crew chief Gene Wachtel after parting ways with Jason Burdett at Kansas Speedway in late September, is still scheduled to compete at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 20 and the season-finale event at Phoenix Raceway on November 10 before the 2024 season concludes.
With the crew changes made, Legacy Motor Club’s 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season continues with the upcoming Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, October 13, and air at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.
In his third full-time season as a crew chief in the NASCAR Cup Series, Dave Elenz, who works atop the pit box of the No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota Camry XSE team piloted by Erik Jones, is poised to achieve a milestone feat. By participating in this weekend’s Cup Playoff event at Talladega Superspeedway, Elenz will call his 100th event as a crew chief in NASCAR’s premier series.
Elenz, a native of Gaylord, Michigan, earned a mechanical engineering degree from Clemon University in 2003, He first worked for Jasper Racing from 2001 to 2003 before joining MB2 as he measured cars and bodies. In 2008, he joined Team Penske to work as a race engineer for Sam Hornish Jr. and the No. 77 team before joining Red Bull Racing as an engineer, a role he retained through 2011. The following season, he joined Hendrick Motorsports to work as an engineer on the No. 88 team piloted by Dale Earnhardt Jr. before shifting to the No. 48 team piloted by five-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson.
The 2015 season marked Elenz’s first season as a crew chief in NASCAR as he joined JR Motorsports to lead the team’s No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro entry piloted by five different competitors throughout the Xfinity Series season. During the season, Elenz notched his first two career victories, both occurring with the reigning Cup champion Kevin Harvick and navigated the No. 88 team to a 12th-place finish in the final owner’s standings. From 2015 to 2021, Elenz worked with 14 different competitors and notched 15 Xfinity career victories, including three season-opening events at Daytona International Speedway. He also notched back-to-back Xfinity Series championships between 2017-18, the first occurring with William Byron and the second with Tyler Reddick, all while working atop the pit box of JRM’s No. 9 team.
Coming off a strong 2021 Xfinity campaign with Noah Gragson and the No. 9 JR Motorsports team highlighted with three victories and a third-place finish in the final standings, Elenz was promoted back to the Cup Series for the 2022 season to work as a crew chief for Erik Jones and the No. 43 Petty GMS Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team. The duo commenced the season with a 29th-place finish during the 64th running of the Daytona 500 amid a late multi-car wreck before rallying the following weekend at Auto Club Speedway by finishing third. Elenz and Jones would proceed to record seven additional top-10 results throughout 24 regular-season events, with Elenz being suspended from participating at Pocono Raceway in July amid an L1 penalty for violations pertaining to the rocker box assemblies, and they would miss the 2022 Cup Series Playoffs.
Then during the 2022 Playoff opener at Darlington Raceway, Elenz notched his first Cup career victory as a crew chief after Jones capitalized on a 20-lap shootout to fend off Denny Hamlin and notch both his third Cup career win and his second Southern 500 victory. The victory for both Jones and Elenz occurred 55 years to the day when team owner Richard Petty won his first and only Southern 500 (1967) as the duo snapped an eight-year winless drought for Petty’s No. 43 team and became the first non-Playoff team to win a Cup Series Playoff opener. Following the Southern 500 victory, Elenz and Jones would finish in the top 10 in three of the remaining nine Playoff events before settling in 18th place in the final drivers’ standings.
The following season, when Petty GMS Motorsports was rebranded to Legacy Motor Club, Elenz and Jones commenced the season with a 37th-place finish in the 65th running of the Daytona 500 following a multi-car wreck just past the halfway mark. Then following the next 14 events, where the duo had managed to record only two top-10 results, Elenz was issued a two-race suspension and fined $75,000 after the No. 43 team was issued an L1 penalty and a 60-point dock for modifications to the car’s greenhouse.
After being absent from Sonoma Raceway in June, Legacy Motor Club attempted to appeal the penalty, which allowed Elenz to work atop the No. 43 pit box for the following event at Nashville Superspeedway but would lose the appeal by late June as Elenz would be absent for the inaugural Chicago Street Race in early July.
Returning atop the pit box during the following weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Elenz would lead Jones and the No. 43 team to two top-10 results during the final eight regular-season events, but they missed the Playoffs for a second consecutive season. During the Playoffs, Elenz and Jones finished 10th at Darlington before recording a season-best third-place result at Kansas Speedway in September amid an overtime shootout. Finishing no higher than 14th during the final eight events on the schedule, the duo settled in 27th place in the final standings.
Elenz and Jones commenced their third full-time Cup campaign together by finishing eighth in the 66th running of the Daytona 500. Then after racking up three additional top-15 runs over their next eight races, Jones suffered a compression fracture in his lower vertebra following a hard accident at Talladega in April, which caused him to miss the next two races as Corey Heim, a Craftsman Truck Series competitor for TRICON Garage, filled in for Jones.
After Heim finished no higher than 22nd during his two-race stint, Jones returned to competition at Darlington Raceway in May and finished 19th. Finishing no higher than 14th throughout the remaining 14 regular-season events, Elenz and Jones did not make the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs. Since the start of the Playoffs, the duo are coming off four consecutive top-35 results, with their highest result being a 26th-place run during the Playoff opener at Atlanta. Currently, Jones and the No. 43 team are ranked in 32nd place in the drivers’ standings.
Through 99 previous Cup events, Elenz has achieved one victory, four top-five results and 20 top-10 results while working with two different competitors.
Dave Elenz is scheduled to call his 100th Cup Series career event as a crew chief at Talladega Superspeedway for the YellaWood 500 on Sunday, October 6, with the event’s coverage to occur at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.
In his return as a full-time crew chief in the NASCAR Cup Series, Ben Beshore, who works atop the pit box of the No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota Camry XSE team piloted by John Hunter Nemechek, is poised to achieve a milestone feat. By participating in this weekend’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Beshore will call his 100th event as a crew chief in NASCAR’s premier series.
A native of The York, Pennsylvania, Beshore, who earned an engineering degree from Virginia Tech, previously worked for Brewco Motorsports in a variety of roles before becoming a race engineer for Roush Fenway Racing in 2007. Seven years later, he joined Joe Gibbs Racing and continued to work as a race engineer for Kyle Busch and the No. 18 team.
During the 2017 season, Beshore made his inaugural presence as a Cup Series crew chief at Pocono Raceway in June. The role was an interim one for Beshore, who was filling in for the suspended Adam Stevens after Stevens was suspended for four events due to a wheel that came off of Busch’s car amid an early pit stop during the previous event at Dover Motor Speedway.
During the Pocono event, Busch, who started on the pole and led a race-high 100 laps, ended up in ninth place. Beshore would then navigate Busch and the No. 18 team to a seventh-place result at Michigan International Speedway and a fifth-place finish at Sonoma Raceway, respectively, before he was suspended from participating at Daytona International Speedway in July amid a lug nut infraction as Busch’s No. 18 entry had two loose lug nuts following the post-race inspection process at Sonoma.
After returning to his role as race engineer for the remainder of the 2017 season and the entire 2018 season, Beshore scaled back to the Xfinity Series to work as a crew chief for JGR’s No. 18 Toyota entry that was piloted by seven different competitors throughout the 2019 season. During the season, he notched four victories, all occurring with Busch, and led the No. 18 team to a 12th-place finish in the final owner’s standings. The following season, Beshore was paired with Harrison Burton in the Xfinity circuit. Together, the duo notched four victories, 15 top-five results, 22 top-10 results, 291 laps and an average-finishing result of 10.0. After qualifying for the 2020 Xfinity Series Playoffs before being eliminated following the Round of 12, Burton would settle in eighth place in the final standings and claim the 2020 Xfinity Series Rookie-of-the-Year title.
In 2021, Beshore returned to the Cup Series and reunited with Kyle Busch as he was named as the full-time crew chief of Busch’s No. 18 Toyota entry. In their first event together, Busch won the Busch Clash at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course after he overtook Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott amid a last-lap tussle. The duo recorded two top-five results and five top-10 results during the first 10-scheduled events before Beshore achieved his first Cup points-paying victory at Kansas Speedway in May. Busch, who celebrated his 36th birthday on race day, fended off the field and a hard-charging Kevin Harvick during a two-lap shootout. Beshore and Busch would then achieve a second victory of the season at Pocono Raceway in June after Busch overtook teammate Denny Hamlin prior to the final lap and had enough fuel to coast the No. 18 Toyota across the finish line in first place. To go along with an additional seven top-five results and nine top-10 results for the remaining 15 regular-season events, the duo qualified for the 2021 Cup Series Playoffs.
After recording three top-nine results throughout the 2021 Playoff’s first six events, Beshore and Busch were able to transfer from the Round of 16 to 8. Then, Beshore was suspended from participating in the Round of 8 opener at Texas Motor Speedway following a lug nut infraction with two loose lug nuts amid the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course post-race inspection process. Returning for the following Playoff event at Kansas Speedway in mid-October, Busch finished 28th and second at Martinsville Speedway throughout the Round of 8 but missed the cutline to the Championship 4 round by three points. The duo would proceed to finish seventh in the season-finale event at Phoenix Raceway in November before Busch settled in ninth place in the final standings.
Beshore’s 2022 season started on a rough note after he was suspended from the inaugural Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as a result of another lug nut infraction involving two loose lug nuts stemming from the 2021 finale at Phoenix. Returning atop the pit box for the 64th running of the Daytona 500, Beshore’s season with Busch commenced with a sixth-place finish followed by four additional top-10 results during the next seven events on the schedule. Then at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course in April, Beshore and Busch notched their first victory of the season after Busch overtook a spinning Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe on the final lap to notch his 60th series victory. Despite finishing in the top five four additional times for the final 15 regular-season events, Beshore and Busch secured a spot into the Cup Series Playoffs for a second consecutive season.
Their title hopes, however, came to an early end after finishing no higher than 26th throughout the Round of 16. Then coming off two consecutive third-place finishes at the Charlotte Roval and Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October, Beshore was suspended for four races for a loose wheel violation that occurred at Las Vegas. The suspension would cause Beshore to miss the remainder of the 2022 Cup Series season as Busch, who was down to his final four events with Joe Gibbs Racing, ended up in 13th place in the final standings.
This past season, Beshore returned to the Xfinity Series to work as the crew chief of the No. 20 JGR Toyota team piloted by John Hunter Nemechek. Together, the duo notched a season-high seven victories, two poles, 17 top-five results, 24 top-10 results, 1,083 laps led and an average-finishing result of 9.5. In addition to making the 2023 Xfinity Series Playoffs, they transferred all the way into the Championship 4 round and contended for the title at Phoenix. However, Nemechek got shuffled during an overtime shootout and ended up in 28th place after being involved in a final lap accident, which relegated Nemechek to fourth place in the final standings.
Nine days after the 2023 season concluded, Beshore was promoted back to the Cup Series as a crew chief for Legacy Motor Club’s No. 42 Toyota Camry XSE entry piloted by Nemechek, who made his return to the Cup circuit following a three-year absence. Through 28 scheduled events, the duo of Beshore and Nemechek recorded only three top-10 results, with their highest finish being a sixth-place run at Bristol Motor Speedway in March. With an average-finishing result of 24.7, they are mired in 34th place in the 2024 drivers’ standings with eight races remaining on the schedule.
Through 99 previous Cup appearances, Beshore has achieved three victories, one pole, 23 top-five results and 42 top-10 results while working with a total of two competitors.
Ben Beshore is scheduled to call his 100th Cup Series career event as a crew chief in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday, September 21, with the event’s coverage to occur at 7:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.
If you haven’t been paying attention to Legacy Motor Club, you need to be. When I spoke with Joey Cohen, Vice President of Racing Operations for the team on January 11th, there was an aura of confidence that surrounded every answer he gave, and rightfully so, as the team has made more noise in the offseason than many pundits thought they would.
One of the biggest moves the team made was switching manufacturers from Chevrolet, whom the team had been with since 2018 when they were still Richard Petty Motorsports, to Toyota. Cohen said a lot goes into a Cup Series team changing manufacturers, especially when they have to maintain appearances until the final laps of the season.
“The fortunate thing was, we got to go out to the Phoenix test in December when they were testing the short track aero package. That track time is irreplaceable. It’s stuff that you just can’t replicate. To have that track time in the offseason during the transition, to go from running a Chevrolet at Phoenix when the checkered flag falls in November to 30 days later running a Toyota at the same track is a massive effort by our group to build the car, but also by our engineering group. It’s a massive effort on their part to unload another vehicle and go make laps at a competitive pace. So it takes a group effort. It takes a whole team effort and is supported by, obviously, a great OEM partner in Toyota, great people at Legacy Motor Club, great mechanics, great engineers. That’s what gets it done in the offseason.”
Cohen said the engineering group at LMC is bearing the brunt of the manufacturer change.
“You see the (physical) vehicle change, and with the Next Gen platform, that’s pretty easy to accomplish. Our chassis are still the same. Most of the components in the car are the same. It’s really just the body, driveline, and engine package changing. We have really great partners in Toyota going over to this TRD engine platform. Those guys are doing a great job of handling that aspect of it. We hang all of our own bodies ourselves, so we have the capability to take that on ourselves. But it’s really a massive effort by the engineering group on the other side of things. Everything they have from tools to preparation, to how they do their job changes completely. Different simulation tools, different simulator, different programs for the engineering department to set up vehicles, work on pre-event stuff with vehicle optimizations and setups. All our information is based off Chevrolet, so it’s really just transferring that information to a Toyota environment. That’s going to the Toyota wind tunnel in Salisbury (North Carolina). So I’d say the busiest group this offseason has been our engineers, who have been trying to correlate where we’ve been with the Next Gen car the last 2 years, and translating that into the Toyota Platform.
Whether it be on track performance or garnering more sponsorship for the team, Cohen agreed wholeheartedly when I told him it seemed to be an exciting time in the race shop.
“You can tell there’s energy in the shop right now. Most of the group has been here since Day 1, and to see where it was two years ago, you almost have to pinch yourself, right? It’s one thing to be in the presence of Richard Petty and Jimmie Johnson. But it’s a fast-paced environment and a lot of good things are happening, things you can get excited about. Today, we announced a partnership with Family Dollar and Dollar Tree on a 38-race schedule. It just seems like every time we turn around, there’s been an announcement. There’s some energy coming out of Legacy Motor Club. That’s really fun to be a part of. There’s no replacement for continuing to grow and continuing to move forward. Along the way, there’s been success and there’s been growing pains, but overall, when you look at the span of 2 years and now going into the third one, I think it’s really exciting when you look at what’s on our plate this season, and a lot to be excited about when you think about Toyota support coming in in our third year as an organization. I think if you look around at our peers, they kind of hit their stride going into their third year. And that’s just a product of getting your feet under you, getting your systems in place and getting your staff and team built out. That’s a process. It takes time. A lot of these things are coming together at the right time with Toyota coming on board and our team coming into its own going into year three. So we have a certain level of energy in the shop right now going into 2024.”
“Expectations are really high. That’s a really good place to be in for a young team like ours.”
As I asked Cohen about the team’s driver lineup in 2024, his face lit up, especially when I mentioned 7-time champion Jimmie Johnson.
“We’re really excited about our driver lineup for 2024. To be where we are as an organization and have two established veterans of the sport, even though they’re both floating around 26, 27 years old, I’m like you, I feel like Erik Jones has been in the Cup Series for 10 years now. We’re really excited for Erik and John Hunter to have the resources behind them. A driver needs a good team and good OEM support behind them. I feel like we have 2 of the best drivers in the garage from an organizational standpoint. It’s exciting when you can give those guys what they need in the garage, the tools they need to grow quickly. And then, having Jimmie back this season for a good handful of races, including some racetracks he had a lot of success at, is huge. The Daytona 500 is always going to be fun, but we’re really excited for some of the other races on his schedule this year. He’s going to Charlotte, Kansas, Dover, places where he’s been historically dominant. It’s going to be a really fun season overall with our three drivers.
“We feel like we’re in a really good spot for the future.”
Legacy Motor Club will start their season off with the rest of the field in Los Angeles on February 4th with Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek, and Jimmie Johnson will join them in the Daytona 500 on February 18th. Both races will air on FOX.
Josh Berry along with rookies Ty Gibbs and Noah Gragson completed the starting grid for the 2023 NASCAR All-Star Race after all three transferred from the NASCAR All-Star Open at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Sunday, May 21.
Berry and Gibbs, both of whom started on the front row for the Open, raced their way into the main event after finishing first and second, respectively, during the Open while Gragson was revealed as the Fan Vote winner after rallying from a multi-car wreck to finish seventh on the track, thus claiming the final spot of the 24-car grid for the All-Star event that will follow suit.
The starting lineup for the event was determined through the NASCAR Pit Crew Challenge that occurred on Friday, May 20, with the drivers’ qualifying time determined based on their respective crew’s pit stop time through a four-tire pit stop and the timing lines being established one box behind and ahead of the designated pit box.
Following the Pit Crew Challenge, rookie Ty Gibbs was awarded the pole position after his No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing pit crew delivered the fastest pit stop overall at 13.012 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Josh Berry, an interim competitor for the injured Alex Bowman whose No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports pit crew posted a fast pit stop service at 13.677 seconds.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Ty Gibbs launched ahead in his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota TRD Camry with the lead on the inside lane as Michael McDowell made a bold three-wide move to the outside of the field as he tried to launch forward through Turns 1 and 2. McDowell, however, lost grip just as he cracked the top five and slipped back into the top 10 as Gibbs proceeded to lead the first lap. Behind, Berry maintained second in front of Justin Haley, Corey LaJoie, Todd Gilliland and Aric Almirola while McDowell fell back to seventh.
Through the first five scheduled laps, Gibbs was leading by nearly nine-tenths of a second over Berry, who had Haley closing in for second place while Todd Gilliland and Aric Almirola were running in the top five. Gibbs then extended his advantage to more than a second as the event surpassed its Lap 10 mark.
At the Lap 20 mark, Gibbs continued to extend his advantage by more than two seconds over Berry while third-place Haley trailed by more than three seconds. Almirola moved up in fourth followed by Gilliland while Harrison Burton, McDowell, Chandler Smith, Ryan Preece and AJ Allmendinger were in the top 10. Behind, Ryan Newman was in 11th while rookie Noah Gragson, Corey LaJoie, Josh Bilicki, JJ Yeley and Ty Dillon rounded out the field of 16 competitors currently running on the track.
By Lap 30, Gibbs retained the lead by more than three seconds over Berry while Almirola overtook Haley for third place. Behind, Gilliland retained fifth ahead of teammate McDowell and Burton while Chandler Smith, Preece and Allmendinger occupied the rest of the top 10 on the track.
When the competition caution flew on Lap 40, Gibbs had maintained the lead by more than three seconds over Berry while Almirola, Haley, Gilliland, McDowell, Allmendinger, Burton, Chandler and Newman were in the top 10. By then, Ty Dillon was lapped, but he received the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap.
During the competition caution period, the entire field led by Gibbs pitted for fresh tires, fuel and adjustments. Following the pit stops, Berry assumed the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Gibbs, Almirola, Gragson, Haley and Gilliland. Amid the pit stops, Harrison Burton, who exited pit road in eighth place, only opted to have his rear tires changed on his No. 21 Motorcraft/DEX Imaging Ford Mustang.
When the race restarted on Lap 47, Berry and Haley dueled for the lead as the field fanned out and battled in tight formation through the first two turns and the backstretch. During the following lap, however, Berry managed to pull ahead and assume the lead with a clear racetrack followed by Gibbs and Almirola while Haley fell back to fourth in front of McDowell.
Two laps later, the caution returned when Gragson, who was running sixth and ran into the rear of McDowell entering Turn 1, went too low and hit the inside wall before his No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 shot back across the track and into the path of Gilliland as Gragson collided into the Turn 1 outside wall head-on along with Gilliland as Chandler Smith, Allmendinger and Newman were also collected. As Chandler Smith and Gilliand retired, Gragson managed to continue along with Allmendinger and Newman.
With the race restarting with 44 laps remaining, Haley challenged Berry for the lead on the outside lane while McDowell battled Gibbs for third place. Not long after, however, the caution quickly returned when McDowell, who tried to move in front of Gibbs for third place through Turns 3 and 4, got squeezed by Gibbs as he then made contact with Haley for second as both competitors went up the track and slapped the outside wall in Turn 4 hard.
During the following restart with 37 laps remaining, Berry and Almirola battled dead even for the lead until Berry muscled ahead on the inside lane. Behind, Almirola, who was stuck on the outside lane, was overtaken by Gibbs for second as Almirola tried to fend off teammate Preece and Allmendinger for more.
With 32 laps remaining, Gibbs reassumed the lead from Berry as Preece started to challenge Berry for second. In the midst of the battles at the front, Allmendinger and Almirola joined the battle in fourth and fifth while JJ Yeley and Gragson trailed behind in sixth and seventh.
Then with 23 laps remaining, Gibbs, who had maintained a steady lead over Berry through the backstretch, got held up and ran towards the apron by McDowell’s No. 34 Fr8Auctions Ford Mustang through Turns 1 and 2 before he then got shoved towards the inside wall through Turns 3 and 4 as McDowell expressed his on-track frustration to Gibbs over the late contact that eliminated McDowell and Haley from contention. This allowed Berry to reassume the lead in his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through the frontstretch while Gibbs managed to fend off Almirola for second place. In the process, McDowell, who lost a lap for repairs during the initial caution period, went two laps down.
With less than 20 laps remaining, Berry was leading by three-tenths of a second over Gibbs and Almirola while Preece and Allmendinger remained in the top five.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Berry, who lapped McDowell for a third time, continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over Gibbs with Almirola trailing by a second and trying to close in on Gibbs for a transfer spot to the All-Star Race.
With five laps remaining, Berry maintained the lead by more than a second over Gibbs as third-place Almirola cut his deficit to Gibbs by less than three-tenths of a second. Meanwhile, Preece and Allmendinger trailed the leaders by four seconds while Yeley maintained sixth as he trailed by more than eight seconds.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Berry remained as the leader by six-tenths over Gibbs as Almirola tried to ignite a final lap charge in his No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang on Gibbs for second through Turn 1. Almirola, however, could not execute the pass or bump on Gibbs to gain the spot as Gibbs pulled away. Back at the front, Berry managed to cruise away from the field and claim both the All-Star Open victory and a transfer spot to the 2023 All-Star Race by half a second over Gibbs.
With his accomplishment, Berry, a NASCAR Xfinity Series full-time competitor for JR Motorsports who led three times for 46 laps, achieved his first checkered flag of any type in NASCAR’s premier series. This year’s All-Star weekend marks Berry’s fourth start as an interim competitor of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports entry in place of the injured Alex Bowman and ninth overall for HMS as he will contend for his first opportunity of winning a million dollars. Berry’s Open victory also enabled all four Hendrick Motorsports entries to make the All-Star feature.
“I feel so relieved,” Berry said on FS1. “These guys deserve to be in this race so bad. Thank you so much to Hendrick Motorsports for believing in me and giving me this opportunity under circumstances. This is really cool. We were able to get the lead and stretch it out a little bit, and just kind of maintain it. I think the two best cars made it [to the All-Star Race]. We’ll just see what tonight gives us.”
Behind, Gibbs, the reigning Xfinity Series champion who led twice for a race-high 53 laps, fended off Almirola to finish second and race his way into his first career All-Star Race. Gibbs’ accomplishment enabled all four Joe Gibbs Racing competitors to make the main event.
Photo by Andrew Boyd for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“It’s really cool,” Gibbs said. “I feel like I’m kind of back here at Hickory Motor Speedway, honestly. It’s a worn-out racetrack, for sure. Just kind of looking for patches, looking for grip. I kind of understand [McDowell]’s frustration, but at Martinsville [Speedway], we were running 18th and they clobbered us and about wrecked us, so I think it’s, honestly, fair game. We got in [to the All-Star Race]. That’s all that matters.”
Lastly, rookie Noah Gragson, who recovered from his wreck nearing the halfway point to finish seventh, was awarded the 24th and final transfer spot to the All-Star Race by virtue of being the Fan Vote winner. The accomplishment marks Gragson’s first appearance in the All-Star Race as both Legacy Motor Club competitors will compete in the main event.
Photo by Andrew Boyd for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“It’s kind of bittersweet right now,” Gragson said. “[I] Got the Fan Vote so we can go racing. We want to race our way in, but grateful for the whole Legacy Motor Club team. Thank you fans for all the support and everything going into this. Voting, the cheers, everything. We fire and feed off your guys’ energy, so thank you. Unfortunate for our team [with the damaged car]. We’re gonna try to get [the car] back together and put a show for the fans. We’re gonna try and get up there.”
Aric Almirola finished the Open in third, but was among the remaining 13 competitors who did not make the 2023 All-Star Race along with Ryan Preece, AJ Allmendinger, JJ Yeley, Ty Dillon, Corey LaJoie, Josh Bilicki, Harrison Burton, Ryan Newman, Michael McDowell, Justin Haley, Todd Gilliland and Chandler Smith.
There were five lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured three cautions for 18 laps.
Results.
1. Josh Berry, 46 laps led
2. Ty Gibbs, 53 laps led
3. Aric Almirola
4. Ryan Preece
5. AJ Allmendinger
6. JJ Yeley
7. Noah Gragson
8. Ty Dillon
9. Corey LaJoie
10. Josh Bilicki
11. Harrison Burton
12. Ryan Newman, three laps down
13. Michael McDowell, three laps down
14. Justin Haley – OUT, Accident, one lap led
15. Todd Gilliland – OUT, Accident
16. Chandler Smith – OUT, Accident
The 2023 NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway will follow suit on Sunday, May 21, at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.
For the eighth time in nine seasons, Hendrick Motorsports captured the spotlight in a Daytona 500 pole qualifying session as Alex Bowman muscled his way to win the pole position for this year’s 65th annual running of the Great American Race at Daytona International Speedway on Wednesday, Feb. 15.
The qualifying format that determined the front row of this year’s 500 event was based on two qualifying sessions comprised of a single-lap session for each competitor. Following the first round, the top-10 fastest qualifiers from a total of 42 transferred to the second and final single-lap round to contend for the pole and a front-row starting spot.
In the end, Bowman, who was the antepenultimate competitor during the first session and the final competitor during the second session rolled his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on the track to post a qualifying lap. He secured the Busch Light Pole Award after posting a blazing pole-winning time of 49.536 seconds at 181.686 mph, which was enough to knock teammate Kyle Larson off the top of the qualifying chart. It was the 11th consecutive Daytona 500 pole for Chevrolet and the 16th overall for Hendrick Motorsports.
With his accomplishment, the 29-year-old Bowman from Tucson, Arizona, notched his fourth NASCAR Cup Series career pole and his third in the 500, which placed him in a tie with Fireball Roberts, Ken Schrader and Dale Jarrett for the second-most 500 poles in the series history. He also extended a personal record by claiming a front-row starting spot in the 500 for a sixth consecutive season. Bowman’s third 500 pole occurred in his first Cup points-paying qualifying attempt with his new crew chief Blake Harris, who replaced veteran Greg Ives after Ives retired from being a crew chief at the conclusion of the 2022 season. It also occurred after Bowman inked a three-year contract extension to remain at Hendrick Motorsports earlier in the day as he now attempts to win his first 500 in what will be his seventh start this Sunday.
“That’s the trick, right? We’ve, obviously, not been able to [win the Daytona 500] for the last five years,” Bowman said on FS1. “[We’re] Just trying to make the right decisions and transfer everything over to race trim for Sunday the best we can. Just so proud of Hendrick Motorsports, the engine shop, all the guys. This Ally No. 48 Camaro’s, obviously, really fast. I don’t have a lot to do with qualifying here. Just fortunate to qualify some really fast race cars. Really cool to see Hendrick Motorsports one, two, three. I’ll take it. It’s pretty cool.”
Joining Bowman on the front row will be his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson, who posted the second-fastest qualifying time of 49.708 seconds at 181.057 mph as Hendrick competitors swept the front row for the 500 for the eighth time in 14 seasons. This season will mark both the second consecutive season and second overall where Larson will start on the front row for the Great American Race after winning his first 500 pole a year ago. Like Bowman, Larson will vie for his first 500 victory with this season marking his 10th career start in the Great American Race.
“[Owner Rick Hendrick]’s, obviously, really excited,” Larson said. “I think this is a big deal for him and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports, the engine shop at Hendrick. Really cool for the No. 48 team. That’s awesome. That’s pretty incredible, so hats off to that team. Congrats to Alex. Proud of everybody on the No. 5 team as well. It’s really awesome to be on the front row and know if you just finish the Duels tomorrow and don’t have to go to a backup car, you get to start on the front row on Sunday. Really looking forward to the Duels, getting some more laps, getting comfortable and then, get to race it on Sunday.”
William Byron, the 2019 Daytona 500 pole winner, posted the third-fastest qualifying time of 49.799 seconds at 180.727 mph as he will be one of the remaining 40 competitors to vie for their official starting spots for the 500 through a pair of Bluegreen Vacations Duel that will take place on Thursday, February 16. Veterans Aric Almirola and Joey Logano completed the top five in qualifying time and speed while Chase Briscoe, Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, Harrison Burton and Kyle Busch, all of whom advanced to the second and final qualifying round, rounded out the top 10 on the qualifying chart. Busch originally posted the sixth-fastest qualifying lap, but his time was stripped by NASCAR after he went below the yellow line boundary on the backstretch to complete his qualifying lap.
Bubba Wallace, who was one of 32 competitors who did not transfer to the second round, posted the 11th-fastest qualifying time of 49.997 seconds at 180.011 mph followed by Daniel Suarez, Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, Ryan Preece, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, rookie Ty Gibbs and Tyler Reddick.
Meanwhile, Jimmie Johnson and Travis Pastrana were left celebrating on pit road with their respective teams and with each other after both achieved guaranteed spots for this year’s Daytona 500 by being the fastest two qualifiers competing for non-chartered teams.
Johnson, a seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and a two-time Daytona 500 champion with 83 career wins, emerged as the fastest competitor competing for a non-chartered team after posting the 23rd-fastest qualifying time of 50.202 seconds in 179.276 mph, which was enough to lock himself and his No. 84 Carvana Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team into the field. The accomplishment comes as Johnson enters the 2023 season as a part-time owner and competitor of Legacy Motor Club, rebranded from Petty GMS Motorsports, following a two-year absence from NASCAR competition. Sunday’s Daytona 500 will mark his 20th start in the Great American Race and the first of select events that have yet to be determined aside from the inaugural Cup event at the Chicago Street Course for Johnson.
“It feels great,” Johnson said. “Just a massive thank you to everyone at Legacy Motor Club. It’s been a lot of work to get three cars here, especially with how late this opportunity came along for me. That was stressful. It was hard to tell inside the car if it was a good lap or not. The RPM range is much different than the last time I was in a car and it just sounded flat and felt slow, but we’re sitting in a great spot as the fastest unchartered car. Very thankful for that.”
Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.
Pastrana, a former NASCAR and stunt competitor with championship-winning and X Games gold medals across supercross, motorcross and rally competition, posted the 25th-fastest qualifying time of 50.208 seconds in 179.254 mph, which was enough to fulfill a childhood dream by securing his No. 67 Black Rifle Coffee Toyota TRD Camry team owned by 23XI Racing into Sunday’s main event. With his accomplishment, he will make his inaugural presence in NASCAR’s premier series during Sunday’s main event as he has previously made 42 career starts in the Xfinity Series and five in the Craftsman Truck Series. Pastrana’s previous NASCAR national touring series career start to date occurred during the Truck Series Playoff event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in September 2020, where he finished 21st.
“I tell you what, qualifying for the 500, this is literally a dream come true,” Pastrana exclaimed. “This is bigger than big. Thank you so much to Black Rifle [Coffee], Dixon for giving me the opportunity to be here and for Denny [Hamlin], Michael [Jordan], everyone at the 23XI team for giving me a great car. I was sweating having to go to tomorrow. Like Kurt Busch said, now we go to tomorrow, now we learn. Now, the work starts.”
The remaining four open competitors that include Zane Smith, Austin Hill, Chandler Smith and Conor Daly will compete for the final two open spots for this weekend’s Daytona 500 through Thursday’s Duels. Smith, who was the first competitor to roll off of pit road to post his qualifying lap, rallied from stalling his car due to a mechanical issue with his No. 13 Quick Tie Inc. Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 that forced the Georgian to return to pit road before he returned two competitors later to post his qualifying lap. Daly was the only competitor who did not post a qualifying lap due to an oil line issue to his No. 50 BitNile Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 as he will start his Duel at the rear of the field.
Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule are a pair of Bluegreen Vacations Duels that will determine the rest of the starting lineup for this year’s 65th annual running of the Daytona 500 scheduled for February 19 at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX. First, on Thursday, the first Bluegreen Vacations Duel is slated to commence at 7 p.m. ET on FS1 while the second Duel event will follow suit at approximately 8:45 p.m. ET on FS1.
