Jimmie Johnson Unable to Shake Off Bad Habits From Hendrick Motorsports as LMC Struggle With Transition

Changing manufacturers in NASCAR isn’t like changing sponsors or paint schemes. It’s a full-blown identity overhaul. New cars, new tech, new people, and sometimes, a new culture. Remember Stewart-Haas Racing’s move to Ford in 2017? Or Furniture Row’s switch to Toyota in 2016 before they won the championship? High risk, high reward. Teams often switch to chase performance, factory support, or better alignment with long-term goals.

But sometimes, the reward takes its sweet time arriving. Legacy Motor Club, helmed by seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, jumped ship from Chevrolet to Toyota. It seemed like an odd move. In 2023, Chevy had the most wins out of the three manufacturers, but come 2024 and LMC had different ideas in mind.

Co-owner Jimmie Johnson, a Hendrick Motorsports legend, chose to part ways with the very brand that helped him win seven championships. The switch wasn’t just bold—it was deeply personal. But Johnson believed Toyota’s resources and tech focus were the future LMC needed. He explained, “There are aspects of the climb that I don’t think Toyota or ourselves knew would be involved. And with how data-driven the sport is, and the fact that we chose to stand alone in this journey, not only it means we gotta physically have the infrastructure to build cars, assemble cars, and take the track, unlike 23XI where they’re clients of JGR.” 

Still, changing manufacturers isn’t just about signing a new badge. It’s a full teardown. Cars, software, simulations, supply chains—everything resets. Johnson may have spent decades at HMS, but leading an entire team through this transition was another level. “But, when you talk about the software and sim tool change, tool change in general, we have to build all that ourselves. So, we’re literally writing code and building applications and developing software from ground zero. And that element was not forecasted in the experience. I knew there would be some, Toyota thought there would be some, but to the level of which, it’s been a lot. We’re getting there and once it’s all up and running, we’re going to be very happy with what we did. But, it’s been a long journey,” added Johnson.

The transition to Toyota so far for @LEGACYMotorClub has been a bit tougher than initially expected.

“There are aspects of the climb that I don’t think Toyota or ourselves knew would be involved.”

More from @JimmieJohnson on the trajectory of LMC #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/DKKZ2M8iXU

— Davey Segal (@DaveyCenter) April 28, 2025

At Hendrick, that backend was always in place—years of R&D, cutting-edge sim tools, wind tunnel data, even predictive analytics. Now, Johnson’s team had to build their own. In NASCAR’s tech-forward era, software helps decide tire strategy, pit calls, and car setups before you even get to the track.

But if the process was so difficult, why did Johnson want the change to happen in the first place? He was Hendrick Motorsports’ poster boy once, and dropping Chevy in place of Toyota was a big decision. Well, the answer lies in the way manufacturers in NASCAR work. Legacy Motor Club CEO Cal Wells spoke about this last year when the switch was in the works. “One of the things that Jimmie and Maury (Gallagher) realized very early is that they needed to be what is termed in NASCAR vernacular as Tier 1—a team being supported as a Tier 1 member of Chevrolet, Ford, or Toyota. And those are very sought-after and coveted positions within NASCAR.” 

For Chevy, the tier 1 teams at the time most likely would have been HMS, Richard Childress Racing, and Trackhouse Racing. Besides, the manufacturer was running over 15 cars in the Cup Series at the time. The switch made sense for Jimmie Johnson and Co. despite the obvious challenge. And Johnson knew the risks that came with the change.

At the time, he even acknowledged it, saying, “It’s been overwhelming in the greatest of ways. The amount of data that we have; the tools that are included with that, tools that we need to design and create. We literally had to hire software coders to create the tools that we need because this is a new system, new software for us and we have a lot of responsibilities on our side to receive all of this information. But it has been a great journey, a great partnership.” 

And that change has brought some progress.

Signs of progress amid technical headwinds

Legacy Motor Club’s 2025 season opened with a statement: Jimmie Johnson and John Hunter Nemechek delivered a double top-five finish at the Daytona 500, the team’s strongest showing since Johnson became co-owner. Johnson’s third-place result marked his first top five since 2020, while Nemechek secured a career-best fifth, instantly matching LMC’s combined top fives from 2023-24. Erik Jones added a 12th-place run, completing a rare three-car top-15 sweep for the rebranded squad.

However, the team’s momentum has faced turbulence. While Daytona’s drafting-dependent nature masked technical limitations, subsequent races revealed growing pains. At Talladega’s Jack Link’s 500, Jones finished 18th, and the team’s standalone Toyota infrastructure struggled to match Joe Gibbs Racing’s speed in data-driven events like Phoenix and Las Vegas. Johnson’s limited schedule (only Daytona and the Coca-Cola 600) further tests depth, requiring Jones and Nemechek to carry development duties.

Toyota has publicly backed LMC, emphasizing patience and long-term development. But the clock ticks loudly in NASCAR. Fans are quick to notice when a team slips from relevance, especially one tied to a legend like Jimmie Johnson. His star power draws attention and expectations. Right now, the results don’t match either.

Still, Johnson remains confident in the rebuild. “We’re getting there… once it’s all up and running, we’re going to be very happy,” he said. But in NASCAR, patience isn’t just rare; it’s risky. Will LMC’s independence pay off before the field leaves them behind?

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