DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — All week at Daytona International Speedway, members of the newly revamped and reinvigorated Legacy Motor Club team have insisted this season will be an improved, exciting, hopefully triumphant chapter in the young organization’s story.
Sunday night’s Daytona 500 outing was a fairytale-like season start, with team owner-driver Jimmie Johnson surging from 15th place with one lap remaining to finish third at the overtime checkered flag. Driver John Hunter Nemechek matched the energy with a career-best fifth-place performance, and teammate Erik Jones rallied to 12th place in the famed No. 43 Toyota despite it suffering a little damage in a late-race accident only four laps before the checkered flag.
It marked the best trio of finishes for the team since the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Johnson became majority owner of the organization.
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The third-place showing for Johnson is the best for the NASCAR Hall of Famer since a third-place finish in 2020 at Dover Motor Speedway — his last full-time season in the sport before venturing off to run IndyCars in 2021-22. He’s made only 13 NASCAR Cup Series starts since 2023 after becoming a team owner.
None as impactful as Sunday night.
“This feels incredible,” said Johnson, 49. “I have emotions I didn’t expect to have. I’ve never been in this position as an owner, and it really opens up a different set of emotions. The pride I have in this result and the pride I have in this company and all we’re trying to achieve and the journey we’re on, I’m so satisfied, so happy right now.”
“It’s been an interesting couple of years, and to have our cars come out and be this strong, this Toyota was rocket-ship fast,” he added. “I’m just smiling inside and out.”
It was only the fifth top 10 for Nemechek, 27, since he joined Legacy last year — the best showing of his three-year career in the sport’s big leagues. He also acknowledged the promise Daytona showed.
“Coming home fifth was a really solid day, a really solid effort, really solid Speedweeks from the whole Legacy Motor Club group,” Nemechek said. “Excited to see where 2025 goes — we already know we are better than 2024, just how much is the question.”
Johnson’s crew chief, Chad Johnston, matched his boss’ enthusiasm post-race — albeit not entirely surprised at his driver’s work, considering Johnson is a two-time Daytona 500 winner (2006, 2013).
“I mean, he’s a seven-time champion, right, so you wouldn’t expect any less,” Johnston said. “I think he’s very underrated when he comes back and does these one or two races, but the amount of talent that he has and his will to win and his will to see the organization do better. … Obviously, it’s Daytona, so it’s a little bit different than everywhere we go, but it shows that we’ve made some progress through the winter.”
That the change in fortune happened at Daytona seemed appropriate, considering the team was once Richard Petty Motorsports in earlier years. Petty’s seven Daytona 500 wins is a record, and the legendary seven-time NASCAR champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer Petty remains a visible part of the organization.
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All week, the three drivers, full-time competitors Nemechek and Jones and also Johnson as owner-driver talked about personnel changes over the offseason and what now having a year under their belt in a switch to Toyota engines would mean. The expectations are higher. And there is a real sense of optimism — something they couldn’t help but feel they made good on Sunday night on the Daytona high banks.
“There’s always a lot of hope at the beginning of every season,” said Jones, 28, who was runner-up in his Duel 150-mile qualifying race Thursday night. “I think it definitely changes as you go through the week and see how your car is. I would have told you last year, I felt good about it, but we weren’t in as good as a spot as at the start of the race we are this year. This year, we have a good pit stop, and I feel like the car drives best it has with Next Gen car and I’d say my confidence is the best it’s been to contend.”
All three of the Legacy Toyotas spent time among the top five at various points in the race and showed they are ready to take their performance to the next level.
“It’s amazing,” Johnson said of the Daytona outcome. “Two of the Legacy Motor Club cars in the top five, a great way to start the season. Had Shaq (Shaquille O’Neal) on the hood; I hope he was watching. Hope he’s excited. Just an incredible experience.”