Jimmie Johnson’s Legacy Motor Club will get a third car from 2027 onwards, and the NASCAR legend is making it clear what the plans are with the third car in the overall picture of LMC’s budding NASCAR journey. 

Currently with John Hunter Nemecheck and Erik Jones, Legacy Motor Club is in a position where being competitive is a priority but a long-term goal, while the short-term goal is to collect as much data as possible to create LMC’s very own playbook. 

The 7-time Cup Series champion was on Sirius XM recently and spoke about how their newest $45 million charter that they got after winning the lawsuit against Rick Ware Racing fits into the picture. 

Johnson said, “Testing, as it is, the difficulty in correlating reality to the sim world that then goes into the simulator we all spend so much time in, the more vehicles you have on track, the more data you receive and the quicker you make decisions. And adding a third car is 33 per cent more improvement in data, resources, track time, you name it. So it’s extremely important.”

"So there could be financial upside, but I'd say that was a good, but really it's about performance," he added.

Johnson and LMC made an incredible call to remain independent despite having to sign a dependent contract with Joe Gibbs Racing. 

Johnson had earlier said that while the benefits of having support from Toyota’s premier team in the form of data and setup for race and simulations are something that would have been helpful, the fear of drowning in financial debt as Furniture Row Racing faced wasn’t a good enough gamble. 

Johnson is making big calls at LMC; going independent is difficult in itself, and trying to sustain three charters is going to be an added task. 

Johnson sees the financial model of a third team as a benefit

With a word like Legacy in their team, the aim is not to be competing in the midfield for long, but to make gradual steps upwards to become a competitive force in the Cup series. 

While Johnson highlighted the benefits from a data front, he also emphasised how the finances look different with their pre-existing two-car setup. 

On Sirius XM, Johnson said, “The financial model is slightly beneficial as well. Once it’s up and running and if you sell out the paint schemes, you don’t have to scale and put another full team on the books and all the different headcount and resources that would be your building and such.”

The owner who drives part-time, as he did most recently in San Diego, said that while the financial benefits are clear and it isn’t like setting up a fresh team altogether, given that resources can be shared across the LMC cars, the primary target remains data collection. 

According to Johnson, LMC’s fastest way to get to a competitive position is to finish creating its playbook at the earliest, and a third car quickens that process. 

Who do you think will get to drive the third LMC car next year? Let us know. 

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Debrup Chaudhuri

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason