Legacy Motor Club, Toyota Expect NASCAR Move Will Upset Some Fans

• Johnson’s two-team Legacy Motor Club is dropping its Chevrolet affiliation after this season to become a Toyota organization in 2024.

• The announcement came Tuesday, when Johnson, team co-owner Maury Gallagher.

• Toyota Racing Development president David Wilson shocked much of the stock car world with the announcement.

Seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson and Toyota Racing Development president David Wilson have been around the NASCAR block enough times to realize that optics are a big deal to fans.

Who a driver drives for is a big deal. What manufacturer a team works with is a big deal. History and tradition are big deals.

They are acutely aware that not everyone in NASCAR’s shrinking fanbase will be happy that Johnson’s two-team Legacy Motor Club is dropping its Chevrolet affiliation after this season to become a Toyota organization in 2024. The announcement came Tuesday, when Johnson, team co-owner Maury Gallagher, and Wilson shocked much of the stock car world with the announcement.

After two seasons with Chevrolet, the North Carolina-based organization will move No. 42 driver Noah Gragson and No. 43 driver Erik Jones from Camaros to Camrys. They will become the seventh and eighth full-time TRD drivers, joining Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Christopher Bell, and Ty Gibbs at Joe Gibbs Racing, and Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick at 23XI Racing.

While happy with his Toyota’s in recent years, Wilson has been on the lookout for what he called “quality cars and drivers to add to our family.” He added: “This not reactive because we knew it was coming (although not the specifics until recently). The new Next Gen car has changed the way we race, so there’s been a plan to add to our family. We’ve been incredibly fortunate to have some interest to get to where we are today.”

But…

“But I’m not naïve any longer,” Wilson said. “I realize this will be a polarizing partnership for Jimmie Johnson fans and No. 43 fans. Some of them won’t be thrilled with this; they’ll probably feel it's sacrilegious, but I can’t worry about that.”

Johnson went right to the point: “I understand how polarizing this will be for some fans, but we have the full support of Richard Petty.”

Wilson couldn’t recall exactly when serious talks began with Gallagher and Johnson. He spoke of “a few months” and added, “It hasn’t been that long. Right from the first conversation we all had a vision of the potential. Maury and I have been garage friends for years, so maybe I had a head start with him. I think I talked about it with Jimmie at Phoenix last fall.