Legacy Motor Club (LMC), part-owned by stock car racing legends Richard Petty and Jimmie Johnson, currently operates as a NASCAR Chevy team, but on May 2nd, 2023, the organization announced that it will switch to Toyota for the 2024 Cup Series season.
LMC currently fields the No. 42 Chevy Camaro ZL1 of Noah Gragson as well as the No. 43 Camaro of Erik Jones. Johnson himself occasionally takes control of a third entry, the No. 84 Camaro, at select races. However, upon conclusion of the 2023 season, all three of these entries will ditch their Bow Ties in favor of the Toyota insignia.
“[Part owner] Maury Gallagher and I are very excited about the partnership with Toyota and TRD [Toyota Racing Development] beginning in 2024,” Johnson said in a press release. “We admire and respect the level at which Toyota conducts their business in this sport and look forward to forging a new legacy for the future. I will always be appreciative to Chevrolet and everything we have accomplished together. I’m so thankful they took a chance on a kid from California so long ago and proud that the history books will forever memorialize our record-breaking success we shared.”
LMC’s shift to Toyota will make it the third Cup Series team backed by TRD. Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) and 23XI Racing are the only two teams that currently race with Toyota TRD Camrys, with four entries at JGR at two at 23XI. LMC’s addition to the TRD stable will make the Japanese automaker eight cars strong in the Cup Series.
It’s worth noting that throughout his successful career, Johnson drove NASCAR Chevy race cars at the Cup Series level. All seven of his championships were earned in the No. 48 NASCAR Chevy, which is owned by Hendrick Motorsports.
With 11 races out of the way in the 2023 Cup Series campaign, Chevy has been the most impressive manufacturer by a long shot, having scored a total of seven wins. Toyota has three, and Ford has one so far.
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Comments
It’s great to see the editor putting his two cents in with the stupid “ it’s worth noting” ya thanks for repeating something that was in the body of the original press release. WTF this person has to add this nonsense to every posting on this sight
She’s not an editor she’s a writer and if you can’t be nice or don’t like what you’re reading don’t read it .
TRAITOR! Can believe he is switching to Jap cars! No longer a fan!
As much money as TMC has to give away, you know it’s all about TMC having an upper hand on the competition. We also TMC knows there is limit by the sanctions that could be imposed by NASCAR sanctioning body.
Toyota’s are more American than your chevy, ford or ram is. Most of the last 3, have plants in mexico and canada. Please stop it with your old time thinking that is not true anymore. The world has changed, guess you slept thru those changes.
Hello, Mexico and Canada are part of the America’s! Toyota is still headquartered in Japan.
And profits from those vehicles built in Mexico and Canada and sold in the US stay in the US. Profits from those Japanese vehicles built and sold here, go to Japan.
Lets not forget the 2500 service men japan murdered at Pearl
Harbor. These service men died for your freedom. Not a good way to honor these service men. No good American would ever give their money to japan.
Hmmmn, let me see; essentially what you are saying is that all the profit that gm makes in China goes to gm in Detroit? Wake up, you are living in a dream world. I don’t know how much profit gm brings home from China but I’ll bet that it isn’t nearly the amount made by selling cars in the U.S.
if you really love gm you better hope that they figure out the current dilemma that they have going on in China. They can’t give away the ICE cars that gm manufactured in China. I’ve been reading and hearing about 40% discounts off of MSRP and no one still is buying the he cars. The Chinese market has totally bombed on ICE vehicles due to new Chinese regulations. I wonder if gm is going to bring some of the cars that may meet US compliance regulations to North America?
Wow, I won’t be missing NASCAR
I gave up on NASCAR a long time ago when they started changing their own rules to make Toyota more competitive. There is more under the table money going around from Toyota than anyone realizes.
Y’all need to look at the manufacturer lane on your cars, my Toyota Camry is made in southern IN. Many, many of you “American” cars are made outside of the USA, namely Mexico and Canada.
Toyota isn’t an American owned company.
World’s largest Toyota plant is just a few miles from my house in Kentucky.
Amazing how many think Canada and Mexico are not American. The USA is not the only American country.. geography 101 class dismissed.
Cars made anywhere in America are American.
Not when they are designed and owned by foreigners, no way! They are foreign cars.
And, I wonder where all of the profit $ go??
Toyota is an international company. Toyota has a headquarters here, a design and engineering arm here, and they employ tens of thousands of U.S. workers. Not to mention, the suppliers for parts are here, where parts are also made. The tax base and contribution to local economies and families are in the hundreds of millions.
It’s funny you should say that… it used to be 75% of Toyota’s profit came from the United States but only 25% of the cars were sold here!
We are aware Americans do assemble some jap cars. We also are aware Toyota is owned by japs.
We also are aware some GM & Fords are foreign country assembled that I will not buy.
And we are aware Tesla cars are assembled in the USA. I personally only buy GM cars that have a VIN# starting with a 1 indicating USA assembled, or a will buy a GM vehicle starting with a 2 indicating a vehicle assembled in Canada.
If a vehicle starts with a 3, that indicates it was assembled in Mexico and I personally will not but it. My personal choice for how I buy new GM vehicles.
Lansing built Buick Enclave starts with a 5 for what it’s worth
1, 4, & 5 are USA
What does Mexico not have that Canada does? I never got that. Either you are so star spangled american it is USA or nothing or you aren’t. Canada isn’t america and Mexico’s quality of build is fantastic. So explain to everyone why Canada is ok but not Mexico while both are in North America…
Answer: Canadians look like us and they speak English. That’s his thought process.
Good ole American driver Richard petty is selling out! What a DISSAPOINTMENT!!! Shame on Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet gave him all his success.
Very sad. I’m out.
Name checks out. Ok boomer
It’s a business. All the more reason not to idolize people, ever.
Y’all need to check where you’re American cars are made, namely Mexico and Canada. My Camry was made in southern IN
Still won’t drive foreign owned company cars.
And your dollars go back to Japan and then are reallocated back to the Business units (TMNA, TRD, etc).
My red mist C8 convertible was made in Kentucky of the good old US of A.
Brand loyalty has become a thing of the past, for the more recent generations. And the manufacturers haven’t helped when they stop manufacturing long-lived/loved makes and models.
On the other hand, I’m guessing LMC’s decision is pure business. Toyota may have made an offer that Chevy didn’t want to beat.
Legacy (Jimmy Johnson & Richard Petty ) are not competitive anyway. Its a shame that a talent like Noah Gragson will waste his career there ! He would be a better fit for Hendricks
This could be a sign of things to come, as we know Chevy is bailing on the ICE Camaro (and perhaps on NASCAR?). I bet more teams will drop Chevy sooner rather than later. I’m a long-time Chevy and NASCAR fan, but I have zero interest in electric car races. Chevy won’t run the Malibu in NASACAR because of its FWD chassis (if they do, it will be a contradiction to everything they’ve been preaching since they brought in the SS). It should be very interesting to see what happens with Bowtie teams as we approach Camaro’s farewell.
No … it’s because LMC are sick of not being competitive lol, not because Chevy is bailing on nascar. Yall kill me. This also explains why TRD did not fight so hard to keep Kyle Busch, they knew this was coming.
Yep. Given the direction GM is quickly headed it’s hard to see how NASCAR fits into GM’s plans from a product or image standpoint other than truck racing.
As far fetched as it sound’s currently, a hybrid type Corvette will be all thats left to run. If GM is actually seriouly developing a rival SUV Corvette to Porsche that from what I have seen is quite ugly, all options are probably still on the table. Or a future GM EV being morphed into Nascar. But if teams start bailing from Chevrolet one can probably assume these teams have been advised nothing is being developed to continue in Nascar.
Being FWD or RWD has nothing to do with it, the Taurus, Fusion, Avenger, Intrepid, Impala, Monte Carlo, Lumina, Grand Prix, Camry, Cutlass, Regal were all FWD cars with a RWD NASTYCAR counterpart, they aren’t based on production cars anymore and they haven’t been for like 40 plus years.
Yes, true, but Chevy wanted to get back to putting a RWD car on the track when they started running the SS in 2013, and they boasted that fact to Ford (who was running the Fusion at that time) and Toyota (Camry). Could they throw a Malibu out there and keep racing? Sure. All I’m saying is that it would be hypocritical to what they’ve been preaching.
…you do know the Camry is a Front Wheel Drive sedan…RIGHT?
…you do know that Toyota doesn’t call their NASCAR Cup entry a Camry anymore?
What? Check out any Cup Series Toyota – they’ve all got “CAMRY” plastered on the rear bumper cover.
Unless you’re referring to the Xfinity Series Toyotas. THOSE are Supras.
Does NASCAR help sell any vehicles on Monday? The race vehicles hardly have anything that is on production cars. It might help sell crate engines but that is a small market compared vehicle sales.
Always my favorite driver with Chevy, but no more! Sorry Jimmie, it was a nice run, but you turning to T….., I’m done with you!
Johnson was never a team player with Chevrolet anyway. He won’t be missed! Tomg
I’m guessing they made the switch because as a third tier team, GM might not be giving them the support the other Chevy teams are getting? As a former Nascar fan I’m not going to lose any sleep. They lost me years ago with their “Chase” format. Like watching IROC racing. Dullsville!
This is exactly what happened. In NASCAR Hendrick gets the major portion of support from GM, with Childress getting most of what’s left. After that, all the other Chevrolet teams get very little corporate help, and have to form an alliance with either Hendrick or Childress to get parts and to have access to any GM corporate technical support. The Toyota teams all get the same level of support from Toyota Racing Development and all get their engines direct from TRD. The lower tier Chevy teams have to buy engines from Hendrick-ECR. Johnson made it clear that unlike the situation with Chevrolet, Toyota was going to provide them with the same level of support that the other Toyota teams get.
Jones and Gragson both have ties with Toyota going back years. I was friends with Erik’s late father and know that Toyota was very high on Erik, and I don’t think they were happy when they lost him to Chevrolet. Erik’s father was the co-owner of a Corvette parts business, and Erik has a collection of Corvettes, including a 65 his father sold years ago to fund Erik’s early racing carrier and Erik bought back once he was able too. It’s a shame to see Erik going back to the dark side, but I think in the long run he’ll be in a better situation.
Johnny B. Camry is front wheel drive!!
Jimmy bailed on Chevrolet so I’m bailing on him. He just lost another one of his career long fans. Not that he cares about fans now days anyway. it’s all about the $$$ for him now.
WBR-the only team that’s ever had true manufacturer loyalty…since’50…
More so, it’s not all about money, its all about him.
Pretty sure Jiminy isn’t going to be winning 7 championships with Toyota…. just sayin.
We’ll I guess with the death of the Camaro, that’s the end of Chevrolet and NASCAR
OR … LMC is tired of being a back marker Chevy team and would rather be the third Toyota team than the 2000th Chevy team lol
Dale Earnhardt’s probably turning over in his grave seeing what Nascar has become. Cookie cutter boring!
DAEL EARHNHERT DIDNT DIE FER JIMMEH JANSON TO DRIVE A CHEATIN YODER
You keyboard warriors are hilarious
your spelling is hilarious !!
I see humor is beyond your grasp
Maybe he wants an American made vehicle.
GM is loosing past customers like me who want a vehicle that is American made.
Not the offshored imports from GM.
My Silverado was built in Ft. Wayne, IN. My Pontiac G6 was built in Lansing, MI.
And the Malibu is built in the Fairfax Plant KC.
I laughed out loud the other day…I was following a newer Chevy Blazer and the UAW license plate frame said “I Love My American Made Vehicle.” Yeah, despite what the salesman might have told you to get the sale, that Blazer was made south of the border…
Camaros are built in Lansing, Michigan.
I never cared for Jimmy and you can see he is not loyal to any Chevy Brand…Toyota is might have factories in the USA but are still owned by outsiders… next thing you know Jimmy will be getting Bud Light as a sponsor!!
Jimmy’s voice is not high enough to drink Bud Light
I don’t care where they are built All the profits go to Japan not here in the USA. . So what so they have a few plants here and support a couple thousand people while they send billions of dollars to the homeland.
IMO, dropping the Camaro is a big mistake. But if they must, build a Malibu SS, provide unlimited support and give the teams what they need to compete. That’s how you bring teams onboard. That’s exactly what the foreign folks are doing. Now that we have lost the Camaro (just can’t believe that’s happening), there’s going to be a lot more teams makings changes.
Traitor JJ. Just don’t make a fool out of Rick H while you drive the Garage 56. Show what a NASCAR modified Camaro can do and then you can go and drive a Wuling if you want.
I was taught in elementary school that America runs from the very top of Canada to the very tip of the Argentina / Chile Tierra de Fuego area. North, Central, South America. United States is US. Every other country has a name. So US is not America. America is a Continent.
So per your statement, anything made in the continent is OK. Offshore is the rest of the world then.
Anyways, that leaves only US, Canada and Mexico as one geographic block since the rest of the CONTINENT does not have any commercial agreements with the US.
Just see how much a regular Camaro costs in Brazil: $103,000 USD, because taxes of cars coming from US is applied at full.
So no matter what we say or whine or cry, the world nowadays is all tangled into one big economy.
Being competitive is the name of the game; that brings loyalty.
And lets be honest: who doesn’t want a cool toy like the Toyota Supra GR, Corolla GR or Yaris GR? GM where are you?
You do understand that gm doest have a car to offer after next year with the Camaro production car going away! Yes that can use the camaro a few more years in nascar but I’m guessing manufacturers support won’t be as good.
BYE, BYE, NASCAR! BIG MISTAKE!
Who wants to drive a Turd anyway. I will also be among the many who prefer ICE and not EV and as American as possible. I believe in helping our economy, our jobs, and watch out for ourselves because our politicians sure don’t. And I also believe foreign cars profits all go back to their own country, and I know that all Asian brands have no respect for patents, copyrights, etc.
I guess I’m an old-school NASCAR fan, but it seems to me that Toyota’s entire involvement in the sport is entirely based on how much money they can dangle in front of the teams and NASCAR management.
I’m still wondering what Toyota-manufactured engine design they used to “break into” NASCAR. Isn’t the basic engine design about the only thing that is somewhat “stock” about these cars today?
National Association of Stock Car Racing – that’s a joke today. It was way more interesting back in the days when the cars were essentially stock, and the manufacturers competed to win on Sunday and sell those cars which looked like the track cars on Monday.