FANTASY NASCAR Racin

LEGACY MOTOR CLUB - came into being at the start of 2023. This would mark the first time since the creation of NASCAR that no teams with the name "Petty" would field a Cup Series race team. The previous year Maurey Gallagher had bought a major interest in Richard Petty Motorsports and expanded to a two car team. It was called Petty / GMS. Seven time Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson had retired from Indy car racing and wanted to be involved in the NASCAR Series again, and bought a piece of the ownership of the team and the end of

Noah Gragson will drive the #42. Jimmie Johnson will drive the #84 part time. The number is an inverse of Johnson's famous #48 car. Johnson also chose the number due to him having 83 wins, and his goal to get one more, which would tie him with Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip for fourth all time. The team had a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing. Legacy Motor Club would use Joe Gibbs Racing pit crews in 2023. The first year LMC ran the Cup series was a bit of a disappointment. Eric Jones only had one top five and seven top ten finishes. That’s pretty much his worst year since he has been in Cup full time. To make matter worse, he was the only driver to get

a top ten finish in the entire organization. Noah Gragson ran the first 21 races and had a best finish of 12th at Atlanta; his only top 20 finish. But he ran afoul of NASCAR and was suspended when, on August 5, NASCAR and LMC suspended Gragson indefinitely for violation of Section 4.4.D. of the NASCAR Rule Book, which concerns member conduct, after Gragson liked an offensive meme related to the murder of George Floyd on social media. The next week, Gragson requested to be released from his contract with LMC so he could focus on the reinstatement process. He was later reinstated in September. So for the final 15 races several drivers filled that seat. Carson Hocevar ran eight events; while Mike Rockenfeller ran three road course races, Josh Berry raced twice, while Grant Enfinger and John Hunter Nemechek each ran once each. Of that group Hocevar had a best finish of eleventh, coming at Bristol. Jimmie Johnson made three starts. He made the field for the Daytona 500, but was involved in a crash with just nine laps remaining and finished 31st. He was looking forward

to the road race at COTA to get some experience behind the wheel before they jetted off to Le Mans to race the “Garage 56” project in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. But he was involved in an accident on the opening lap and knocked out before completing any laps. His final Cup start came in the Coke 600. He spun out twice and only completed 115 laps; finishing 37th. Johnson was scheduled to race in the street race to be held at Chicago over July 4th weekend. However, on June 26, Johnson in-laws were involved in a murder-suicide at their house in