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 Muskogg, OK. Jack and Terry Janway were the parents of Johnson wife Chandra. They, along with her 11-year-old grandson, were found dead inside a Muskogee home on June 26. Terry Janway had killed her husband, and grandson and then committed suicide. The team withdrew Johnson’s entry due to the tragedy. For 2024, John Hunter Nemechek has been hired to drive the #42 as he returns to Cup competition. Legacy Motor Club continued their

struggles in 2024. John Hunter Nemechek was brought on board to see how he would handle being full time in the Cup series again, and he had no better luck than his teammates had. He had four top ten finishes, as his best came at Bristol in the Spring when he finished sixth. He had a seventh place run in the Daytona 500. He had an eighth place run at Loudon NH, and finished ninth at Las Vegas. He led 36 laps on the year. Erik Jones was injured in a brutal crash at Talladega in the Spring, and missed two races. In his 34 starts, Jones had one top five finish; that coming at Talladega when he finished fifth in the Fall event. His only other top ten finish would come in the

Daytona 500 when he finished eighth. Neither driver was able to advance into the play-offs. Jimmie Johnson made nine starts on the season, but they would all have miserable results. His best finish would be a 26th place run as the season closed at Phoenix. Corey Heim filled in for the two races that Jones missed, and he ran as well as any of the regular full time drivers. He finished 25th in his first ever Cup start at Dover, and was 22nd when he ran at Kansas. Jones, Nemechek and Johnson will be back in 2025.