CLUB ENTRY LIST
JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
POINT STANDINGS: 15TH
ERIK JONES
POINT STANDINGS: 21ST
CLUB NOTES
Easter with family: With the NASCAR Cup Series racing on Easter Sunday again this year, Erik Jones will take the time to celebrate his racing family. Before the race on Sunday, Jones will treat the No. 43 team, family and friends to an Easter meal at Richmond.
READwithErik: Jones will appear in the NASCAR Kid’s Zone for a book reading at Richmond Raceway on Sunday, March 31. This at-track edition of #READwithErik will feature a special furry friend, as Jones will read “How To Catch the Easter Bunny” by Adam Wallace to children and families in attendance at 4:00 p.m. on race day.
Second Cup start: This weekend marks John Hunter Nemechek’s second career NASCAR Cup Series start at Richmond Raceway. Over the last three years (2021-2023) in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Nemechek has finished in the top-three at Richmond Raceway (a third place and two seconds consecutively.) He has completed all but one lap (1,499 out of 1,500) – which is impressive for a short track – and has led 182 laps. Nemechek has an average finish of seventh in his six starts at the 0.75-mile Virginia short track.
Dollar Tree’s Gold Star: Primary partner Dollar Tree will honor Richmond-based store #2335 this weekend as a part of the company’s “Go For G.O.L.D.” (Grand Opening Look Daily) program. The Dollar Tree and Family Dollar primaries will highlight these stores on the deck lid of all three LEGACY M.C. entries throughout the race season.
Familiar colors: The No. 42 Safeway Toyota Camry XSE will have a similar paint scheme that was seen in Las Vegas and Phoenix, but with a slight twist. The No. 42 will have bold red stripes across the side of this week’s entry as Nemechek will represent Safeway and ACME in Richmond.
National Reading Month: The Erik Jones Foundation (EJF) has been celebrating National Reading Month throughout March by auctioning off books that Jones read during the #READwithErik program on Facebook. Anyone interested in learning more about the program and books available for auction can check out the listings here. The proceeds from this event will directly support the mission of the EJF.
Running at Richmond: Jones has four starts in the Xfinity Series at Richmond Raceway. During these starts, Jones has not started outside of the top 10 and has only finished outside of the top five once. Jones holds an average start of 3.8 and an average finish of 11.3 in the Xfinity Series at Richmond.
Xfinity success: Crew chief, Dave Elenz, has an impressive resume at Richmond Raceway in the Xfinity Series. Elenz boasts two wins (2016 and 2021), three top-five, and nine top-10 finishes with 166 laps led in 13 attempts.
NASCAR Q&A: Nemechek will join host Monica Palumbo on race day at Richmond for a Q&A session at 5:00 pm local time on the Victory Lane Stage in the infield fan grounds.
Move over Jones: LEGACY M.C.’s No. 43 mechanic, David Cropps, tackled Salisbury, N.C.’s local dirt track Milbridge Speedway on Monday night during the A1 Feature Buggy race. Cropps qualified 15th for the 50-lap event and raced his way into the top 10, where he finished seventh with a handful of the LEGACY M.C. CLUB members in attendance. Among those at the track was Jones, who can be seen celebrating the top-10 finish in the CLUB’s photo of the week.
CLUB QUOTES
John Hunter Nemechek, Driver of the No. 42 Safeway Toyota Camry XSE:
“Richmond has been one of my favorite racetracks to go to for some time now. I won there in the Truck Series and ran second in Xfinity a few times, so I should have won a few more but gave a few away. Overall Richmond really just fits my driving style tire degradation and fall off being able to manage your equipment a lot of different lines being a day-to-night race. But Richmond feels like a short track that I used to race on coming through the Late Model ranks. I’ve hit the SIM this week and am working with Ben and Trevor (Bayne) on preparation so we are ready.”
Ben Beshore, Crew chief of the No. 42 Safeway Toyota Camry XSE:
“Regarding the tire fall off, at times you are at the mercy of what everyone else is doing just in the sense if you get off strategy and are the only one on a certain strategy then you have to do a lot of passing. Richmond has a lot of tire fall off and managing tire fall off is huge so having to put any extra stress on the tires is not a good thing. Staying on the top of our game, is key.”
Erik Jones, Driver of the No. 43 Dollar Tree Toyota Camry XSE:
Talk about the new short-track package and how you hope to see it perform at Richmond.
“The new package is obviously a lot different. I think Richmond will be a great test for it to see how much it has improved in traffic or hasn’t. At Richmond, we have qualified well and had speed; we just need to have more speed during the race, so hopefully, we can go there and figure that out. I am hoping that the new package gives us the opportunity to move around and try some different stuff.”
Dave Elenz, Crew chief of the No. 43 Dollar Tree Toyota Camry XSE:
Talk about the difference in setup when you are looking at this run of short tracks.
“It’s nice that we have a stretch of short tracks to work on our short track program and get it a little bit better. Phoenix went really well for us and we hope to bring some of that stuff into Richmond; there is a little bit of carryover to Martinsville, but not as much. Richmond and Phoenix are pretty close, so we feel like we have a good start there. Bristol has some higher loads and less braking into the corners, so it doesn’t really transfer into Richmond as much as Phoenix will for us, but we are excited based on our results from Phoenix and looking forward to a good Easter weekend at Richmond.”
PETTY 75TH ANNIVERSARY
ABOUT PETTY 75th: The 2024 season marks a significant milestone in the history of the Petty family as they have helped define stock car racing for 75 years. Their commitment to the sport and the people who make it possible – behind the wheel, under the hood, in the back office and beyond – has shaped the growth and success of NASCAR. Their LEGACY lives on with the countless fans, drivers, technicians and team members they touched. Throughout 2024, LEGACY M.C. will celebrate the Petty family and share countless memories with friends and fans at race tracks across the country.
Petty history in Richmond: The Petty Family has an established history that will likely remain untouched at Richmond Raceway as three generations of Pettys have won a collective 16 times at this historic short track. Lee Petty won during his first and last attempts (’53 & ’60), Richard Petty won a record-setting 13 times (Spring ’61, both ’67, Spring ’68, both ’70-’73, Fall ’74, and Spring ’75), and Kyle Petty won a nail-biter in 1986 as he narrowly avoided a major wreck between Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip, earning his sole win during the 1986 season.
Petty Fest: Race fans far and wide will have the chance to celebrate their affinity with the Petty family at the 14th Annual PettyFest on April 20th. This historic event celebrates all things Petty and will take place at the Petty Museum in Level Cross, NC., from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The event will feature meet and greets with Kyle and Richard Petty, tours of the original Petty homestead, food trucks, vendors, and much more. Meet and greet wristbands are limited to the first 100 guests.
BROADCAST INFO
RICHMOND RACEWAY
SUNDAY, MARCH 31ST @ 7:00 PM ET
ABOUT OUR PARTNERS
ABOUT DOLLAR TREE, INC.: Dollar Tree, a Fortune 200 Company, operated 16,622 stores across 48 states and five Canadian provinces as of October 28, 2023. Stores operate under the brands of Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, and Dollar Tree Canada. To learn more about the Company, visit www.DollarTree.com.
ABOUT SAFEWAY: In 1915, M.B. Skaggs, an ambitious young man in the small Idaho town of American Falls, purchased a tiny grocery store from his father. M.B.’s business strategy, to give his customers value and to expand by keeping a narrow profit margin, proved spectacularly successful. By 1926 he had opened 428 Skaggs stores in 10 states. M.B. almost doubled the size of his business that year when he merged his company with 322 Safeway (formerly Selig) stores and incorporated as Safeway, Inc. Two years later, M.B. listed Safeway on the New York Stock Exchange. M.B. did not let the difficulties of the Great Depression dilute his pioneering focus on value for customers. In the 1930s, Safeway introduced produce pricing by the pound, added “sell by” dates on perishables to assure freshness, nutritional labeling and even created some of the first parking lots.
M.B. Skagg’s value vision still drives Safeway, though on a dramatically larger scale. Today, Safeway operates as a banner of Albertsons Companies, one of the largest food and drug retailers in the United States. With both a strong local presence and national scale, the company operates stores across 35 states and the District of Columbia under 20 well-known banners. Albertsons Companies is committed to helping people across the country live better lives by making a meaningful difference, neighborhood by neighborhood. In 2017 alone, along with the Albertsons Companies Foundation, the company gave nearly $300 million in food and financial support. These efforts helped millions of people in the areas of hunger relief, education, cancer research and treatment, programs for people with disabilities and veterans outreach.
ABOUT LEGACY MOTOR CLUB: LEGACY MOTOR CLUB™ is a professional auto racing club owned by businessman and entrepreneur Maurice “Maury” J. Gallagher and seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson. The CLUB competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series fielding the No. 42 Toyota Camry XSE of John Hunter Nemechek, the No. 43 Toyota Camry XSE of Erik Jones, and the No. 84 limited schedule entry for Johnson. LEGACY M.C. also competes in the Extreme-E Series. Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty “The King” serves as Club Ambassador. With a unique title signifying a nod to car clubs of past eras, LEGACY M.C. is an inclusive club for all motorsport enthusiasts to celebrate the past and future legacies of its members, while competing for wins and championships at NASCAR’s elite level. To keep up-to-date with the latest news, information and exclusive content, follow LEGACY MOTOR CLUB™ on Facebook, X, Instagram and at www.LEGACYMOTORCLUB.com.
