CLUB MINUTES
TEST OF TIME: LEGACY MC co-owner Jimmie Johnson has nine victories at Martinsville Speedway, earning nine of the coveted grandfather clock trophies. His dominant performances place him third on the all-time wins list at the track, tied with Jeff Gordon and trailing only CLUB ambassador Richard Petty “The King” and Darrell Waltrip.
LEGACY AT MARTINSVILLE: In its early history, LEGACY MC has competed in four race weekends at Martinsville Speedway, fielding four different drivers—Erik Jones, Noah Gragson, Carson Hocevar, and John Hunter Nemechek. As the team continues to climb the leaderboard, its best finish to date at Martinsville is a 12th-place finish, achieved by Jones in the Spring of 2024.
PETTY HISTORY IN MARTINSVILLE: The Petty Family boasts a rich history at Martinsville Speedway, with Lee and Richard Petty combining for 18 victories at the iconic short track. Lee secured three wins in 24 starts (Spring 1953, Fall 1954, and Spring 1959). However, it was Richard who dominated Martinsville, earning 15 victories—a record that still stands today. His dominance was especially evident between 1967 and 1973 when he won 10 times in just 13 starts.
OVER-THE-WALL: The No. 42 over-the-wall pit crew for LEGACY MOTOR CLUB had an impressive weekend at Homestead, executing two pit stops in the eight-second range. Their back-to-back stops were the team’s fastest of the event, with a remarkable 8.68-second stop for four tires and fuel. Throughout the race, the crew helped Nemechek and the No. 42 team gain nine positions on pit road.
COMING HOME: Lexington, N.C. native Justin Reissmann, fueler for the No. 43, returns to his roots this week at his “home track.” Reissmann’s motorsports journey began after earning a B.S. in Engineering from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2012. He worked at Roush Fenway Racing (now RFK) from 2011 to 2014, gaining valuable experience in the engineering department before transitioning to Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) from 2015 to 2021. During his time at both organizations, Reissmann played a key role in engineering programs while also serving as a fueler, demonstrating his versatility and expertise.
THE KINGS HAT: Last year, tracks across the industry honored the Petty family’s 75th anniversary in NASCAR by showcasing unique 6-foot-tall cowboy hat statues, a signature replica of Richard Petty’s iconic style. This weekend, “The King’s Hat” will be displayed for fans to enjoy at the Main Gate of the speedway.
CAMPE INTO HALL OF FAME: Technical Director Brian Campe will be inducted into the Alabama Athletic Hall of Fame on April 14. Ranging from the NFL to NASCAR and including three iconic basketball stars from Butler High School, the Huntsville-Madison County Athletic Hall of Fame will induct 12 members of the Class of 2025. The new Hall of Famers will be enshrined at a banquet presented by Huntsville Hospital Sports and The Orthopedic Center on Monday, April 14, at the Von Braun Center. Information on tickets and advertising opportunities may be found HERE. A full list of 2025 inductees can be found HERE.
NEVER SETTLE: This week on the Never Settle podcast, Johnson and Marty Smith sit down with Chase Utley, former is an American former professional baseball second baseman who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 16 seasons, primarily for the Philadelphia Phillies. In 2000, the Philadelphia Phillies selected Utley 15th overall in the MLB Draft. Throughout his prolific career, Utley was a fan favorite, he is a four-time National League All-Star and a four-time Silver Slugger Award winner. Never Settle airs at 2 p.m. ET on SIRUS XM Ch. 90 and can be downloaded on the SIRIUS XM app or wherever podcasts are available.
JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
NO. 42 FAMILY DOLLAR TOYOTA CAMRY XSE
MARTINSVILLE NOTES AND QUOTES:
HOMESTEAD RECAP: Nemechek showed strong speed in practice and secured a solid seventh-place starting spot at Homestead-Miami Speedway. However, he struggled with handling issues on his No. 42 Pye-Barker Toyota Camry XSE during the race, causing him to fade through the field and finish 23rd by the end of the day.
POINT STANDINGS: Nemechek currently sits tied for 16th in the driver standings, right on the cut line for the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Through six races in his early Cup Series career, this marks the second time he has been this high in the standings, previously ranking 15th after six races in 2024.
JHN STATS AT THE PAPERCLIP: This weekend, Nemechek will be making his fourth NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) start at the track that they call “The Paperclip”. During those three starts, he has an average starting spot of 23rd and an average finishing spot of 29th. However, the North Carolina native has seen success at the half-mile speedway as he collected the grandfather clock with his 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series victory, that being is his second, as he also secured one in 2018 when he won the NASCAR Truck Series race.
T-MACK AT MARTINSVILLE: Crew chief Travis Mack has eight NCS starts under his belt at the Martinsville short track. Of those starts, he has two top-10 and one top-five start. The best finish came in in 2022 with driver Daniel Suarez when they recorded a 12th-place finish.
QUOTING JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK:
“I’m excited to head to Martinsville and feel confident in the package we’re bringing. We had a strong Toyota Camry XSE at Bowman Gray, and the lessons we’ve learned in the off-season should benefit us this weekend. Two solid qualifying laps will be key for a good starting position on Sunday. Hopefully, we can secure a great result for our No. 42 Family Dollar team.”
QUOTING TRAVIS MACK:
“The track position is huge at Martinsville. Practice speed, unload speed, and qualifying are really important. We’re building off Bowman Gray (Stadium); we felt we had a pretty car at Bowman Gray – there was an opportunity to advance to the main event, but we got wrecked. We thought the car was pretty good. We took something new to Bowman Gray and it worked pretty well and now we’re going to carry what we learned there to Martinsville.”
Regarding tire combination and strategy:
“We’ll watch the tire fall off and how it will play into the various pit strategies. If we do have the tire fall-off that we’ve seen, you may see more green-flag pit stops at Martinsville than you’ve seen in the past; that will be very different and exciting if that’s the case. You’ll have guys short pitting and making up a lot of track position and guys that run it long and try to catch that caution and make up a lot of track position. It will be pretty cool. With this tire combination, you’ll see more strategy.”
ERIK JONES
NO. 43 DOLLAR TREE TOYOTA CAMRY XSE
MARTINSVILLE NOTES AND QUOTES:
MIAMI IN THE REARVIEW: Jones and the No. 43 showed some muscle at Homestead-Miami Speedway last weekend. They were second on the practice sheet but suffered an unfortunate hole in the floorboard due to possibly running something over on track. The team rallied late in the last run charging from 23rd to 15th in the closing laps of the race. It left Jones and the No. 43 team energized heading into Martinsville.
POINT STANDINGS: After six races in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, Jones is currently 23rd in the driver point standings and just two points back from 22nd place.
EJ STATS AT THE PAPERCLIP: Jones has 16 Cup Series starts at Martinsville Speedway, with a best finish of eighth in the fall of 2021. He has recorded one top-10 and five top-15 finishes at the short track. In the NASCAR Truck Series (NTS), Jones has five starts at Martinsville, earning two top-fives, including a third-place finish in the spring of 2015, and four top-10 finishes overall.
BESHORE AT MARTINSVILLE: Crew chief Ben Beshore has five NCS starts at Martinsville Speedway, including three with Kyle Busch, who finished second in the fall of 2021. In the NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS), Beshore has three starts and two victories—winning at the Virginia short track with Harrison Burton in 2020 and John Hunter Nemechek in 2023.
QUOTING ERIK JONES:
On Martinsville and his recent runs in the Next-Gen Car:
“In general, the Next Gen car for us has been pretty good. We’ve run well there the last handful of times, and hopefully, we can have another good one.”
Regarding the soft tire for this weekend at Martinsville:
“Just knowing the fall off of [the soft tire] and how it trended – the way it would fall off and how hard you could run it early is valuable. Unfortunately, the whole field knows that as well, but having that info will help with the setup more than anything.”
About the importance of qualifying at Martinsville:
“Qualifying top-15 is really important, which we have done a good job there and in general this year we’ve qualified well so we hope to keep that rolling. It’s really hard to put two good laps together at Martinsville. It’s easy to lock the left front up and there’s not a lot of tire temperature in these early runs with how quick you need to get those two qualifying laps done. It’s not an easy qualifying session, but it’s kind of fun as a driver trying to hit it right.”
QUOTING BEN BESHORE:
“Even though we didn’t get a good qualifying lap at Bowman Gray, we had a strong car in the last chance qualifier before getting wrecked. I do feel good about our short-track program and the changes we made coming out of Bowman Gray. Martinsville is a little faster than Bowman Gray but still has the same type of shape to it. We weren’t too bad at the second Martinsville last year; we stayed in the lead lap until the very end of the race.”
CLUB APPEARANCES
TUNE IN: On Wednesday, both the driver and the crew chief of the No. 43 Dollar Tree team will join SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (channel 90). Jones will dial into SiriusXM On Track at 12:00 p.m. ET while Beshore will call in to SiriusXM Speedway at 3:30 p.m. On Sunday, Nemechek will check in with Pat Patterson at 10:15 a.m. to talk about the upcoming Martinsville race.
SIGNING FOR THE FANS: Nemechek will come out to the FanZone on race morning to visit the NASCAR Classics merchandise hauler and connect with the fans and sign autographs. The North Carolina native will start signing at 11:45 a.m. ET.
HOW TO WATCH
Next up for the NASCAR Cup Series is the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway on Sunday, March 30. Prior to Sunday’s race, the NCS will have practice and qualifying on Saturday, March 29 broadcast on Prime. The Cook Out 400 will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).
ABOUT LEGACY MOTOR CLUB: (LEGACY MC) is a premier auto racing organization co-owned by seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and 2024 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee, Jimmie Johnson and Knighthead Capital Management, LLC. Drawing from a rich tradition of success, LEGACY MC is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of motorsport and setting new standards of excellence. The CLUB competes under the Toyota Gazoo Racing banner in the NASCAR Cup Series with the No. 43 Toyota Camry XSE piloted by Erik Jones and the No. 42 Toyota Camry XSE driven by John Hunter Nemechek. Johnson also races on a limited basis in the No. 84 Toyota Camry XSE. With NASCAR legend and Hall of Famer Richard Petty, “The King”, serving as CLUB Ambassador, LEGACY MC blends timeless racing traditions with a new forward-thinking vision. As an inclusive community for motorsport enthusiasts, LEGACY MC honors both its storied past and the promising future of its members, always striving for victory and championship glory at the pinnacle of NASCAR competition.
