LEGACY MOTOR CLUB:
ATLANTA PRE-RACE ADVANCE
EVENT: ATLANTA 400
DATE: Feb. 22, 2026
RACE: NASCAR Cup Series 2 of 36
TRACK: Atlanta Motor Speedway | 1.54-Mile Oval
CLUB MINUTES:
JJ WINS AT ATLANTA: LEGACY MOTOR CLUB owner and seven-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion Jimmie Johnson owns 29 career Cup Series starts on the old configuration of the track during his career from 2001 to 2020. He was successful in finding victory lane five times at Atlanta (October 2004, March 2007, October 2007, March 2015, and February 2016). He led 586 laps in his career and earned 14 top-fives and 17 top-10s.
KENSETH AT ATLANTA: Matt Kenseth, 2003 NASCAR Cup Series Champion and LEGACY MOTOR CLUB competition advisor, also has a solid record at Atlanta on the old configuration. In 30 NASCAR Cup Series starts, he earned 11 top-fives, 17 top-10s and led 363 laps. His best finish of second came in August 2014 when he finished just .574 of a second behind race winner Kasey Kahne.
“THE KING” VICTORIOUS AT ATLANTA: CLUB Ambassador and seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Richard Petty is a six-time winner at Atlanta. In 65 total Cup Series starts, Petty has scored 22 top-fives, 33 top-10s, and led 1,827 laps at the 1.5-mile track. His victories at the track came in August 1966, August 1970, August 1971, July 1974, March 1975, and March 1977.
THE KING’S FINAL LAP: On November 15, 1992, Richard Petty famously completed his final NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It marked the end of his career and the beginning of Jeff Gordon’s who made his Cup Series debut in the same race. The race drew a record 160,000 spectators to celebrate Petty’s historic career in the sport.
JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
NO. 42 DOLLAR TREE TOYOTA CAMRY XSE
SPEED IN DAYTONA: John Hunter Nemechek showed strong speed at the 68th running of the Daytona 500, leading the field for 19 of 200 laps, the second-highest laps led in a single race of his NASCAR Cup Series career. He tied for third-most laps led during the race with Kyle Busch.
JHN AT ATLANTA: John Hunter Nemechek has five NASCAR Cup Series starts at Atlanta, with his highest finish at the track of 10th coming last February. In the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, Nemechek has made five starts where he earned two top-fives and three top-10s with a victory in July 2023 with a .245-second margin of victory over competitor Daniel Hemric. In the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, he has six starts, where he found victory lane in February 2016 and scored two third-place finishes in March 2021 and March 2023.
RETURN TO THE TRUCK SERIES: Thirteen-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race winner John Hunter Nemechek will pilot the No. 62 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro with Halmar-Friesen Racing for a special appearance in the Fr8 Racing 208 on Saturday, February 21.
T-MACK AT ATLANTA: Sunday’s race will be crew chief Travis Mack’s 11th NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta. His best finish of second came in July 2023 when his driver Daniel Suarez finished just behind William Byron under caution. He has an additional three top-10s in the Cup Series at Atlanta with his most recent being a 10th-place finish last February with Nemechek. He has an additional two starts as crew chief at Atlanta in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series with Michael Annett, finishing 12th and 11th respectively in February 2019 and June 2020.
JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK QUOTE:
“I’m really excited about going to Atlanta this weekend. I think we showed that we have a lot of speed in our LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Toyota Camrys at Daytona, so I’m looking forward to building off that in Atlanta. Our speedway program has been really good, so I’m confident we’ll go down there and lead some laps and have a shot to be there at the end.”
TRAVIS MACK QUOTE:
“I think Atlanta will be a good opportunity for the No. 42 Dollar Tree team. We should be able to carry over the speed we showed in Daytona into this weekend, and we had solid runs in both races there last year. I’m looking forward to John Hunter running the Truck race again to get more reps with Hayden (spotter) and hopefully get the win.”
ERIK JONES
NO. 43 ADVENTHEALTH TOYOTA CAMRY XSE
HEARTBREAK IN DAYTONA: Last Sunday in the official kickoff to the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season with the DAYTONA 500 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, Jones showed off his skill on superspeedways in a final four-lap shootout to the checkered flag. From the drop of the green flag after a late-race caution, Jones jumped to the third lane and drove from the mid-20s to the top-five in one lap. He was racing for the lead in his No. 43 AdventHealth Toyota Camry XSE, but contact with another car sent him for a spin after capturing the white flag. Jones was able to keep rolling but ultimately crossed the line in 21st.
JONES AT ATLANTA: Sunday’s race at Atlanta marks Erik Jones’ 15th NASCAR Cup Series race at the 1.54-mile track where he owns two top-fives and four top-10s. His best finish of fourth came in July 2022 after the track’s reconfiguration. In the series’ last visit to the track in June, Jones earned an impressive fifth-place result after starting 26th. He owns three additional starts at Atlanta outside of the NASCAR Cup Series – two in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and one in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. His best O’Reilly Auto Parts Series finish of third came in February 2016 after starting second. In his one and only Truck Series start, he ended up in a seventh-place finish after starting second and leading 37 laps.
ADVENTHEALTH VISIT: On Friday, Jones and AdventHealth will continue their mission to ignite a passion for reading in young kids as they visit Calhoun Early Learning Academy in Calhoun, Georgia for a special #READwithErik. Jones will be reading “Big Farm Tractor” by Mary Packard and “The Puppy Book” by Jan Pfloog to the students, two of his favorite childhood books. Jones, who founded the Erik Jones Foundation in 2021, has teamed up with AdventHealth over the past year to support the literacy pillar of his foundation.
ALEXANDER AT ATLANTA: Crew chief Justin Alexander owns nine NASCAR Cup Series starts at Atlanta in his successful career. On the newly reconfigured 1.54-mile track, he has been on top of the box for three Cup Series races – both 2022 races and September 2024. He earned a best finish of sixth at Atlanta in March 2021 with Austin Dillon after the duo started 13th. Alexander has one start at Atlanta in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series from February 2017 with Dillon where they finished eighth.
ERIK JONES QUOTE:
“I’m looking forward to Atlanta, especially after our run last week at Daytona. We had a shot. Obviously, it’s kind of become a wild card race where it’s not exactly a superspeedway, but also not an intermediate. It’ll be interesting to see how the track is aging and how these cars will run there this time around. We’ve ran well at Atlanta in the past, so I’m excited to get back there and see what we’ve got. This could be another shot for us to win, for sure. We’ll hopefully be there when it matters at the end.”
JUSTIN ALEXANDER QUOTE:
“Atlanta’s kind of its own deal. It races like a superspeedway with the pack and the drafting, but the surface and tire falloff make it more similar to a downforce track. You lean on some of the same concepts as Daytona, but the balance window is tighter and handling matters a lot more, so it ends up being its own package in a lot of ways.”
CLUB APPEARANCES:
John Hunter Nemechek will sign autographs at the trackside merch hauler for fans on Sunday, Feb. 22nd at 12:00 p.m. local time.
TUNE IN:
Fans can tune in to watch the Atlanta 400 on Sunday, Feb. 22 at 3 p.m. EST on FOX, MAX, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).
LEGACY MOTOR CLUB is a premier auto racing organization 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 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.
