LEGACY MOTOR CLUB:
KANSAS PRE-RACE ADVANCE
EVENT: AdventHealth 400
DATE: April 19, 2026
RACE: NASCAR Cup Series 9 of 36
TRACK: Kansas Speedway | 1.5-Mile Oval
JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
NO. 42 DOLLAR TREE TOYOTA CAMRY XSE
JHN AT KANSAS: John Hunter Nemechek has six NASCAR Cup Series starts at Kansas, with his highest finish at the track of 10th in May 2025. In the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, Nemechek has made three starts, where he never finished outside the top-10, including two race wins in October 2018 and September 2023. In the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, he has earned three pole awards and four top-five finishes, including a race win in September 2022.
DOMINATING AT KANSAS: Nemechek has made three starts at Kansas Speedway in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, where he has an average finish of 3.3. He won in two of his three starts (October 2018 and September 2023) and has never finished worse than eighth in his career. In the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, he started on the pole for three of his six races and only finished outside the top-10 once. He took home the checkered flag in September 2022 with a 1.815 second margin of victory over Carson Hocevar after starting on the pole and leading 88 of 134 laps.
T-MACK AT KANSAS: Sunday’s race will be crew chief Travis Mack’s 12th NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas. His first outing came in May 2018 with Kasey Kahne. Mack returned to Kansas with Daniel Suárez in the 2021 season. The duo competed in six races together through the end of 2023 and earned a highest finish of 10th in September 2022. In 2024, Mack returned with Derek Kraus in the spring race and Ty Dillon in the fall race. In May of 2025, Mack tied his for his highest finish at the track of 10th with Nemechek. In the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, Mack has four starts with Michael Annett, where the pair earned one pole award in July 2020 and three top-10 finishes from 2018 to 2020. The duo earned a best finish of fourth in October 2019.
JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK QUOTE:
“I’m ready to bounce back this weekend, and Kansas will be a great place to do it. I’ve had success there in the past, and we have a strong intermediate program at LEGACY MOTOR CLUB. Hopefully we bring a fast car that can run all over the racetrack to find the clean air we’ll need for a good finish.”
TRAVIS MACK QUOTE:
“I think we’re going to Kansas with some confidence in our intermediate program and the gains we’ve been trying to make. Our mile-and-a-half program has been our strong suit at LEGACY MOTOR CLUB. John Hunter does a good job at getting around that place, we just have to get him a good car to continue to make solid gains in our intermediate program. If we can execute the way I know we can, especially on pit stops, we should come out with a good finish.”
ERIK JONES
NO. 43 ADVENTHEALTH TOYOTA CAMRY XSE
JONES KANSAS STATS: Erik Jones is set to make his 19th NASCAR Cup Series start at Kansas Speedway during Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 in the Heartland of America. In his 18 prior Cup Series starts at the track, Jones scored four top-fives and six top-10s. His best finish of third came in both his May 2019 and September 2023 starts at the 1.5-mile oval. Outside of the Cup Series, Jones has three starts at Kansas – two in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Part Series and one in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. His best O’Reilly Auto Parts Series finishes came in October 2016 and 2017 where he started second and finished 15th in both races. Meanwhile, his best Truck Series result was an 11th-place finish from the pole position in May 2015.
BRINGING IN A NEW ERA: In 2023, a new era dawned on LEGACY MC and Erik Jones as Jimmie Johnson acquired ownership stake in the team. The team began to see improvements, and Jones secured not only the team’s first top-10 and top-five result since that ownership change but also a season high finish of third in the September race at Kansas that year.
ALEXANDER AT KANSAS: Crew chief Justin Alexander has been on top of the box for 14 NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway. In total, he scored three top-10 finishes with his drivers at the 1.5-mile oval. His best finish of ninth came in May 2019 with Tyler Reddick. Alexander has an additional start in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series with Austin Dillon in October 2016 where the duo started sixth and finished 17th.
ERIK JONES QUOTE:
“Kansas is a fun track for me. It’s one that’s been good with the NextGen car over the past few years. It’s super wide so you can move around a lot and use both the top and bottom lanes. I feel like it’ll be a good race weekend with where our intermediate package has been over the past year. Vegas wasn’t quite where we wanted it to be, but I’m hopeful we can have similar speed to Darlington. Hopefully, we can have a good race, bring a fast car, and have the results that we should’ve had here last year.”
JUSTIN ALEXANDER QUOTE:
“We’re hopeful that this weekend will be good after how strong our mile-and-a-half program has been over the past year. Las Vegas didn’t go exactly how we had hoped, but we were easily a top-10 car on speed by the end of the race. Erik has run well at Kansas in the past, and it’s one of his better tracks on the schedule. We just have to improve on what we did at Kansas last year and Las Vegas earlier this year to have a strong weekend.”
CLUB MINUTES:
SEVEN-TIME AT KANSAS: LEGACY MOTOR CLUB owner and seven-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion Jimmie Johnson has 31 career Cup Series starts at Kansas Speedway. During his remarkable career, he won three times (September 2008, October 2011, and May 2015) at the 1.5-mile oval in the Heartland of America. In addition to his victories, Johnson has earned nine top-fives and 19 top 10s. Johnson has one additional start at Kansas in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series in September 2001 where he started 38th and drove his way up through the field to finish sixth.
KENSETH KANSAS STATS: LEGACY MOTOR CLUB competition advisor and 2003 NASCAR Cup Series Champion Matt Kenseth has an equally impressive career at Kansas Speedway. Kenseth’s first start at the 1.5-mile speedway came in September 2001. In total, he collected 27 NASCAR Cup Series races. He earned seven top-fives and 13 top-10s including two back-to-back victories when he won in October 2012 and April 2013. Over his career, Kenseth led a total of 774 laps at Kansas. He has another nine starts at Kansas in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series that led to one win in October 2013, six top-fives, and eight top-10s in addition to 405 laps led.
WELCOME TO THE CLUB: Last Wednesday prior to the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB announced the addition of veteran automotive and motorsports executive Michael Gutilla as President. Gutilla will oversee several aspects of the CLUB’s operations.
PICKLEBALL AND #READWITHERIK: Prior to Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway, Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek will head to the AdventHealth Shawnee Mission in Merriam for an event with the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Kansas City on Friday, April 17. The AdventHealth-hosted event will feature two separate #READwithErik sessions for four total classes. Jones will be reading “Little Blue Truck and Racer Red” by Alice Schertle before releasing the kids to play pickleball with Nemechek.
SOCIAL SPOTLIGHT:
The Daytona 500 is more than just a race. It is the buildup, the preparation, and everything that leads to Sunday at Daytona International Speedway.
CLUB APPEARANCES:
Erik Jones will stop by the AdventHealth Display in the fan midway on Saturday, April 18 at 1 p.m. local time for a Q&A session.
John Hunter Nemechek is making an appearance at the trackside merchandise trailer for an autograph session on Saturday, April 18 at 1 p.m. local time. On Sunday, April 19, he will be at the NASCAR Fan Experience stage for a Q&A at 10:15 a.m. local time.
TUNE IN:
Fans can tune in to watch the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, April 19 at 2 p.m. EDT on FOX, MAX, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).
LEGACY MOTOR CLUB (LEGACY MC) 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.
