Toyota GAZOO Racing – Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
LAS VEGAS (October 11, 2025) – LEGACY MOTOR CLUB drivers Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek were made available to the media on Saturday prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK, No. 42 Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota Camry XSE, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB
ERIK JONES, No. 43 Dollar Tree Toyota Camry XSE, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB
Can you tell us about your experience at UFC?
NEMECHEK: “Yeah, UFC was a lot of fun for me and Erik. Being able to tour the UFC performance Institute was really interesting. I know a few of you guys have been able to tour the Toyota Performance Center and being able to compare and contrast what they do, at their performance institute to how Erik and I and some of the other Toyota drivers trained at TPC was really interesting. There is a lot of crossover, a lot of things that we have as far as equipment and resources that they have. Then being able to train with Forrest Griffin, one of the legends in the UFC world was really fun. Being able to somewhat spar against him was a really good time. I actually enjoyed it and I mean, he’s a legend. So being able to just be in his presence and chat and understand things that they go through, their mindset and how they prepare for fights, their recovery aspect, there was a lot there that we were able to see and dive into and ask questions about how and kind of do a little bit of a crossover from our world to theirs. It was super unique, super interesting and had a lot of fun.”
JONES: “Yeah, I was fun. It was cool to see, you know, not only the tools they had, but some of the similarities were kind of interesting. Obviously, a lot different. They’re going through a lot more with their bodies and what we go through, so it’s interesting just to see their recovery and how they handle that. I don’t know if I enjoyed the sparring very much. I was pretty scared to try to him in the face like he told me. His eyes get kind of crazy when you start going. I was like, yeah, I don’t know. I’m good. I don’t really want to get hit in the face here. But it was cool. He was a super nice guy and just chatting with him and learning a little bit about the sport. I honestly don’t know a whole lot about the UFC, so it was neat just to see that side of it and learn a little bit more.
Are there any synergies with UFC and NASCAR?
JONES: “Yeah, I mean, some maybe. I think it’s really different for them. They don’t have partners and we’re obviously heavily influenced by partners in what they need and want from us and what we can provide from them. I think there’s probably a lot of personality in our sport that’s in some of the guys are pretty, they’re a little more out there than what they let out and maybe into the media, not necessarily me, but some of the guys are. I think the UFC is a little bit more able to embrace that at times than probably what we are, but I think their promotion and the way they look at things are similar. They are a bigger sport just because they’re global, but I think with it, I would say that they are a ninch sport, the UFC, I wouldn’t say it’s, it’s mainstream as the NFL, right? So I think we shared some of those similarities and those challenges of being a sport like that, but other than that, that’s really all I see.”
How difficult is it to balance what your focus is for the rest of the season versus racing the championship drivers?
NEMECHEK: “Who says we’re giving up anything, we’re out here to win races. We’re out here to do the best that we possibly can for, ourselves, our team, all the men and women at LEGACY MOTOR CLUB. Yes, we’re not a part of the playoffs, yes, we’re not contending for a championship this year, but we looked at it, at least for our 42 group, we look at it as an opportunity to go out possibly spoil that but also continue to try to get better. We’ve made a lot of improvements over the last 10 months, I would say, at LEGACY MOTOR CLUB, at certain race tracks more than others, but we look at it at it as opportunity to continue to try and build our notebook and learn and try and going into next year to be a Playoff contender. So, these races are very important, especially with the Playoff format, being able excel in all of the playoff races if you are able to make it. There’s definitely an asterisk to every race track in the Playoffs for sure. I mean, obviously, there’s a level of respect there from the guys that are going through the Playoffs and contending for a championship, and you don’t want to be the one that makes a mistake and wrecks them and takes them out of championship, contention, right? But at the same time, we’re all here to race and we’re all here to provide the best possible opportunity we can for our team, ourselves, everyone, that is behind us, our partners and our team owners to go out and try to win races and put ourselves up front.”
JONES: “I mean, I don’t think I see it a whole lot different. We trying to obviously run the best we can. I think tomorrow, here, and next weekend at Talladega, there’s nothing really stopping us from winning here or Talladega, and that really would turn your season around, whether I would love to say the 43 wins them both, but if the 42 and the 43 can win one of these races, it would be great for the company. So, I think as far as that goes, that’s that opinion. But I think you’re kind of asking about the Playoff guys and what that means for us, and, yeah, you got to show a little bit extra respect, been on each side of it, right? I’ve been in the Playoffs and had to race guys that aren’t and there’s times where it’s an incredibly frustrating when that level of respect isn’t there. For me, I hope, we’re in a position where, I don’t see that we’re a lifelong non-Playoff team, right? I think we’re training to be a Playoff team, and so if that means giving those guys a couple extra inches in the next four weeks so that next year, maybe they remember that. I think that’s the way I look at it, but I definitely would love to also, if we’re an opportunity to win a race, you know, I think that changes a bit.”
How was the interaction with Sean Strickland?
JONES: “I’m not saying what he said, but he was a nice guy. He is definitely funny. (laughter)”
NEMECHEK: “Yeah. He definitely was. That was the second time I’ve been able to meet Sean (Strickland) and like Erik (Jones) said, they really don’t hold anything back, let’s say, as far as what they say and how they trash talk and things of that sort, they’re able to embrace it a little bit more without having to, I guess, be aware of what they say for partners and things of that sort when representing their brand. So it was fun. He’s a great guy. We got a chuckle out of what he said, let’s put it that way.”
He ask you to spar?
NEMECHEK: “He didn’t. I was joking with Forrest (Griffin) and after we got done with the boxing side of things that I wanted to go roll around with Forrest and I’m not sure that he was nervous about it. He said he stopped rolling and whatnot a couple of years ago, and he was going to go find Sean and I backed out pretty quick. I didn’t want to get my butt beat, so yeah, it was good.”
Compared to a year ago, how do you feel like you are as a team?
JONES: “I think we’re in a lot better position right now. I think there’s still some things to iron out and some issues that we have as a company that we’re working on fixing. There’s still some roles that are being decided and some people that we need. We have a lot of good leadership, a lot of young leadership in experience level, you know, guys that are in position as they just haven’t been in before and so they’re still learning and figuring that role out. Our engineering core is very, very young. I would say that’s probably our biggest challenge ahead is just to grow that group and get them experienced. I think they’re all really talented, but they’re just very low in experience, so growing that group out – that’s really important. But, you know, to say one year ago today, sitting here, yeah, I mean, definitely a way better spot for me and at least excitement level, I can tell you a year ago today, I wasn’t very excited to go to the track for the last month, but for me today, definitely excited to be here. All the races really left this year because I think we we’re going in a good direction. I think our cars are getting faster, and I think the people involved are in the right spots as well. So definitely, yeah, big turnaround from one year and hope that we can just keep it going. It’s kind of easy; I’ve said this a lot of times before in our rebuilding process, you know, if you’re you show up the race track and you’re a half second off, it’s easy to find that first three tenths. That’s not hard, that’s just building a little bit better car, having some good people. That last tenth, two tenths, that’s kind of the magic, and I think that’s the world we’re starting to living a little bit.”
This is the same tire as Kansas. What did you learn there that you can apply here?
NEMECHEK: “I think we learned some things that work and some things that won’t work as far as setup wise. Things that we struggled with, at Kansas, that hopefully we can apply to our race cars here to make them better than we were in Kansas. We had really strong runs here and Kansas the first time that came here in the Spring with an different tire, so trying to learn what this tire wants from a setup perspective, spring perspective, shock perspective, how it migrates through the run, the tire fall off, how they build heat or how they wear. You can definitely take some of those things into consideration for sure. I think for us being able to apply the things that we learned that didn’t necessarily work at Kansas and trying going a little bit different avenue to make our cars better is what we’re excited to see, where we stack it up when we unload later today and practice and qualify”
JONES: “I think we probably leaned on some ideas that we’re a little bit different for Kansas just to try to get better, and they weren’t necessarily the right direction as far as the tire goes. I mean, it’s what Harry Hogge said in Days of Thunder. It’s slicker than a butt in that trioval. That’s what it feels like on the tire. It’s just has no grip. So, it’s kind of the direction we’ve been going with the tires everywhere. We saw that at the ROVAL last week and we’ll see it here today. It’s going to be hot and slicker than a butt. So, it’s just different. So, we kind of are trying different stuff to try to figure out what that tire wants. Migration’s huge with it, trying to get that better, and some of that at Kansas is what led us down that road, but I think we learned a little bit what doesn’t work. So, try some different stuff here and probably go back a little bit on some other stuff.”
What are your thoughts on the horsepower changes and potential Playoff changes for 2026?
NEMECHEK: “I’m not sure how much’s different the 750 package is going to make a lot of the racing, but I definitely hope that it helps on some of the short tracks from tire degradation, tire wear, being able to manage your stuff and be able to show out, right? Who knows how that’s going to work, right? Time will tell. But I’m excited for more horsepower. I think everyone us is from the driver’s standpoint with that being said, one of the areas where I feel like we struggled as a company is short tracks and the small rear diffuser package.
So definitely something that we’re gonna have to work on very hard over the offseason, trying to put grip in our race car and trying to understand that a little bit more from Erik (Jones) and I’s perspective, as well, to be able to get our cars better for next year. So, I’m not sure really how it’s going to affect us. Maybe just make your handling problems worse with having more horsepower and tire fall off a little bit more, but it definitely can’t hurt, so excited for the more horsepower package for sure.”
JONES: “It’s tough I go back and forth on this battle all the time, I’ve seen it both ways in the sport, right? I’ve seen where we’ve taken it down to, whatever it was, 550 horsepower package, five or six years ago, when I showed up in this sport, it was, the first Cup race I ever did, we had 900 horsepower, and then we had 750 horsepower, and then we had 500 horsepower and we had 670 horsepower, so I ran a lot of different horsepower. At the end of the day, when I go to my local short track, my favorite race in the night is usually like the street stocks, and they’re not very fast, so I don’t know that going faster is always your answer to better racing. I think that’s a bit of a myth. Maybe the bigger horsepower car on a better show. I don’t know. It’s a way different car, way different brakes and tires, so we probably need to just try it because right now the road course and short track races – I don’t know what you guys think, but when I watch them back, not on the edge of my seat most of the time. So, yeah, we definitely need to try something. I hope it’s better, but I honestly, I just don’t know. I really don’t.”
What was your memories working with Venturini Motorsports?
JONES: “I didn’t do a ton of races with them. They had just changed the age of that point in ARCA and I came in and did a race as a 15-year-old and that was a crazy experience, but you know, we won a race there at Berlin, which is one of my home tracks, that was really cool. Like growing up as a kid racing there and watching guys and racing there myself, that was always like the big talk if you got to run the ARCA race, and if you could you know win the ARCA race, the local guys there who were really successful always tried to run it and usually ran really well in it. That was a place that, especially then, if you were someone local, you usually did pretty well in that race. So that was my fondest memory. We went there and won that one hometown win for me. It was a lot of fun. I think that was 2013. So, one of my bigger wins at that point, first kind of national series win, but, yeah, I mean, I think, I don’t know. I think Billy’s (Venturini) is going to get bored. He’s a pretty energetic guy. I’m not sure what retirement or if this is retirement for him or what his plan is. I’m excited, you know, for their future and what they got, but definitely that was my best memory.”
NEMECHEK: “I only drove with one race for Venturini and it was when I was running in the Truck Series with KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) a few years ago. We ran at Mid-Ohio. Qualified on the pole, it rained, I think I lapped up to land fourth or fifth, should have won the race. We elected stay on wet tires instead of dry tires as the racetrack, dried out, I think we finished fifth or sixth. It was a great experience being around Billy (Venturini) and Big Bill (Venturini) and that whole family, they had definitely given it a lot to the whole sport. They’ve been around forever, and won a lot of races, and won a lot of championships and I’m not sure what their future holds but thank you to them is pretty much all I have to say for what they’ve been able to give back to racing in general. True racers at heart.”
How do you compensate for the weather difference between today and tomorrow?
JONES: “This place is pretty temperature sensitive, oddly enough, but you know, I think today you’ll be moving around a lot. You’ll see you guys probably getting up by the wall even in practice, I would imagine, at least third or fourth lane and qualifying is going to be, I don’t know, treacherous is the right word, but it’s going to be difficult to know how much speed to carry and it’s going to be a fine balance, not carrying too much and ruining your lap. So that’ll be pretty challenging today compared to what it was in the Spring, which we were I felt like we were at Talladega. So that’ll be fun. Tomorrow, you know, with being in that cool, I think it’s going to be probably on the bottom. I don’t know, maybe this tire moves around a little bit more, but the wind affects it a lot too. Looks like we’ve got a big, I don’t see any flags, but I think we’ve got a big headwind down the back today, which is a bit backwards for here. I think with weather and stuff that came through. So, we’ll see what that does for tomorrow, it will affect it a lot, but it’s going to narrow the track up tomorrow, I think, with cooler temps.”
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