TOYOTA RACING – Jimmie Johnson
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
SAN DIEGO (June 20, 2026) – LEGACY MOTOR CLUB driver/owner Jimmie Johnson was made available to the media on Saturday prior to the NASCAR Cup Series race from Naval Base Coronado in San Diego.
JIMMIE JOHNSON, No. 84 CARVANA Toyota Camry XSE, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB
What has this experience been like being able to come home and compete so close to El Cajon?
“It’s mind blowing, to see the support. I came out a month ago for some advance media and literally the town was buzzing. People that didn’t recognize me, but I had my team gear on engaged in conversation with me on it. It really has been neat to see in the community and seeing the traffic coming in here this morning, what’s happened here on base and the relationship with the Navy and all the branches that NASCAR and how we represent them every weekend. I think it’s just a great collaboration and certainly hope we come back.”
Is the plan still this race this weekend and the Daytona 500, or are there any other Cup races you have in mind?
“No, just this one and the Daytona 500. I’m not against running trucks some more, had so much fun yesterday and then I’m looking at a few other different championships to dabble in next year, kind of going back to my roots with some off-road racing and trucks. I guess I like trucks. But trying to find a good balance of events I can run. First and foremost, take off those bucket list events I want to do, and then two, with Legacy’s vision and how hospitality experiential and other platforms can make sense.”
What would make you feel good about this event tomorrow and the Daytona 500 from a drivers standpoint?
“I had my hands full yesterday, so I hope I don’t hit anything. Honestly it’s so tough with the new car and the platform and how sharp you need to be in the vehicle day in and day out. And even the way it correlates with the SIM, which is damn near impossible to figure out. There are just little subtleties that you need to understand from the real car to pull through in the simulator. And just finding those little elements week after week and if you don’t do this on a regular basis, it’s just tough. But with all that complaining out of the way, I just want to have fun, this is really just about having fun. Of course when I put a helmet on, I want to do the best that I can, but being home and experience all of this is a top priority.”
What have you seen over the course of time with the reception for NASCAR here in San Diego and how it has changed from years ago until now?
“All the tracks that were here when I was growing are all gone, so be able to be able to bring this temporary street circuit and have it here, it’s a unique opportunity that I never saw coming. I think that it’s really wise for NASCAR to do this. There are so many pockets of race fans around the country that they can’t get close to NASCAR. The amount of race fans here and the racing culture that’s here in the San Diego area is deep. All my off-road friends are here and have never been to a Cup race. This is really going to do well for the racing world.”
With LEGACY MOTOR CLUB doing well, what are your thoughts on your teams strong performance over the past month or so?
“I guess time will tell, as we are maturing as a company as we made the decision that we were going to forge our own path and develop our infrastructure it’s been a more difficult journey than I personally was aware of, but we are getting there. I think we’ve had some incredible people really leading as we continue to bring in more talent and refining our structure and process on the competition side, the speed in the cars and most importantly the consistency. Erik (Jones) finished second last year once or twice. We’ve had some high spots, but the following week we’ll be in the 20’s again. And so to see our cars together and kind of marching up the running order I think speaks to the growth of the company.”
Have you had a chance to sit down and reflect about what has changed in the last 25 years?
“I feel like going into the Hall of Fame induction, I finally in the right head space. The further I get away from my full-time driving the more I’m letting in. You are just wired at a young age to always look forward and chase the next opportunity. And for me, I try not to live too much I the lows or the highs, I just try to stay steady and look forward. And the Hall of Fame induction really started this process of reflecting and it has nothing to do with being 50, getting old and doing what my Dad did or what my parents have done. I’m really letting it in now and enjoying it. Being here and competing at this event and feeling the home vibes is a part of it and the 500 will be the same thing.”
What drivers out there today do you think have potential?
“The first driver that came to mind is Ryan Blaney, but he’s obviously well established. I remember being on track with him early on the moments he took risks versus the moments he knew to ride were pretty smart. It’s one thing to go fast and everyone that gets to the Cup level has plenty of speed, but there’s more strategic thinking, team leadership. There are a lot of layers that are required to separate yourself an with Blaney I saw that early. And through everyone at Hendrick, we were pursuing him pretty hard, but Penske was a step ahead of us and had my locked down. So, we didn’t get that chance. But in today’s world, I see a lot of talent, the one difficult thing is knowing how you are going to perform in the Cup car. The truck Series and O’Reilly Series, the platforms of the vehicle and how you generate speed is so different than the Cup car. And when you look at it, I think the O’Reilly driver moving to Cup the shortest time frame to win is 70 races. I think the average is closer to 100. And so it just makes it that much more difficult to know who’s going to stand out. I look at Connor Zillisch, where he is on his journey, Jesse Love, there’s a lot of talent.”
Can you talk about the level of respect in NASCAR right now. It is too late to change how guys race each other now?
“I don’t know, I feel like it’s more of a generational element. I assume there is a point in time where the generation behaves differently. But when I came in it was the era of pointing people by, and I got my butt chewed by numerous guys even in the Busch Series, that I raced them too hard. And I was like, really? I’m here to race. But as time went on, I realized that when I was going forward and had a chance to pass them, they could make life really tough on me and if you were respectful of one another and just work together. That’s completely out the window now. I think stage racing and all of these other elements where the car performance and air disadvantage, you can defend a lot more and it’s kind of created this culture. But I wear two hats with my ownership hat. I want the sport to be vibrant and healthy and chaos brings eyeballs. So I’m kind of torn. But yesterday I just couldn’t believe the disrespect that everybody had from the jump. I mean, just gouging each other nonstop and I was up at the front racing away and we were pointing each other by and I was like, this is old school Cup, this makes sense. The way the fuel cycle worked out I entered mid pack and I look around and I saw these trucks all twisted up, and I thought had had hit the wall, and I guess maybe some did, but it was all from bashing into one another on the track. And then I got turned around twice, just last second lunges into areas that nobody should have been. So, it is what it is. When I look at my Instagram feed or my twitter feed and see the local short tracks and behavior there, man it’s just wild. So we’ll see where it goes.”
How does it feel to be here on a US Navy base?
“It’s such an other for us to do this with the significance of 250 years here on an active base. I know there have been plenty of challenges on both sides due to conflicts and such, but to feel the reception from everyone on base. I know our sport and our fans are happy to be here. Both my grandparents served and they are resting over there in Rosecrans and looking at everything that’s taking place. My brother-in-law served as well, and to have the family ties to the Navy and then this being my hometown it just means the world to me and I know the sport recognizes this moment as well.”
Do you think any of your IndyCar road course experience will help you here?
“Without a doubt. All the reps in sportscar and IndyCar, there’ little things you can take away. They are very different worlds, so braking technique and mid speed and high-speed corners are much different worlds. But there’s always something that you can hang onto and apply.”
How has your trip down memory lane been while you’ve been back here in San Diego?
“There was nothing like going home. It’s been awhile. The Fontana race made it easy to come home and we had a dealership here in the area. It’s been quite a bit, it’s probably been eight or 10 years since I’ve been back home. And I didn’t make it all the way back to see much here at home. To be back here in the area and see everything, the memories just come flooding back, so it’s been great.”
How much time did you spend on Coronado growing up?
“I’ve been here a few times but Mission Beach and Pacific beach were childhood stops where our parents would drive us down interstate eight and we would go to the water and screw around. When I got my license there’s a little two-lane highway that runs straight to Del Mar and I tried surfing and so I would get up early morning and rip out there and get worked over in the sets of waves and then get back to school. This area, there are a variety of memories that I truly enjoy. My mom’s father was on a aircraft carrier, so I remember being really little and coming over here. There were some other carriers that were parked and we would walk the boardwalk and look at them and you’d talk about them. So those memories have come back.
What it like exiting turn 2 and staring straight at an aircraft carrier?
To make the corner and there’s a 73 on it, and then you see the people standing on it. I was looking at it yesterday and seeing how many people were on it watching. From what I understand the TV book was up inside of the viewing deck up there somewhere. So, I did think about all those details yesterday.
Where would you put this event with the excitement compared to some of the sporting events you went to here growing up?
“For me this is one of our majors this year. I hope it continues to stay on the calendar. I also know that NASCAR knows how important it is for our sport to be in Southern California. With Fontana being closed, I would assume it was very important for them to have a presence and with Chicago being able to put on a show there and I would even say the Clash that was held at the Coliseum, there’s been a lot of findings that have given them confidence to take the show on the road. And Chicago and its success have carried over to San Diego. I’m not sure what other markets we can penetrate, because we do have fans all over the country, but really bring it close to them and create a festival out of it, such a big scene. It’s just good for everybody.”
As a team owner and having a seat to fill, what qualities are you looking for in a driver?
“I think on the competition side it’s really about the right kind of confidence and really connecting with your people and being the nucleus of the team. You need enough confidence to show up with your chest out and get the job done. At the same time, you have to be humble when you make mistakes. Most importantly internally the cars are all the same, we all have the same bits and really more than ever it’s about the people. Every team has different challenges that it has to work through, but the driver has to be the glue that holds it all together and I think it’s more important today than ever. That’s 1 or 1a, and the second piece of that is the strategic thinking that’s needed. You can’t go through the field in Cup like you can in Trucks or O’Reilly in good equipment, it’s all the same stuff. If you are able to think ahead and not drive off the nose of your car, setting up a pass might take 10 or 15 laps and you’ve got to wait for that one mistake, so it’s not about speed it’s about strategic thinking and being a team leader.”
What is the fine line with creating big events versus the cost of something like this?
“I think there’s a measured way to go about it. Marquee events and major markets, our sport has done that. You don’t have to serve caviar at Martinsville, if you’re going to have a event at Martinsville you want to have the best damn hot dogs, which they already do, but meet the moment where it is and not get outside of it. That’s a neat thing our sport has, the cultural diversity in our sport is better than ever. We race in all these different markets across the country. Having to measure step, that step above general admission and just having a smart offering that shows an elevated element to make it feel special is what needs to happen as opposed to just showing up and flipping on the lights and they are going to come, no they are not going to come. You look at what the ticket costs and how much traffic you got to fight and what a ticket costs and the time ask of our sport, you have to be competitive from a dollar standpoint. I think we have to invest a little to have it returned.”
With events like San Diego, the Coliseum, Chicago Street race, what can NASCAR do next?
“I think more of the same. I have an opinion that year one is a home run, year two is still quite strong and the third year might lose a little interest just by watching the Clash. I kind of sense that’s vibe. So we don’t need to blow our schedule apart, but a few of these events maybe it’s a two or three year run and move it somewhere else. It doesn’t mean you never need to come back, but meet the fans where they are is a great approach.”
Where have you seen the shift in the performance of LEGACY MOTOR CLUB?
“It’s shifted internally for sure. The performance window is so small with this car. If you are outside of it, you kind of run mid-pack, but when you run outside of it you find the sweet spot and that’s when you can move forward and you can pass and show strength. And it’s so tough to find this tiny, tiny, window and we are getting a lot better at finding that window.”
A lot of guys came in yesterday and said that there’s a lot more practice they could use, will running the truck race and the extra 50 laps yesterday help you tomorrow?
“The world we live in now, you build everything off the sim. And the way we created speed in the sim did not apply to the track here. We needed way more than 50 mins to get things dialed in. Wish we had more on track time, it’s the same for everyone, we just didn’t do our job at the shop and have backed out of all of that and have moved in a different direction. So today the qualifying session for our three cars, we are searching for sure. As far as the track and knowing my points and where grip is and where all the bad bumps are, I feel very in tune with the racetrack itself, but conceptually and the way the rules work and the time you have to work on the cars, we are on our back for sure.”
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