Rumor Mill: Are These the Top Candidates For Legacy Motor Club’s Expansion?
What’s Happening? The NASCAR rumor mill is heating up as a new rumor suggests that a former series champion and an…
Yesterday’s Watkins Glen race was not as well-received by fans as previous Watkins Glen Races. As of writing this, Jeff Gluck’s “Was it a good race” poll had 62% of fans saying they disliked the race, which is just 1% less than the lowest-rated race of the season, Martinsville, which had 63% say they disliked the race. If the race was that bad, then what does NASCAR need to do to fix road course racing, if anything at all?
Road course races in NASCAR this year have been very hit-or-miss. When the races have been good, they’ve been really good, but when they have not, they really have not been good. The metrics shown are based on the “Was it a good race” poll by Jeff Gluck.
The first road course race of the year, COTA (72.5% Good), was very well-received by the fanbase minus the wreckfest ending. Sonoma (43.2% Bad), on the other hand, was not, but the Chicago Street Race was received incredibly well (84.5% Good). The Indianapolis Road Course (72.6% Good) race was received well as well before Watkins Glen was obviously not received well.
So, to say that the state of road course racing in NASCAR is completely terrible, irredeemable, or whatever doom and gloom adjective you can think of, would be over-zealous. To say it’s a perfect product would also be an exaggeration.
So, NASCAR does not need to completely reinvent the wheel with road course racing. However, there is room for improvement. Dalton Hopkins pointed out the lack of passing at the front of the field as evidence of a not-ideal road course product.
It is also worth noting the outside factors that made other road course races seem exciting. The Chicago Street Race had changing conditions and a distance change forcing fast drivers into the middle of the pack. The Indianapolis race had major Playoff implications.
The core road course racing with the Next-Gen car when nothing else is there to “spice up the show”, is not ideal as evidenced by Sonoma and Watkins Glen. The bottom line is that work needs to be done to make the core road course racing with the Next-Gen car better, but what can be done?
The biggest thing to note here is that all of the changes being proposed have to do with the car. Nothing will be proposed in terms of adding stage breaks back or changing the Playoff format, or whatever because that is not the core problem. The issue with the car is the core problem.
Problem 1: The Braking Zones are too short
Many drivers complain that the braking zone is way too short with the Next-Gen car, and that makes it more difficult to pass. This is a problem at road courses, and it is also a problem at short tracks like Martinsville. As a result, it is much harder to outbrake opposing cars heading into a corner, and cars end up stuck in single-file trains similar to DRS trains in F1.
Solutions: Increase Horsepower and Decrease Brake Size
One solution is increasing horsepower can counteract this because it increases the top speed at the end of the straightaway. The faster you go into a corner, the more a car needs to slow down, which increases its’ braking zone.
Another solution is to make the brakes either smaller or less efficient. If the brakes do not have the same stopping power as before, then drivers must brake sooner into corners, which increases the braking zone. This allows for the dive bomb moves into turn one which has become synonymous with Watkins Glen.
Problem 2: The Cars Lap Times are Too Equal
One of the fundamental aspects of the Next-Gen car is that it is essentially a spec car, and that means that the cars run very similar lap times. This makes the competition closer, but it can also make passing far more difficult. The other issue is that the tires just do not wear as much as they used to, and that keeps the cars very close together.
Solution: Increase Tire Wear
Goodyear is working on this, and they still have not totally perfected it. Increasing tire wear allows for more complex strategies to be implemented during a race. Are you willing to pit early to gain track time to sacrifice it later in a run, or do you run longer to use the advantage later in the race?
If tire wear is not there, then that does not exist, and it also takes away some driver skills. Drivers no longer have to manage their tires the same way that they used to. Richmond Raceway in 2022 and a couple of weeks ago are great examples of races where tire wear played a big factor in how the race played out.
Problem 3: Dirty Air
Dirty air is and always will be a problem with modern racing. Since the discovery of aerodynamics, the way that cars go fast is less about mechanical grip and more about cutting through the air. The Next-Gen car has some significant aero-dependant pieces that make dirty air far worse than ever.
Solution: Strip Down Aero-Dependant Parts
Do the Next-Gen cars really need pieces like the rear diffuser on a road course? Sure, it helps on places like 1.5-mile tracks, but it hurts the product elsewhere. Other things like changing the splitter can help as well, even if they do not solve the problem.
NASCAR has tried to fix the problem with solely aerodynamic changes to mixed results. However, to say that they cannot still be improved would be short-sighted. These can be complementary changes to other solutions that have been proposed.
NASCAR needs to make some changes on road courses. They may not need to develop an entirely new race car for it, but they do need to make some tweaks to the car to make it the best it can be.
With the NASCAR team Legacy Motor Club set to expand, there are many names in the rumor mill as to who will drive the team’s third car in 2027, but one new name entering the rumor mill could be the biggest surprise yet.
What’s Happening? The NASCAR rumor mill is heating up as a new rumor suggests that a former series champion and an…
During the 2025 season, Legacy Motor Club, which missed the opening to buy one of Stewart-Haas Racing’s three Charters for sale at the end of the 2024 season, was aggressively pursuing a third charter for its NASCAR Cup Series team.
This mission took the team to court, where it battled Rick Ware Racing over a Charter sale gone awry, with hopes of getting this charter ahead of the 2026 season.
While this goal never came to fruition, per a settlement between the two parties, LMC will have a third Charter for 2027, as RWR will sell the charter currently leased to RFK for their No. 60 at year’s end.
Now that all the excitement has leveled off, it’s decision time for LMC, as they search for a driver to fill this new seat ahead of the 2027 season.
The rumor mill concerning this third seat is heating up, as two names floated through the NASCAR community earlier this week, when a post from a well-known rumor mill account listed Riley Herbst and Jesse Love as potential candidates to drive for LMC in 2026.
Herbst, for one, is facing the loss of his ride at 23XI Racing with the rumored (and all but confirmed) promotion of top prospect and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Champion Corey Heim to full-time status in 2027.
Love, on the other hand, seems destined for a Cup Series ride as the reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series Champion, alongside this rumored spot at LMC, could see a spot open up at his current home, Richard Childress Racing, depending on how Kyle Busch’s 2026 season shapes out.
But, not even three races into the 2026 season, the rumor mill is still spitting out potential candidates for this third car.
What’s Happening? NASCAR Hall of Famer and Seven-Time Champion Jimmie Johnson’s Legacy Motor Club is suing Rick Ware Racing over a…
This time, the online rumor mill is heating up for a potential return to the Cup Series, with rumors pointing to former Wood Brothers Racing driver Harrison Burton as another potential candidate to join LMC in 2026.
Burton, the son of former Cup Series standout turned NBC Sports analyst Jeff Burton, most recently raced full-time with WBR in the Cup Series in 2024 before losing his ride at year’s end, moving to AM Racing for the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, and eventually jumping to Sam Hunt Racing (and Toyota) for the 2026 NASCAR OAP Series season.
While Burton’s return to NASCAR’s second-highest division has not produced any wins, the 25-year-old still maintained a solid effort in 2025, granting AM Racing its first-ever run in the playoffs on points alone.
Much like Herbst, Burton has a winning resume in the OAP Series, and, most important of all, loyal sponsorship, with brands like Dex Imaging sticking with him throughout most of his development, time in the Cup Series, and his return to the OAP Series.
Burton is the type of driver that fits the LMC mold, as, if he were to return to Cup, he would have taken a similar path back to the top that fellow second-generation driver and LMC Cup Series talent John Hunter Nemechek took before landing with LMC in 2024.
A potential return to the Cup Series would also mark an ironic turn in Burton’s career, as he was once a top prospect for Toyota, even making a Cup Series start with the manufacturer before jumping ship to Ford in 2022.
Of course, many fans would say that, given a choice, they would pick Love over Burton, but, then again, LMC may not have a choice, and a driver as experienced as Burton could be a safe bet to get this third team off the ground at the very least.
As always, these are just rumors, and it’s important to note that neither party has expressed plans for the still very, very far away 2027 season. Furthermore, as most NASCAR fans know, even rumors that may seem like a done deal can change at the very last second.
What do you think about this? Let us know your opinion on Discord or X. Don’t forget that you can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
An email sent by former Joe Gibbs Racing Competition Director Chris Gabehart claims that resentment towards him from members of the Gibbs family made him feel that the future of JGR was a “no-win situation.”
Last week, Joe Gibbs Racing filed a lawsuit against former Crew Chief and Competition Director Chris Gabehart, claiming that the former Daytona 500 Champion had schemed to steal vital information from the team in the lead-up to his departure from JGR for Spire Motorsports.
Not even ten days since JGR filed this lawsuit, the two have continued to trade barbs and accusations back and forth through the court system.
In a filing earlier this week, Gabehart accused the team of misleading him in his duties as competition director in 2025, and specifically calling out JGR’s No. 54 team, driven by Joe Gibbs’ grandson Ty, alleging that the team received “differential treatment.”
Friday, an email sent to JGR CFO Tim Carmichael by Gabehart in November 2025 (released as part of this lawsuit) showed just how uncomfortable he had grown working at JGR during his tenure as Competition Director, with the industry veteran stating that Ty Gibbs and his mother, Heather, held “resentment” towards Gabehart.
The now former Competition Director went on to say in this email that, as the two were the future bosses of JGR, “I’m afraid that leaves me in a no-win situation.”
These exchanges, including the claims made by Gibbs in his filing earlier this week, have swept fans into a whirlwind of sorts, with the two sides even meeting in court today for the lawsuit’s first official hearing.
Of course, Gabehart’s claims about the state of operations at JGR pale in comparison to the accusations made by the Gibbs team in their initial lawsuit.
On Tuesday, the team even added Spire Motorsports, Gabehart’s current employer, as a co-defendant, and requested the court force Gabehart to sit out at least the 18 months since his termination before doing any work in NASCAR similar to his role at JGR.
The team is also asking that any information procured by Spire from Gabehart be returned, though the CEO of TWG Motorsports, which owns Spire, Dan Towriss, told Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports Friday that “Spire doesn’t want data from Joe Gibbs Racing. It doesn’t have data from Joe Gibbs Racing. No point in time has it had data from Joe Gibbs Racing.”
Alongside Spire, Gabehart adamantly denied any wrongdoing in a post to social media last week, saying, “I feel compelled to speak out today and forcefully and emphatically deny these frivolous and retaliatory claims.”
What’s Happening? Former Joe Gibbs Racing Crew Chief and Competition Director Chris Gabehart has filed a new response slamming JGR as…
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A few years ago, I looked at the racetracks preserved on iRacing that no longer exist in real life. After digging deeper, I expected to find one common reason they all shut down. Instead, each one tells a completely different story — from booming cities and land value spikes to ownership changes, broken promises, and even mysteries that still don’t have clear answers.
Some tracks were pushed out by urban development. Some lost the one person fighting to keep them alive. Others faded due to declining support — or were never meant to last forever in the first place. No two closures are the same, and that’s what makes this deep dive so fascinating.
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