Legacy Motor Club announced today that Matt Kenseth is returning to NASCAR, as a Competition Advisor for the team for the primary purpose of the team’s transition to Toyota in 2024. Legacy Motor Club has completely changed its face over the last few years from the original Richard Petty Motorsports, but will that change even further with Matt Kenseth?
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Matt Kenseth does not have a wealth of NASCAR ownership experience like some drivers his age have. He never owned his own Xfinity Series or Truck Series team, but he does bring one thing that Legacy Motor Club made sure to emphasize with their press release: He has experience with Toyota.
Matt Kenseth had some great years running with Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota between 2013 and 2017. He knows people at Toyota, and he knows how Toyota operates its racing program.
That is the biggest thing he brings, and people at Toyota obviously seem to like him. Given that he drove for Toyota’s top race team during the later part of his career to great success, he obviously has some good relationships with the team.
He also is a big help to Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek. Having another Cup Series Champion in the room to give advice on racing is invaluable. That goes without saying.
However, aside from that, Kenseth does not bring much more experience on paper, but he does also bring an interesting relationship with Jimmie Johnson.
Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson are both good friends, but many fans remember the battles the two had on the race track. The two finished 1-2 in races seven times with Johnson getting five wins and Kenseth two, and they both finished 1-2 in the standings with Johnson first and Kenseth second in both 2006 and 2013. Johnson usually got the better of Kenseth, but there is serious mutual respect between the two.
Relationships are important in a business, and it is vital to work with people who you both respect and enjoy working with. Kenseth offers that for Johnson along with the experience of working with Toyota and how things work. Again, Johnson has been a Chevrolet driver for his entire career, and Kenseth is someone Johnson trusts who has previous experience with Toyota and how they run things. That is why this works for Johnson.
What it means is that they now have someone with Toyota experience in the building. It will help smooth the transition from one manufacturer to another. One of the issues with changing manufacturers is that it will take time before results start to show.
Now that Kenseth is in the building, the team can start to anticipate some of the challenges that they will face heading into next year. The challenges included what communication lines to go through to get parts, how Toyota cars are assembled slightly differently, and how to work with the subtle aerodynamic changes of a Toyota body.
Now, they can anticipate some of those changes rather than adjusting to them on the fly. It also could give them contacts and connections with certain people who may be an asset to the team.
It is going to be a lot of intangible things that probably will be tough to see with the naked eye. However, the impact will be felt with performance on the race track. That is what to watch out for.
Legacy Motor Club is a team to watch in 2024. Will they turn the corner?
Joe Gibbs Racing has filed a lawsuit against former competition director Chris Gabehart, alleging he took confidential team information and intended to use it to benefit Spire Motorsports.
The organization is seeking financial compensation and a court order to prevent Gabehart from using or disclosing what it describes as proprietary data and trade secrets obtained during his tenure. In the filing, JGR states that Gabehart had access to sensitive technical, strategic, and operational information while serving in one of the team’s highest leadership roles. His employment contract, submitted as part of the case, shows he earned about $1 million annually plus performance bonuses. The team argues that such information could provide a competitive advantage if shared with another organization.
In its complaint letter, JGR alleges that Chris Gabehart synchronized his personal Google Drive with his team-issued laptop, allowing confidential files to be copied outside the organization. Investigators also allegedly found a Google Drive folder labeled “Spire,” including a subfolder titled “Past Setups,” along with more than a dozen photos of the laptop screen taken in November 2025 that allegedly showed sensitive internal documents. The filing also states that Gabehart conducted online research about Spire Motorsports during the same period, which JGR cites as evidence that the information was intended for the competing team.
The filing also states that JGR learned on February 11, 2026, that Gabehart intended to accept a role as Chief Motorsports Officer at Spire, a position overseeing the team’s racing operations.
According to the complaint, JGR issued a demand letter in December 2025 instructing him not to use or disclose confidential information and to participate in a forensic review to identify any retained data; Gabehart’s legal counsel responded that any JGR materials would be returned but opposed the forensic review, stating that a Google Drive folder labeled “Spire” contained only personal notes and that he did not possess sensitive documents. JGR challenges these claims in its filing.
The lawsuit follows Gabehart’s departure from Joe Gibbs Racing on December 3, 2025, which happened without a public explanation at the time. Gabehart had recently moved from serving as Denny Hamlin’s crew chief to overseeing competition across the organization. Neither Gabehart nor the team came to public to explain the reasons behind the split, which sparked fan speculation and theories for over two months.
Some of the speculation during the off-season suggested that Gabehart could join Spire Motorsports, though nothing has been announced. The lawsuit does not confirm any employment agreement but claims that the alleged actions were intended to benefit exactly that organization.
Team owner Joe Gibbs later explained that the organization chose not to hire a single replacement competition director after Gabehart’s exit. Instead, JGR created a 5-person competition committee that includes former director Wally Brown and 4 additional leaders focused on performance. Gibbs stated that the the group shares the responsibility for preparing the team’s cars and race strategy.
Gabehart’s tenure at JGR dates back to 2016 in the then-Xfinity, now O’Reilly Auto Parts Series before he became Hamlin’s crew chief in 2019. Together, they won 22 Cup Series races, including the Daytona 500 in 2019 and 2020, and reached the Championship 4 three times. He moved into the competition director role for the 2025 season, overseeing performance across all Cup teams.
JGR’s filing emphasizes that the competition director position involves broad access to internal processes, technical development plans, and strategic information, and the team is seeking legal remedies to prevent any use of that information outside the team and to recover damages related to the alleged breach of contractual obligations.
The case is expected to proceed through the court while the season continues, leaving Gabehart’s future in the sport uncertain.
This year marks the second season of NASCAR’s groundbreaking 2025 media rights deal, and fans are curious to see just how year two will stack up with year one. This article will walk you through the 2026 season race by race, comparing viewership week by week to NASCAR’s 2025 season.
All Races (3 Total in 2026): Includes Ratings for The Clash, Daytona Duels, and the All-Star Race, along with the 36-race regular schedule
Network Races to Date (2 Total in 2026): Points and Exhibition/Qualifying Races
Exhibition/Qualifying Races (2 Total in 2026): ONLY Includes Ratings for The Clash, Daytona Duels, and the All-Star Race
*The 2025 Daytona 500 was pushed back several hours due to rain, while the 2026 Daytona 500 was pushed up one hour to avoid inclement weather
**2026 Clash was pushed from Sunday to Wednesday due to snow, and moved to FS2 due to overrunning time on FOX.
This tracker will be updated throughout the season. Make sure to check back in for the latest!
Scene Vault Podcast’s creator Rick Houston is launching a new documentary series that will take a deep look at one of the most painful and transformative periods in NASCAR history. Firestorm, produced by The Scene Vault Podcast, chronicles the 17 month stretch from May 2000 to October 2001 when 5 drivers lost their lives in on-track accidents, marking the era that permanently changed the sport’s approach to safety.
The 10-episode series revisits the tragedies involving Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin Jr, Tony Roper, Dale Earnhardt, and Blaise Alexander. Rather than focusing solely on the crashes themselves, Firestorm analyzes the human stories behind the drivers, the emotional toll on the garage, and the sweeping changes that followed.
Listeners can access the series through The Scene Vault’s podcast platforms, where episodes are released as part of its long-running motorsports history programming. The show is available on major podcast services, as well as through videos on YouTube.
The first episode of Firestorm is already up on YouTube, and you can check out by tapping below
By combining archival research, firsthand accounts, and technical analysis, Firestorm aims to document how grief and controversy ultimately led to one of the most significant safety revolutions in motorsports history, providing context as for why modern NASCAR safety standards exist and the heavy price paid to achieve them.
Subscribe to The Scene Vault and hit the bell to never miss an episode.
