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?
