by Patrick Zier | Jun 20, 2026 |
We could talk about Denny Hamlin again this week; Hamlin won his third straight Cup race last Sunday at Pocono, but we won’t. Instead, let’s talk about another Toyota team, Legacy Motor Club.
If you know anything at all about Legacy, and most people don’t know very much because it’s one of the many faceless entries that fill out the field at any Cup race, it’s probably because of co-owner Jimmie Johnson.
While Hamlin was earning all the accolades and Hendrick Motorsports was starting to turn heads with its improved performance at Pocono, Legacy quietly had its best day ever.
No, neither one of its drivers, Erik Jones or John Hunter Nemechek, won the race. But Nemechek finished fourth and led a bunch of laps and Jones finished sixth, and when you’re kind of a stepchild Toyota team trying to break out of the pack, stand out from the crowd, that’s big.
Does it mean you’re arrived? No. Does it mean you’ve got a chance to become a mainstream competitor? Maybe. But right now, it’s just one good finish in one race.
Before anyone’s going to look at you differently, you’re got to prove this wasn’t just a one and done, that you’re doing all the things you need to do to become competitive on a consistent basis, that you’ve turned the corner, so to speak.
Legacy has been steadily building toward that goal. The team has a legendary history. It is the latest iteration of Petty Motorsports, which became Petty-GMS Motorsports after a majority interest was purchased by businessman Maury Gallagher.
In 2023, Johnson became the majority owner and Petty was pushed out, marking the first time in NASCAR history that the Petty family wasn’t involved in the sport.
Johnson knows a thing or two about building an elite team. He won seven Cup championships driving for Hendrick Motorsports, and he immediately set to work building a firm foundation at Legacy. His first major move was to switch from Chevy to Toyota in 2024.
Then he brought in Michael Guttilla, who had been chief operating officer at Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota’s top team, as Legacy’s president and Jacob Cantor, a former JGR race engineer heavily involved in research and development, as Legacy’s director of competition.
Toyota gave Legacy some support, but it was limited because Legacy was too small an operation to utilize a lot of the data, engineering and other resources that a team like JGR, with 450 or more employees, could exploit.
And Johnson wanted to build Legacy from within, anyway. With guidance from Guttilla and Cantor, Johnson wanted the team to develop its own research and development and engineering resources with Toyota providing assistance.
So just where is Legacy? Does it now have the building blocks in place to run with the more established teams? Well, the Pocono finish has given Legacy some confidence, maybe going from ‘I think we can do this’ to ‘Hey, we CAN do this.’
The results aren’t there to back that up, though. Jones is Legacy’s best driver and he usually runs mid-pack. Nemechek is even farther down in the field.
But Jones is coming off the sixth at Pocono and a second at Michigan the week before that and Nemechek had kind of a breakout race at Pocono, leading laps and finishing fourth.
“We’ve just got to keep putting them (strong finishes) together, you know?” Jones said after Pocono according to NASCAR’s website.
“This was a race where, honestly, we just ran to our ability. It was nothing more, nothing less. I feel like we were maybe a little better than the 5 (Kyle Larson, who finished fifth) at the end, but sixth place is kind of where we were.
“Proud of the speed, proud of the effort…(we have) cars that are driving good right now, and hopefully, we can keep it going,” Jones commented.
For Nemechek, whose average finish has been in the low 20s most of this year, this was a new experience, one that could pay dividends down the line if he can keep it up.
“It’s way different,” Nemechek, son of former driver and Lakeland native Joe Nemechek, said of running up front on NASCAR’s website. “Like restarts, right? Like how to execute restarts up front compared to in the back.
“How to execute passes when you’re side-by-side, racing for the lead. This was really one of the first instances that I’ve been able to do that in the Cup series,” he continued.
“That was because of the speed and potential we had in our car today (Sunday) and how well we executed,” Nemechek said. “There’s definitely still a lot to learn on my side – we’re not even close to being at the top level, being able to contend for race wins and stuff yet.
“But we’re working on that and being able to run up front and get the experience from running up front, executing restarts and racing for the lead and how to position your car in order to drag guys back and make them tight aero wise, that makes a big difference,” Nemechek said.
If the two Legacy cars can continue to run closer together, it will help both improve their overall performance because shared information will be more valuable than if they finish far apart and things that work for one don’t work for the other.
“It just makes everything in the company simpler,” Jones commented. “I feel like when we have our meeting (last) Monday, John Hunter’s balance is going to be way more similar to what I’m looking for because he’s running up front instead of 15th or 20th.
“That makes everybody’s life easier when you’re trying to build cars and work on the same things,” Jones said. “It builds momentum and confidence in the company. The people that work and build these cars put together better race cars that are cleaner, nicer and that momentum builds if everybody is running well.”
That’s the way the big boys do it, and Legacy wants to be one of the big boys. It has a long way to go to get there, but Pocono might be a start. That’s the upside. The downside is it might be nothing at all. Only time will tell.
NASCAR NOTES
Three most likely winners at San Diego: 1-Shane van Gisbergen, 2-Tyler Reddick, 3-Ty Gibbs. Last year’s winner at San Diego: No race.
Last week’s Old Guy Sport Pocono picks: 1-Denny Hamlin, 2-Tyler Reddick, 3-Kyle Larson. Pocono winner: Hamlin. OGS record after 13 races, 8-5.
OGS competition index top 10 after 13 races (OGS does not include superspeedway races in its standings). 1-Hamlin 448 points, 2-Reddick 337, 3-Christopher Bell 223, 4-Larson 208, 5-Chase Elliott 181, 6-Gibbs 163, 7-Ryan Blaney 150, 8-van Gisbergen 128, 9-Chase Briscoe 102, 10-William Byron 76.
OGS competition index top 10 on road courses (tracks most similar to San Diego): 1-van Gisbergen 116, 2-Reddick 85, 3-Gibbs 61, 4-Michael McDowell 57, 5-Bell 30, 6-Briscoe 24, 7-Ross Chastain 4, 8-Byron 1.
by Patrick Zier | Jun 14, 2026 |
If Denny Hamlin is not the greatest driver in NASCAR history, he is certainly the greatest driver of his generation. Hamlin won his third race of the season at Michigan last Sunday, running away from the rest of the field in the final laps and beating second place Erik Jones by 11.11 seconds.
In today’s NASCAR, you do not win races by 11.11 seconds. Maybe by .11 seconds, or 1.11 seconds, but not by 11.11 seconds. Nobody does that.
And the fact that at 45, Hamlin’s best years should be behind him…well, obviously, somebody should remind him of his age because Hamlin is competing at a level more equivalent to someone 25 than 45.
Hamlin is, by far, the most analytical, most thoroughly prepared driver out there. He understands his strengths and he knows his weaknesses and he uses his experience to make up for whatever he has lost physically which, at this point, isn’t much.
“I don’t know why I still have the speed that I have,” Hamlin commented on NASCAR’s website after a recent race. “I just approach every weekend the same as I always have, but I keep a large notebook every week.
“I just go through it and I jot down things that I think are important that are going to help we win next time if I fail this time. I don’t know, I still – I love the process more than I love winning,” Hamlin said.
Hamlin won his first Cup race 19 years ago, a month before Connor Zilsch was born. Zilsch drives for a somewhat tarnished Trackhouse team, once considered Chevy’s most promising new organization but now struggling to stay relevant.
At Michigan, Zilsch started 34th out of the 37 drivers in the field. Back in 37th was Hamlin. He had qualified on the pole, but unapproved repairs on his car, after it was damaged due to a flat tire in practice, sent him to the rear.
As the race began, Hamlin immediately understood that he could not make a hard charge to the front. The dirty air being stirred up by all the cars made him unstable. He would have to take his time, be careful, he radioed to his pits.
Zilsch, meanwhile, took off. On the second lap, all by himself, he spun out between turns three and four. Undeterred, Zilsch went hammer down again. And again, this time on lap nine and again all by himself, he spun out exiting turn two and hit the wall.
There is an old saying that in racing, you must first finish before you can finish first. The green flag had barely waved and Zilsch was through. Hamlin, meanwhile, kept adjusting his car and moving up when the opportunity presented itself. With 40 to go, he was sixth.
“I knew I was going to have my hands full but I just – I don’t know, I constantly study some things to try and get better and we chip away at it,” Hamlin said. “I never really panic at any point in the race anymore.
“Starting sixth here with 40 to go inside the last fuel run, it’s like, yeah, I feel pretty confident we’re still going to win,” Hamlin remarked. “It’s just we’re at that point where we show up to the racetrack and it’s like the confidence is higher than it’s ever been.
“I mean, I went through a transition probably around, I don’t know, eight years ago, nine years ago, maybe even more than that, to where I don’t even care about lap times anymore,” Hamlin said. “Like practice, where everybody ranks, who’s got the fast laps, it’s totally irrelevant to me.
“I have that liberty because I know what winning feels like at most tracks, so I just try to replicate the feel,” Hamlin said. “As long as I have the feel, the other stuff doesn’t matter until we get to Sunday (race day), because like today (at Michigan) the track is 30, 40 degrees hotter.
“All the race cars are going to be on the track. You’re going to have to be good in traffic and be able to lap cars.
“I think my experience is carrying me now more than ever,” Hamlin continued. “I’m fortunate to have run so many laps at these tracks and, now, won so many races that it’s really easy for me to replicate the feeling I had here last year and the year before that.
“That’s the advantage I have every single week. You know the transitions of the track, like what happens when it gets cloudy, what happens when it gets sunny, what happens when the wind is this direction, that direction, all those things you learn over time. It’s why I have the upper hand right now,” Hamlin added.
“That’s just all I search for,” he said. “Doesn’t matter whether we have more horsepower, less downforce. I’m searching for a feel. If I’ve got it, I know then we’re going to win.”
And that will continue. No one will every be better prepared for a race then Hamlin. But how long, at 45, can he continue physically? Right now, there are no signs of deterioration, although he is set to retire at the end of next season.
But will he? Heading into today’s race at Pocono, Hamlin has 63 wins, tied for ninth all-time with Kyle Busch. He is virtually certain to move ahead of Busch this year. In eighth, with 76, sits Dale Earnhardt. Hamlin once thought that total was unattainable. It’s not, but he’d have to run beyond 2027.
“I think if – and that’s a big if – I’m at this point and this fast next year, it (retirement) would be a tough, tough decision,” Hamlin said. “That’s not saying that I would (come back), but it would be a tough decision.
“I’m planning for the downfall that I know will come,” Hamlin went on. “I always say there’s three things that happen. You’re going to lose you eyesight, then you lose – in no particular order, it’s your eyesight, your reaction and then your body hurts.
“I’ve already got the body hurts part of it. It’s just the other two things have remained really sharp. I mean I want to finish like this,” Hamlin said. “I do. I do not want to go through regression.
“My ego will not allow me to be mediocre. So, I mean, I’m going to have to leave some on the table at some point, right? In order to know that you can win your last race, you’re going to have to go into the next year saying ‘I’m not doing it, but I could have.’
“I’m content,” Hamlin declared. “If I quit tomorrow, I will feel no more gratified than if I go out there and win 72 races before I (retire) – it makes no difference. Nobody cares. You’re forgotten within six months when you’re not here.”
NASCAR NOTES
Three most likely winners at Pocono: 1-Denny Hamlin, 2-Tyler Reddick, 3-Kyle Larson. Last year’s winner at Pocono: Chase Briscoe. Top five at Pocono last year: 1-Briscoe, 2-Hamlin, 3-Ryan Blaney, 4-Chris Buescher, 5-Chase Elliott.
Last week’s Old Guy Sport picks at Michigan: 1-Christopher Bell, 2-Hamlin, 3-Reddick. Michigan winner: Hamlin. OGS season record: 7-5.
OGS competition index after 12 races: 1-Hamlin 390 points, 2-Reddick 289, 3-Bell 217, 4-Larson 190, 5-Elliott 178, 6-Ty Gibbs 163, 7-Blaney 149, 8-Shane van Gisbergen, 128, 9-Briscoe 101, 10-Brad Keselowski 63.
OGS competition index on intermediate tracks (Tracks most like Pocono): 1-Hamlin 314, 2-Reddick 184, 3-Bell 126, 4-Elliott 117, 5-Larson 107, 6-Briscoe 67, 7-Keselowski 63, 8-Daniel Suarez 51, 9-Bubba Wallace 42, 10-Carson Hocevar 41.
by Patrick Zier | Jun 7, 2026 |
Toyota has become the Godzilla of stock car racing. Nobody can stop it. Not Ford. Not Chevy. Not even NASCAR. Toyota is crushing the competition and there’s no end in sight.
Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) and 23IX, Toyota’s top two teams, have taken over the sport. It didn’t happen overnight. It’s been brewing almost since NASCAR unveiled the new Next Gen car in 2022, something that’s been building for a while and came to fruition this year.
Ever since the Next Gen car came on line, NASCAR’s big three, JGR, Hendrick Motorsports (Chevy) and Penske Racing (Ford) have been in a race to see who could figure it out first.
All have made small gains, but the Toyota teams have discovered something which has given them a decided edge this season. They are not only running away from the pack, they have left it choking on the dirty air that swirls out of their tailpipes.
Toyota’s dominance is apparent when you look at the numbers it is putting up in the Old Guy Sport competition index. The OGS competition index is a better measure of competitive balance than the NASCAR point system because it rewards racing and leading laps under green rather than simply finishing the race.
It also eliminates the three superspeedways, Daytona, Atlanta and Talladega, which don’t give you a true picture of who’s running well and who’s not because luck is the primary factor in determining how you finish.
And when you look at the OGS competition index, Toyota is in a class by itself. The top three drivers are Denny Hamlin, 330 points; Tyler Reddick, 281 and Christopher Bell, 217, all in Toyotas.
That’s the first time a single manufacturer has had the top three in the Next Gen era. What’s more, Hamlin, Reddick and Bell are running away from the pack. Hendrick’s Kyle Larson, with just 169 points, is fourth.
And five of the six factory Toyota drivers are in the top 10. Ty Gibbs is sixth and Chase Briscoe ninth. Only Bubba Wallace, who seems to be kind of leveling out, is missing. Wallace has just 10 points and is tied for 19th.
Toyota is dominating in other ways as well. It has 31, or more than half, of the top five finishes through the first 11 races. Chevy has 18 and Ford six. By themselves, Hamlin, Reddick and Bell have 19.
Toyota has gotten 227 points on the OGS competition index for leading laps under green. Chevy has 111 and Ford 71. By themselves, Hamlin, Reddick and Bell have accumulated 204 points.
“They have something figured out,” Larson, the defending NASCAR Cup champion, admitted on NASCAR’s website. “The Toyota’s are really, really fast. They have good grip. They’re able to be on offense all the time.”
Clearly, Toyota has done a much better job of adapting to the Next Gen car than anybody else. Generally speaking, Hendrick has been considered the best organization in NASCAR. That was always debatable, but JGR has now surpassed it. JGR stands alone.
In 2023, the second year of the Next Gen car, Hendrick’s four drivers totaled 2.310 points in the OGS competition index. In 2024, that dropped to 1,616 and in 2025, 1,412.
In 2023, JGR’s foursome was at 1,356 points. That rose to 1,518 in 2024 and 1,797 last year. Through the first 11 races of this year, JGR has nearly doubled Hendrick, outscoring the leading Chevy team 811-411.
In the Next Gen era Penske Motorsports, Ford’s top entry, has never been remotely competitive despite the fact it won NASCAR championships in 2022, 2023 and 2024. This is just one indication of how far off the mark the NASCAR point system is.
Penske’s four drivers had just 442 points in 2023, 816 in 2024 and 888 last season. While that indicates marginal improvement each year, the Next Gen car continues to be a mystery to Penske and Ford. This year, Ford has scored only 201 points in the first 11 events.
This despite the fact that Ryan Blaney has proven to be one of the most talented drivers in the sport and, by far, the leading competitor on the Penske team. Even though he is dragging the Ford anchor behind him, Blaney is currently seventh in the OGS competition index with 149 points.
So why have the top teams had so much trouble with the Next Gen car? Because it is radically different than anything that came before. Prior to 2022, when the Next Gen car was introduced, downforce was primarily generated by air going over and around the car and trapped by the rear spoiler, forcing the back of the car down.
The underside of the car was open, exposing all the mechanical components and pipes that were the guts of the power train. Because of that, air going under the car couldn’t be controlled and moved into any opening it could find, pushing the car up and reducing downforce.
But the Next Gen car has an underwing that covers the bottom on the car from behind the front wheels to just in front of the rear wheels, creating a smooth surface for the air to pass through.
So now, instead of keeping the front of he car down to keep air from getting under it, you want it up a bit to let a steady stream of air in. As the air is channeled back and out of the car, a low pressure area develops below it which creates downforce.
And whichever manufacturer does that the best has an advantage. “It’s (Toyota’s advantage over the others) not as much as you think,” Hendrick’s Chase Elliott, who has won twice so far, declared on NASCAR’s website.
“That’s the challenge for us right now. You’re just fighting for such small margins (of improvement),” he added.bbs
That’s true. But right now, Ford and Chevy are losing that fight. And it doesn’t look like it will get better anytime soon.
NASCAR NOTES
Three most likely winners at Michigan this week: 1-Christopher Bell, 2-Denny Hamlin, 3-Tyler Reddick. Last year’s winner at Michigan: Hamlin. Top five at Michigan last year: 1-Hamlin, 2-Chris Buescher, 3-Ty Gibbs, 4-Bubba Wallace, 5-Kyle Larson.
Last week’s Old Guy Sport Nashville picks: 1-Hamlin, 2-Reddick, 3-Bell. Last week’s Nashville winner: Hamlin. OGS record through 11 races, 6-5.
OGS competition index top 10: 1-Hamlin 330 points, 2-Reddick 281, 3-Bell 217, 4-Larson 169, 5-Chase Elliott 166, 6-Gibbs 163, 7-Ryan Blaney 149, 8-Shane van Gisbergen 128, 9-Chase Briscoe 101, 10-Brad Keselowski 63.
OGS competition index top 10 on intermediate tracks (tracks most similar to Michigan): 1-Hamlin 254, 2-Reddick 176, 3-Bell 126, 4-Elliott 105, 5-Larson 86, 6-Briscoe 67, 7-Keselowski 63, 8-Daniel Suarez 51, 9-Blaney 37, 10-William Byron 34.
