Legacy Motor Club's expectations are high yet realistic
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Legacy Motor Club's offseason of work is complete and now the time has come to put a trio of Toyota Camry XSEs on display during Sunday's Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET on Fox). Optimism abounds inside the organization but that doesn't mean the drivers are ready to make bold claims about wins.
"In the shop, you want to set your expectations high and we do have high expectations, but I think (crew chief Dave Elenz) and I have talked a lot and said you’ve got to give us six months," Erik Jones said this week at Daytona.
"We’ve got to get racing, see where we get going on these mile-and-a-halves, short tracks, road courses — see where these programs are at and then we can start to build and get them better. That gives guys time to fill in new roles, learn simulation."
Since the checkered flag waved on November's championship race, Legacy Motor Club has been hard at work moving from Chevrolet to Toyota. The team had to build cars for a December test at Phoenix, the Feb. 3 Busch Light Clash at the LA Memorial Coliseum and Sunday's Daytona 500.
There was no shortage of work or time to decompress, especially with team co-owner Jimmie Johnson announcing that he will do nine races this season after only three last season.
Long: Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Blaney experience Daytona’s roller coaster of emotions
Jimmie Johnson felt Daytona’s angst before rejoicing, while Ryan Blaney was upset.
“It’s been overwhelming in the greatest of ways," Johnson said this week about the switch to Toyota. "The amount of data that we have. The tools that are included with that, tools that we need to design and create.
"We literally had to hire software coders to create the tools that we need because this is a new system, new software for us and we have a lot of responsibilities on our side to receive all of this information, but it has been a great journey, a great partnership."
Legacy Motor Club is a Toyota team now but that doesn't mean it has alliances with 23XI Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing. Legacy Motor Club is an independent operation that had to build out an aero department, a tire department, a simulation department and pit crews as part of the process.
Jones knows that this offseason work would have been easier with assistance from Joe Gibbs Racing. He also says that Legacy Motor Club needs to be independent as it tries to establish a performance baseline for himself, Johnson and John Hunter Nemechek.
"They (Toyota) give us a ton of support ... and are doing everything they can to help us hit the ground running, but some of it does fall back on us and that’s the big build right now," Jones said.
Speedweek has been a solid test for Legacy Motor Club. All of the Toyotas struggled during Wednesday's qualifying session. Jones was the fastest of the group with a lap of 179.637 mph but he was only 22nd-fastest overall.
The Duel races told a different tale. Tyler Reddick won the first Duel for 23XI Racing. Christopher Bell won the second for Joe Gibbs Racing. Jones finished fifth in his Duel race while Johnson finished 12th and locked up a spot in the Daytona 500 after being involved in a multi-car crash. Nemechek finished fourth in his Duel race.
Friday's practice session proved once again that the Toyotas have speed. Jones was second-fastest behind Denny Hamlin, while Nemechek was fifth-fastest. Johnson was seventh-fastest in a repaired car.
Will the speed at Daytona translate to success this season? According to Jones's timeline, it will take some time before Legacy Motor Club is consistently contending but these performances on Thursday certainly didn't hurt.
