Matt Kenseth is going back to work in NASCAR, helping his buddy Jimmie Jonhson's team
Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson became good friends while battling for wins and championships in the NASCAR Cup Series. Now they’ll work together.
Kenseth, the 2003 Cup champion and Hall of Famer from Cambridge, will serve as a competition advisor to Legacy Motor Club, the team in which Johnson has become co-owner.
In that role, Kenseth will serve as a mentor to drivers Erik Jones – his onetime teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing – and John Hunter Nemecheck, and assist the team in its switch in manufacturers from Chevrolet to Toyota for next season. Kenseth was highly regarded by Toyota during his five seasons with Gibbs.
Kenseth, 51, won 39 races in NASCAR’s top division and made his last start in 2020. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame this year.
Johnson, a seven-time champion enshrined in 2020, stepped away from NASCAR in 2021 and ’22 to race Indy cars but returned to the Cup Series for three races this season.
Legacy Motor Club is an evolution of Richard Petty Motorsports co-owned by Johnson and entrepreneur Maury Gallagher, who bought out Petty in 2021 and also has fielded teams in the Xfinity Series, Craftsman Truck Series and ARCA under the GMS Racing banner.
In addition to his connections with Johnson and Toyota, Kenseth worked with Joey Cohen, Legacy’s vice president of racing operations, at Roush Racing when Kenseth drove for that team and Cohen was an engineer.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Matt Kenseth to work for Jimmie Johnson's Legacy Motor Club in NASCAR
