Jimmie Johnson confirmed early in the 2026 season that Legacy Motor Club will be fielding a third full-time car for 2027. A new car always comes with its drawbacks, but also its benefits. Such as more sponsorship opportunities, more winnings, and more data to collect. But to make the most of these advantages, they need to pick the right driver. Something hard for even the best of teams.
Especially in the Next Gen era. Promising young drivers who dominated Xfinity as Gibbs, Gragson, and Cindric still struggle after years in Cup to find constant speed. And even the young prodigy who won 10 Xfinity Series races last year, Connor Zilisch, leaves the Las Vegas Cup weekend as the last of the full-time drivers in points. So which drivers would be the right fit for the third Legacy seat?
No.5 Corey Lajoie
Many look at Corey LaJoie and see his wrecks and results and see a driver who wasted his time in Cup. But look more closely at the equipment he was driving vs. the results he was getting, and you’ll see a driver who was doing everything he could to outdrive the equipment he was given every week. And while he could definitely go over the limits at times, there were also times when he got results his cars had no business getting.
Like his 11th place at COTA in 2023, his 9th place at Darlington in 2024, or his 15th place in 2021 at both Nashville and Darlington. Not anything that’ll appear in the box score, but he did all of this on a Spire team in a much different place than today. At the start, Spire was only a tier above Rick Ware Racing, but Lajoie was, in some cases, literally lapping them. As seen by the struggles of their 77 car.
Beating the likes of Chase Briscoe and Ryan Blaney at Darlington. Plus finished ahead of Hamlin, Keselowski, and MTJ at Nashville, even finishing one spot behind the Hendrick car of Bowman, in equipment that costs way less than theirs. These kinds of performances would happen a handful of races a year, showing he had speed on his day, and his day came around often.
Then there’s his mastery of plate track. He was one lap away from winning his only Cup race at Atlanta, coming to the white flag. Only for a bad block to hand a win to the hometown hero, Chase Elliott. But it was far from a one-off performance. All four of his top fives came at plate tracks, with two of them coming at the very same Atlanta track he almost won at. And one of them was at the Daytona 500
But most importantly, he’s had more time in the Next Gen car than most drivers. And since he’s not bad at driving them, he’d be a great addition to any 2026 Cup team. Plus, he’s a driver who interacts with his sponsors more than most, as shown by his famous face car with Old Spice. Or when he collaborated with comedian John B Crist, when he sponsored Lajoie’s 7 at one of the Bristol Dirt Races. And of course, has done media work with Amazon’s NASCAR coverage. All of which proves Lajoie is a very marketable driver.
No. 4 Kaz Grala
Kaz Grala is still working with Legacy Motor Club as a simulator and reserve driver. Which, of course, gives him a ton of advantages. With him being familiar with the team’s culture and setups, plus having rapport with many people already in the team. And they don’t have to deal with someone who has to adapt to their cars and culture.
But more importantly, he’s a great driver, especially on the road courses. He was called in to replace Austin Dillon at the last minute after he caught COVID in 2020 to make his Cup Series debut. He finished 7th in his Cup Series debut at the Daytona road course. And when his father bought JGL halfway through the 2018 Xfinity Series season to form Fury Race Cars. And he managed a top five and three top tens on an underfunded team put together at the last minute from the dying remains of an already struggling midpack team. And of course, being the youngest ever Daytona winner after his only truck series win.
And Grala does have experience racing Next Gen equipment. Having raced almost the whole 2024 season with RWR, I did the Daytona 500 with FRM. And did a part stint in 2022 with The Money Team. So with his experience, skill, and familiarity with the team. He’s someone who can deliver high-quality results immediately.
No. 3 Corey Heim
Now, for by far the best driver to not be full-time in 2026, Corey Heim’s 2025 was the most outstanding season any driver had in the Truck Series ever, which came as a surprise to nobody, as the TRICON driver could’ve won the Truck Series championship in his rookie season. Had it not been for Hocevar’s hapless driving in the 2023 finale.
Heim’s first half of 2025 was characterized by inconsistency, but not the usual inconsistency of going from great to struggling. But instead of going from dominating the whole race and winning it to easily dominating the entire race but doing something stupid near the end that would hand the win to someone else.
Heim led the most laps in the first 15 races of the season a total of 9 times, but had only 5 wins, and 4 of those were races he dominated. But after his Pocono loss came a turning point.
Heim stopped taking races for granted and got focused, which started the most dominant stretch in truck series history. He won seven of the last ten races of the Truck Series season to get the Truck Series championship. An incredible seven wide pass in the final laps saw him jump from the lead and never go back.
But none of that was enough to earn him a full-time seat in 2026 anywhere. He is running part-time for his old truck team, which he won the title with, TRICON, and doing 12 Cup races with 23XI in the 67. There are a few reasons Heim couldn’t secure a full-time role in any series for 2026. With one reason being a lack of sponsorship on his end. The sponsors you see on his trucks, like Safelite or Mobil 1, are linked to Toyota, not Corey Heim, with Mobil 1 even sponsoring other Toyota drivers like JHN or Bell. And Robinhood sponsors other 23XI drivers, like Bubba; it’s a partnership with the team.
Another is being a Toyota driver and angering the team on top of the Toyota hierarchy, in Joe Gibbs, because of his ARCA rivalry with Joe’s grandson, Ty. Now they haven’t raced each other for an entire season since 2021, but man, did they race each other. Ty Gibbs was obviously on his grandpa’s team, and Heim drove for the dominant Venturini, so no shock they won 16 out of the 20 races. So it should also be no shock that the 2 aggressive and hot-headed drivers clashed with each other throughout 2021.
Starting at Elko, on lap 63, Heim tried to pass Gibbs on the outside, but Gibbs bumped him to keep the lead. Heim took that personally as he bumped Gibbs into the next turn, but the 18 kept the lead. On a late race restart, Heim shoves Gibbs off the racing line, which caused the dominant Gibbs to finish 4th while Heim won that night. Heim even admitted to payback in his victory lane interview, trash-talking his fellow Toyota driver while he was at it.
At Winchester, Corey Heim was dominating, but Ty Gibbs was right behind him. As Heim dealt with lap traffic, Gibbs kept slamming into his back bumper, and then Gibbs, getting more impatient, drove it deeper into turn 1 and dumped Heim, ruining the chance for him to win. Heim, in his interview, said nothing against him, but you can tell he was hiding his fury. The following incident occurred at Watkins Glen. With the two starting side by side, they banged doors on lap one but carried on clean for the rest of the race and season.
But according to rumor, these few incidents from five years ago are enough to turn JGR’s eye away from the promising youngster. There’s also not much room at JGR, with every seat filled by another Toyota young development driver like Ty Gibbs or Bell. Or established veterans like Hamlin and a proven free agent pickup in Chase Briscoe. So Heim’s best chance to get into JGR disappeared the moment Chase Briscoe was announced to be driving the 19.
But JGR is not the only Toyota team in the Cup Series. The other two are 23XI and Legacy Motor Club. With Legacy being the only Toyota team in Cup confirmed to have an open seat for 2027! But with Heim already driving for 23XI and Riley Herbst in the 35, still struggling to adapt to Cup. It looks more likely Heim will end up with 23XI in 2027. Which is the reason he’s not number one on this list.
No.2 Chandler Smith
Chandler Smith deserves to be in the Cup Series and has been deserving for years. And so is deserving of a Legacy Motor Club seat. The 23-year-old has been bouncing between NASCAR’s second and third tiers for years and has won at least once every season since going full-time in NASCAR in 2021. With him having 3 career O’Reilly wins to go along with 36 top tens in 71 O’Reilly races, more than 50%. While having 8 career Truck Series wins with 54 top tens in 90 starts, once again, over 50% of his starts.
He’s currently leading the points in Trucks. After winning at Daytona to open the season, and following that up with top tens in the next two races. Has put him on track to be a title favorite for the 2026 Truck Season.
Smith has also raced in the Next Gen car. Failing to qualify for all three of his Daytona 500 attempts. But also doing a part-time stint for Kaulig in the Cup Series. Earning three top twenties in three starts with a team that struggles to get top twenties consistently. Earning them at tracks like Richmond and Talladega.
He has strong sponsorship ties with QuickTie, which has been supporting him for years. It’s odd that a driver of his talent, funding, and experience, having driven for multiple top-level lower series teams with Cup Series connections. Unlike FRM, JGR, and Kaulig aren’t in Cup by now. So Legacy Motor Club has a chance to fix the sports mistake.
No. 1 Alex Bowman
There’s no doubting Alex Bowman’s talent, but there’s plenty of doubting his future in the Cup Series. Since he replaced the sport’s most popular driver in 2017, he’s had great success. Earning 8 Cup Series wins and having 7 postseason appearances. Even earning 2 top 10 points finishes in both 2020 and 2024. He’s already had a career better than most and has made the most at his time with the sport’s best team, Hendrick.
But there’s a reason why his time with Hendrick may be up, and he might have to start over at a team like Legacy Motor Club. He’s always going to get a win or two a year, but doesn’t have the consistent championship-level pace of his teammates, Larson, Elliott, and Byron, which has always made him stand out. Especially with young prodigies like Carson Hocevar, Connor Zilisch, Ty Gibbs, Brent Crews, Corey Heim, and Jesse Love coming through the sport and looking like they’ll have higher potential than Bowman. And Hendrick is developing their own young drivers like Corey Day, Rajah Caruth, and Carson Kvapil, making Bowman’s seat even hotter.
But what’s even more worrying is Bowman’s availability. Ever since 2022, Bowman has had three seasons where he’s missed multiple races. Including to start 2026 who have not done a full race since February 22 and will not till at least April, as confirmed by a recent Jayski report. With it being totally unknown if he’ll be eligible to qualify for the Chase. And with it now being nearly impossible for him to do so.
In a sport where it’s extremely common for a driver to compete in every race of a season for most, if not all, of their career, this lack of consistent availability would be a much bigger concern than in other sports. So, despite all his talent and some incredible drives for the Hendrick team. Many would understand if he finds himself out of the 48 by 2027.
But despite his lack of consistency and availability, Bowman is still a driver who, on many occasions, has proven that there are many days in a season he can take on and beat the best in the sport. Like his 2016 Phoenix win, his 2019 Roval comeback, or his 2024 Chicago win. And that kind of speed can be valuable to any team, especially an ambitious up-and-comer looking to become a contender in a few years, like Legacy Motor Club.
We’ve seen drivers in the past like Reutimann for MWR, DiBenedetto for Wood Brothers, Bubba for 23XI, or Suarez for Trackhouse. While not having championship-level speed, they are still fast drivers who can compete with the best of the sport a handful of races a year. And provided these ambitious teams are trying to reach new heights with a solid foundation to build upon, and to try to attract bigger sponsors and more talented drivers.
Legacy Motor Club already has this with both JHN and Erik Jones, the drivers of Legacy’s No.42 and No.43 teams being of a similar mold. With Erik Jones’ stint at the second-biggest team, JGR has some similarities to Bowman’s time at Hendrick. So if Legacy wants to add a third car while wanting to be a team that can consistently compete for wins. To find a driver of a similar mold would be a success for them.
Even if it’s only for 30 races a year, the winnings he can earn with his great performances, and the data he can provide them with his skill behind the wheel. Will be valuable to help build up LMC the way Jimmie Johnson and their investors want to. Also, it would be very poetic for the driver who replaced Jimmie Johnson in the No.48 to then join Jimmie Johnson’s Cup team. Thanks a bunch for reading!
Image Credit: Patrick Vallely