The internal restricting at Legacy Motor Club continued on Tuesday with the announced hiring of Travis Mack as crew chief of the No. 42 and driver John Hunter Nemechek.
Mack most recently worked at Kaulig Racing as Cup Series technical director and crew chief of the No. 16 with its rotating roster of drivers that included AJ Allmendinger, Shane Van Gisbergen, Ty Dillon and Derek Kraus.
He joins a shuffled competition department that also just announced the hiring of veteran crew chief Chad Johnston to serve as Race Engineering Manager and will report to fellow new hire Brian Campe and Jacob Canter, who came from Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing’s engineering departments, respectively. Ben Beshore was recently hired from Joe Gibbs Racing to work with Erik Jones and the No. 43 team.
Mack also previously worked at Hendrick.
“I’m looking forward to helping Legacy Motor Club build something great,” Mack said in a team release. “There are a lot of talented people here at Legacy MC. I worked with Jimmie (Johnson, co-owner/driver) at Hendrick Motorsports, and I know his work ethic and determination – so his vision for the Club is really exciting, and I’m ready to get to work.”
Nemechek earned just four top 10s in 2024, his first season in Legacy’s No. 42 and the No. 43 driven by Erik Jones was equally non-competitive.
In an interview with NASCAR.com, Johnson addressed the past season.
“This is a long-term play for us with Toyota,” Johnson said. “We thought this year would be a bit smoother, and it wasn’t. In that are lessons for us. It is what it is. There’s nothing we can do about it except work harder and get better. That’s what we’re gearing up for.”
And also.
“We couldn’t have tried any harder this year,” Johnson said. “It’s just part of the journey, is probably the best way to put it. I think this year has been a very transformational year for us. We won’t have a great sense of the change until we get into probably March of next year.”