CONCORD, N.C. -- The 2024 season was full of growing pains for Legacy Motor Club with the transition to Toyota, but the team has delivered more consistent speed this season. Now, it's all about the execution.
"When I look at the Texas race, Erik (Jones) had a shot to win it, and he was recovering from two penalties on pit lane," team co-owner Jimmie Johnson said on Saturday. "John Hunter (Nemechek) had a penalty that day as well, and I think, still finished in the top-10.
"Execution is really one of our more immediate ways to show improvement, and not making mistakes, but there is always the journey to find more speed."
The two full-time Legacy MC drivers did not have standout seasons in 2024 as the team transitioned to Toyota without any assistance from other organizations.
Jones only posted two top-10 finishes and one top-five before ending the season 28th in points. Nemechek finished 34th in points after posting four top-10 finishes.
This season, Jones has one top-five finish and one top-10. This isn't a major improvement, but he has taken his average starting position from 26.9 to 21.6 and his average finishing position from 22.9 to 22.2.
These numbers are skewed by a surprising disqualification at Martinsville Speedway for the No. 43 failing minimum weight in post-race inspection.
Nemechek, for comparison, has matched his four top-10 finishes from last season while adding a top-five. He has improved his average finish from 25.4 to 18.2. His average starting position has improved from 27.3 to 24.6.
While Johnson remains optimistic about his team's growth this season, Jones is more hesitant. He expressed the opinion that the team has far more to go before he can start celebrating.
"The faster your car is, the more mistakes you can make," Jones said. "So right now we're at a point where we have a little speed, but we have to have a perfect race to run really well. So I think those mistakes get magnified more."
As Jones explained, the drivers need to clean up some mistakes on the track while the pit crews need to continue getting better with more reps.
This will help eliminate some of the penalties that keep the drivers out of contention for consistent top-10s and top-fives.
Will the Legacy MC teams continue to improve their execution and put themselves in positions for more consistent finishes? Johnson is certainly optimistic, but the summer stretch with its mix of road courses and intermediates will provide weekly benchmarks.