Jimmie Johnson, the team owner, is no different from Jimmie Johnson, the race car driver.
While most, if not all, outsiders look at Johnson through the lens of his success at Hendrick Motorsports driving what became a legendary No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet, there was a journey that came first to get to that point. It's the same journey that Johnson's multicar team, Legacy Motor Club, is now on in the NASCAR Cup Series.
"I'm accustomed to being realistic," Johnson told ESPN about ownership and working toward success. "I'm accustomed to setting achievable goals and trying to acknowledge those, and build a culture around that. That was my journey as an athlete. And I certainly hope we get the spotlight on [the team] one day as I did as a driver. That's what we're trying to build right now."
It starts with one-, three-, and five-year plans with milestones. Legacy Motor Club is in its second year with Johnson at the helm as the majority owner, having been given the reins when Maury Gallagher, Johnson's partner when he initially entered team ownership in 2023, stepped aside following the 2024 season. Since Johnson took over, there have been additional personnel moves, new investor involvement and changes in the competition.
The seven-time champion is quick to credit the others around him who hold deep business and leadership experience. It has helped him learn on the fly and learn through experience, which is what the role comprises, and he feels that has been helpful.
"I made it through high school, but I learn in real life and through experiences more so than through text," said Johnson, who sat under the learning tree of Rick Hendrick for 19 years.
With that said, Johnson has found himself needing to learn more in the categories of partnership and visionary. He needs to understand how vision sets budget, priorities and timelines.
"There have been plenty of sleepless nights and plenty of pressure," Johnson said. "But I have enthusiasm and excitement that I did as a rookie in the Cup Series."
Michael Guttilla, the president of the organization, is one of those within Johnson's orbit who has been a resource and a major part of the overall company puzzle. Guttilla joined in April from his previous role at Joe Gibbs Racing (where he was COO), and the transition was handled collaboratively by the two parties.
Legacy Motor Club and Joe Gibbs Racing have a technology partnership this year. It gives Legacy access to platforms and applications -- for example, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) files -- that would take them years to develop on their own but have already been built between Gibbs and Toyota. Aside from that, however, the organization stands independently, and there is no technical alliance (which involves open notebooks, meetings, etc.)
"I think Jimmie is probably fairly unique [in team ownership] in the sense that he's been an athlete, but he's always sort of been entrepreneur minded," Guttilla told ESPN. "He's really humble; he will say he's a seven-time champion, but that doesn't translate into meaning 'I know how to run a business.' I think he doesn't give himself enough credit for how instinctually good he is at it, but the beauty of it is he recognizes that."
Johnson is always firing on all cylinders, hard charging, and that competitive spirit carries over into the business. There will be ideas on how to make the cars go faster, how to immerse drivers more in the simulator or how to better support drivers and crew chiefs. Guttilla explained that while Johnson takes in all available information and data presented, he also trusts his instincts.
And then there is the strategic ownership group that has come into the fray. Hootie & The Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker. Celebrity chef Guy Fieri. More to be announced going forward.
The concept is a bit different from that of most race teams, but Legacy views it quite simply. A well-known investor brings buzz to the experiential side of being involved with the team, leading to more business interest, which brings in more connections or investments, and, in basic terms, translates into resources to make the cars go faster.
"Seeing [Johnson] find his strengths and what he's best at has been the coolest thing; just watching him run through kind of every aspect of the company," said driver Erik Jones. "He has a lot of strength in the partnership and activation side ... and it's neat to see his ideas and visions come around, and what he's done with our hospitality group. It's changed my perspective for sure, and I think it's changed a lot of our partners' perspective. So, I love to see that.
"Obviously the competition side has come around with that, and it takes money to go fast, so I think that's his plan. But he's brought in some great people. We've got a good group of upper management right now that's jelling pretty well. There's a lot to be said for that; without him, I don't think we'd have some of these people in place. I don't think we've got some partnerships in place. Without any of that, we're not running as well as we are."
The language used within the organization's halls is good-to-great-to-elite in terms of the goal. Without giving details, Guttilla said there are internal metrics used to measure where they are hitting. And when it comes to numbers and evaluating performance, the organization understands there is what is seen on paper and then what isn't in black and white, such as the eye test of performance before that result was recorded.
In the current landscape, Jones has a chance to make the Chase going down the stretch of the regular season. It would be the first time Legacy has put a car in the postseason.
Jones admitted it was a goal coming into the year to have at least one of the two teams in the Chase, but early in the season, with how things were going for him and teammate John Hunter Nemechek, Jones almost gave up on the possibility. But the summer brought a turnaround.
Since the end of May, Jones and his No. 43 team have earned six top-15 finishes, including three top-10 finishes, in 10 races to go from 25th to 18th in the standings (and at one point sitting as high as 14th). Jones is 44 points out of a Chase spot with four races remaining in the regular season.
"We're not in the best spot, but I think it's an exciting spot," Jones said. "As a company and a group, to have the morale up with having us in this position, and not only in this position but running well consistently and being up front, is fun. It's fun for me but also for the team.
"It would be pretty big. I think regardless of how the Chase went, just being in it for this year, I think would be a huge checked box for us as far as where our progress is as a company."
On paper, Johnson said, it's a huge deal because there are millions of dollars that come with having a team in the Chase through the sport's financial model. But more importantly, when Johnson looks at the organization, it is about the racing, not money.
"The opportunity is great," Johnson said. "Damn, we know we can do it."
