Legacy Motor Club to release John Hunter Nemechek; Josh Berry top candidate: Sources
Legacy Motor Club and John Hunter Nemechek will part ways at the end of this NASCAR season, sources briefed on the decision told The Athletic. Those sources were granted anonymity to speak about an evolving situation.
Team leadership informed Nemechek of the news Monday, with the team opting to go a different direction even though the sides had recently agreed to a contract extension to keep Nemechek driving the No. 42 Toyota for the 2027 season.
The development ends Nemechek’s three-year run with the team whose principal owner is seven-time Cup Series champion, Jimmie Johnson. Johnson has maintained that he wants to build Legacy into a consistently competitive team, and it is this thinking that was behind the decision to move on from Nemechek, those sources said.
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The leading candidate to replace Nemechek is Josh Berry, according to those sources. Berry currently drives for Wood Brothers Racing, but he is out of that seat at the end of the season, as the team informed him in June it would not exercise the option in his contract.
The 29-year-old Nemechek currently sits 27th in the points standings, with a single top-five finish and two top-10s in 26 races this season. In the two previous years, he ranked 25th and 34th in the year-end standings. Nemechek’s best finish in 139 career Cup Series starts is fourth (twice), most recently at Pocono Raceway this summer.
Nemechek’s average finish is 22.1, one position better than Berry’s, and Nemechek is also one spot higher than Berry in the standings. After Berry and the Wood Brothers struggled through the early part of this season, though, Berry’s stock has risen considerably in recent weeks on the strength of top-10 finishes in the past five races, the longest top-10 streak by the team since 1994.
Berry has also previously won a race at the Cup level. He earned that win at Las Vegas in spring 2025, then nearly won a second race later that season at New Hampshire, ultimately finishing second to de facto teammate Ryan Blaney.
Legacy is one of only a few teams that have yet to lock in their 2027 driver lineups, and the team has invested considerable resources to improve its competitiveness. Legacy announced a “strategic ownership group” in July that includes MLB player Bryce Harper; retired tennis star Andy Roddick; musician Darius Rucker; chef, restaurateur and television personality Guy Fieri; and Indianapolis 500 winners Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan.
In addition to its No. 42 car, Legacy also fields the No. 43 for Erik Jones and has already announced it will expand to a third full-time entry next year, which is expected to be driven by Riley Herbst.