Matt Kenseth has always been known as a technician behind the wheel, a meticulous racer who demands precision and focus. Since joining Legacy Motor Club as competition advisor in 2023, the NASCAR legend has been quietly reshaping the team’s culture and mindset. And with a shot in the arm from his most trusted driver, the beneficiary of Matt’s guidance is stepping into the spotlight.

Enter a steady driver whose spotlight-averse style and track record have made him a favorite of the Hall of Famer. Ahead of the Grant Park 165, he offered a window into how LMC has been undergoing internal sweeping and has set a new standard.

Big changes for LMC

The 53-year-old has guided LMC to adopt a more disciplined and data-driven mindset. Legacy Motor Club has been nothing short of a Phoenix this season, emerging from operational confusion to active transformation. In mid-2024, key hires such as Jacob Canter, the Director of Competition, and Brian Campe, Engineering Lead, were added to strengthen the top-down structure and unify engineering workflows. Alongside the switch to Toyota, LMC strategically rebuilt its internal hierarchy to foster collaboration and accountability, shifts that are now yielding results on race day. However, change doesn’t happen overnight.

Erik Jones, in a recent pre-race interview, opened up about this shift and was pretty honest. He said, “Yeah, I mean we hired on, you know, Jacob Canter and Brian Campe around—what it would have been, I don’t know—July maybe of last year is when they both kind of started and got rolling. And there was kind of a gap of time there where there just wasn’t a lot of leadership in those roles, and we didn’t have a good engineering flow from the top down.”

Jacob Canter, a third-generation racer with over 20 years of motorsport engineering experience, joined Legacy Motor Club to lead its competition department, overseeing crew chiefs and pit crews. Previously with Joe Gibbs Racing and General Motors, Canter brings a strong technical background and a deep racing legacy. Alongside him, longtime motorsports executive Bobby Kennedy was appointed general manager, now handling LMC’s daily operations.

Co-owner Jimmie Johnson couldn’t hold back his praise. He said, “Bringing in people like Jacob and Bobby is what we need at this stage in the game. This has been a difficult season, and performance hasn’t been where we want it to be, so moves like this are necessary. We want to show up, be competitive, and win races. That’s the main goal.”

However, that climb wasn’t easy; Erik Jones goes on to add, “And it took a solid, you know, six, eight months probably to break that down. And then beyond that, just hiring more people, right? We were pretty short-staffed in our engineering department, even after hiring on those guys.”

Brian Campe, who has stepped into a key technical leadership role at LMC, brings years of high-level engineering and competition experience from his time at Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing and Team Penske, where he worked on data systems, race simulations, and performance strategy. His addition has helped restructure LMC’s engineering pipeline and improve trackside execution.

Legacy Motor Club’s 2025 season has marked a significant turnaround, driven by both performance gains and structural revamp. Erik Jones has emerged as the team’s most consistent driver, finishing no worse than 17th since early May and rising from 30th to 15th in points. His top-five finishes at Texas and Pocono, along with John Hunter Nemechek’s strong runs, including a sixth-place finish in Mexico, have positioned LMC as a quiet playoff contender. Under Matt Kenseth’s technical advisory, the team has focused on defining workflow, strengthening the engineering pipeline, and rebuilding its foundation after a shaky 2024. The result? A more cohesive unit on and off the track, with both drivers steadily climbing towards postseason potential.

The No. 43 driver goes on to show confidence in the team and says, “Now I feel like everybody’s really in the flow of it, and a lot more open communication between everybody, just knowing what’s going on, who’s working on what, giving a forum for guys to come up with new ideas and figure things out. So yeah, it just took some organization. There was just a stretch there where we didn’t have the leadership in place, and now I feel like our leadership group is really strong.”

While Legacy Motor Club hasn’t always found itself in the spotlight, Erik Jones has quietly built a case for contention. How so?

Erik Jones eyes a position within the playoff bubble

Since Kansas in May, the No. 43 Driver has managed to avoid any disastrous finishes, steadily stringing together consistent runs no worse than 17th. In a playoff grid that shifts week to week, that kind of steadiness matters, and it’s what has kept Jones within striking distance of the postseason bubble.

Heading into the Grant Park 165 at the Chicago Street course, Jones finds himself 18th in the standings, just 49 points shy of the playoff cut line. It’s a tough hill to climb without a win to question the gap, but if his current form holds, a late-season search for points alone isn’t out of the question. Jones said, “That’s the plan, right now, is just to keep running well and keep racking these points up. I hope it goes well again this weekend. Kind of three strange weeks: here [Chicago], Sonoma, and Dover, so it’s going to kind of make-or-break us.”

The next few races offer a mixed bag for Jones and Legacy Motor Club. With road courses like Sonoma, Chicago, and Watkins Glen on the calendar, plus the unpredictable superspeedway of Daytona, every race will carry playoff implications. Daytona could be a saving grace; Legacy showed real strength there back in February, but the road course is a lingering question mark.

Historically, Jones hasn’t shone on road layouts with the next-gen car. His last top 10 finish on the road course came back in 2022 at Watkins Glen, and before that, COTA. However, the team’s performance in Mexico last month gives reason for cautious optimism. Teammate John Hunter Nemechek drove to an impressive sixth-place finish at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, and Jones himself spent time battling up front.

He notes, “They’re [road courses] not our strength from any sense of that, but I think it’s better. Mexico went a lot better for us. It felt like we had a good car; strategy kind of derailed us, but the No. 42 had a great finish. We still earned a bunch of points running up front a lot of the day, but I think we took a big step forward there.”

As the series returns to the streets of Chicago, Jones and crew chief Ben Beshore will be banking on a strategy to maximize stage points. Every decision on pit road will count, especially with so many unknowns surrounding the road course package. For the No. 43 team, the goal is simple. Survive, collect points, and keep the playoff dream alive.