Jimmie Johnson playfully calls out "complicated" NASCAR charter system in admission of team ownership

In 2022, Jimmie Johnson announced his comeback in NASCAR in a new role. The driver with seven Cup titles to his name would join a fellow seven-timer, Richard Petty's organization, Petty GMS Racing, in a minority owner and part-time driver capacity.

Prior to his comeback, Johnson had spent a couple of full-time seasons in the IndyCar Series with Chip Ganassi Racing as a driver.

Recently, in a conversation with Kevin Harvick, the former #48 driver was asked what drove him to come back to NASCAR, and that too in an ownership role. Johnson shared that the idea of becoming an owner was in his head before the offer of NASCAR ownership came to him.

Johnson said that he missed NASCAR, the people, and the feeling of being in the industry while he was racing with CGR in IndyCar.

"There was an opportunity there to maybe control and run the #48 car in CGR and have ownership there. And as I look closer at it, as much fun as I was having and as interesting as it was, the financial piece without having a charter system, man, it just seemed like a tough road to hoe.

"I'm not sure I've picked an easier road to hoe here with NASCAR and how complicated this is, but from a business opportunity NASCAR space made sense for a lot of reasons," Jimmie Johnson described.

When asked whether he considered being an owner a 24x7 job, Johnson agreed. He then recalled how he would laugh at Kevin Harvick back in the day for having a team and going through so much stress and torturing himself. Harvick claimed that the biggest challenge for him, which was also the thing he liked the most about being a team owner, was racing around the old timers like Hendrick Motorsports.

It's worth mentioning that Harvick closed the doors on Kevin Harvick Incorporated in 2011 after a decade of ownership.

Jimmie Johnson comes clean on his journey from minority owner in Petty GMS to majority owner at LMC

Further sharing the details about his foray into NASCAR ownership, Jimmie Johnson said that the journey so far has been 'an evolution.' He thanked his business partner, Maury Gallagher, for having an open mind and bringing him in.

Johnson claimed that at the time he was brought in, he didn't have much to do, as he was a minority owner and had no control. The former HMS driver further commended Gallagher's philosophy of being able to 'bootstrap stuff' and making things happen, remarking on his win in 2022 with Erik Jones.

Having said that, Johnson touched on the evolution of Petty GMS Racing into Legacy Motor Club. The seven-timer went from a minority team owner to a majority owner with a major restructuring under Knighthead Capital Management ahead of the 2025 season.

"As it's evolved and moved along it's just a much different environment for a two car team and headcount and resources and all the different elements. So when he fatigued and brought this opportunity to me to kind of fasttrack my position of course I jumped at it. Been very thankful for the opportunity.

"We've done a lot of evolving and growing since Knight came in as a investor and partner in the team and headcount's gone up, our technologie is increasing our resources and we're getting there," Jimmie Johnson explained, via the aforementioned source.

Jimmie Johnson stated that the organization still has 'a long way to go', claiming that their philosophy centers around their employees. Johnson said their last recruiting window went well because of which they're running better this season.