Jimmie Johnson's Legacy Motor Club has shown incredible improvement in 2025, and it would only be slightly surprising if one of his drivers made the postseason.
With the Nascar Cup Series going north for Sunday's third annual Chicago Street Race, Johnson's two-car organisation, which rebranded from Petty GMS Motorsports in 2023, is on the upswing and getting hot at the right time.
For at least the remainder of 2025, the organisation's hopes at playoff glory rest with 29-year-old Erik Jones and 28-year-old John Hunter Nemechek, the son of four-time Cup race winner Joe Nemechek.
In his third season in LMC's No 43 Toyota Camry, Jones was a major player at Atlanta last Saturday as part of a hard-charging contingent of roughly eight cars at the end.
He worked his way to fifth in his final time through the tri-oval, matching his season-best showing at Texas Motor Speedway in the first week of May.
In the championship standings that determine the 16-car field, Jones is 18th with 379 points, trailing Ryan Preece (405) and 16th-place Bubba Wallace (428).
And let's be honest: Jones can flat out wheel a race car. You don't win two Southern 500s at Darlington, one of stock car racing's most demanding tracks, on anything other than talent. Rarely does a driver "back in" to a win there.
Just look at the challenging speedway's iconic list of winners: David Pearson is tops with 10 victories, followed by Dale Earnhardt (nine) and Jeff Gordon (seven). Those stock car legends possess 14 championships between them.
For Jones, who won the 2019 and 2022 Southern 500s, that is powerful company to keep.
'WE'D LOVE TO GET A WIN'
With his first victory coming at Daytona in the summer of 2018, Jones appears to have a penchant for winning at NASCAR's most prestigious venues.
"We've had good runs since Charlotte in the 600," said Jones, who has finished inside the top 13 in six of the past eight races. "We're at the cusp here. ... We're one good step away from being contenders. I hope we can take that step soon. We'd love to get a win."
Riding 24th in points, Nemechek needs a win more than a good points days.
He has just one top-five (Daytona) and six top-10s, but his No 42 has been up front recently. Nemechek has finished sixth in two of the past three races and qualified fourth at Pocono.
Maybe he can be this season's Harrison Burton, the lame duck driver who made the playoffs by beating Kyle Busch at Daytona last summer.
Legacy Motor Club could be growing, too.
According to a report from Fox Sports, Xfinity Series driver Jesse Love, wheelman of the No 2 Chevrolet at Richard Childress Racing, could pilot a third LMC Camry next season if the organisation can acquire another charter.
LMC filed a lawsuit earlier this year against Rick Ware Racing for violating an agreement for a charter sale. RWR has countersued, saying the deal was for the 2027 season, not 2026.
Getting the 20-year-old Love would be a boost to a racing stable that's on the rise, but it would not be at the expense of Jones or Nemechek.
With Trackhouse Racing's Daniel Suarez out of the No 99 at season's end, available seats come and go for other drivers – murky uncertainty for some of them about their future.
But Legacy's present looks clear and strong.
Road racing ace Shane van Gisbergen, who won in Nascar for the first time in Chicago's streets two years ago, scored his second pole in as many road races Saturday when he clocked a lap at 88.338 mph around the twisting course.
Also a winner last month from the pole in Mexico City, the New Zealander put his No 88 Chevrolet on the pole beside the No 71 Chevrolet of Michael McDowell (87.979 mph).
Carson Hocevar gridded third, marking his best career start on a road course, while Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe rounded out the top-five qualifiers.
Points leader William Byron, last week's winner Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin all failed to make a qualifying attempt and will start at the rear of the 40-car field.