Friday 5: New Cup owners reshaping sport with their bold moves

NASCAR’s newest Cup owners are reshaping the sport through bold decisions that could force other team owners to react accordingly or risk falling behind.

The move this week by Legacy Motor Club — co-owned by Maury Gallagher and seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson — to join Toyota in 2024 is the latest in a string of aggressive moves new Cup owners have made seeking a competitive edge.

Justin Marks (Trackhouse Racing), Brad Keselowski (RFK Racing) and Denny Hamlin (23XI Racing) all have made moves in the past two years that not only impact the sport now but likely will do so for years to come. Those three teams have five drivers in the top 12 in points heading into Sunday’s Cup race at Kansas Speedway.

“A lot of the battles that you see on the racetrack are happening in the boardrooms, with decisions on hiring drivers, hiring crew chiefs and where to put resources — aero, engine, vehicle dynamics — how to get that next great talent out of the schools, whether it be for a pit crew member or an engineer,” Keselowski said.

“These are very serious battles. They fight every day. There’s winners and losers on these every day. The guys that are good at it, they’re the ones that are winning the races. It hides behind the driver that won the race, and I think a lot of these owners are quite OK with that, myself included.

“But the reality is a lot of battles happen at the ownership and the (general manager) level of what you see on any given Sunday.”

Marks, Keselowski and Hamlin — all new owners since 2021 have had their share of victories off the track.

Marks was a single-car team owner in 2021 when he purchased Chip Ganassi Racing, securing both charters from that organization and later signing Ross Chastain to join Daniel