How Jimmie Johnson Is Redefining Sponsorship Inside NASCAR’s Infield

DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA – JANUARY 25: Jimmie Johnson, co-owner of Legacy Motor Club on track prior to the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway on January 25, 2025 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

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There was a time when NASCAR hospitality meant a folding chair in the infield, a cooler full of light beer, and maybe—if you knew the right people—a perch atop a pit box. If you were really living large, you got a suite stocked with Budweiser and bowls of pretzels. Luxury, it was not.

Those days are long gone. Today, the infield is where corporate money meets corporate networking, a mashup of racing and buzzwords like “brand activation” and “synergy.” It’s less about whether your driver finishes third or thirteenth and more about how many deals get signed over sliders and a glass of Pinot.

Perhaps no one is embracing this more than Jimmie Johnson, a 7-time NASCAR Cup series champion who won 83 Cup races in a storied career that made his NASCAR Hall of Fame entry a forgone inclusion. When he stepped away from fulltime NASCAR racing as a driver at the end of 2020 he wasn’t done. Far from it. In fact, some would say he was just getting started.

In a move straight out of the “now for something completely different” playbook, Johnson swapped the thunderous roar of stock cars of NASCAR for the knife-edge precision of IndyCar, racing part-time in that series in 2021 and 2022 and even throwing himself into the deep end with the Indianapolis 500. The results weren’t exactly headline-grabbing, but that wasn’t the point. He’d stepped outside his comfort zone— and that willingness set the stage for his latest reinvention: not just co-owner, but now majority owner of Legacy Motor Club, a NASCAR team, formerly known as Petty GMS Motorsports.

He still straps in for the occasional NASCAR race with his new team. And in 2023 he checked off a bucket-list item, teaming with Chevrolet, NASCAR, and Hendrick Motorsports to haul a massive Next Gen car across the Atlantic and into the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans. But these days Johnson’s real impact isn’t just behind the wheel — he’s dragging in new ideas from IndyCar, Le Mans, and Formula 1 and dropping them squarely into NASCAR’s backyard, or more precisely the infield.

Legacy Motor Club has partnered with Newmar RV to create a sort of rolling Davos—a sleek motorcoach with air conditioning, private rooms, and high-quality food served in an upscale tent just outside.

“At the end of the day, having a home base is just so important,” Johnson said “For our working group, executive staff, board members, ownership partners—all these layers—it’s not the same every week, but we need a consistent workspace and level of hospitality. That’s what Newmar gives us.”

Legacy Motor Club’s Newmar setup isn’t just a place to talk business—it’s a place where you eat like royalty. Forget the pretzels and Bud Light of old; Johnson brought in Duyen Ha, a Chopped Champion chef, to curate the menu. It’s high-quality food with a personal touch, the kind of spread that makes corporate guests feel like they’re part of something special rather than just another face in the crowd. This is where sponsors, executives, and partners mingle, cut deals, and build the kind of relationships that keep teams funded.

“In my early NASCAR days, hospitality was controlled by the tracks,” Johnson said. “It lost the team touch point; it lost the sense of ownership. IndyCar does such a nice job letting people really see, touch, and feel the brand. That’s what I wanted to bring here.”

It’s part of a shift because the sponsorship model in NASCAR is evolving. Sticker space on the car is nice, but it’s the weekend experience that matters. Johnson really believes this is the future of the sponsorship model: creating an experience where people want to come to see, touch and feel. And for corporate sponsors, the B-to-B interaction for their individual brands that cross over into motorsport is just as valuable.

Sometimes that B-to-B networking is as simple as two sponsors realizing they should be doing business together. “We’ll have Family Dollar sitting there talking to Mobil 1,” Johnson says. “And you realize, wow, they sell oil in Family Dollar—these two should probably do more business together. If our race team can help those folks network and grow their business, then we’re more valuable as a partner.”

He’s seen this approach start to translate in real time as CEOs want to be at a race weekend and have even held corporate board meetings at the track built around a race weekend. That’s just part of the validation in what he’s trying to accomplish. The other comes from a new source: earlier this year he partnered with a private equity firm, Knighthead Capital. That firm has a sports car team they back with a model that mirrors what Johnson is doing in NASCAR.

So then, Johnson says he’s confident sponsors will deepen their involvement because of the team’s approach, which usually translates to more money that can help the team improve on-track in the future. “That year, you might not have the coupon to cash,” he admitted. “But in my mind, I know we’ve built a relationship and when it comes time to renew, we are valuable to them in a different way, and we’ll probably get an extension.”

And while Johnson’s team is still fighting to climb NASCAR’s competitive ladder, results are starting to follow. Both of Legacy Motor Club’s cars finished inside the top five at Darlington, a sign that the business foundation and on-track performance may be aligning.

From Johnson’s perspective, this is just the beginning. “From a macro standpoint, yes, I think NASCAR’s infield will look more like Formula 1 or IndyCar over the next decade,” he said. “You can’t just buy access—you’ve got to be with a team. That creates opportunity for us. We don’t need white glove service, but we do need a smart offering with high-quality food, staff, and a welcoming environment.”

Johnson admits he didn’t see this coming.

“It surprised me,” he said. “My two years in IndyCar really opened my eyes to the opportunity that hasn’t been maximized in NASCAR.

“I wake up with the same excitement I had when I was 25 and knew I was going to drive a Hendrick Cup car. I know there’s something here—not just building a championship team but building something that branches out into what car enthusiasts are interested in.”

For a driver who once made his name by winning everything in sight, Jimmie Johnson may have just found a new way to win—this time in the boardroom and the infield, not just on the track.