LEGACY MOTOR CLUB team chef\u00a0Duyen Ha\u00a0will step into the national spotlight this month as a contestant on\u00a0Top Chef: Carolinas\u00a0(Season 23), premiering March 9 on Bravo. The new season, filmed across Charlotte, North Carolina, and Greenville, South Carolina, opens with a high-energy culinary challenge at Charlotte Motor Speedway.<\/p>\n
Adding to the crossover moment, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and LEGACY MOTOR CLUB owner\u00a0Jimmie Johnson\u00a0will appear as a surprise guest judge in the premiere episode.<\/p>\n
Hosted by Kristen Kish and judged by Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons, the season features 15 chefs competing through challenges inspired by the culinary traditions of the Carolinas. Episodes began streaming early on Peacock on March 3.<\/p>\n
Ha joined LEGACY MOTOR CLUB as executive chef in 2025 to help build and oversee the organization\u2019s race-weekend culinary program, preparing meals for the organization\u2019s hospitality and guest entertainment arm, developing food experiences for partners and guests at select races throughout the season. A Michelin-trained chef who has worked in several acclaimed European kitchens, Ha also previously won an episode of the Food Network\u2019s\u00a0Chopped, where chefs must create dishes under intense time and ingredient constraints.<\/p>\n
That experience translated well to the fast-moving environment of NASCAR, where Ha has helped develop a culinary program that draws inspiration from each race market while serving large groups during race weekends at an elite level.<\/p>\n
\u201cRace weekends move fast, and the kitchen has to keep up,\u201d said Ha. \u201cBeing part of this team and helping build the program has been incredibly rewarding, and\u00a0Top Chef\u00a0gave me the chance to bring that same energy and creativity next level.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson said seeing Ha compete on a national stage reflects the culture of excellence the organization strives for across every part of its operation.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuyen is an important part of our team,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThe way she approaches her craft mirrors how we approach racing \u2014 with preparation, creativity and a commitment to doing things the right way. It was fun to be part of the premiere episode, I completely surprised her, and I\u2019m excited for people to see what she brings to the competition.\u201d<\/p>\n
Top Chef: Carolinas\u00a0premieres Monday, March 9 on Bravo, with early streaming available now on Peacock.<\/p>\n
LMC PR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LEGACY MOTOR CLUB team chef\u00a0Duyen Ha\u00a0will step into the national spotlight this month as a contestant on\u00a0Top Chef:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,717,13751,19115,19116,720,634,8354,582,721,722,82],"class_list":["post-520842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-charlotte","tag-charlotte-motor-speedway","tag-jimmie-johnson","tag-legacy-motor-club","tag-motor","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-cup-series","tag-racing","tag-series","tag-speedway","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}