A complete NASCAR Silly Season update

When cars hit the Daytona International Speedway in six weeks, each national NASCAR series’ field will have a different look than it did in 2020. 

In the Cup Series, several vacancies still exist. Most notably, the No. 38 Ford for Front Row Motorsports needs a driver. Other openings include all four Rick Ware Racing entries. Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 Chevrolet will not have a full-time driver. However, Justin Haley is expected to run a limited schedule in the car.

In the Xfinity Series, all of the Cup-affiliated teams have buttoned up their driver lineups. JD Motorsports, SS Greenlight Racing, and RSS Racing still have at least one seat to fill. These teams have proven to be mildly competitive in recent years, and it could be a solid landing spot for a younger driver that doesn’t have the funding or experience as some of the other drivers returning to the series.

The Truck Series has had a relatively tame Silly Season. Yes, Hailie Deegan and John Hunter Nemechek have been in the headlines regarding new faces joining the grid. Deegan is graduating from the ARCA Menards Series with DGR-Crosley, while Nemechek is joining Kyle Busch Motorsports after completing his rookie season as a Cup driver with FRM.

Without further ado, here are looks at the Cup, Xfinity, and Truck fields, respectively, as they currently stand:

NASCAR Cup Series

StarCom Racing No. 00: Quin Houff will return to the team for his second full season.

Chip Ganassi Racing Nos. 1, 42: Kurt Busch and Monster Energy will return, and Ross Chastain takes over the No. 42 after Matt Kenseth drove 32 of 36 races in 2020.

Team Penske Nos. 2, 12, 22: Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, and Joey Logano all return. Blaney signed a contract extension with The Captain’s team in March, and Keselowski is onboard with a one-year deal. 

Richard Childress Racing Nos. 3, 8: Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick both return. Reddick is coming off a solid rookie season, finishing 19th in the standings while Dillon looks to make another run into the playoffs.

Stewart-Haas Racing Nos. 4, 10, 14, 41: Kevin Harvick, Aric Almirola, and Cole Custer return. Clint Bowyer has retired from full-time Cup racing, though, and Chase Briscoe, who had nine Xfinity wins in 2020, will take over the No. 14 Ford.

Hendrick Motorsports Nos. 5, 9, 24, 48: Reigning Cup champion Chase Elliott will look to defend his title while William Byron, after winning his first race at Daytona in August, looks to have a breakout season. Alex Bowman returns to the team but with new colors — he takes over the Ally No. 48 Chevrolet from Jimmie Johnson. Kyle Larson joins the team and will drive the No. 5 Chevrolet. No sponsors have been announced for the former CGR driver yet.

Roush Fenway Racing Nos 6, 17: All is status quo with RFR as Ryan Newman and Chris Buescher return to the team for 2021.

Spire Motorsports Nos. 7, 77: Corey LaJoie joins Spire in its new second entry for 2021. LaJoie believes this team could be a contender soon as the Nex Gen car’s 2022 debut draws closer. The No. 77 is rumored to be a joint effort between Spire and retired boxing champion Floyd Mayweather’s The Money Team program for the upcoming campaign. Haley will run some races while the rest of the driver lineup is yet to be determined.

Joe Gibbs Racing Nos. 11, 18, 19, 20: Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, and Martin Truex Jr. all return while Christopher Bell departs the now-defunct Leavine Family Racing to drive the No. 20 Toyota. Bell will be paired with Adam Stevens, Busch’s crew chief since 2015, and Busch will have Ben Beshore atop his pit box.

Rick Ware Racing Nos. 15, 51, 52, 53: RWR used multiple drivers throughout 2020, but Brennan Poole, J.J. Yeley, and Joey Gase were essentially full-timers. Garrett Smithley, Gray Gaulding, and James Davison also ran a chunk of this team’s schedule, but no driver announcements have been made so far. The No. 51 does have full-season sponsorship from Biohaven Pharmaceuticals’ Nurtec, though. RWR says all four cars will be full-time, but it seems likely that it will only control three charters.

Wood Brothers Racing No. 21: Matt DiBenedetto returns for one more season but will need to perform if he wants to keep a competitive seat for 2022. Xfinity champion Austin Cindric will take over the famed No. 21 after the 2021 season.

23XI Racing No. 23: This new team co-owned by NBA legend Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin has hired Bubba Wallace to drive the No. 23 Toyota. Mike Wheeler will be the crew chief, and the No. 23 already has a slew of sponsorship from DoorDash, McDonald’s, Columbia Sportswear, Dr Pepper, and Root Insurance.

Front Row Motorsports Nos. 34, 38: Michael McDowell is expected to return to the No. 34 Ford. However, the No. 38 needs a driver. Anthony Alfredo, Kaz Grala, and Brennan Poole are potential candidates for this ride.

JTG-Daugherty Racing Nos. 37, 47: Ryan Preece and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will both return.

Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43: Erik Jones takes over The King’s car. Jerry Baxter returns as crew chief. Sponsorship announcements haven’t been made yet.

MBM Motorsports Nos 66, 49?: Timmy Hill and Chad Finchum will attempt the Daytona 500 in Fords for Carl Long’s team. Hill ran the full calendar in 2020 as an open entry, but Long said in a Facebook post that Hill is looking to run for Xfinity points and could race more in that series.

Live Fast Motorsports No. 78: This new team is co-owned by Matt Tifft and B.J. McLeod and will field Fords in an alliance with Stewart-Haas Racing. McLeod will drive full-time. The team acquired Go Fas Racing’s share of the Circle Sport charter, and GFR sponsor Keen Parts will sponsor some races.

Trackhouse Racing Team No. 99: Another new team for 2021, owned by Justin Marks. Daniel Suárez has been tabbed as the driver, and the team is aligned in a partnership with RCR. The No. 99 will use Spire’s No. 77 charter, and Travis Mack will serve as crew chief.

NASCAR Xfinity Series

JD Motorsports Nos. 0, 4, 6, 15: Jeffrey Earnhardt and Colby Howard return to the Nos. 0 and 15, respectively, for the full season. Ryan Vargas will presumably return in some capacity and perhaps bring back sponsorship from TikTok.

JR Motorsports Nos. 1, 7, 8, 9: The full-time driver lineup featuring Michael Annett, Justin Allgaier, and Noah Gragson remains unchanged. However, the No. 8 will be shared by Josh Berry and Sam Mayer for all but one race in 2021. Dale Earnhardt Jr. will make one start as he has the last three years.

Our Motorsports Nos. 02, 03: Brett Moffitt will return to the No. 02 full-time but run for Truck Series points. The No. 03 is the team’s new full-time entry, and Tyler Reddick will drive it at Daytona in February. NASCAR modified racer Patrick Emerling will likely make several starts, and IndyCar Series driver Santino Ferrucci could be making as many as 20 starts, according to a report by Racer.com last month.

Richard Childress Racing No. 2: Myatt Snider ran a partial schedule for RCR in 2020 but now gets to run the full season with backing from TaxSlayer.

B.J. McLeod Motorsports Nos. 5, 78, 99: Matt Mills returns to the No. 5. Jesse Little will take over the No. 78 after running the full season with JDM in 2020. The No. 99 will use several drivers, including Ryan Ellis and Josh Bilicki.

SS Greenlight Racing Nos. 07, 08: Bobby Dotter’s team is now operated by RWR, and Joe Graf Jr. will return to the No. 08. Gray Gaulding is rumored to return to the team after running the full 2019 season and take over the No. 07.

Kaulig Racing Nos. 10, 11, 16: Justin Haley returns to run for the title again. A.J. Allmendinger comes back and will complete the full schedule this time and put in a bid at his first NASCAR championship. Jeb Burton replaces Ross Chastain in the No. 10, but Chastain is expected to run a fourth car on a part-time basis.

MBM Motorsports/Hattori Racing Enterprises Nos. 13, 61, 66: Timmy Hill, Chad Finchum, and Stephen Leicht will all return. The No. 61 will be driven part-time by Truck driver Austin Hill in an HRE effort, too, as was the case in 2020.

Rick Ware Racing Nos. 17, 25?: RWR will run two full-time cars. It ran the No. 17 in a few races at the end of 2020. Not much else is known right now.

Joe Gibbs Racing Nos. 18, 19, 20, 54: Harrison Burton and Brandon Jones return, and Daniel Hemric will take over the No. 18 Toyota. The No. 54 will be the “all-star” car and run at least a partial schedule.

DGM Racing Nos. 36, 90, 92: Josh Williams will return to the No. 92, and Alex Labbe will likely be full-time again as well. Caesar Bacarella will run about 15 races, and team owner Mario Gosselin will drive a fourth car — No. 91 — at Daytona in February.

RSS Racing Nos. 39, 93: Ryan Sieg will continue with his family-owned team. The No. 93 still needs a driver for 2021. Snider ran most of the schedule in 2020.

Martins Motorsports No. 44: Tommy Joe Martins will return full-time with his family-owned car.

Mike Harmon Racing Nos. 47, 74: Kyle Weatherman and Bayley Currey will both return. The team says it will announce its 2021 plans on Jan. 1.

Jeremy Clements Racing No. 51: No changes here as Clements continues his team into the new year.

Jimmy Means Racing No. 52: Kody Vanderwal ran all but three races for JMR in 2020. No word yet if he returns.

Brandonbilt Motorsports No. 68: Brandon Brown continues his independent team after making the playoffs and finishing 11th in the standings.

Stewart-Haas Racing No. 98: Briscoe moves up to Cup, and Riley Herbst comes over from JGR to take over the ride. He brings Monster Energy sponsorship with him.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series

Young’s Motorsports Nos. 02, 20: Spencer Boyd returns to the No. 20. Tate Fogleman drove the No. 02 for his rookie season, but it isn’t known if he’ll return.

GMS Racing Nos. 2, 21, 23, 24, 26: Truck champion Sheldon Creed, Zane Smith, Tyler Ankrum all return. Chase Purdy takes over the No. 23, and Raphael Lessard will run at least 12 races in the No. 24. Lessard is looking to run the full season, but sponsorship will dictate that.

Jordan Anderson Racing No. 3: Anderson will return to his self-owned team.

Kyle Busch Motorsports Nos. 4, 18, 51: Nemechek takes over the No. 4, and Chandler Smith becomes the full-time driver of the No. 18 Toyota. Busch will run the No. 51 in presumably five races, and the rest of the truck’s lineup will be determined in the coming weeks.

ThorSport Racing Nos. 13, 88, 98, 99: Johnny Sauter, Matt Crafton, Grant Enfinger, and Ben Rhodes all return to the Ford truck team.

DGR-Crosley Nos. 15, 17: Deegan will take over the No. 17 full-time. Tanner Gray ran the No. 15 and finished 14th in points. It isn’t known if he’ll return yet.

Hattori Racing Enterprises No. 16: Austin Hill returns for his third full season with the Toyota team.

McAnally-Hilgemann Racing No. 19: Derek Kraus will run the No. 19 again.

AM Racing No. 22: Austin Wayne Self returns to his family’s team.

Front Row Motorsports No. 38: Todd Gilliland ran the full season in 2020 and made the playoffs. It is unclear if he returns.

Niece Motorsports Nos. 40, 42, 45: Ryan Truex and Carson Hocevar will be full-time, and Brett Moffitt takes over the No. 45 in search of his second Truck Series title.

Halmar Racing No. 52: Stewart Friesen is expected to return.

Hill Motorsports No. 56: Timmy Hill’s Truck team ran full-time. He drove the truck, as did his younger brother Tyler. Gus Dean raced twice, too.  

Rackley WAR, Reaume Brothers Racing, Roper Racing, Norm Benning Racing, CR7 Motorsports, Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing, Spencer Davis Motorsports, On Point Motorsports, Cram Racing Enterprises, CMI Motorsports, Clay Greenfield Racing, Henderson Motorsports, and Bret Holmes Racing may all run in some capacity in 2021.