Off-season Scorecard: Who Went Where?
The dawn of a new year brings an end to what some might say was one of the busiest silly seasons in NASCAR history. Between team’s downsizing, lawsuits, charter transfers, and driver retirements, a lot has happened and we can’t blame you if you’ve lost track. We will try our best today to explain it all.
When Stewart-Haas Racing announced they would cease operations in their current form at the end of 2024 it cast a ripple affect throughout NASCAR that wasn’t even fully settled until the third day of the new year. All four of their Cup drivers have found new homes and will continue competing in the series in 2025. Their wave of announcements started last summer, when Christopher Bell shared with the world that Chase Briscoe is joining Joe Gibbs Racing, taking over the 19 car, for the “retiring” Martin Truex Jr, more on him later. That was followed by Front Row Motorsports announcing that they are expanding to three teams with the signing of Noah Gragson and the purchase of an SHR charter. Later on Josh Berry announced that he signed with the Wood Brothers to drive their famous 21 car, replacing Harrison Burton, who will drop down to the Xfinity Series and compete with AM Racing. The last domino to fall on the driver side was Ryan Preece who will move to RFK Racing in a new third entry, the 60, with a charter leased from Rick Ware Racing. Kroger is also moving to RFK from JTG and will have sponsorship on all three cars next season. As for Rick Ware they will field one full time-chartered entry this season, with Cody Ware behind the field, and occasionally run a second ‘open’ car.
As for SHR’s charters, one was acquired by Trackhouse as they will field a third car for Shane Van Gisbergen, the 88 Chevy. One charter is staying at Haas Way for the newly branded Haas Factory Team, the 41 driven by Cole Custer. The final two charters were caught in limbo. They were earmarked for 23XI and Front Row Motorsports, the two teams that elected to sue NASCAR over the next proposed charter agreement. While the lawsuit is still ongoing and likely won’t be settled until late in the 2025 calendar year, they were granted a preliminary injunction that allows them to race as chartered teams and obtain the SHR charters. Riley Herbst will be behind the wheel of 23XI’s new 35 car while Zane Smith will drive Front Row’s 38 entry.
As for the rest of the grid it gets a lot simpler. Zane Smith’s return to Front Row comes as a result of Michael McDowell leaving for Spire Motorsports and the 71 car, a ride swap if you will. Front Row will also see Todd Gilliland move from the 38 to the 34 car and Noah Gragson will bring the number 4 with him from Stewart-Haas. Noah’s former number, 10, is being used by Kaulig Racing in 2025, renumbered from 31, and will have Ty Dillon behind the wheel. Dillon’s teammate will be AJ Allmendinger, who once again moves back to full time Cup competition in the 16 car. Back at Spire Justin Haley retains the seat in the number 7 that he took over late in 2024 due to a ‘trade’ with Rick Ware Racing for Corey Lajoie. Lajoie will remain at Rick Ware this year in a part time driving role and serve as an analyst for Amazon Prime’s NASCAR coverage. One last piece of the puzzle comes due to Kroger going to RFK, JTG Daugherty Racing will rebrand to Hyak Motorsports with Ricky Stenhouse Jr remaining behind the wheel of the 47. Oh and here’s a couple more nuggets that involve a one-off entries that will appear throughout the season; the Daytona 500 will see Martin Truex Jr compete in a Tricon Garage Cup car, Helio Castroneves will make his NASCAR debut in the Project 91 entry for Trackhouse, and 18-year old motorsport sensation Connor Zilisch, who is competing full time for Jr Motorsports in Xfinity, will make his Cup debut at Circuit of the Americas for Trackhouse in March.
Got all that? Cause the 2025 season starts soon, and we cannot wait to see how all of these moves play out on track this year!
