NASCAR: 10 drivers who deserve better rides in the Cup Series

By Asher Fair | Aug 24, 2017

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - JULY 01: David Ragan, driver of the #38 Shriners Hospital for Chldrn 95th Annvrsry Ford, and Ty Dillon, driver of the #13 GEICO Military Chevrolet, lead the field to a restart during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 59th Annual Coke Zero 400 Powered By Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway on July 1, 2017 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sarah Crabill/Getty Images) /

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DAYTONA BEACH, FL – JULY 01: David Ragan, driver of the #38 Shriners Hospital for Children 95th Anniversary Ford, and Ty Dillon, driver of the #13 GEICO Military Chevrolet (Photo by Sarah Crabill/Getty Images) /

While many NASCAR Cup Series drivers who drive for top-tier teams will be on the move this offseason, there is certainly no shortage of talent to fill their seats.

Drivers currently driving for top-tier teams like Danica Patrick of Stewart-Haas Racing, Kasey Kahne of Hendrick Motorsports, Matt Kenseth of Joe Gibbs Racing and Kurt Busch of Stewart-Haas Racing all have uncertain futures beyond the conclusion of the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series season.

While some of their seats are already taken for next season, it doesn’t hurt to look at which under-the-radar drivers who currently drive for smaller and more underfunded teams would, to the surprise of many, likely do well driving for some of the teams that the above drivers drive for.

Some of the drivers on this list have contracts with their current teams that don’t end at the conclusion of this season, but most of them are young and should have plenty of opportunities to prove they belong as full-time drivers for top-tier organizations in the future.

Let’s have a look at these 10 drivers and why each of them has a case to be made for them in terms of driving for one of the NASCAR Cup Series top-tier teams at some point in the future.

NOTE: This list is in alphabetical order.

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