NASCAR: Will Richard Childress Racing run the #27 Chevrolet in 2018?

With Paul Menard replacing Ryan Blaney at Wood Brothers Racing, will Richard Childress Racing still run the #27 Chevrolet in the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season?

Richard Childress Racing has still not confirmed whether or not they will be running the #27 Chevrolet in the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season after the departure of 37-year-old Paul Menard, who drove the car for seven seasons from the 2011 season up until this past season.

Menard, whose lone win for Richard Childress Racing came in his first year driving for team in the 2011 Brickyard 400, is leaving the team to take over for 23-year-old Ryan Blaney at Wood Brothers Racing as the driver of the #21 Ford in the 2018 season.

Blaney was confirmed as Team Penske’s third driver in the #12 Ford over the summer. Blaney will be an addition to a lineup already consisting of 33-year-old Brad Keselowski and 27-year-old Joey Logano.

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It was initially thought that 26-year-old Brennan Poole would take over the driving duties of the #27 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet after it was announced that Poole and Chip Ganassi Racing would be parting ways.

Poole had spent the 2016 and 2017 seasons as the full-time driver of the #48 Chevrolet for the team in the Xfinity Series. He finished in 8th and 6th place, respectively, in those two seasons, but he did not win a race in either of them. Those two seasons were his only two full-time seasons in the Xfinity Series after he drove part-time in the series for HScott Motorsports in the 2015 season.

However, there are doubts that Poole will be able to come up with the sponsorship money needed to run full-time in the Cup Series for Richard Childress Racing in the #27 Chevrolet in the 2018 season. Menards, which sponsored Paul Menard during his tenure with the team, will sponsor both Menard and Blaney in 2018 — not the #27 Chevrolet.

If Poole ends up not securing the ride, the team would likely not run the #27 Chevrolet, as there are no other drivers in the picture to take over the driving duties of the car full-time in the 2018 Cup Series season. With Richard Childress Racing downsizing their Xfinity Series team in 2018, this would not be surprising. Nothing has been confirmed yet either way, though.

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Will there be a driver of the #27 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet in the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season to team up with Austin Dillon, the driver of the #3 Chevrolet, and Ryan Newman, the driver of the #31 Chevrolet? With less than two months until the season begins with the Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 18th, that would appear to be unlikely, especially since Poole was rumored to land the ride over two months ago and nothing has been confirmed yet.

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