NASCAR Cup Series: One key puzzle piece left for 2019 Silly Season

While there are multiple rides still available for the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season, there seems to be only one key puzzle piece remaining regarding the full-time driver lineup.

While Stewart-Haas Racing have not yet confirmed who will replace Kurt Busch behind the wheel of the #41 Ford and Go Fas Racing have not yet confirmed who will replace Matt DiBenedetto behind the wheel of the #32 Ford, the driver situations for these cars for the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season have pretty much become poorly kept secrets.

Busch left Stewart-Haas Racing to replace Jamie McMurray as the driver of the #1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, leaving the seat of the #41 Ford open, while DiBenedetto left Go Fas Racing to replace Kasey Kahne, who recently retired, as the driver of the #95 Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet (now the #95 Toyota), leaving the seat of the #32 Ford open.

It has been speculated that Daniel Suarez, who lost his ride at Joe Gibbs Racing behind the wheel of the #19 Toyota to former Furniture Row Racing driver Martin Truex Jr., will replace Busch behind the wheel of the #41 Ford. The 27-year-old Mexican has been tipped to replace the 40-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada native for several months now.

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It has also been speculated that Corey LaJoie, who competed part-time behind the wheel of the #72 TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet this past season, will replace DiBenedetto behind the wheel of the #32 Go Fas Racing Ford. An announcement by the team will likely confirm this move on Thursday.

This means that the only full-time ride without a confirmed full-time driver for the 2019 season is the #77 Spire Sports + Entertainment Chevrolet. As a result, this driver situation could very well be the only remaining puzzle piece regarding the full-time driver lineup.

Yes, there are other rides without confirmed drivers for the 2019 season, particularly the two Rick Ware Racing entries (#51 and #52, manufacturer to be determined), but based on the past, these other rides will likely end up being driven by more than one driver throughout the season.

With Spire Sports + Entertainment’s recent purchase of their charter from Furniture Row Racing, the 2017 championship-winning team that shut down following the conclusion of the 2018 season, having been reported as the most expensive charter sale in the history of the sport, all signs currently point to the team hiring one driver as the full-time driver of the #77 Chevrolet as opposed to multiple part-time drivers to drive the car throughout the season.

Who will end up driving the #77 Chevrolet in the 36 races on next year’s schedule?

There have been several drivers whose names have been tossed into the ring, but none of them seem to have emerged as the top candidate or candidates to land this ride at this point. With the 2019 season being scheduled to start in under two months, expect this to change in the near future.

Moreover, expect a lot more focus to be placed on the driver situation of the #77 Chevrolet in the near future considering the fact that the driver situations of the other two full-time rides without confirmed drivers for next season are pretty much poorly kept secrets with all things considered, as it would be shocking if Suarez and LaJoie do not end up driving the #41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford and the #32 Go Fas Racing Ford, respectively, in 2019.

Will Spire Sports + Entertainment hire just one full-time driver to compete behind the wheel of the #77 Chevrolet in the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season as expected? If so, who will that driver be? With the season being scheduled to start in under two months and the offseason having just passed the one-third mark, expect to know more about this driver situation in the near future.