NASCAR: Two top-tier rides won't compete in 2020

Two top-tier NASCAR rides will not compete in the 2020 season after championship-winning and runner-up 2019 Xfinity Series efforts.

For three consecutive NASCAR Xfinity Series seasons, Richard Childress Racing had one of their drivers qualify for the Championship. In 2017 and 2018, it was Daniel Hemric who got the job done despite the fact that he did not win a race in either year.

Then after he moved up to the Cup Series with Richard Childress Racing, it was reigning champion Tyler Reddick who made the bold move from JR Motorsports to Richard Childress’s team and not only advanced to the Championship 4 but capped off the season with his second consecutive title.

Call it the Circle of Life: Reddick is now slated to replace Hemric behind the wheel of the #8 Chevrolet in the Cup Series, while Hemric is slated to run part-time for JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series.

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But that circle technically won’t be completed.

For the first time since the 2011 season when Tim George Jr. competed in only three races, Richard Childress Racing will not be fielding an entry for a full-time Xfinity Series driver.

Since 2011, they have won two championships (Austin Dillon in 2013 and Reddick in 2019), and their full-time drivers have combined for eight additional top five finishes and a further seven top 10 finishes in the championship standings.

They are still slated to run one car on a full-time basis throughout the 2020 season, but that one car, the #21 Chevrolet, is slated to be shared by multiple drivers. Anthony Alfredo is set to compete in 17 of the season’s 33 races while Kaz Grala is set to compete in nine and Myatt Snider is set to compete in the other seven.

But there will be no full-time #2 Chevrolet, no replacement for Reddick and no full-time drivers for Childress’s organization. This is a championship-caliber entry that is now completely off the table in a series that already lost a ton of talent from 2019 to 2020 with the departure of the “Big 3”, including Reddick (six wins in 2019), Christopher Bell (eight) and Cole Custer (seven).

Daniel Suarez had been rumored to replace Reddick behind the wheel of the #2 Chevrolet for the 2020 season after he lost his ride behind the wheel of the #41 Ford at Stewart-Haas Racing in the Cup Series to the rookie Custer, but he ended up remaining in the Cup Series after all.

While he failed to qualify for the season-opening Daytona 500, Suarez is set to compete full-time behind the wheel of the #96 Toyota for Gaunt Brothers Racing this year.

With the 28-year-old Mexican out of the picture, there was never really any more speculation about who Richard Childress Racing might place behind the wheel of the #2 Chevrolet, and as it turns out, they won’t be placing anyone there.

Custer, who was promoted to the Stewart-Haas Racing Cup Series team from their Xfinity Series team after posting two consecutive runner-up finishes behind Reddick at NASCAR’s second highest level, will also not be replaced behind the wheel of the #00 Ford, and there was never much speculation about that, either.

Custer and Chase Briscoe were the team’s two full-time drivers in 2019. But Briscoe is set to serve as the team’s lone full-time driver in 2020 behind the wheel of the #98 Ford, which is fielded through a partnership with Biagi-DenBeste Racing.

The only other confirmed Ford driver for the entire season is Team Penske’s Austin Cindric, who, along with Briscoe, will be a championship favorite in the upcoming season after a strong 2019 campaign that saw him secure his first two victories.

Briscoe and Cindric finished in fifth and sixth place in the 2019 championship standings as the highest two non-Championship 4 drivers. The only Championship 4 driver from 2019 who is slated to return to the series this year is JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier. Bell’s replacement at Joe Gibbs Racing is Harrison Burton.

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The 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series season is scheduled to get underway later today with the NASCAR Racing Experience 300 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Fox Sports 1 is set to broadcast this race live beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET. Myatt Snider is set to be behind the wheel of the #21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet in this event.

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NASCAR: Two top-tier rides won’t compete in 2020

By Asher Fair | Feb 15, 2020

Two top-tier NASCAR rides will not compete in the 2020 season after championship-winning and runner-up 2019 Xfinity Series efforts.