Several NASCAR drivers have competed for just one team as full-time drivers in the Cup Series. Who could pull a Tom Brady move?
After 20 seasons as the quarterback of the New England Patriots, six-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady decided that it was time to move on — not retire, but move on.
Brady opted to sign a two-year contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The former Michigan Wolverine is set to replace Jameis Winston, the number one overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft out of Florida State. Winston was the team’s starting quarterback for each of the last five seasons.
Many fans saw Brady retiring before he ever played for a team other than the Robert Kraft-owned, Bill Belichick-led Patriots, and pictures of the 42-year-old San Mateo, California native wearing a Buccaneers uniform almost look surreal.
But this outlines that in sports, anything is possible.
Which NASCAR drivers could pull off a Brady-esque move?
Several of the sport’s active drivers have only ever competed for one team as full-time drivers in the sport, including several who have been around for quite a while, not just those whose careers only began within the last year or so.
One of those drivers, the longest tenured of them all, is seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, who has driven for Hendrick Motorsports throughout his entire 19-year career as a full-time driver. But he is slated to retire at the end of the season.
Here are three drivers who could position themselves to make moves to teams other than the teams for which they have driven throughout their entire full-time careers.
Brad Keselowski
Aside of Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski is the longest tenured driver at any one team in the NASCAR Cup Series whose contract expires at the end of the 2020 season.
He signed a multi-year contract extension with Team Penske back in July in 2017, and while teammates Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney are both under contract with the team for at least another three seasons, the 36-year-old Rochester Hills, Michigan native is a pending free agent.
Not all of Keselowski’s starts in the Cup Series have come with Roger Penske’s team. As a JR Motorsports driver in the Xfinity Series back in 2008 and 2009, he competed in select Cup Series races for Hendrick Motorsports and Phoenix Racing in the Cup Series during those two seasons.
He made his Team Penske debut late in the 2009 season, and he hasn’t missed a race since, officially becoming a full-time driver the following year.
Keselowski has stated that the negotiation process on a new deal has not yet begun with Team Penske, but he hasn’t ruled out leaving the team after 11-plus seasons, either.
He did, however, shoot down retirement rumors, and he noted that there are “a lot of really good rides out there” and that he would be willing to listen should a team “dial in”, but that he will not be the one “dialing out”.
The most likely landing spot for him outside of Team Penske and the #2 Ford would be Hendrick Motorsports to replace Johnson behind the wheel of the #48 Chevrolet, given his past ties to the team and the fact that they would have signed him out of the Xfinity Series had they had the room to do so.
The other “good rides” out there include rides with Stewart-Haas Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing, as there are quite a few drivers who are in contract years competing for those organizations.
Kyle Larson
Kyle Larson hasn’t been with Chip Ganassi Racing for quite as long as Brad Keselowski has been with Team Penske, but he is also in a contract year with potentially multiple options if he opts to switch cars for the first time in his career as a full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver.
Larson did make a few starts for Phoenix Racing in the 2013 season, but that was before he was a full-time driver. He signed with Chip Ganassi Racing to replace Juan Pablo Montoya ahead of the 2014 season behind the wheel of the #42 Chevrolet, and he has not missed a race since then.
The 27-year-old Elk Grove, California native is widely believed to be the hottest pending free agent on the market, especially with Ryan Blaney no longer in the mix to challenge him for that title, and there have been several rumored landing spots for him next year.
Larson could opt to remain loyal to Chip Ganassi, but he could very well find himself with a different team after seven years as well. He has been discussed as a potential replacement candidate for Jimmie Johnson behind the wheel of the #48 Chevrolet at Hendrick Motorsports.
But him landing there would likely depend on whether or not team owner Rick Hendrick would be willing to allow him to continue running his dirt racing schedule, which he has maintained is still his priority. Ganassi has always allowed him to do that.
Another option is Stewart-Haas Racing. They are slated to have multiple open seats, and team co-owner Tony Stewart even wanted Larson to be his replacement ahead of the 2017 season. Notably, Stewart and Larson share illustrious dirt racing backgrounds, so Larson’s dirt racing schedule wouldn’t be an issue.
Unfortunately, Stewart announced that he was set to retire after the 2016 season all the way back in September of 2015, and per the specific’s of Larson’s contract with Chip Ganassi Racing at the time, he was unable to sign a deal with another team, and Stewart ended up signing Clint Bowyer, who is one of the Stewart-Haas Racing drivers in a contract year this year.
But could it happen in 2021?
Denny Hamlin
Of the three drivers discussed in this article, Denny Hamlin is the only one whose current contract is not slated to expire at the end of the 2020 season, as he is signed with Joe Gibbs Racing through at least the 2021 campaign.
But excluding Jimmie Johnson, Hamlin is also the longest tenured driver at any one team in the Cup Series, so he is slated to take that crown from the seven-time champion in 2021.
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He has driven for Joe Gibbs Racing since the 2006 season, and he has driven a FedEx-sponsored #11 car in each of his 15 seasons with the team. It was a Chevrolet in 2006 and 2007 before the team switched to Toyota.
It is hard to envision Hamlin driving anything other than the #11 FedEx Toyota at this point. The late J.D. Gibbs, one of Joe’s two sons, was the reason he was hired to drive the car, and it’s hard to see the two sides parting ways for anything other than Hamlin’s retirement.
Hamlin is still searching for his first championship, and at the age of 39, his window is undeniably closing. Joe Gibbs Racing also have a driver waiting in the wings at Leavine Family Racing in Christopher Bell, and their Xfinity Series team now has an all-time high three full-time drivers. The Chesterfield, Virginia native can’t afford another season like he had in 2018.
It may be a long-shot, but if Hamlin ever ends up not being able to re-sign with the team, don’t put it past him to try to capture a championship elsewhere before he officially retires.
Will any of these three drivers end up driving for NASCAR Cup Series teams other than the teams for which they have driven throughout their entire careers as full-time drivers? If so, who will leave his/their current team(s), and where will he/they end up?