NASCAR: Top 5 remaining free agents for 2021
By Asher Fair
Silly Season for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season has not lacked storylines thus far, but there are still plenty of other driver situations to sort out.
Driver movement and signings for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series lineup have been quite frequent throughout the 2020 season.
But even with so many high-profile drivers having found homes for at least the 2021 campaign, there are still a number of free agents still on the market. Here are the top five.
Top 5 remaining free agents: No. 5 – Ryan Preece
Ryan Preece took a step back in his sophomore NASCAR Cup Series season after finishing in 26th place in the championship standings as the rookie driver of the #47 Chevrolet for JTG Daugherty Racing last year.
Now piloting the #37 Chevrolet, the 30-year-old Berlin, Connecticut native only finished in 29th place in the standings after the 36-race season, and his average finish of 23.1 from a year ago has dropped more than one full place to 24.3 this season.
However, it may not be time to give up on Preece yet, despite his apparent dropoff from 2019 to 2020, and he has, in fact, been rumored to return.
He started the season without finishing higher than 12th place in the first 28 races. Then he recorded two top 10 finishes in three races, including an impressive season-best ninth place run at Bristol Motor Speedway.
After recording just seven top 20 finishes in the 26-race regular season, he recorded eight through the first nine races of the playoffs. Most notably, he beat teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in six of these nine races after beating him only eight times throughout the regular season.
While it was in doubt a few months or even weeks ago, it is expected that he will be back behind the wheel of the #37 Chevrolet in 2021.