While many confirmations regarding the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series driver lineup have already been made, there are still quite a few seats without drivers. Here are the top five.
Many seats that did not enter the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season with drivers under contract for 2021 now have drivers under contract for next year.
But there are still a few seats that don’t yet have any drivers under contract for the 2021 Cup Series season. Here are the top five.
Top open seats for 2021: No. 5 – #77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
The #77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet is the only car on this list which was not driven by a full-time driver in the 2020 season, but Spire Motorsports, which have partnerships with both Chip Ganassi Racing and Hendrick Motorsports, have acquired multiple charters for next year, and the plan is to run at least one full-time driver.
The #77 Chevrolet is the team’s only current car, and if they do end up with at least one full-time driver next year, the #77 Chevrolet would likely be the first destination for whoever is tabbed as the team’s first ever full-time competitor.
Nine different drivers piloted the #77 Chevrolet in the 2020 season. Those nine drivers were Ross Chastain, Reed Sorenson, J.J. Yeley, Garrett Smithley, B.J. McLeod, James Davison, Josh Bilicki, Stanton Barrett and Justin Haley.
Several of those drivers are already out of the running to potentially drive the #77 Chevrolet full-time next year, and those who aren’t officially out likely won’t move from part-time to full-time. Five of them also competed for Rick Ware Racing this past season part-time as well, so that likely won’t change unless they stop competing altogether.
Corey LaJoie, who currently competes behind the wheel of the #32 Ford for Go Fas Racing but will not be doing so next year, is seen as the top option here.
Top open seats for 2021: No. 4 – #96 Gaunt Brothers Racing Toyota
The #96 Gaunt Brothers Racing Toyota is the only non-chartered car on this list, but the goal is for that to change in the near future.
It was confirmed in mid-September that Marty Gaunt’s team and Daniel Suarez would be parting ways after 2020, with Suarez set to join Trackhouse Racing Team, Justin Marks’s new team, behind the wheel of the #99 Chevrolet next year.
Gaunt Brothers Racing have not yet confirmed Suarez’s replacement, but there are bigger questions for this team following their first season of full-time competition.
They are one of only two Toyota teams in the Cup Series aside from the powerhouse Joe Gibbs Racing team for next year, and the other, 23XI Racing, is a new organization started by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin and is slated to have a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs’s team.
There have been other discussions about Gaunt Brothers Racing potentially landing additional investors, landing additional support from Toyota Racing Development and acquiring a charter, moves that would be made with the goal of eventually becoming as competitive as 2017 champions and 2018 runners-up Furniture Row Racing, which had a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing from 2016 to 2018 before folding after the 2018 season.
If that goal is attained, the #96 Toyota could easily be atop this list.
Top open seats for 2021: T-No. 2 – #34 Front Row Motorsports Ford
The 2020 season was one of Front Row Motorsports’ best since they began competing in the NASCAR Cup Series back in 2005, and Michael McDowell has played a huge role in that success behind the wheel of his #34 Ford.
McDowell finished the season in 23rd place in the championship standings with one race remaining on the 2020 schedule, and Bob Jenkins’s team have never seen a driver finish that high except in 2016, when Chris Buescher’s upset win at Pocono Raceway locked him into the playoffs and therefore secured him a top 16 finish.
Entering the year, McDowell had eight career top 10 finishes in 321 starts, and he hadn’t finished in the top 10 in a non-superspeedway race since finishing in 10th place at Homestead-Miami Speedway driving for Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing in 2016.
But he wheeled the #34 Ford to four top 10 finishes in 2020, all in non-superspeedway races, and his average finish of 20.9 is more than one full position higher than his previous career-high of 22.2.
McDowell remains unsigned for the 2021 season, but it is expected that he will be back behind the wheel of the #34 Ford for what would be a fourth year next year.
Top open seats for 2021: T-No. 2 – #38 Front Row Motorsports Ford
The #38 Front Row Motorsports Ford is tied for second place with the team’s #34 Ford due to the fact that they are with the same team and the fact that neither one has a confirmed driver for next year.
As noted on the previous slide, Front Row Motorsports have had a solid 2020 season, and John Hunter Nemechek, the current driver of the #38 Ford, has played a crucial role in that success.
Nemechek began competing for the team last season when he replaced Matt Tifft in three races, and his performance during that three-race stint ultimately netted him a full-time ride for the team for 2020.
In the season’s first nine races, he recorded five top 16 finishes, an impressive mark for a driver in his equipment — and he did it as a rookie. One of those finishes was a ninth place finish at Darlington Raceway.
He ended up recording16 top 20 finishes, including two career-high finishes of eighth place at Talladega Superspeedway, with an average finish of 22.4. He ran more laps and miles than any rookie in the field, and this year’s rookie class was loaded.
Nemechek is expected to return in 2021, with many rumors of him going elsewhere to teams including but not limited to Hendrick Motorsports, Chip Ganassi Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing having been shot down.
Top open seats for 2021: No. 1 – #37 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet
JTG Daugherty Racing may be one of the most underrated teams in the NASCAR Cup Series. Ryan Preece simply hasn’t had a great second season behind the wheel of the #37 Chevrolet this year, and while Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is fast, he is anything but consistent.
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The team have also seen their 2020 season dashed by a streak of four consecutive races that saw one of their two drivers finish in last place.
But in his first season driving for the team, Stenhouse has shown they have the speed needed to contend for solid results, even wins, every so often.
He finished in third place at the intermediate track of Las Vegas Motor Speedway and backed that up with a fourth place finish at another 1.5-mile track of Charlotte Motor Speedway. He also finished in second at Talladega Superspeedway in a photo finish.
And let’s not forget what Chris Buescher last season before he replaced Stenhouse at Roush Fenway Racing. He recorded 16 straight top 18 finishes, something that not even seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson has been able to do at any point throughout his illustrious 19-year career as a full-time driver at the sport’s top level.
As a result, with Preece un-signed for next year, the #37 Chevrolet is arguably the most attractive seat still open for next year. He is, however, expected to return.
Which drivers will end up behind the wheels of each of these five cars for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season?