NASCAR: The one remaining car without a full-time driver

Just one car projected to have a full-time driver for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season still does not yet have a confirmed driver.

The driver lineup for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season is slowly but surely coming together, and it got one step closer with the recent and expected confirmation that Michael McDowell is set to return for a fourth season behind the wheel of the #34 Ford for Front Row Motorsports.

But among chartered entries projected to have a single full-time driver for 2021, there is still one seat without a confirmed driver for next year.

While it wasn’t initially expected to be this way, the #38 Ford at Front Row Motorsports does not have a confirmed driver for 2021 after the surprising departure of rookie John Hunter Nemechek, who is set to drop down to the Truck Series and compete for Kyle Busch Motorsports behind the wheel of the #4 Toyota next year.

A total of 31 chartered entries have confirmed drivers for the 2021 season.

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There are six other entries listed as chartered entries. Aside from the Front Row Motorsports entry, there are five: one at Spire Motorsports and four at Rick Ware Racing. However, there are only 36 charters, meaning that only four of these other five entries are actually chartered entries.

The reason for this is Spire Motorsports. They entered the 2020 season with one charter (from Furniture Row Racing post-2018) and purchased Leavine Family Racing’s when the team folded after 2020. That second charter has been loaned to Trackhouse Racing Team.

But Spire Motorsports have announced that they have three charters and are planning to run two full-time entries. The #7 Chevrolet is set to be driven full-time by Corey LaJoie while the #77 Chevrolet is set to have multiple drivers, with only Justin Haley confirmed thus far. It is unclear from where they purchased a third charter.

It had been speculated that the third one had come from JTG Daugherty Racing, but nothing was ever confirmed in that respect. In that case, Ryan Preece would be driving a non-chartered #37 Chevrolet.

Notably, Spire Motorsports have a partnership with Rick Ware Racing, which reportedly own four charters. But the presumed use of one of those four charters by Spire Motorsports would make one of Rick Ware’s four cars a non-chartered car.

Again, none of this has been confirmed, save for the fact that the provisional list of “chartered” entries currently contains one more entry than charters available, and this situation will be clarified when more information is available.

But even with all of that being said, none of these other entries are projected to have full-time drivers anyway.

So Front Row Motorsports is the team we have our eyes on as the offseason progresses.

Who will replace Nemechek behind the wheel of the #38 Ford at Front Row Motorsports for the 2021 season? Ty Dillon is still looking for a ride after Germain Racing folded following the 2020 season and 23XI Racing, the new team that bought their charter, hired Bubba Wallace as the driver of the #23 Toyota instead of Dillon.

Dillon had been linked to a seat at his grandfather’s Xfinity Series team, Richard Childress Racing. While that could still happen, the recent confirmation of Myatt Snider as their full-time driver for 2021 makes it less likely. Keep your eye on him as a potential driver of the #38 Ford next year.