NASCAR: Top 5 free agents for the 2022 season
By Asher Fair
With silly season well underway, who are the top five drivers without contracts to compete in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season?
Several NASCAR Cup Series drivers entered 2021 with contracts to compete in the 2022 season and perhaps beyond. Others have since signed new deals to continue on with their current teams past the conclusion of the 2021 season, including Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. with Joe Gibbs Racing and Alex Bowman with Hendrick Motorsports.
However, there are quite a few others whose contracts with their current teams expire at the end of the year.
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So as we make our way through the middle stages of the 2021 season, who are the top five drivers currently slated to become free agents at the end of the year?
Top 5 free agents: Honorable mention – Brad Keselowski
The only reason why Brad Keselowski is still listed here is because his big move for 2022 hasn’t been officially confirmed by him or the teams involved. That should change on Tuesday, however.
Questions surrounded the future of the 2012 champion not only with Team Penske but in the NASCAR Cup Series in general throughout the early stages of the 2020 season, as he entered the year in a contract year.
Many believed that the crew chief shuffle which took place within the team before the season began was ultimately designed to lead to the departure of the 37-year-old Rochester Hills, Michigan native.
But Keselowski signed a one-year contract extension last August, and he had his best season in several years, winning four races, advancing to the Championship 4 and ultimately coming up shy to only Chase Elliott in the championship standings.
However, that put Keselowski in the exact same situation this year which he was in one year ago. And he appears to be slated for a different result.
A few months ago, several sources reported that Keselowski, whose only full-time team in the Cup Series over the course of 12 seasons has been Team Penske, is set to move to Roush Fenway Racing in 2022 to become not only a driver but a team co-owner. That move is considered to be a “done deal”, and Team Penske’s recent driver lineup announcement proves it.
As for the pending free agents whose futures appear less likely, let’s get started.