NASCAR: 5 driver moves we want to see for 2022
By Asher Fair
Moves we want to see: No. 2 – Kurt Busch to 23XI Racing
With Chip Ganassi Racing set to be acquired by Trackhouse Racing Team following the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, Kurt Busch will obviously not be back behind the wheel of the #1 Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi’s team in 2022.
The 2004 series champion is seen as one of the primary candidates to land Trackhouse Racing Team’s second seat alongside Daniel Suarez in the #99 Chevrolet next year, but he is also seen as the top candidate to compete for 23XI Racing alongside Bubba Wallace in the #23 Toyota next year.
Busch is reportedly 23XI Racing’s desired second driver if they are to expand from a one-car effort to a two-car effort for the 2022 season, and this is something that team co-owner Denny Hamlin has long said he wants to achieve.
That hasn’t changed, even with the multiple charter transactions that have already been confirmed at teams other than 23XI Racing for next year.
Busch is in the twilight years of his career, and this would give him the opportunity to drive the Next Gen car, something he thought his current contract with Chip Ganassi Racing was getting him before the launch of that car was delayed from 2021 to 2022 as a result of COVID-19-related restrictions.
It would also give him the opportunity to drive for Toyota, something that he has never once done in the Cup Series over the course of his two-plus decades in the series.
Busch would give 23XI Racing a veteran presence to help ease some of their growing pains, and it would give them a good indicator as to where Wallace stacks up against a respectable competitor in equal equipment.