NASCAR: Another big secret has finally been revealed
By Asher Fair
As many have speculated for months, Kurt Busch is set to drive for 23XI Racing alongside Bubba Wallace in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season.
The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series silly season has been a tale of confirmations coming months after the moves themselves are first rumored/reported, and Friday evening continued that trend.
The Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan-owned 23XI Racing announced that they are set to expand from one car to two cars for the 2022 season and that Kurt Busch is set to pilot their second Toyota.
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Before the season began, Busch appeared in a video by primary sponsor Monster Energy, and many took what he had to say as a retirement announcement.
That obviously wasn’t the case, and Busch has indicated this throughout the season.
Bubba Wallace is the driver of the team’s #23 Toyota in their first season of Cup Series competition. Busch is set to drive the #45 Toyota with primary sponsorship from Monster Energy.
We got our guy.
— 23XI Racing (@23XIRacing) August 27, 2021
Welcome to the family, @KurtBusch ✊ pic.twitter.com/COXghtHb1d
Even before the 2021 season began, Hamlin discussed wanting to expand to two cars, with either a veteran or a young Toyota driver in the second car. In hiring the 2004 champion and 33-time race winner, they went with the former.
Kurt Busch, NASCAR Champion, Driver of the #45 Monster Energy TRD Camry.
— 23XI Racing (@23XIRacing) August 27, 2021
The Introduction: pic.twitter.com/2pfxSVhYh9
Toyota is the lone manufacturer for which the 43-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada native has never competed in the Cup Series (745 starts over 22 seasons). He currently drives the #1 Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing, which announced that they will be acquired by Trackhouse Racing Team after the 2021 season.
— 23XI Racing (@23XIRacing) August 28, 2021
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Ross Chastain, Busch’s teammate in the #42 Chevrolet this season, was named the second Trackhouse Racing Team driver alongside Daniel Suarez for 2022.
Through the first 25 races of the 2021 season, Busch sits in 14th place in the point standings and is locked into the playoffs for the ninth consecutive season, a streak which is tied for the second longest playoff streak among active drivers. He won at Atlanta Motor Speedway in July to secure an eighth consecutive winning season.
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Wallace and 23XI Racing have struggled in their first season together with just one top 10 finish, a fifth place effort in a fuel mileage race at Pocono Raceway in late June. He sits in 21st in the point standings and in need of a win in tonight’s regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway to secure what would be his first career playoff berth.