NASCAR losing another full-time team after 2021?

The NASCAR Cup Series appears to be slated to lose one of its full-time teams following the conclusion of the 2021 season.

After the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season, the sport’s top level lost Germain Racing, Go Fas Racing and Leavine Family Racing, and early in the 2021 season, MBM Motorsports went from a full-time team to a team that now rarely competes.

And it appears as though the Cup Series is set to lose another one of its full-time teams once the 2021 season concludes.

A few weeks ago, Catchfence reported that StarCom Racing had sold the charter that they use to run the #00 Chevrolet for Quin Houff.

While a buyer was not confirmed, it has been speculated that this charter was purchased by Spire Motorsports.

Spire Motorsports currently run two cars and own three charters, one of which is leased to Trackhouse Racing Team. But they have sold two of them, including the one they currently lease out, to Kaulig Racing so that the Matt Kaulig-owned team can run two full-time entries next year. So it would make sense for them to be in the market for what would be a second charter.

Also looking for a charter for next year is 23XI Racing, which have already confirmed expansion from one car to two cars with the addition of Kurt Busch alongside Bubba Wallace.

But regardless of to whom this particular charter was sold, this sale raised another question: would StarCom Racing even be back as a part-time team next year?

That question seems to have been answered. Last week, Charlie Langenstein, a StarCom Racing shop foreman and mechanical director, posted on Twitter that “We at StarCom Racing have been notified that our team will cease operations when the checkered flag falls in a few weeks at Phoenix.”

This tweet has since been deleted, and there has been no official news from the team since then, but the writing appears to be on the wall for the team currently sitting in 38th place in the owner standings with 21 finishes outside of the top 30 through 29 races in 2021.