NASCAR Cup Series set to lose two teams in 2022
By Asher Fair
There are two teams currently competing full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series that will not return for the 2022 season, adding to the recent turnover.
Three teams that competed full-time in the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season did not return for the 2021 campaign, all one-car teams which ran with a charter: Germain Racing, Go Fas Racing and Leavine Family Racing.
During the 2021 season, MBM Motorsports, which did not operate with a charter, started out with the intention of competing full-time, but that changed early in the year and they now only compete periodically.
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The 2021 season saw the addition of Trackhouse Racing Team, which run using a charter leased to them by Spire Motorsports, and 23XI Racing, which purchased the Germain Racing charter and effectively replaced Leavine Family Racing as the Joe Gibbs Racing-affiliated Toyota team. Live Fast Motorsports also arrived in the series, taking over the Go Fas Racing charter.
All three new teams run one car.
The 2022 season is set to see even more turnover on the team front.
It was confirmed during the summer that Trackhouse Racing Team will acquire the entire Chip Ganassi Racing organization, including their two charters, after the 2021 season and become a two-car team. This unexpected move will end Chip Ganassi Racing’s stint in the Cup Series.
The charter that Trackhouse Racing Team currently use was not going to be available for them in 2022 anyway, as Spire Motorsports sold that one, as well as one of their other two, to Kaulig Racing so that the Matt Kaulig-owned team can enter the series full-time.
Based on a recent development, Chip Ganassi Racing won’t be the only full-time team not returning to the Cup Series Catchfence reported a few weeks ago that StarCom Racing had sold their lone charter. Spire Motorsports have been the rumored buyer, though the only thing confirmed is that StarCom Racing have sold it.
While there was no news revealed about whether StarCom Racing would run without a charter (full-time or part-time) in 2022 or shut down after 2021, that news was leaked in a since-deleted Twitter post by Charlie Langenstein, a StarCom Racing shop foreman and mechanical director.
He stated the following:
"“We at StarCom Racing have been notified that our team will cease operations when the checkered flag falls in a few weeks at Phoenix.”"
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So all in all, that makes six teams that competed full-time in 2020 no longer doing so in 2022, with five no longer even in the sport, including two that competed full-time in 2021.