NASCAR: Another seat has opened up for the 2022 season

Front Row Motorsports will continue to operate as a two-car team in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season after talks of a charter sale fell through.

During the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, there was mounting speculation that 23XI Racing would be acquiring one of the two charters currently used by Front Row Motorsports ahead of the 2022 season.

23XI Racing had confirmed that Kurt Busch will be joining the team in a second car, the #45 Toyota, alongside current driver Bubba Wallace behind the wheel of the #23 Toyota.

The belief was that this charter sale was a done deal that simply had not been announced, but it was later revealed that it had fallen through.

As a result, Front Row Motorsports plan to continue operating with two chartered entries for the 2022 season.

As expected, 2021 Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell is set to return behind the wheel of the #34 Ford, a move that was anticipated even if one of their two charters had been sold to the Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan-owned team for next year.

However, it has been confirmed that Anthony Alfredo, who competed in the 2021 season as a rookie, will not be back behind the wheel of the #38 Ford for next year.

This means that the #38 Ford will have a fourth different driver in four seasons. David Ragan retired from his role as a full-time driver after the 2019 season and was replaced by rookie John Hunter Nemechek for 2020.

Nemechek made the decision to effectively hit “reset” on his NASCAR career by dropping down to the Truck Series with Kyle Busch Motorsports for the 2021 season, which opened the door for Alfredo.

Throughout the 2021 season, the 22-year-old Ridgefield, Connecticut native recorded an average finish of 27.5, 1.6 spots better than his average starting position of 29.1.

He recorded a single top 10 finish, a 10th place finish in October at Talladega Superspeedway (pictured), and four other top 20 results. He was running at the finish in 27 of 36 races, and he finished 10 of those 27 races on the lead lap.

Alfredo finished the season in 30th place in the championship standings, second-to-last among full-time drivers (StarCom Racing’s Quin Houff was 31st).

Who will replace Alfredo alongside McDowell behind the wheel of the #38 Ford at Front Row Motorsports next year? The 2022 season is scheduled to begin on Sunday, February 20 with the 64th annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.