NASCAR: 3 possible car numbers for Joe Gibbs Racing
By Asher Fair
Joe Gibbs Racing plan to downsize from four cars to three for the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season. What number will be used for the “star car”?
Joe Gibbs Racing ran four cars in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in the 2020 and 2021 seasons, but prior to that, they had run just three entries at the sport’s second highest level.
In 2022, they plan to downsize and return to a three-car operation, again using two cars for full-time drivers and one, the “star car”, for multiple drivers.
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The only confirmed driver for the team for 2022 is Brandon Jones, who is set to return for a fifth straight season behind the wheel of the #19 Toyota. It is assumed, but not confirmed, that Ty Gibbs is set to join the team as their second full-time driver.
Depending on what number is used for Gibbs’s entry, what number will be used for the team’s “star car”?
Possible car numbers for Joe Gibbs Racing: Number 1 – #54 Toyota
Joe Gibbs Racing brought back the #54 Toyota for the first time since 2015 when they expanded from three cars to four in 2020, and that car has been used as the “star car” ever since. So it is quite possible that the car number will return for 2022.
But with them set to downsize from four cars to three cars for 2022, it is very possible that they will eliminate the #54 Toyota and instead use a former “star car” number for their “star car” next year.
Even if they do retain the number 54, it is possible that it will be Gibbs behind the wheel in a full-time capacity considering the success he had there as a rookie in 2021, which would give the “star car” another number.
Regardless, these two scenarios would leave two other number possibilities for the “star car”.