NASCAR: The notable omission from the 2022 lineup

The year 2022 is upon us, and the upcoming NASCAR Cup Series season is scheduled to get underway next month. But there is one glaring omission as it pertains to this year’s lineup.

It has already been nearly two months since the checkered flag flew at Phoenix Raceway and Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson was crowned 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion.

As a result, the 2022 season is scheduled to get underway next month. Set to unofficially begin the new campaign on Sunday, February 6, the Sunday between the NFL conference championship games and the Super Bowl, is the Busch Light Clash.

For the first time ever, the season-opening exhibition race is set to take place outside of Daytona International Speedway, with this even slated to take place under the lights at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Then the week after the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500 is scheduled to officially kick off the 36-race 2022 Cup Series season on Sunday, February 20.

The offseason, as well as the 2021 regular season, saw many announcements relating to the upcoming season’s driver lineup. One subject that came up quite regularly, at least more so than usual, was the subject of charters.

With the Next Gen (Gen 7) car set to debut in the 2022 season, the demand for charters was at an all-time high, and there were several charter transactions that took place throughout the year for the upcoming campaign.

However, the entire charter market hasn’t been formally settled quite yet, even with just over a month to go until the season is scheduled to begin.

A total of 36 charters exist within the Cup Series. Of those 36, only 35 have confirmed homes for the 2022 season.

The one that doesn’t is one of the three owned by Rick Ware Racing. Rick Ware Racing did have four charters last year, but one of them was technically owned by Richard Petty Motorsports, and that charter has since been acquired by GMS Racing for the newly formed Petty GMS Motorsports team.

But Rick Ware Racing are also expected to part ways with one of their own three charters, either by selling it or leasing it out, as they have hinted that they only plan to run the #15 team and the #51 team this season. Last year, they also ran the #52 team and the #53 team.

The rumored landing spot for this charter has been Spire Motorsports, but this has not yet been confirmed by the teams.

This is where things get a bit complicated.

Spire Motorsports had three charters for the 2021 season. One was used to run the #7 Chevrolet for Corey LaJoie, one was used to run the #77 Chevrolet for multiple drivers, and one was leased out to Trackhouse Racing Team for them to run the #99 Chevrolet for Daniel Suarez.

But Spire Motorsports sold two of these three charters to Kaulig Racing, including the one which they had leased out, leaving them with only one; Trackhouse Racing Team ended up acquiring Chip Ganassi Racing, so they now have two charters of their own.

As a two-car team, Spire Motorsports remained interested in acquiring another charter for 2022, and they were said to be close to reaching a deal with StarCom Racing, which shuttered their #00 team after the 2021 season.

However, 23XI Racing ended up purchasing this charter instead, giving them the additional one they had been pursuing since announcing Kurt Busch as their second driver alongside Bubba Wallace for 2022.

23XI Racing had been in talks to purchase a second charter from Front Row Motorsports, but Front Row Motorsports opted to continue running a two-car team, with Michael McDowell returning to the #34 Ford and rookie Todd Gilliland replacing Anthony Alfredo behind the wheel of the #38 Ford.

So this whole scenario leaves Spire Motorsports still looking for a charter, and Rick Ware Racing supposedly looking to part ways with one.

For all we know, a deal may very well be done between these two teams, but not yet announced. But in the meantime, the fact that not all of the charters have confirmed homes for 2022 after a chaotic silly season is an interesting development as the start of the new season quickly approaches and more drivers become confirmed.