NASCAR: The 4 seats still open for the 2022 season

There are still four full-time seats in need of drivers for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season as the Busch Light Clash and Daytona 500 approach.

While the driver lineup for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season has steadily come together over the last several months, including throughout the 2021 season, there are still a number of seats in need of drivers as the start of the new campaign approaches next month.

In total, there are 36 chartered entries set to run the entire 36-race schedule, and 31 of those entries have confirmed full-time drivers.

One of the other five has three confirmed part-time drivers for the year (#16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet — A.J. Allmendinger, Noah Gragson and Daniel Hemric), but the other four are still in need of drivers.

Three of them have a driver, but even those need at least one more.

Live Fast Motorsports co-owner B.J. McLeod is set to return for another season as the primary driver of the #78 Ford, but once again, he will not drive the entire schedule.

In 2021, McLeod competed in 28 of the 36 races, as he sat out of the dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway as well as the seven road course races.

Scott Heckert, Shane Golobic, Kyle Tilley and Andy Lally split time behind the wheel of the #78 Ford across those eight events. A similar scenario should play out in 2022, but nobody beyond McLeod has been confirmed.

Spire Motorsports announced that Josh Bilicki is set to drive the #77 Chevrolet for the majority of the season, but that seat is still going to end up being open for select races. This is a confirmed chartered entry after the team sold two of their three charters to Kaulig Racing from 2021 but ended up purchasing a second from Rick Ware Racing.

They also ran the #77 Chevrolet for multiple drivers in 2021, and Corey LaJoie drove the #7 Chevrolet full-time. Their third charter was leased out to Trackhouse Racing Team for Daniel Suarez’s #99 Chevrolet. Trackhouse Racing Team now have two charters of their own after acquiring Chip Ganassi Racing.

Speaking of Rick Ware Racing, they have the only remaining seats that is still open for all 36 races on the schedule. The #51 Ford lacks any confirmed drivers for 2022. The only confirmed driver for the #15 Ford is David Ragan, who has only been confirmed for the Daytona 500. He is expected to compete in other select races as well.

Rick Ware Racing have just these two seats to fill as opposed to the four they had last year. As noted, they sold one of their charters to Spire Motorsports. The other charter which they will no longer be using technically wasn’t theirs to begin with; it belongs to Richard Petty Motorsports.

With Richard Petty Motorsports and GMS Racing merging to become Petty GMS Motorsports, this charter is now set to serve as a second charter for this two-car operation.

So who will end up filling the open seats? The Busch Light Clash is scheduled to take place on Sunday, February 6 at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season is scheduled to officially begin on Sunday, February 20 with the 64th annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.