NASCAR: The 10 charters that switched teams for the 2022 season

A total of 10 charters changed hands between the 2021 and the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series seasons. Here’s a quick rundown as the latter nears.

The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season is scheduled to get underway in less than a week, and several of the 36 charters are with different teams than they were with last year.

In total, just 26 charters are in the same spots that they were in last year heading into 2022, meaning that 10 have been on the move since the 2021 season ended.

Let’s take a look at all the charter movement ahead of the season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.

#1 Trackhouse Racing Team Chevrolet – Ross Chastain

• 2021 charter home: #1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet – Kurt Busch
  • Trackhouse Racing Team acquired Chip Ganassi Racing after the 2021 season

#7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet – Corey LaJoie

• 2021 charter home: #53 Rick Ware Racing car – multiple drivers
  • Spire Motorsports sold two of their three charters from 2021 and ended up replacing one of them to continue to operate a two-car program

#16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet – multiple drivers

• 2021 charter home: #77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet – multiple drivers
  • As mentioned, Spire Motorsports sold two of their three charters to from 2021

#31 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet – Justin Haley

• 2021 charter home: #99 Trackhouse Racing Team Chevrolet – Daniel Suarez
  • This charter was also owned by Spire Motorsports in 2021, but it was leased out to Trackhouse Racing Team

#42 Petty GMS Motorsports Chevrolet – Ty Dillon

• 2021 charter home: #51 Petty Ware Racing Chevrolet – Cody Ware
  • This charter was technically a Richard Petty Motorsports charter used to run a Rick Ware Racing car; it was part of the deal when GMS Racing and Richard Petty Motorsports merged to form Petty GMS Motorsports

#43 Petty GMS Motorsports Chevrolet – Erik Jones

• 2021 charter home: #43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet – Erik Jones
  • This charter was a part of the GMS Racing/Richard Petty Motorsports merger

#45 23XI Racing Toyota – Kurt Busch

• 2021 charter home: #00 StarCom Racing Chevrolet – Quin Houff
  • StarCom Racing shut down after the 2021 season, and 23XI Racing were in the market for a second charter for their new entry

#51 Rick Ware Racing Ford – Cody Ware

• 2021 charter home: #52 Rick Ware Racing Ford – Josh Bilicki
  • Rick Ware Racing moved one of their own charters from the #52 team to the #51 team after the #51 team’s charter ended up going back to Richard Petty Motorsports (and sold to Petty GMS Motorsports)

#77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet – multiple drivers

• 2021 charter home: #7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet – Corey LaJoie
  • Spire Motorsports moved their charter for the #7 Chevrolet to the #77 Chevrolet; more on that below the list

#99 Trackhouse Racing Team – Daniel Suarez

• 2021 charter home: #42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet – Ross Chastain
  • As noted above, Trackhouse Racing Team acquired Chip Ganassi Racing after the 2021 season

The reason why Spire Motorsports moved their charter for the #7 Chevrolet to the #77 Chevrolet instead of simply using the charter they bought from the #53 Rick Ware Racing team for the #77 Chevrolet is an interesting one — and a strategic one.

The Cup Series has a minimum performance standard for the 36 charter teams which makes clear that if a team finishes in the bottom three in the owner standings (from 34th to 36th place) for three consecutive seasons, NASCAR reserves the right to repossess that team’s charter.

The #53 team finished in the bottom three in the owner standings in both the 2020 season and the 2021 season.

With the #7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet being driven by a full-time driver in Corey LaJoie, that car is less likely to finish in the bottom three of the owner standings in 2022 than the #77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, which is set to be shared by multiple drivers.

So the #7 Chevrolet is the car set to use the charter used to run the #53 team last year.

The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season is scheduled to begin on Sunday, February 20 with the 64th annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. This race is set to be broadcast live on Fox beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET. If you haven’t yet begun your free trial of FuboTV, now would be a great time to do so!