NASCAR: Joe Gibbs Racing add another Kyle Busch replacement for 2022

Joe Gibbs Racing have announced another new driver for their 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series lineup ahead of this weekend’s race at Circuit of the Americas.

Joe Gibbs Racing announced a fifth different driver of their “star car” for the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, and that driver is set to compete in this Saturday’s Pit Boss 250 at Circuit of the Americas as well as the Pennzoil 150 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on Saturday, July 30.

That driver is 23XI Racing Cup Series driver Bubba Wallace.

Wallace was always considered one of the most likely candidates to drive the “star car”, now the #18 Toyota, in 2022. He is the first Cup Series driver to be confirmed for the car.

Ty Gibbs, the primary driver of the car (then the #54 Toyota) last year, is now a full-time driver with his grandfather’s Xfinity Series team (still driving the #54 Toyota).

Kyle Busch, the full-time Joe Gibbs Racing Cup Series driver who had previously driven in the maximum allowable number of Xfinity Series races in the car (five), has retired from NASCAR’s second highest level.

Wallace reunited with Toyota last year when Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan started 23XI Racing.

After spending the first three seasons of his Cup Series career driving the #43 Chevrolet for Richard Petty Motorsports, the 28-year-old Mobile, Alabama native was named the driver of the #23 Toyota.

He previously drove for Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing in select Xfinity Series races back in 2012 and 2014, and he drove full-time for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Truck Series in 2013 and 2014, winning five races.

Three drivers have driven the “star car” so far this season. Drew Dollar and Ryan Truex have each driven it once, and Trevor Bayne has driven it three times.

Of the remaining 28 races on the schedule, Bayne has been confirmed for five while Dollar and Truex have been confirmed for three each. John Hunter Nemechek has been confirmed for three as well.

Wallace’s confirmation for two races means that the “star car” is still open for 12 more races in 2022, and there are still a number of other candidates who could end up in it at some point later in the year.