NASCAR: Major Cup driver announcement to be made today

Richard Childress Racing are set to make a major NASCAR Cup Series driver announcement on Tuesday, according to a tweet posted last week.

Richard Childress Racing have been one of the key focal points of NASCAR Cup Series silly season over the last month or so.

Amid speculation that Tyler Reddick could find himself elsewhere in 2023, the team confirmed that they are set to retain his services behind the wheel of the #8 Chevrolet when they announced that they had picked up an option in his contract.

What they failed to do, however, was extend the contract of the 26-year-old Corning, California native.

With his 2023 plans set, Reddick went out and earned his first career win at Road America. But shortly thereafter, he announced that he would be leaving the team for 23XI Racing following the 2023 season.

Reddick signed a multi-year contract with the Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan-owned team and has now secured his driving future through at least the 2025 season.

The team did not confirm if he is set to drive a third Toyota Camry or replace one of their current two drivers, Bubba Wallace or Kurt Busch, behind the wheel of the #23 Toyota or the #45 Toyota.

The move supposedly caught Richard Childress Racing by surprise, though Reddick responded by saying that they shouldn’t have been all that shocked by it.

With Reddick set to leave the team after 2023, the focus has since shifted to possible replacements for him behind the wheel of the #8 Chevrolet in 2024.

While the team stated that the timing of the announcement of his departure could not have been worse, it also gave them plenty of time to start planning for it.

And it is quite possible that they have opted to make a rather quick decision.

Last week, the team posted a picture of a driver silhouette on Twitter, and they simply captioned it with “08.02.22”.

The picture includes both a Richard Childress Racing logo and a NASCAR Cup Series logo, so it is believed that this post is indicative that a Cup Series driver announcement is set to be made by the team at some point today, Tuesday, August 2.

Many fans pointed out that the silhouette looks a lot like Austin Hill, who competes full-time for Richard Childress Racing in the Xfinity Series.

Sheldon Creed also competes for the organization’s Xfinity Series program, but Hill has had a stronger start to his rookie season at NASCAR’s second highest level, winning twice and sitting in sixth place in the point standings with a secured playoff berth through 20 races. Creed sits in 13th and currently finds himself below the playoff cut line.