NASCAR: 3 drivers who could be replaced for 2023
By Asher Fair
Which NASCAR Cup Series drivers may not be back with their current organizations for the 2023 season? Here are three who could be on the move.
It has already been a chaotic NASCAR Cup Series silly season, highlighted perhaps by the shocking announcement that Tyler Reddick will be leaving Richard Childress Racing and joining 23XI Racing alongside Bubba Wallace following the 2023 season.
We also know that Ty Dillon is set to be replaced by Noah Gragson at Petty GMS Motorsports next year, with Gragson joining Erik Jones, who unsurprisingly extended his deal with the up-and-coming organization.
Additional expected contract extensions have been signed by Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott and William Byron, Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano, and Wallace. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. also quashed retirement rumors and announced his return.
But things are far from over, and there is sure to be change throughout the rest of the lineup by the time the 2023 season begins. Here are three drivers who could find themselves being replaced.
NASCAR drivers who could be replaced for 2023: No. 1 – Kyle Busch
We’re going to dive right in here and start with the driver who everybody has been watching in this year’s silly season, and that is Kyle Busch, who is expected to confirm his departure from Joe Gibbs Racing later today.
Performance-wise, Busch hasn’t had the best season in 2022. Without “backing into” a win in the dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway when the top two drivers collided in the final corner, allowing him to lead only the final lap of the race, he would not have made the playoffs.
There were 14 other winners this year, and there were two winless drivers higher than him in the regular season point standings.
But to say that performance is why Busch has found himself on the hot seat would be simply incorrect. He and the #18 Joe Gibbs Racing team struggled to find sponsorship to replace Mars Wrigley, despite the fact that it was announced before the calendar even turned to 2022 than they would not be back on the #18 Toyota in 2023.
After a recent sponsorship development fell through, things did not look promising for the sport’s highest paid driver, and he is indeed set to leave the team and join Richard Childress Racing next year.
The driver who has been commonly linked to the #18 Toyota is Ty Gibbs. Grandfather Joe Gibbs initially said he wanted him to run two full seasons in the Xfinity Series first before a Cup Series promotion, and a second full season would come in 2023.
But Gibbs has performed well as the unexpected replacement for an injured Kurt Busch at 23XI Racing, so perhaps he has proven he is ready for the jump.
Busch had been offered a new deal by Joe Gibbs Racing after admitting he’d be willing to take a pay cut to continue driving the #18 Toyota, but he opted to take another offer.
Now let’s get to two less certain drivers who could be on the “hot seat”.