NASCAR: Surprise favorite emerging for open 2023 seat?

Spire Motorsports are set to announce their driver lineup for the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season on Tuesday, and a favorite to join the team has emerged.

Spire Motorsports are currently one of four teams without any confirmed drivers for the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, but that is set to change later on Tuesday morning.

The team are currently in their fourth season of Cup Series competition after entering the sport in 2019, and they are in their second season as a two-car organization.

Corey LaJoie is in his second season driving the #7 Chevrolet, the car the team added last year, and the #77 Chevrolet is still driven by a rotation of drivers, as it has been for each of the last four years. Josh Bilicki and Landon Cassill have been the primary drivers of the car this year.

LaJoie is widely believed to be in line for an extension to continue driving the #7 Chevrolet, which would mark his first time spending more than two seasons with a single Cup Series team.

But it appears as though the team are set to add a second full-time driver for the first time.

According to Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass, Ty Dillon has emerged as the favorite to drive the #77 Chevrolet next year.

Dillon competed in the Cup Series for Germain Racing from 2017 to 2020 and lost his ride when the team shut down and sold their charter to 23XI Racing following the 2020 season.

He competed in select Cup Series and Xfinity Series races in 2021 before landing another full-time Cup Series opportunity in 2022.

Dillon was set to drive the #94 Chevrolet for GMS Racing before Richard Petty Motorsports and GMS Racing merged to form Petty GMS Motorsports. Dillon was then announced as the driver of the #42 Chevrolet.

But he is set to lose his ride with the team after just one season. While the team announced that Erik Jones has signed a multi-year extension to continue driving the #43 Chevrolet, they also announced that Noah Gragson, who currently competes for JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series, is set to replace Dillon behind the wheel of the #42 Chevrolet.

It remains to be seen whether or not Spire Motorsports’ announcement will have anything to do with their Truck Series team. They began their Truck Series operation this year and have run the #7 Chevrolet in select races throughout the 2022 season.

Following the team’s NASCAR Cup Series announcement, there will be just three teams without any confirmed drivers for 2023: Front Row Motorsports, Rick Ware Racing, and Live Fast Motorsports.