NASCAR: The ‘worst kept secret’ hasn’t gone away
By Asher Fair
The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season is in the books, but the worst kept secret of the 2023 driver lineup has not yet been confirmed.
The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series driver lineup is all but set, with just a few seats here and there which still do not yet have confirmed drivers.
One of those seats is a seat which everybody seemingly knows who is getting.
After a 15-year run with Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota, Kyle Busch is set to move to Richard Childress Racing to replace the 23XI Racing-bound Tyler Reddick behind the wheel of the #8 Chevrolet. Busch competed for Chevrolet when he was with Hendrick Motorsports to begin his full-time Cup Series career from 2005 to 2007.
A new contract with Joe Gibbs Racing was once seen as a formality for Busch, even with longtime primary sponsor M&M’s having announced that they would not be back on the #18 Toyota in 2023.
But throughout the 2022 season, it became clearer and clearer that Busch would not be back with the team, and what also became clear was who would be his replacement once he eventually agreed to a deal with a new organization.
That obvious replacement is Ty Gibbs, the grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs who just won the Xfinity Series championship in his first full season in the series.
The plan was originally for Gibbs to run two full seasons in the Xfinity Series in order to avoid rushing him to the sport’s top level, but on top of capturing the title with a seven-win season, he also competed in 15 Cup Series races for 23XI Racing, doing so as the replacement for the injured Kurt Busch from late July until one race before the end of the season.
He only missed the season finale at Phoenix Raceway as a result of the unexpected passing of his father Coy the night before, just hours after his son won the Xfinity Series championship.
There still hasn’t been confirmation of Gibbs replacing Busch next year, but does there really need to be?
Everybody seemingly knows that’s what’s in store, even to the point where it is stated almost matter-of-factly on race broadcasts that Gibbs is set to replace Busch next year.
The question is how long we need to wait before formal confirmation is made.
After the 2021 season, which saw Gibbs win four races as a part-time driver in the Xfinity Series, the team didn’t confirm him as the full-time driver of the #54 Toyota until just days before the season started.
Don’t expect them to wait that long this time around.
Next. One thing NASCAR fans have stopped complaining about. dark
Joe Gibbs Racing would then need to worry about replacing Gibbs in the Xfinity Series, where they already need to replace the JR Motorsports-bound Brandon Jones. With Toyota losing Kyle Busch Motorsports to Chevrolet upon Busch’s move to Richard Childress Racing, it will be interesting to see who they come up with. John Hunter Nemechek has been rumored as a likely candidate.