NASCAR: Joe Gibbs Racing confirm second driver for 2023
By Asher Fair
After announcing that Sammy Smith would join the team full-time for the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, Joe Gibbs Racing confirmed their second full-time driver for next year.
With Ty Gibbs moving to the NASCAR Cup Series to replace the Richard Childress Racing-bound Kyle Busch behind the wheel of the No. 18-turned-No. 54 Toyota for the 2023 season and Brandon Jones moving to JR Motorsports to replace the Cup Series-bound Noah Gragson behind the wheel of the No. 9 Chevrolet, Joe Gibbs Racing needed bring in new blood to fill their Xfinity Series lineup.
Earlier this week, the team announced that Sammy Smith is set to drive the No. 18 Toyota full-time during the 2023 season after driving the “star car”, which had been the No. 18 Toyota, in nine races throughout the 33-race 2022 campaign.
Now they have confirmed that John Hunter Nemechek is set to drive the No. 20 Toyota full-time next year after driving the “star car” in three races during the 2021 season and three races during the 2022 season.
Nemechek had driven full-time for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Truck Series since 2021 after making the decision to leave the Cup Series, where he competed for Front Row Motorsports in 2020, to reunite with Toyota.
Busch’s switch to Richard Childress Racing ultimately caused his team to switch from Toyota to Chevrolet as well.
The 25-year-old Mooresville, North Carolina native has competed full-time in the Xfinity Series before, doing so in 2019 for GMS Racing, but both of his wins have come as a part-time driver. He won for Chip Ganassi Racing at Kansas Speedway in 2018, and he won for Joe Gibbs Racing at Texas Motor Speedway in 2021.
He won seven Truck Series races with Kyle Busch Motorsports, including a career-high five in 2021, bringing his career win total in the series to 13. He earned his first six wins when he competed for NEMCO Motorsports from 2015 to 2018.
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Interestingly, neither Gibbs nor Jones drove the No. 18 Toyota or the No. 20 Toyota in 2022. Gibbs drove the No. 54 Toyota, which has been removed from the roster, and Jones drove the No. 19 Toyota, which is now the “star car”. The No. 20 Toyota wasn’t used in 2022. It had been used by the team for 21 straight seasons prior.