NASCAR: Joe Gibbs Racing still have a seat open for 2023
By Asher Fair
Joe Gibbs Racing have confirmed their full-time drivers for the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, but they still have a seat to fill for the majority of the schedule.
With Ty Gibbs moving to the NASCAR Cup Series as the replacement for the Richard Childress Racing-bound Kyle Busch and Brandon Jones moving to JR Motorsports as the replacement for the Cup Series-bound Noah Gragson, Joe Gibbs Racing entered the offseason between the 2022 and 2023 Xfinity Series seasons without anybody confirmed in their lineup for next year.
Sammy Smith was announced as the full-time driver of the No. 18 Toyota, which had been the “star car”, after driving the car part-time (nine races) in 2022, and John Hunter Nemechek was announced as the full-time driver of the No. 20 Toyota after driving the “star car” part-time (three races) in 2022.
The No. 20 Toyota was not used in 2022. It is effectively set to replace the No. 54 Toyota, as Gibbs has taken the No. 54 with him to the Cup Series. Joe Gibbs Racing, for the first time in their existence, will not run a No. 18 Toyota in the Cup Series next year following Busch’s departure.
The No. 19 Toyota which Jones drove from 2018 to 2022 is set to become the new “star car”.
Just one driver has been confirmed for the “star car” in 2023, and that is Ryan Truex. Truex, who drove the No. 18 Toyota in five races during the 2022 season, is set to drive the No. 19 Toyota in six races during the 2023.
But who will drive the car in the other 27 races on the 2023 schedule?
In 2023, nine drivers spent time behind the wheel of the “star car”, including Smith, Nemechek, and Truex. Trevor Bayne, like Smith, competed in nine races, more than anybody else, but his plans for 2023 haven’t yet been solidified. Aside from Nemechek and Truex, nobody else competed in more than two. Those four drivers combined for 26 starts.
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Two of the other five drivers are full-time Cup Series drivers: 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace (two races) and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell (one race). The other three were Drew Dollar (two races), Connor Mosack (one race), and James Davison (one race).