NASCAR: 6 teams that aren’t named after their owners

There are now six full-time NASCAR Cup Series organizations whose names do not contain the names of any of the team owners, and most are relatively new.

Petty GMS Motorsports, the team formed when Richard Petty Motorsports and GMS Racing partnered ahead of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, announced last Wednesday that they had rebranded and become Legacy Motor Club ahead of the 2023 season.

The move took place as a result of the addition of a new co-owner in seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, who is also set to drive the team’s new No. 84 Chevrolet in select races throughout the 2023 season.

As Johnson put it, it would have been “clunky and clumsy” to try to include his name in a team name that already included nods to co-owners Richard Petty, also a seven-time champion, and Maury Gallagher, so this was simply the best way to honor the history of the owners while also driving the organization forward.

It makes Legacy Motor Club the sixth active full-time NASCAR Cup Series team not named directly after a team owner.

And four of the other five teams are relatively new to the sport.

In 2019, the Jeff Dickerson and T. J. Puchyr-owned Spire Motorsports arrived. This team, which is a subsidiary of Spire Sports + Entertainment, is set for their fifth season in 2023 and first with two full-time drivers.

Corey LaJoie is set for a third season behind the wheel of the No. 7 Chevrolet, and former Petty GMS Motorsports driver Ty Dillon is set for year one behind the wheel of the No. 77 Chevrolet.

The 2021 season saw three new teams, and none of the three teams’ names contained an owner name. Those three teams include the B.J McLeod and Matt Tifft-owned Live Fast Motorsports, the Justin Marks and Pitbull-owned Trackhouse Racing Team, and the Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan-owned 23XI Racing.

McLeod has been the primary driver of Live Fast Motorsports’ No. 78 Ford, which is now the No. 78 Chevrolet, and he is likely to continue in that role in 2023, with others filling in from time to time.

Daniel Suarez was Trackhouse Racing Team’s original driver, and he is set for a third year behind the wheel of the No. 99 Chevrolet in 2023. Ross Chastain arrived last year as the driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet following the team’s acquisition of Chip Ganassi Racing, and he is set for year number two this season.

Bubba Wallace was 23XI Racing’s original driver, and he is set for a third season behind the wheel of the No. 23 Toyota in 2023. Kurt Busch spent the 2022 season with the team behind the wheel of the No. 45 Toyota, but a head injury suffered in a qualifying crash at Pocono Raceway ultimately led him to retire. Tyler Reddick is set to replace him in 2023.

Of the 16 active full-time Cup Series teams, there is only one that has competed since before the 2019 season without the name of a team owner in the team’s name, and that is the Bob Jenkins-owned Front Row Motorsports. They began competing under this name in 2005.

In 2023, Michael McDowell is set for his sixth season behind the wheel of the No. 34 Ford, while Todd Gilliland is set for his second behind the wheel of the No. 38 Ford. Zane Smith is also set to make select starts for the team in a third entry.

There have been other Cup Series teams named not directly after their owners over the last few seasons, such as StarCom Racing and Furniture Row Racing, but there seems to be somewhat of a resurgence of these types of names in recent years.