NASCAR: Joe Gibbs Racing’s clear top option for 2023

Joe Gibbs Racing still need to solidify their lineup for the majority of the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule. One driver stands out as the best option.

With reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Ty Gibbs leaving to replace the Richard Childress Racing-bound Kyle Busch at Joe Gibbs Racing’s Cup Series team and Brandon Jones leaving after five seasons to replace the Cup Series-bound Noah Gragson at JR Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing knew they were going to need to make significant changes to their driver lineup for 2023.

They confirmed those changes earlier in the offseason, announcing that part-time drivers Sammy Smith, who drove the “star car” in nine races during the 2022 season, and John Hunter Nemechek, who drove it in three races during both the 2021 and 2022 seasons, would become the team’s two full-time drivers.

Smith is set to drive the No. 18 Toyota, which had been the “star car”, while Nemechek is set to drive the No. 20 Toyota, which had been sidelined in 2022. Gibbs drove the No. 54 Toyota, which won’t be present in the team’s new Xfinity Series lineup.

The new “star car” is set to be the No. 19 Toyota, which Jones had driven full-time from 2018 to 2022, and only one driver has been confirmed for 2023: Ryan Truex, the brother of the driver of Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 Cup Series car, Martin Truex Jr.

Truex competed in five races for the team in 2022 and recorded a top finish of third place at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He was confirmed for a six-race schedule in 2023, though dates and locations haven’t yet been solidified.

In the one-month-plus since this announcement, however, Joe Gibbs Racing haven’t confirmed any more drivers for the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.

One driver stands out as the best option for at least some of the remaining 27 races on the 33-race schedule, and that is Trevor Bayne, who returned to NASCAR for the first time since 2018 — and to the Xfinity Series for the first time since 2016 — last year and ran a partial schedule for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Yes, you could argue that Bayne didn’t truly make the best of his opportunity in 2022, since he competed in nine races, more than anybody except Smith, and didn’t find victory lane for what would have been the first time since 2013 when he was still with Roush Fenway Racing competing full-time.

But he secured two of the No. 18 Toyota’s three runner-up finishes and added three other top five finishes, plus two additional top 10 finishes.

Let’s also not forget that none of the car’s other eight drivers managed to find victory lane at all in 2022 either. Bayne was really the only one who consistently came close, and he played by far the biggest role in the No. 18 team’s playoff berth, advancement to the round of 8, and subsequent seventh place finish in the owner standings.

All six teams ahead of the No. 18 team in the owner standings won multiple races, and the No. 18 team even beat out two other teams that won at some point during the season, including Joe Gibbs Racing’s own No. 19 team.

Yes, Joe Gibbs Racing are keen to develop young drivers, as evidenced by Gibbs’ promotion and the signings of Smith and Nemechek, and the 31-year-old Knoxville, Tennessee native doesn’t exactly fit that bill.

But given the uncertainty over the futures of Cup Series drivers Truex and even Denny Hamlin, wouldn’t it make sense to have somebody such as Bayne, a veteran of the sport, familiar with the organization and ready to go if they need to find a replacement?

Giving the 2011 Daytona 500 champion the opportunity for another part-time Xfinity Series season, potentially in an expanded role, is the best way of going about that, given its short-term and potential long-term advantages.