Joe Gibbs Racing confirmed earlier this week that Brent Crews is set to drive the No. 19 Toyota full-time during the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series (formerly Xfinity Series) season, even though he is actually set to miss four of the first seven races of the year because he's not slated to turn 18 until Monday, March 30.
The move to name Crews the full-time driver of the No. 19 Toyota was an intriguing one, as the team have yet to confirm drivers for the No. 18 Toyota, which was driven in 2025 by rookie William Sawalich, or the No. 54 Toyota, which was driven in 2025 by fellow rookie Taylor Gray.
The No. 19 car was run as the "star car" and competed only for the owner championship. Aric Almirola was its primary driver, though six others drove it during the season. Almirola's three wins were enough to propel the team to the owner Championship 4, even without a driver in title contention.
And it was the No. 19 team, not the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing team of actual 2025 Xfinity Series champion Jesse Love, that was crowned this year's Xfinity Series owner champion.
Why Jesse Love's team didn't win the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship
The owner playoffs and the driver playoffs are technically two different playoffs in NASCAR, but that only ever becomes blatantly evident when you have a situation like Joe Gibbs Racing had with multiple drivers sharing the No. 19 Toyota throughout the season.
The No. 19 team qualified for the 12-team owner playoffs, so the No. 25 AM Racing team of Harrison Burton didn't get in, even though Burton himself was the 12th and final driver to qualify for the postseason.
There was a further complication with Richard Childress Racing's No. 21 team, as Austin Hill was docked all 27 of the playoff points he earned during the regular season after he was suspended for the early August race at Iowa Speedway for hooking Almirola in the right rear at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The No. 21 team, however, was issued no such penalty.
In the round of 12, the No. 19 team advanced, as did the No. 21 team. But Hill was eliminated, as he missed the cutoff by 21 points, meaning he would have advanced had he not been penalized.
In the round of 8, Almirola won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Hill won at Talladega Superspeedway, locking the No. 19 team and No. 21 team, respectively, into the Championship 4 on the owner side. The remaining two spots were taken by the JR Motorsports teams of Connor Zilisch (No. 88) and Justin Allgaier (No. 7).
Though Love joined Zilisch and Allgaier in the Championship 4, along with JR Motorsports' Carson Kvapil, there weren't enough open spots left in the Championship 4 on the owner side, meaning that the No. 2 team was eliminated while its driver remained in contention.
Love secured the championship with his victory in the season finale at Phoenix Raceway, but the No. 2 team only finished fifth in the owner standings, which was as high as it could have finished behind the four Championship 4 teams heading into the final race of the season.
Almirola finished the race in second, making the No. 19 team the 2025 champion of the owner standings since he beat Zilisch, Allgaier, and Hill. His position, relative to Love and Kvapil, was irrelevant in this particular battle during this particular race.
Whether Joe Gibbs Racing still opt to run a "star car" in 2026 remains to be seen, but with Crews set to join a lineup that currently only consists of himself and Brandon Jones (No. 20 Toyota), that "star car" won't be the No. 19 entry again in 2026.
If the No. 19 team is to repeat as the series owner champion, then barring some sort of unexpected change, it is the rookie Crews who has to deliver.
The 2026 O'Reilly Auto Parts Season is scheduled to get underway on Saturday, February 14 at Daytona International Speedway. The United Rentals 300 is set to be shown live on the CW Network beginning at 5:00 p.m. ET.