NASCAR team rebrands, gets a new name for the 2025 season

JTG Daugherty Racing have rebranded ahead of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series, with last year's Daytona 500-winning team now set to go by HYAK Motorsports following a change in ownership.

The name change, which followed the news that longtime primary sponsor Kroger would be leaving to join the expanding RFK Racing, comes a year after Gordon Smith became the new principal owner of the team. Original owners Tad and Jodi Geschickter left the team after the 2023 season.

The name HYAK means “fast” in Chinook Jargon, a trade language of the Pacific Northwest which incorporates terms from Chinook, Chehalis, and several other local languages.

Team name changes, but Ricky Stenhouse Jr. returns

The team still plan to run one car, the No. 47 Chevrolet, and they still have a charter to do so. 2023 Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is set to return for his sixth season with the team after winning at Talladega Superspeedway in October.

Stenhouse signed a multi-year contract extension that runs through at least the 2026 season early on in the 2024 campaign.

Smith's team is co-owned by Brad Daugherty, Mark Hughes and Ernie Cope.

The change is the latest of a number of Cup Series team rebrands in recent seasons.

RFK Racing had been known as Roush Fenway Racing before Brad Keselowski joined the team and became a part owner in 2022 while Legacy Motor Club had been known as Petty GMS Motorsports before Jimmie Johnson arrived as a co-owner in 2023. Petty GMS Motorsports itself was a rebranded name after Richard Petty Motorsports and GMS Racing came together in 2022.

Stewart-Haas Racing, which officially shut down after the 2024 season, is also set to live on in some sense, as team co-owner Gene Haas opted to retain one of the organization's four charters and operate a team set to be known as Haas Factory Team in 2025.

The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season is scheduled to begin with the 67th annual Daytona 500, which is set to be shown live on Fox from Daytona International Speedway starting at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 16.