NASCAR: Another Stewart-Haas Racing driver linked to a new team

Though team co-owner Gene Haas confirmed his plans to retain one of Stewart-Haas Racing's four charters for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, shortly after it was announced that the team would be shutting down at the end of the 2024 campaign, it never appeared likely that any of the team's current four Cup Series drivers would remain with the team.

Cole Custer, who competes for Stewart-Haas Racing in the Xfinity Series, is expected to remain with Haas and compete for Haas Factory Team in the Cup Series next year. He competed for Stewart-Haas Racing in the Cup Series for three years before being sent back down to the Xfinity Series after the 2022 season.

Two of the team's four Cup Series drivers have already landed new rides for next year, with Chase Briscoe set to replace the retiring Martin Truex Jr. behind the wheel of the No. 19 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing and Josh Berry set to replace Harrison Burton behind the wheel of the No. 21 Ford for Wood Brothers Racing.

That left the other two searching for new landing spots, including Noah Gragson.

Gragson is expected to sign with Front Row Motorsports, which have a driver announcement planned for Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. ET. It is set to be streamed live on the team's YouTube channel.

After Stewart-Haas Racing confirmed their impending shutdown, Front Row Motorsports confirmed plans to expand from two cars to three cars, indicating that they would be acquiring one of Stewart-Haas Racing's four charters. The decision came even after Michael McDowell confirmed that he would be replacing Zane Smith at Spire Motorsports next year.

So even with the Bob Jenkins-owned team later announcing that they had signed Todd Gilliland to a contract extension to keep him behind the wheel of the No. 38 Ford, they still had two seats to fill instead of just one, and Gragson is expected to fill one of them. It is expected that he will be McDowell's replacement behind the wheel of the No. 34 Ford.

With Gragson expected to join Front Row Motorsports, Ryan Preece is set to become the lone remaining Stewart-Haas Racing driver without a Cup Series ride for next year.

Though Front Row Motorsports will still have an open seat behind the wheel of the No. 36 Ford, which has not run the full schedule since 2019, after today's announcement, it is expected that that seat will go to JR Motorsports Xfinity Series driver Sam Mayer next year.