NASCAR team confirms 2024 expansion to four cars

For the second consecutive season, Joe Gibbs Racing needed to replace both of their full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers. After last year, Ty Gibbs was promoted to the organization's Cup Series team, and Brandon Jones left to join rival JR Motorsports.

After 2023, John Hunter Nemechek moved up to the Cup Series and joined Legacy Motor Club, and like Jones, Sammy Smith shifted over to JR Motorsports.

It had long been rumored that former Richard Childress Racing driver Sheldon Creed and former Kaulig Racing driver Chandler Smith, who had actually been in the Toyota Racing Development camp for several seasons prior to his move to Matt Kaulig's team last year, would become Joe Gibbs Racing's new full-time drivers in 2024.

Joe Gibbs Racing confirm 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series lineup

Creed is set to replace Sammy Smith behind the wheel of the No. 18 Toyota, but the team have expanded from three cars to four. So Chandler Smith is set to drive the new No. 81 Toyota full-time in 2024.

As for the No. 19 Toyota, which had been the "star car" for the 2023 season, it is set to be a shared entry once again. Ryan Truex and Joe Graf Jr. are set to continue to drive it in select races like they did in 2023, and they are set to share the driving duties with newcomers Taylor Gray and William Sawalich.

The No. 20 Toyota is also set to serve as a "star car", in a sense, during the 2024 season. While Nemechek has moved up to the Cup Series, he is set to come back to Joe Gibbs Racing's Xfinity Series team and run a 10-race schedule behind the wheel of the car he drove full-time in 2023.

He is set to split the driving duties of the No. 20 Toyota with Aric Almirola, whose move to the team was effectively leaked on the sideline of a Washington Commanders game. Almirola left the Stewart-Haas Racing Cup Series team after six seasons and once again opted to put off retirement for at least another year.