Legacy Motor Club confirmed the rumors that Josh Berry is set to replace John Hunter Nemechek behind the wheel of the No. 42 Toyota (pictured as the No. 40 car for sponsorship purposes) for the 2027 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Berry's departure from Wood Brothers Racing was one of the first dominoes to fall in silly season when it was announced in June, and Nemechek's unexpected departure, which came amid Berry's surprise hot streak to close out the regular season, set the stage for Berry to remain in Cup amid speculation that he could drop down to the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series.
With Berry set to be replaced by Richard Childress Racing O'Reilly Series driver Jesse Love and move to Legacy Motor Club to replace Nemechek, the 2027 driver lineup is slowly but surely coming together.
In fact, there are very few confirmations that haven't yet been made, and those that haven't are largely believed to be foregone conclusions at this point.
Here's an updated look at the 2027 NASCAR Cup Series driver lineup, following Berry's confirmation by Legacy Motor Club.
Updated 2027 NASCAR Cup Series driver lineup
NOTE: This chart includes only the full-time entries. * = the move is not yet fully confirmed.
Team | Manufacturer | Driver | Car |
|---|---|---|---|
Front Row Motorsports | Ford | Noah Gragson | No. 4 |
Front Row Motorsports | Ford | Todd Gilliland | No. 34 |
Front Row Motorsports | Ford | Zane Smith | No. 38 |
Haas Factory Team | Chevrolet | Cole Custer* | No. 41 |
Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | Kyle Larson | No. 5 |
Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | Chase Elliott | No. 9 |
Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | William Byron | No. 24 |
Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | Alex Bowman | No. 48 |
Hyak Motorsports | Chevrolet | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | No. 47 |
Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | Denny Hamlin | No. 11 |
Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | Chase Briscoe | No. 19 |
Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | Christopher Bell | No. 20 |
Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | Ty Gibbs | No. 54 |
Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | Ty Dillon* | No. 10 |
Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | A.J. Allmendinger* | No. 16 |
Legacy Motor Club | Toyota | Josh Berry | No. 42 |
Legacy Motor Club | Toyota | Erik Jones | No. 43 |
Legacy Motor Club | Toyota | Riley Herbst | No. 84 |
Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | Austin Dillon | No. 3 |
Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | Austin Hill | No. 33 |
Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet | Cody Ware* | No. 51 |
RFK Racing | Ford | Brad Keselowski | No. 6 |
RFK Racing | Ford | Chris Buescher | No. 17 |
RFK Racing | Ford | Ryan Preece | No. 60 |
Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | Daniel Suarez* | No. 7 |
Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | Michael McDowell* | No. 71 |
Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | Carson Hocevar | No. 77 |
Team Penske | Ford | Austin Cindric* | No. 2 |
Team Penske | Ford | Ryan Blaney | No. 12 |
Team Penske | Ford | Joey Logano | No. 22 |
Trackhouse Racing | Chevrolet | Ross Chastain | No. 1 |
Trackhouse Racing | Chevrolet | Connor Zilisch | No. 88 |
Trackhouse Racing | Chevrolet | Shane van Gisbergen | No. 97 |
23XI Racing | Toyota | Bubba Wallace | No. 23 |
23XI Racing | Toyota | Corey Heim | No. 35 |
23XI Racing | Toyota | Tyler Reddick | No. 45 |
Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | Jesse Love | No. 21 |
Every single driver listed as not being confirmed to return is considered highly likely to be back in 2027, meaning that Berry's move to Legacy Motor Club might well have been the final move of this year's silly season.
Of course, anything and everything is completely subject to change, whether or not a driver is "under contract" through 2027 or not; we've seen how this works in racing before. There are quite literally times when a contract isn't even as valuable as the pen with which it's signed.
But perhaps the most interesting name to watch is Denny Hamlin, who has not made it a secret that he wants to go out on top. If he wins the 2026 championship, will he actually be back next year? His deal is due to expire after 2027.
The other thing worth noting is the fact that there are 37 cars listed here, rather than 36. That is because RFK Racing still plan to run the No. 60 Ford full-time for Ryan Preece, even after that car's charter, which had been leased out by Rick Ware Racing, was sold to Legacy Motor Club to pave way for their expansion to three cars and thus the hire of Riley Herbst.
Other than that, the other confirmations that have not yet been made seem more like formalities than actual announcements. This appears to be what the full-time lineup will look like when the 2027 Daytona 500 rolls around in February.
Until then, there are still nine races remaining on the 2026 Chase schedule, including this Sunday's Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, which is set to be shown live on USA Network from beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET.
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