Todd Gilliland primed for Cup Series opportunity, ‘growing year’ with Front Row

Posted on December 9, 2021 by Dustin Albino

Just last week on Nov. 30, Todd Gilliland had what he considers to be one of his career highlights. That’s when Front Row Motorsports announced him as the new full-time driver of the No. 38 Ford in the NASCAR Cup Series for the 2022 season.

Gilliland knew he’d be making the jump to Cup approximately two weeks before his plans were formally announced. Jerry Freeze, general manager of Front Row Motorsports, told him nonchalantly that he’d be making the jump to Cup.

Just that casual mention, though, surely made for a day he’ll never forget.

“[Freeze] walked up and grabbed my shoulder and said, ‘I think we’re stuck with you in the 38 car next year,’” Gilliland recalled. “I was like, ‘Wait, for real? I’m going to be in the Cup car?’ I really didn’t know what to think.”

For a while, Gilliland thought he would be returning to the Camping World Truck Series for a third season with Front Row, coming off a seventh-place finish in the championship standings this past year, a campaign that included a victory at Circuit of The Americas. If that was the case, he says he would have been content with that decision.

With no agent, Gilliland relies heavily on his father, David, for advice. Many of his plans run through David to see what’s the best fit.

And the Gilliland family has a history with Front Row. Not only does David’s Truck Series team, David Gilliland Racing, have an alliance with the reigning Daytona 500-winning team, but he competed with FRM at the Cup level from 2010 through 2015. He made two additional starts with the team in 2016.

But even David wasn’t sure if his son would be running in Cup or Trucks.

“It had a 10% chance, then 20%, then back to 5%,” David said of Todd’s chances of moving to the Cup Series next season with FRM. “It’s been a roller coaster of what we were going to do. It’s such a moving target with guys that do have rides in the Cup Series and ones that don’t.

“It was an emotional roller coaster. Even up until a couple weeks ago, it was not 100%. In this business, until it’s done, it’s not done.”

David Gilliland said that the plans would shift on a weekly basis: One week it looked like Todd would be moving up, another week it didn’t. The result is Todd will run his first full Cup season after making 93 career Truck Series starts. In that span, he earned a pair of victories, including his first with Front Row in mid-May. This past year, he had a career season, finishing tied with series champion Ben Rhodes and title contender John Hunter Nemechek for the most top 10s in the series with 16.

Front Row never made a Truck Series start before the 2020 season. It took Gilliland in after two yo-yo type years at Kyle Busch Motorsports. He’s just thankful the team took a chance on him two years ago.

“For them to believe in me as much as they did to start the team was mind-blowing to me,” Todd said. “You have to put yourself in their shoes: I felt like I could do it, but for them to do that was huge for me. And it showed me that they had a lot of faith in me.”

That came after two years of Todd being in the spotlight, running for one of the series’ Goliaths at KBM. The results weren’t ideal, finishing 10th and 11th in points. Sure, he picked up his first series win at Martinsville Speedway in late 2019, but that came after a season of pressure, when team owner Kyle Busch would bluntly evaluate his team for the public to hear.

Todd pushed through and hit reset at Front Row. In addition, he gained worthwhile knowledge that he can carry throughout his career.

Chris Graythen | Getty Images

“I learned so much valuable information when I got there,” he said. “That’s the stuff you can’t forget. Sometimes, you don’t get second chances, but I feel like you’re always better prepared after any situation. I had a big learning curve going into those two years.”

From David’s perspective, it was tough seeing his son go through that backlash. But he believes Todd became a better driver, maturing both on and off the track.

“It definitely pushed him,” David said of Todd’s time at KBM. “I think he could have very easily quit and said, ‘This isn’t for me. The media is bashing me and they’re jumping on Kyle’s bandwagon of wanting to bash me, talk down to us.’ But he didn’t. He kept his head up and used it as fuel to drive him and channel that energy to want to be better and work out harder, restart better and do all the things it takes to be a better race car driver.”

Because of the grind and his work ethic, Todd found himself looking at a ton of data, which includes graphs to see where he can make up time on and off pit road and getting into the pit box. Doing the small things correctly adds up, which was part of his development as a race car driver.

And while Todd is just 21 years old, David believes his son is ready for the big time. After all, he’s been racing competitively since the age of 5 and grew up at the race track.

“I have no idea if I am or not because there’s a lot to learn,” Todd said about his Cup Series readiness. “I have guys that believe in me at Front Row Motorsports that are giving me the chance for this year and hopefully a long time in the future that we can build together. I think they do know that it’s going to be a little bit of a process; they’ve had rookie drivers there before the last couple of years and you can see the huge learning curve.

“I think the biggest thing is being patient. Certainly, I feel confident in my ability and that, with four years in the Truck Series, that package is close to the wide-open racing we see in the Cup Series.”

MORE: 2022 Silly Season tracker

David, who made a respectable career running for Front Row and other teams, didn’t start racing until he was 18. With Todd’s experience alone, his dad believes he already has him covered.

“The good thing is nobody has a lot of experience in the [Next Gen],” David said. “I think the more experience he can gain and learn in that, the better off it is. If they were running the old car, I think it would be a much bigger step than it is with the new car coming out.”

Knowing the transition will be a steep one, Michael McDowell, driver of the other Front Row car, believes Todd’s knowledge of being around the sport his entire life will be valuable. It could make the difference in how competitive he is, compared to how other rookies have fared in recent years at FRM.

“We know it’s going to be a growing year and going to be a challenge for him,” McDowell said during a Champion’s Week availability last week in Nashville. “But at least we’ll have practice and have the opportunity where I can help him. I think my experience with new, rookie teammates is John Hunter, out of all those guys, probably did the best. And one of the key aspects to that was he grew up in the sport. He was born and raised going to the race track. He’s seen it, watched it, experienced it, and Todd is exactly the same in that aspect.

“When you’re around it 24 hours per day, seven days a week, you just know more: situational, experience. Even though he doesn’t have laps, he has watched and been on the pit box, on the hauler and seen more than most of us have seen.”

Todd’s first time strapping into a Cup Series car will be at the Next Gen test scheduled next week at Charlotte Motor Speedway. His primary objective for his rookie season is to complete as many laps as possible and keep his equipment in one piece.

Posted on December 9, 2021 by Aarnolda

Editor’s Note: This continues the series of season reviews for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs drivers.

Driver: Tyler Reddick
Car: No. 8 Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Crew chief: Randall Burnett
Final 2021 ranking: 13th
Key stats: 3 top fives, 16 top 10s, 43 laps led

How 2021 ended:

Reddick was eliminated in the first round of the Cup Series playoffs in his first appearance in the premier series postseason. Needing a strong finish in the Round of 16 finale at Bristol Motor Speedway, Reddick and Co. landed in 12th, just missing out on advancing by a heartbreaking two points. The early exit didn’t stop the second-year driver from competing for the rest of the season, grabbing three more top 10s including a runner-up finish at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.

His final top 10 came in the 33rd race of the season at Texas Motor Speedway — making it 16 for the year, nearly doubling his 2020 total — to establish a new benchmark. He rounded out the season with a 22nd-place finish at Kansas Motor Speedway, an 18th-place finish at Martinsville Speedway and slotted in 19th in the season finale at Phoenix Raceway.

Best race:

Reddick’s best performance came in the third race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Rolling off 35th to start, the young driver rallied his way through the field to finish ahead of title contenders Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Larson. In the end, however, William Byron took home the checkered flag and Reddick’s valiant effort landed him second and just shy of his first Cup Series victory.

Additional highlights:

• Though the season was a rollercoaster at times, Reddick routinely found himself going toe-to-toe with the frontrunners. The most memorable, perhaps, was his battle with Byron at the Roval. He led laps in nine of the 36 races this season, four more than in 2020.

• In addition to his pair of runner-up finishes, he earned his first career Busch Pole Award in the inaugural race at Circuit of the Americas in May.

Stat to know:

Only two DNFs in 36 races allowed Reddick to finish 99.4% (9141 of 9200) of the laps this season, trailing only Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick.

Quotable:

“I need to get this Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevy to Victory Lane because if I would’ve, I would’ve gotten a lot of people in America free chicken tenders on Monday night.” — Reddick after a runner-up finish at Homestead-Miami.

RELATED: Shop Reddick die casts, gear

Looking ahead:

Reddick returns to RCR next season, the final year of his current contract, with reasonable momentum alongside teammate Austin Dillon. From 1.5-mile tracks to short tracks and road courses, Reddick made enormous gains from a season ago and is a surefire playoff contender for 2022. He’s flashed the speed and the talent. Now, comes the experience. Entering his third season in the premier series, the 25-year-old’s goals and confidence should be higher than ever.

Posted on December 9, 2021December 9, 2021 by Terrin Waack

Landon Cassill has signed with Kaulig Racing’s 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series program with Voyager Digital Ltd. as his primary sponsor on the No. 10 Chevrolet. Cassill and the cryptocurrency platform extended their history-making partnership, which began last season, to an additional two years.

The announcement came Thursday in a Kaulig Racing news release. Cassill elaborated on his new opportunity soon afterward on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

“Ultimately, Kaulig Racing is showing itself as a destination for good drivers and a place to win,” Cassill said. “Not a stepping stone or a place that’s on the way up. It’s a place that’s up there and it’s a place that, I think, drivers call home.”

Cassill is taking over Jeb Burton’s old ride in the No. 10 Chevy. Justin Haley’s departure for Kaulig’s Cup Series venture leaves Daniel Hemric (No. 11) and AJ Allmendinger (No. 16) as Cassill’s new teammates in the NASCAR Xfinity Series garage.

Hemric was crowned the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion as he finished out his term with Joe Gibbs Racing. Allmendinger, meanwhile, was tied for the series’ winningest driver last season. Cassill is still searching for his first NASCAR win.

“To drive for Kaulig Racing now, the goal is to win and I need teammates to lean on to help me do that,” Cassill said. “I have to be able to take my driving to the next level, and there’s an entire new discipline that I have to learn that I haven’t been training the last few years. I’ve got to be able to close these races from the front row if I find myself in that position. I’ve got to be able to hit pit road in the lead and come out in the lead. I’ve got to do things different. And it’s going take the team at Kaulig Racing to help me get there, and that’s why Kaulig Racing is the destination for me.”

Cassill competed in 32 of 33 NASCAR Xfinity Series events for JD Motorsports last year, with Voyager as his primary sponsor in 18 of the races he qualified for. He averaged a 22.8 finish in the No. 4 Chevrolet. His best result was 12th, and it happened three times — Daytona Road Course, Darlington Raceway-1 and Martinsville Speedway-2.

Dating back to 2007, Cassill has 176 NASCAR Xfinity Series starts with one top-five finish (third at Daytona International Speedway in 2011). Cassill also has made 326 career starts in the NASCAR Cup Series since 2010, including two last year, and eight career starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series since 2008.

“We are really excited to bring Landon Cassill on board for the 2022 season,” said Chris Rice, president of Kaulig Racing. “Landon has competed in NASCAR’s top series for many years and has brought with him a pivotal partner in Voyager Digital. We are looking forward to this partnership with Voyager and think Landon will be a great asset to our Kaulig Racing family.”

MORE: Learn more about Cassill’s original 2021 Voyager deal

Cassill will be paid fully in a portfolio of cryptocurrencies that includes Bitcoin, Voyager Token, USD Coin, StormX and Avalanche.

Also as part of the deal, StormX (a crypto cash-back platform) and Usio Inc. (a payment solutions provider) will be featured on the No. 10 Chevy during select 2022 races. The car will also sport the phrase “Crypto for All,” as Cassill and Voyager try to raise awareness and drive cryptocurrency adoption.

“We built a historic partnership with Landon, as the first NASCAR driver to be paid in crypto, and continuing this journey with him is an incredible ride for Voyager,” said Steve Ehrlich, CEO and co-founder of Voyager. “We’re excited about this collaboration with Kaulig Racing and can’t wait to see what is next in Landon’s promising career.”

RELATED: Hemric heads to Kaulig Racing

The 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule officially kicks off Feb. 19 at 5 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio at Daytona International Speedway.

“Just because I’m signed with Kaulig Racing now and I have Voyager as the long-term sponsor doesn’t mean that I’m all of a sudden decompressed and can let my guard down,” Cassill said. “It’s actually quite the opposite. It’s more I’m readjusting how I prepare for every race because the things that I’m going to focus on now are a little bit different than I was focusing on before. It’s a new challenge.”

Posted on December 8, 2021December 8, 2021 by Chase Wilhelm

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — After a 39-year hiatus, the No. 42 is back under the Petty fold once again.

The newly-formed Petty GMS Motorsports team conjoins Richard Petty Motorsports’ storied history with GMS Racing’s investment into two chartered, full-time NASCAR Cup Series teams — the No. 42 Chevrolet of Ty Dillon and the No. 43 Chevrolet driven by Erik Jones. The investment was made by Maury Gallagher, owner of GMS Racing. The organization will be led by team president Mike Beam.

Dillon’s new drive, which was originally supposed to be the No. 94 before GMS Racing’s investment with Petty, revives a tradition that dates back to Lee Petty’s first NASCAR Cup Series start with the No. 42 in 1949 at Occoneechee Speedway in Hillsboro, North Carolina.

Since then, Petty earned all but one of his 54 premier series victories with the No. 42. Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty also spent time in the No. 42 aside from his usual No. 43, earning a pair of race wins during his stint.

“When I first started Cup racing, we had the 42 and the 43,” Petty said during Tuesday’s unveiling at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. “It’s sort of like the whole wheel has come back together. To me and our family, it means a whole lot.”

Richard’s son, Kyle Petty, drove No. 42 under the Petty Enterprises umbrella in 69 races from 1980-82. Aside from the No. 42 coming back, it’s also a homecoming for Beam with the Petty family after serving as crew chief for Kyle during those years.

Kyle switched over to the No. 7 for the family-owned team and later to the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. From 1990-96, Kyle returned to No. 42, this time for former team owner Felix Sebates. Kyle earned six total victories there.

Kyle indicated the team originally had the No. 44 in mind to join Jones’ No. 43 but ultimately decided to go the historical route.

“It just has so much more history than the 44,” Kyle told NASCAR.com. “(No.) 44 was just another line in the progression. (No.) 45 has a lot of history with us obviously with Adam (Petty, Kyle’s late son). And then to come full circle that Mike (Beam) works there is crazy because when Mike came and worked there (Petty Enterprises) in ’81, I was 20 years old and he was 22 or 23 and it was the blind leading the blind. They just gave us a race car and let us go race there in ’81, ’82 and ’83. Those were good years. It’s pretty cool to see them unveil that 42 car.”

Chip Ganassi Racing was the most recent owner of the No. 42, run by Ross Chastain in 2021 and Kyle Larson from 2014 through March 2020. Other drivers to have run the number full-time for Ganassi since the mid-2000s include Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya. The number was inherited by Trackhouse Racing after Justin Marks’ purchase of Ganassi’s NASCAR operation, which put it on the market for 2022 after Trackhouse elected to go with the No. 1 for Chastain’s new ride.

Beam, who has served as president of GMS Racing since December 2014, was more than willing to take the opportunity to run the No. 42 given his own history with the Petty group.

“Once we got the 42, it was a no-brainer for me,” Beam said. “I owe Kyle, Richard, Maurice (Petty) and the whole Petty family so much. My whole family does.”

For owner Gallagher, the marketing advantages of the number were another reason for the decision.

“If you just think pure business perspective — sponsors, awareness, the Petty brand — it’s a really natural place to go with what we were trying to do here and announce to the Cup world,” Gallagher said.

Even NASCAR Hall of Fame crew chief Dale Inman, atop the pit box for Richard and the No. 43 Petty Enterprises team during 188 of his 200 career premier series victories and seven titles, couldn’t hold back the joy the number coming back home sparked.

“Yeah, I’ve seen that number before,” Inman said with a smile, noting Hall of Famer Lee Petty’s success with No. 42. “The 42 goes back way before the 43 to me, but it’s been a long ride for both of them, and it’s good that it’s come back.”

Posted on December 8, 2021 by Official NASCAR Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR and Coca-Cola are bringing the party to the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum. They announced today that multiplatinum recording artist and NASCAR team owner Pitbull will perform a 45-minute concert before the main event on Feb. 6 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

“Pitbull transcends cultures and generations with his positive, upbeat performances and his humanitarian work away from the stage and studio,” said Patrick Rogers, NASCAR vice president of marketing services. “We’re excited that he’s providing his star power to this historic day for our sport.”

Pitbull is a GRAMMY®-winning independent international superstar, education advocate, business entrepreneur and motivational speaker. With countless awards, dozens of international number ones, hundreds of gold and platinum certifications, millions of single sales, 25 million album sales, and cumulative video views in excess of 15 billion, one of the most impressive careers in music history set the stage for him to make true change. Dedicated to making a positive impact in the world, Pitbull has established SLAM tuition free public charter schools.

Moreover, Pitbull is a partner of Trackhouse Racing with team founder Justin Marks. Trackhouse fields cars in the NASCAR Cup Series for drivers Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain who will compete in the Clash.

“This is history in the making to be part of this special Los Angeles Coliseum NASCAR event,” said Armando Christian Perez (Pitbull). “It’s an honor to integrate culture, music and NASCAR racing as the universal language to unite new audiences around the world.”

Pitbull’s concert at the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum is being presented by NASCAR premier partner Coca-Cola, which boasts an unmatched track record of uniting people on and off the track.

“The Coca-Cola Company has been sharing incredible moments with race fans for decades and we look forward to elevating the live event experience through one of our shared passions, live music,” said John Mount, Vice President Entertainment and Sports Marketing, The Coca-Cola Company. “This collaboration with NASCAR and Pitbull will make a historic event at the L.A. Coliseum even more special and will provide fans some Real Magic with a once-in-a-lifetime moment to share an ice-cold Coca-Cola with family and friends.”

The Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum on Sunday, Feb. 6, will be the culmination of a two-day celebration of speed inside the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. NASCAR is constructing a temporary, quarter-mile track inside “The World’s Greatest Stadium” for this season-opening exhibition, which is being held outside of Daytona Beach, Fla., for the first time.

Sunday’s action at the Coliseum begins at noon PST with the first of four heat races and two last-chance qualifying races that will determine the field of 23 cars for the main event. Shortly after 2 p.m. PST, Pitbull will perform and set the stage for the 150-lap main event, which begins at 3 p.m. PST. All of Sunday’s racing action will be broadcast live on FOX.

On Saturday, Feb. 5, fans can get a sneak peek at NASCAR’s newest venue by attending Busch Light Clash Qualifying. Gates open at 1 p.m. PST, with qualifying beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST.

Tickets for both days are on sale now at www.nascar.com/lacoliseum. Access to the NASCAR Fan Fest, offering interactive opportunities for fans of all ages, is included with all ticket purchases.

Posted on December 8, 2021December 8, 2021 by Reid Spencer

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Despite career-best four victories and a trip to the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Alex Bowman characterized his 2021 season as a mixed bag.

“Last year (2020), we ended the season really consistent, finished sixth in points, had a really great playoff run, and nobody really cared,” Bowman said last week during an availability before the NASCAR Awards. “It was cool to finish sixth in points, but we only won one race.

“This year, we won four races, we won a race in the middle of the playoffs, but we finished bad in points — 14th — but we still won four races. So, looking back at it, I’d rather have the four trophies, but it would be nice to be able to figure out the consistency side of it.”

That’s something Bowman and crew chief Greg Ives have struggled to accomplish.

“I think, as a team, Greg and myself and everybody on our team has been asking ourselves that for four years now,” said Bowman, who plans to follow teammate Kyle Larson’s lead and run approximately 30 sprint-car races in 2022. “We’ve got to figure it out, and we’ve got some work to do to make it happen. There’s a lot changing next year, and hopefully that benefits us.”

Speaking of the trophies, Bowman’s grandfather clock from Martinsville Speedway just arrived this week.

“I always thought the Dover trophy (Miles the Monster) was the coolest trophy,” Bowman said. “I think the Monster is pretty cool. It turns out the Monster can hold a bottle of Jameson the same way it can hold a die-cast car, so I think that’s pretty neat. So I think that’s a cool one.

“But the clock’s also real cool. I stuck it in my office, kind of in the corner. It’s neat to have. It’s a process to set it up. I didn’t expect that, but I got that done and it’s pretty cool.”

Posted on December 8, 2021December 8, 2021 by Holly Cain

Editor’s Note: This continues the series of season reviews for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs drivers.

Driver: Alex Bowman
Car: No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Crew chief: Greg Ives
Final 2021 ranking: 14thKey stats: 4 wins, 8 top fives, 16 top 10s, 161 laps led

How 2021 ended:
Bowman was eliminated in the Round of 12 of the Cup Series Playoffs after a 38th-place DNF at Talladega Superspeedway put him in a difficult points position entering that round’s final race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval. Although eliminated from championship eligibility, Bowman dramatically won the penultimate event at Martinsville Speedway – punctuating a career-best four-win season.

RELATED: Alex Bowman through the years

Best race:
Bowman led 98 laps on his way to a career-first victory at Dover International Speedway. He led the race’s final 97 laps to beat teammate Kyle Larson — the eventual NASCAR Cup Series champion — to the flag by an impressive 2.017 seconds. It was his second victory of the year, marking the first time he’d ever won multiple NASCAR Cup Series races in a season.

Other season highlights:
Bowman’s four wins was a personal-best mark and came on a variety of tracks – from the 0.75-mile venue of Richmond Raceway, to the Dover “Monster Mile” to Pocono Raceway’s tricky 2.5-mile triangle to the Martinsville short track. And 2021 was also a year that saw career-high marks in top-five (eight) and top-10 (16) finishes.

Stat to know:
Bowman’s four-victory season stands out, as do his career-best statistical marks – only 2021 champ Larson won more races (10). Yet for as big as his trophy haul was, Bowman led only 161 laps – far off the totals he put up the last two years (200 in 2019 and 440 in 2020). His average finish (15.1) was also below the marks he established in the last two seasons (14.4 in 2019 and 14.7 in 2020).

MORE: All-time winners for Hendrick Motorsports

Quotable:
“Was confident coming into this year, but the thing that I’ve always circled is just try to be consistent, consistently running well. We’ve struggled to do that. It’s pretty hard for me to be super-excited right now (after his Martinsville win). The beginning of the season if you told me I was going to win four times, I’d be pretty excited. Wish we were going to Phoenix with a chance to win the championship. It has been painful to kind of go through the playoffs this way. But it’s awesome to at least start to end the year on a strong note.” – Bowman after his Martinsville Speedway victory on Oct. 31.

Looking ahead:
Career-high marks in 2021 are a good sign for the 28-year-old Bowman, who is looking to elevate his overall performance to contend for the championship. He has proven himself able to take home the race trophy, and in 2020 proved that he can race further into the title race. Now, it’s time to combine the efforts and challenge for the bigger trophy won by different teammates the last two seasons. Bowman finished sixth in the championship in 2020; advancing to the Round of 8 is a reasonable expectation given the current success of the Hendrick Motorsports organization.

Posted on December 7, 2021December 14, 2021 by Zack Albert

The recent deal between team owners Maury Gallagher and Richard Petty came into clearer focus Tuesday with the announcement that the newly formed organization will operate under the banner of Petty GMS Motorsports.

Petty GMS will field two chartered entries in the NASCAR Cup Series starting next year, with Ty Dillon and Erik Jones as the drivers. The details, plus a new team logo and car designs, were unveiled Tuesday afternoon at the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Gallagher’s GMS Motorsports operation had announced June 17 that it intended to field a Cup Series entry in 2022, tapping Dillon as its driver nearly four months later. Last Wednesday, the two teams announced that Gallagher had purchased a majority interest in the Petty operation, an agreement that included the two Cup Series charters.

Tuesday brought the news that Petty, the series’ all-time win leader, will maintain a presence both in the team’s name and at the track. He was also in attendance for Tuesday’s announcement, and Gallagher said that Petty’s appearance schedule and his stature as the public face of the franchise was part of what sweetened the deal.

“Well, there’s there’s a number of elements to success, right?” Gallagher said. “You can’t save yourself into a profit, but you can spend yourself out of one. What that means is you need revenue, and Richard is a brand, a name that really is important. And I think he’ll admit to the same thing. And candidly, as he said, we stepped into the middle of the ongoing thing. There are sponsors and things that were really important to keep going, and he’s the reason they have the sponsors today. Yeah, the racing is important, too, but he’s a big component — more so perhaps than any other team. Richard Petty as your masthead, it’s a big deal.”

Jones will return for his second season in the No. 43 Chevrolet, but the group’s second entry will wear No. 42 — a car number with deep ties to the Petty family. Hall of Famer and patriarch Lee Petty drove the number to all but one of his 54 Cup Series wins, and Richard’s son, Kyle, flew the No. 42 in six of his eight big-league wins.

Keeping his hand in the business and his family name out front was also an enticing aspect for Petty, stock-car racing’s king. Not surprisingly, the team’s new logo blended GMS’ familiar orange with the trademark Petty Blue.

“It’s not for me. It’s for my kids, my grandkids, my great-grandkids from that standpoint,” Petty said of his ongoing role as team chairman after the sale. “… So you’ve got a little bit of control over your name. I think everybody, just like Joe Blow, would like to protect their name as much as they can.

“I ain’t going nowhere. When my toes turn up, that’s when I’m gone.”

The team indicated that previously announced driver-crew chief pairings will remain intact — Jones will work with former JR Motorsports crew chief Dave Elenz, and Dillon will partner with first-year crew chief Jerame Donley. Mike Beam will guide the organization’s day-to-day operations as the team president.

Beam also has long-running ties to the Petty family. He was crew chief for Kyle Petty during the first four full-time seasons of his Cup Series career, and he later worked with Richard Petty in the 1985 season. Now with GMS, he says that he and Gallagher bring a no-frills approach, evidenced by their reluctance to bask in the spotlight and by — Beam says in jest — Gallagher’s tendency toward ‘dad shoes.’

“You look at all the GMS wins and stuff, you’ll never see me and Maury hogging the picture,” Beam says. “No, we just want the trophy and the money. We’re gone. We’re good. We don’t need the pictures. The pictures, it does not go in the bank.”

GMS Racing plans to remain a full-time entrant in both the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the ARCA Menards Series, according to the team. GMS has tallied 41 Camping World Truck wins, plus two series championships — with Johnny Sauter in 2016 and Sheldon Creed in 2020.

Beam said GMS Racing will field two full-time trucks, an operation that is independent of the Petty GMS group. The organization previously announced that Grant Enfinger would wheel the No. 23 Chevrolet in 2022 and ’23, and Jack Wood is set to compete for Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors next year in the No. 24 Chevy. Daniel Dye is scheduled to return to drive GMS Racing’s ARCA Menards Series entry.

On the Cup Series side, Petty GMS will move forward with two young racers with much still to prove. Jones, 25, has two Cup wins from his time with Joe Gibbs Racing, but he is still in the early stages of trying to bring the iconic No. 43 back to its former prominence. The 29-year-old Dillon is back on the Cup Series circuit full-time after a partial campaign over multiple series last year.

Gallagher’s GMS bunch made a significant impact on the Camping World Truck Series status quo, expanding rapidly and hoisting its first championship trophy less than four years after its 2013 debut. As far as the Cup Series expectations go under the Petty GMS umbrella, Gallagher says he has optimism for the new team’s future.

“One, two?” Gallagher joked, pointing out that his truck organization’s 1-2-3 finish in the 2020 standings had spoiled him. “You know, I think we can win. It’s easy for me to say, since I’m not going to be on the floor day to day doing it, but this is the best racers in the world. I don’t want to come across as being arrogant and the like, but it will take us a while to get there, but this crowd, they know what they’re doing.”

Posted on December 7, 2021December 7, 2021 by Marcus DiNitto

Kyle Larson is the favorite to repeat as the NASCAR Cup Series champion in 2022, per opening futures odds posted around the betting market. He’s followed by Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott, then drivers from Joe Gibbs Racing, with Team Penske after that. In other words, bookmakers anticipate next season playing out a lot like the recently completed 2021 campaign.

This remains despite the change on tap to the Next Gen car.

While the Next Gen car could even the playing field, emphasizing driver skill over equipment, SuperBook USA’s Ed Salmons — a top NASCAR oddsmaker — will believe it when he sees it.

“I’ll go with the assumptions I’ve seen the last couple years, and when I see something different on the track, I’ll go with that,” Salmons said. “Stuff that tells me otherwise, I’ll build that into the odds, but until I know something factual, I’ll just assume all the stuff I know is what I know from the other car.”

To some sharp NASCAR bettors, though, the change to the Next Gen car necessitates a new handicapping approach.

“Short answer is it’s going to change everything,” bettor Blake Phillips said. “… You have to throw out a lot of the previous results to an extent. … My approach next season is going to be very different in that I’m going to be looking at recent results much, much more heavily than historic results, and I’m going to be seeing how closely they align with previous results and how much they differ.”

To pro bettor Zack White, the change represents an opportunity to be a step ahead of the oddsmakers.

“It’s definitely going to be a challenge. Luckily it will be a challenge for the bookmakers, too,” White said in a text message. “I haven’t finalized a plan yet on how I will adjust handicapping, but obviously a lot of old data will have to be thrown out. We will see what kind of information I can get my eyes on before those first couple races and go from there.”

Here are early odds from two sportsbooks — SuperBook USA and NASCAR sponsor Barstool — to win the 2022 Cup title for drivers priced at 100-1 odds or less at the Las Vegas shop.

Driver	SuperBook	Barstool
Kyle Larson	+350	+250
Chase Elliott	+500	+500
Denny Hamlin	+800	+550
Kyle Busch	+800	+800
Ryan Blaney	+1000	+1000
William Byron	+1000	+1000
Martin Truex Jr	+1000	+550
Joey Logano	+1400	+1400
Kevin Harvick	+1400	+1400
Alex Bowman	+2000	+2000
Christopher Bell	+2000	+2500
Kurt Busch	+3000	+3000
Brad Keselowski	+3000	+1800
Tyler Reddick	+6000	+5000
Ross Chastain	+10000	+12500
Daniel Suarez	+10000	+12500
Austin Cindric	+10000	+6600

SHUFFLING OF THE FIELD?

Throughout the 2021 season, we spoke of the “Big Three” garages — Hendrick, Gibbs and Penske — but should the Next Gen car accomplish NASCAR’s goal of elevating the importance of driver skill, we may see teams with lighter budgets win more races.

“Guys like Tyler Reddick come to mind,” Phillips said. “I think that’s the guy who might suddenly be a lot more competitive than he is now when we go to the new package. But at the same time, this is a guy who has to drive that car as hard as it will go every single week, and I want to see if he can keep it clean.”

The inverse would also be true: Drivers who can thank their equipment for their past success may come back to the pack (Denny Hamlin is looking at you, Alex Bowman).

“I do expect we’re going to see some of these lower-funded teams and drivers who have a ton of talent but don’t have a ton of money being quite a bit more competitive, and I think we’re going to see some of the lower performers on the heavily funded teams dropping a little bit further down in the pack,” Phillips said.

Salmons is skeptical.

“The one thing I always hear whenever they wheel out a new car is the guys that never win, they’re going to have a chance now, it’s going to even the field,” the bookmaker said. “I believe the teams that have the most money spend the most and find stuff out first and get the advantages first. That’s just how it is. I could be dead wrong. But until I see it on the track, I’m not going to believe it.”

Marcus DiNitto, senior news editor at Gaming Today, has been covering sports business for more than 20 years and sports betting for about 10. NASCAR is among the many sports he bets — and typically loses — on. Follow him on Twitter; do not bet his picks.

Posted on December 7, 2021 by Staff Report

23XI Racing and McDonald’s announced Tuesday that their sponsorship agreement would grow in 2022, with the restaurant brand supporting the team’s entries for Bubba Wallace and Kurt Busch in the NASCAR Cup Series.

The team indicated that McDonald’s will serve as primary sponsor for several races each on Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota and Busch’s No. 45 Toyota next year, including the season-opening Daytona 500 (Feb. 20, 2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM) for Wallace. The organization — co-owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin — is expanding to a two-car operation for its second season.

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McDonald’s was primary sponsor for Wallace in eight races last season, including his first Cup Series win Oct. 4 at Talladega Superspeedway. That victory brought a long-awaited return to Victory Lane for McDonald’s, which had last graced a Cup Series winner in 1994 with Jimmy Spencer — also at Talladega.

“McDonald’s has really stepped up over the years and played a large part in my career,” Wallace said in a news release provided by the team. “Getting McDonald’s back to Victory Lane for the first time since 1994 and having them on our Camry for my first win in the Cup Series this year was really special. To be a part of the McDonald’s family and be involved in programs like Black and Positively Golden and work toward similar goals both on and off the track also means a lot to me. I’m excited to continue to build on our relationship and get the 2022 season started with McDonald’s on our Camry TRD for the Daytona 500 — hopefully with another trip to Victory Lane.”

Busch was tapped as 23XI Racing’s newest driver on Aug. 27. Next year — his 22nd season at the Cup Series level — will mark his first events with McDonald’s as a primary sponsor.

“Racing with Monster Energy over the last decade together has been an incredible ride,” Busch said. “We win, we have fun, we promote together, and I am very grateful for their partnership. It feels like family racing for them, and I believe McDonald’s will have the same feel. The power of these brands elevates the No. 45 Camry TRD to a top-tier level before we even take the green flag. Let’s win!”