2023 NASCAR Discussion - 75th Anniversary Season

[acerogers58]

As silly season is already starting to heat up, it feels appropriate to create this thread now.

CHARTERED TEAMS
23XI Racing (Toyota)
23 Bubba Wallace
45 Tyler Reddick
Front Row Motorsports (Ford)
34 Michael McDowell
38 Todd Gilliland (1-3, 5-9, 11-13, 15, 17-29, 31, 33-36), Zane Smith (R) (4, 10, 14, 16, 30, 32)
Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
5 Kyle Larson
9 Chase Elliott (1-2, 9-14, 16-36), Josh Berry (R) (3-5, 7-8), Jordan Taylor (R) (6), Corey LaJoie (15)
24 William Byron
48 Alex Bowman (1-10, 14-36), Josh Berry (R) (11-13)
Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
11 Denny Hamlin
19 Martin Truex Jr.
20 Christopher Bell
54 Ty Gibbs (R)
JTG Daugherty Racing (Chevrolet)
47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Kaulig Racing (Chevrolet)
16 A.J Allmendinger
31 Justin Haley
Legacy Motor Club (Chevrolet)
42 Noah Gragson (R) (1-15, 17-22), Grant Enfinger (R) (16), Josh Berry (R) (23, 26), Mike Rockenfeller (24-25, 32), Carson Hocevar (R) (27-31, 33, 35-36), John Hunter Nemechek (34)
43 Erik Jones
Live Fast Motorsports (Chevrolet)
78 B.J. McLeod (1-5, 8, 10-11, 13-15, 19-22, 26-27, 29-31, 33, 35-36), Josh Bilicki (6, 12, 16-18, 23-25, 32, 34), Anthony Alfredo (7, 9), Sheldon Creed (R) (28)
Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet)
3 Austin Dillon
8 Kyle Busch
Rick Ware Racing (Ford)
15 Riley Herbst (R) (1, 10), J.J Yeley (2-3, 5, 7-9, 14, 19, 21-23, 27-30, 34-36), Todd Gilliland (4), Jenson Button (R) (6, 18, 24), Brennan Poole (11-13, 17, 26, 31, 33), Gray Gaulding (15), Andy Lally (16, 25, 32), Ryan Newman (20)
51 Cody Ware (1-7), Matt Crafton (8), Zane Smith (R) (9), J.J Yeley (10-12, 15, 17, 26, 31, 33), Ryan Newman (13, 22, 27, 29, 34-36), Todd Gilliland (14, 16, 30, 32), Andy Lally (18, 24), Cole Custer (19-21, 23, 25, 28)
RFK Racing (Ford)
6 Brad Keselowski
17 Chris Buescher
Spire Motorsports (Chevrolet)
7 Corey LaJoie (1-14, 16-36), Carson Hocevar (R) (15)
77 Ty Dillon
Stewart-Haas Racing (Ford)
4 Kevin Harvick
10 Aric Almirola
14 Chase Briscoe
41 Ryan Preece
Team Penske (Ford)
2 Austin Cindric
12 Ryan Blaney
22 Joey Logano
Trackhouse Racing Team (Chevrolet)
1 Ross Chastain
99 Daniel Suarez
Wood Brothers Racing (Ford)
21 Harrison Burton

FULL TIME UNCHARTERED & PART TIME TEAMS
23XI Racing (Toyota)
67 Travis Pastrana (R) (1), Kamui Kobayashi (R) (24)
Beard Motorsports (Chevrolet)
62 Austin Hill (R) (1, 10, 19, 23, 26, 32)
Front Row Motorsports (Ford)
36 Zane Smith (R) (1), Todd Gilliland (10), Riley Herbst (R) (26)
Kaulig Racing (Chevrolet)
13 Chandler Smith (R) (1, 7, 26, 31, 36), Jonathan Davenport (R) (8)
Legacy Motor Club (Chevrolet)
84 Jimmie Johnson (1, 6, 14)
Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet)
33 Brodie Kostecki (R) (24)
The Money Team Racing (Chevrolet)
50 Conor Daly (R) (1, 6)
Trackhouse Racing Team (Chevrolet)
91 Kimi Raikkonnen (R) (6), Shane van Gisbergen (R) (18, 24)

[DaleJuniorFan]

As seen in the chart above, Ryan Preece is replacing Cole Custer in the 41 next season:

https://www.jayski.com/2022/11/16/ryan- ... as-racing/

[theracer120]

Not a bad move given Custer has been pretty underwhelming.

[acerogers58]

Not a bad move given Custer has been pretty underwhelming.

Custer is also the son of SHR’s president, bet that wasn’t an easy conversation to have.

[DaleJuniorFan]

[DaleJuniorFan]

Full article in the spoiler, since SBJ is more or less paywalled:

The Race Team Alliance is deepening its relationship with Wasserman to have the sports marketing agency look into the possibility of holding exhibition races, a potentially stunning development that suggests that NASCAR's biggest teams could organize their own events in the offseason.

Wasserman Managing Dir of U.S. Will Pleasants confirmed to SBJ on Tuesday that the agency has "been hired to explore exhibition race opportunities, both domestically and internationally, via a (request-for-information proposal) -- very exploratory."

The RTA is a coalition of NASCAR teams who come together to meet and address issues and opportunities in the sport. Every team that owns one of the sport's 36 charters are now RTA members. Wasserman was already working with the RTA to help the coalition understand its media value heading into NASCAR's upcoming rights cycle, for which formal negotiations will start in early 2023. The exhibition exploration is a new, incremental addition to the deal for Wasserman.

Teams are interested in this because they are struggling to turn a profit and are looking to find any possible new revenue streams, sources said. The events would likely occur in the offseason and apparently would not involve NASCAR.

NASCAR's teams have certain rules they have to abide by as part of the charter agreement with the sanctioning body, and those include not starting competing racing series. That agreement runs through 2024. However, it appears that teams feel they have the legal standing to do some form of exhibition races, as long as they compete in non-NASCAR race cars and branded apparel.

If the RTA found an interested suitor, the exhibition races could start as early as the 2023 offseason, one of the people said.

Neither the RTA nor NASCAR would comment on the record for this report.

Pleasants said that Wasserman is "casting a wide net" with the prospective promoters it is reaching out to about the RFP and said they include groups that are both traditional and non-traditional to being in motorsports.

While the exact implications of the RTA exploring this via Wasserman are unclear, it does come amid a simmering dispute between NASCAR and its teams over the proposed share of revenue to go to teams under the new media rights deal that will start in 2025. It also comes amid the festering dispute between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, a situation that has been closely watched across sports after LIV started its breakaway property and heaped pressure on the PGA Tour to make seismic changes to its business as players sought more money.

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[acerogers58]

Conor Daly will return to TMT Racing, running around 6 races.

https://tobychristie.com/2022/12/05/tmt ... -schedule/

[acerogers58]

A new look for the #8 in 2023.

[acerogers58]

After years of testing failures, it looks like NASCAR and Goodyear have finally built a rain tire capable of running on ovals.

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[acerogers58]

Um, ok..

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[acerogers58]

The rumours have been confirmed, Kevin Harvick will retire at the end of this season. Tony Stewart narrates an emotional tribute video.

This also marks the end of an era for NASCAR as a whole, Kevin is the final full time driver remaining who raced in the “Winston Cup”.

[acerogers58]

This has come out of left field, Travis Pastrana will reportedly attempt to make the Daytona 500 with 23XI Racing.