Though this 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season is still young, it’s never too early to start predicting the silly season, the time period of driver swaps, retirements, and even the occasional new team. Obviously, if you’ve been paying attention there’s Matt DiBenedetto, who’s out of the 21 at the end of this year, and will be replaced by Austin Cindric. Brad Keselowski is expected to jump ship from Penske, especially since he’s had a falling out with current teammate Joey Logano during Daytona Speedweeks in both 2020 and 2021. Aric Almirola and Alex Bowman are both on contract seasons, and even Quin Houff could be out of a ride following this season. There’s even the possibility that one or more drivers retire. One such driver who seems to be hinting at this, is Kurt Busch.
Busch has been in the Cup Series since 2001, and won the Championship in ‘04. He has 32 career wins, including the 2017 Daytona 500. Busch has driven for a variety of teams, from Roush to Stewart-Haas to Phoenix Racing. His career has been solid for the most part, though he had a rough patch in 2011. He had some legal issues and was booted from his Penske ride. He spent a few years in some backmarker equipment, but made the Chase in 2013 with Furniture Row Racing. In 2014, he was tapped to drive the 41 for Stewart-Haas Racing. He drove for SHR until 2018. In 2019 he made the jump over to his current ride, the no. 1 car for Chip Ganassi Racing.
At the beginning of this year, Busch and sponsor Monster Energy posted some videos that got some people speculating Busch’s future in NASCAR. A lot of people suggested that Busch will retire and move to broadcasting with FOX, likely in the Truck or xFinity booth. So if this is the case, and Kurt Busch hangs up the helmet after the Phoenix finale, who is going to replace him?
Well, there’s a lot we need to look at. First, his team. Busch currently drives for Chip Ganassi Racing, a Chevy team with a satellite affiliate, Spire Motorsports. Spire appeared in the Cup Series starting in 2019, and have fielded drivers ranging from Quin Houff to Jamie McMurray. Ganassi provided cars for Spire on a few occasions, notably McMurray’s two Daytona 500 starts for the team. Until this 2021 season, Spire never had a full-time driver. Their flagship no. 77 was always split between numerous drivers. This season, they’re running the no. 7 with Corey LaJoie, and the 77 with a host of different drivers.
But why is Spire important in this scenario? Aside from Jamie McMurray in the Daytona 500 and Stewart Friesen in the Bristol Dirt race, the only other driver for Spire has been Justin Haley (side note: this article is being written during the Bristol Dirt weekend). Haley has been in NASCAR for a couple of years, gathering wins in the Truck series and xFinity series, and even stealing a rain-shortened win in the Cup Series at Daytona in 2019. Haley has developed into a contender in the xFinity series, nabbing three-straight superspeedway wins in 2020. Haley has also gained traction at some of the intermediate and short tracks as well. Prior to his five starts in 2021, Haley only ran a select few races on the Cup level. I believe that Spire is giving Haley more Cup starts to help prepare him for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, which will be his rookie year driving the number 1 car for Chip Ganassi as Kurt Busch steps aside. Ganassi added young driver Ross Chastain over the offseason to fill the no. 42 car previously piloted by Kyle Larson and Matt Kenseth. I think Ganassi is beginning a rebuild phase, and young drivers are the place to start.
The only thing I could see stopping this from happening is if Kaulig Racing (Justin Haley’s xFinity team) goes full-time Cup racing in 2022, which they have been rumored to do. If that is the case, I think Haley will drive for Kaulig’s Cup team, and the 1 will remain vacant. Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know by leaving a comment on this article or on my Twitter!
Motor Max 