NASCAR Silly Season 2022: The “New Man” at the Shop

As the 2021 season enters the homestretch, Silly Season begins to wind down. The biggest of the dominoes have fallen, and we just about have an entire full-time Cup lineup for 2022. The notable bombshells include the sale of Chip Ganassi Racing to Trackhouse, Kurt Busch joining Bubba Wallace at 23XI and Brad Keselowski moving over to Roush as a co-owner of the team. He’ll join Chris Buescher in 2022. But what about Ryan Newman? The 2008 Daytona 500 champ is without a ride thanks to this move. He’s said he doesn’t want to retire, and he’s been actively hunting a ride.

Newman has been with Roush since 2019 after a five-year stint with Richard Childress Racing. He’s made the playoffs once with Roush in 2019, and has been a relatively mid-pack driver most of his time. Granted, he almost won the 2020 Daytona 500 had it not been for that violent wreck that sent him to the hospital, and he almost won the 2019 fall Talladega race. But almost winning isn’t winning. Newman hasn’t really been competitive since 2014, in which he had a miracle playoff run and finished second in points–all without winning a race. 

Comparing Newman to his young teammate in Chris Buescher, they’ve been sort of equal. Since becoming teammates, Buescher has posted 2 top 5’s and 12 top 10’s. Newman has racked up 2 top 5’s and 7 top 10’s (prior to the Darlington playoff race). Granted, Newman missed a few races in 2020, so there’s a bit of an advantage for Buescher.

Meanwhile, another Ford team, Front Row Motorsports, has been stirring up some rumors in the recent weeks. After Kurt Busch’s 23XI announcement, rumors began to swirl that the charter for the newfound 45 team would be purchased from FRR. However, I do not think this will be the case. Rick Ware Racing, who currently has 4 charters, and StarCom Racing, who has 1, are both trying to sell some or all of their charters (Ware reportedly wants to downsize to two ‘competitive’ cars). I feel like 23XI will get their charter for Kurt Busch from this pool.

Front Row has 2 chartered cars; the 34 with 2021 Daytona 500 champion Michael McDowell and the 38 with 2021 rookie Anthony Alfredo. McDowell is entering the homestretch of a career season for him. He captured his first ever Cup win, the Daytona 500, and set career highs in top 5’s (2) and top 10’s (5). He is in the playoffs and is determined to get as far as he can. Alfredo, on the other hand, is completing his first full season in ANY of NASCAR’s top 3 series. He ran part-time for RCR in the xFinity series in 2020, and actually did fairly well. He didn’t win, but he put up 2 top 5’s and 9 top 10’s in his 19 races.

So what does this veteran-rookie duo have to do with the boys of RFR? Simple. Newman is headed over to join FRR in 2022. Nevertheless, I still see FRR as a two car team in 2022. Obviously Ryan Newman will be one of the drivers, but I predict his teammate will be Michael McDowell. McDowell is more than likely returning to the team after his miracle season, and with two vets at the realm, FRR could be looking at a great season statistically. Obviously they won’t morph into the next Team Penske overnight, but I certainly see better average finishes and more top 15 runs by the team.

But what does this mean for Alfredo? His ride was just taken by Newman, so where will he end up? Well, the answer could lie in the xFinity or Truck series. Joe Gibbs is going to have an opening with the departure of Harrison Burton, but that will likely be filled by Ty Gibbs, the part-time rookie sensation who’s been dominating in ARCA as well as running well in the xFinity series. Kaulig also will have an opening in the xFinity Series with the departure of Justin Haley in favor of the full-time Cup efforts for Kaulig beginning in 2022. 

My final prediction for “Fast Pasta” is that he will end up splitting the Kaulig xFinity car three ways. Alfredo will share with Matt DiBenedetto and Kaz Grala in the 2022 xFinity series. This will be an ‘audition’ of sorts for a chance at a full-time ride in Cup or xFinity in 2023, as Kaulig owns 2 Cup charters.

What do you think will happen to Newman? How about Alfredo? Let me know on Twitter or comment on this article! Also, share this article and check out the last post as well!