On June 17, 2021, Gallagher Motorsports (GMS) announced they would expand their team into the NASCAR Cup Series. Owned by Maurice Gallagher, Jr. and son Spencer, the team currently fields entries in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) Menard’s Series. They also fielded cars in the NASCAR Xfinity Series from 2016-2019. About four months after the initial Cup announcement, GMS revealed Ty Dillon to be their driver for 2022 with the number 94. A little less than two months following the Dillon news, Maurice Gallagher purchased a majority interest in Richard Petty Motorsports, effectively creating Petty GMS Motorsports. The 94 was rebranded to 42, which first found success in the early days of NASCAR with Richard Petty’s father Lee.
Ty Dillon is no stranger to the Cup Series, having run part time for four seasons with a variety of teams as well as a full time stint with the now defunct Germain Racing from 2017-2020. He is the younger brother of 2018 Daytona 500 champion Austin Dillon. Ty began his career in the NASCAR world in 2011 when he made three starts in the Truck Series for the now-defunct Kevin Harvick Incorporated. He had a best finish of third at Texas. In his three starts, he had one top 5 and 2 top 10’s, no wins, and no poles. In 2012, Ty went full-time for his grandfather Richard Childress in the Truck Series, and scored his first win when he won from the pole at Atlanta. Ty finished his first full-time campaign with 1 win, 7 top 5’s, 17 top 10’s and 3 poles in 22 races. He finished fourth in the final standings. Additionally, Ty made his first starts in the Xfinity, scoring top 10’s in all three races with a best finish of third at Indianapolis.
The next season, Ty improved in wins (2) and top 5’s (9), but had declines in top 10’s (12) and poles (1). He also improved on final standings, finishing second to Matt Crafton. Also in 2013, Dillon had his second part-time stint in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, running an additional nine races, yet racking up just one top 10 (seventh at Bristol).
The 2014 season was Ty’s breakout year. He moved to the Xfinity Series full-time for RCR, and immediately scored back-to-back top 10’s at Daytona and Phoenix. He scored the pole for the third race of the season at Las Vegas, but finished 11th. He hit two separate streaks of 4 top 10 finishes (Bristol-Darlington, Iowa-Michigan) before going on a tear later in the summer, scoring three straight top 5 finishes including his first career Xfinity Series win at Indianapolis.
Following the win, Dillon scored a top 15 in every race afterward with two exceptions, Mid-Ohio and Charlotte. He finished the season fifth in the final standings as Chase Elliott walked away with the title. Ty Dillon finished 2014 with one win, seven top 5’s, 24 top 10’s, and 3 poles. Also in 2014, Ty made his first career Cup Series start at Atlanta, where he finished 25th.
In 2015, Ty broke through once again. Though he didn’t claim a victory, he still collected career best 12 top 5’s and 25 top 10’s in 33 races. Even with no wins and no poles, Ty’s consistency was enough to land him a third place finish in the final standings, as Chris Buescher won the title. Also in 2015, Ty ran in five more races, with a best finish of 14th at Michigan.
The 2016 season marked Ty’s last full-time stint in the series. Again winless, Ty posted another 9 top 5’s, 17 top 10’s, and an additional pole. He scored his second 5th place points finish as Daniel Suarez won the title. Dillon made 11 starts in the Cup Series in 2016 as well, three of which as a substitute for the injured Tony Stewart. Dillon made an appearance as a mid-race sub for Stewart at Talladega in April. In his 11 starts, he scored a best finish of 15th at Phoenix. The Cup Series excitement for Dillon didn’t end there though, as on November 28, 2016, the now-defunct Germain Racing named Ty Dillon as their full-time driver beginning in 2017, replacing veteran Casey Mears.
Ty’s rookie season went about as well as forecasted, scoring zeroes in wins, top 5’s, top 10’s and poles. He had a best finish of 11th, twice and came 24th in the overall standings. 2018 went a little better for Dillon, as he scored his first top 10 at Daytona, where he finished 6th. Outside of that, Dillon once again was winless and had no top 5’s or poles, and he came 27th in the final standings. The 2019 season was Ty’s best season to date. He finally scored his first career top 5 finish with a fourth place finish at rain-shortened Daytona. In addition, he had three top 10’s including a sixth in the Daytona 500.
The 2020 season is when Ty struck turbulence. In September 2020, his main sponsor GEICO announced they would not be returning to Germain in 2021, and a few days later, on September 22, 2020, Germain Racing announced they would shut down at the conclusion of the 2020 season, selling their charter to the newly founded 23XI Racing, co-owned by Michael Jordan. Despite this, and despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Ty and Germain Racing still powered for a career best finish of third at Talladega, his second career top-5. Dillon also tacked on 2 top-10’s including one at Las Vegas, which was his first non-superspeedway top-10. Ty finished out his final season with Germain 26th in the standings.
Early in 2021, it was revealed Ty Dillon was going to attempt the Daytona 500 with Gaunt Brothers Racing (GBR). For the first time in his career, Ty would not run a Chevrolet or a team affiliated with RCR. Before the 500, however, Ty Dillon would run in the Busch Clash for 23XI, who had purchased his Germain charter. 23XI’s normal driver, Bubba Wallace, was ineligible for the Clash, but Dillon was. Dillon started 14th and finished 19th.
Unfortunately for Dillon, his Daytona week would be cut short, as his result in his Duel race was not enough to transfer him into the main event. Ty was back the following week at the Daytona Road Course, where he started 38th and finished 19th. Ty made three more starts with Gaunt Bros. in 2021, with his 19th place finish at Daytona being his best that year.
In addition to his four Cup starts, Dillon made 11 Xfinity starts. Four of which were for Joe Gibbs Racing, six were for Our Motorsports, and one for Jordan Anderson Racing. He scored a top 5 and three top 10’s in these races. However, in early October, GMS Racing announced Ty Dillon to drive their #94 car for their newfound Cup Series team. Then in December, the Richard Petty/GMS merger was announced, solidifying Ty Dillon a ride for 2022.
So far, through 20 races, Ty has a single top 10 (Bristol-Dirt). He’s stayed around the mid-twenties in points standings and hasn’t really had much of a notable season. So why am I bothering to write about Ty and his NASCAR Career? Well, on July 15, 2022, just days before the Cup event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Ty Dillon and Petty-GMS announced they had mutually agreed to part ways following the 2022 season. This sent some shockwaves through the Silly Season world, albeit not as big as the Tyler Reddick news just three days prior. So with that in mind, the Silly Season: 2023 saga continues.
Among one of the first major candidates for the ride in 2023 was Xfinity regular, Noah Gragson. In his controversial time in the series, he amassed seven wins, 50 top 5’s and 82 top tens along with one pole. Additionally, he made his Cup Series debut in 2022, driving part-time for both Beard Oil Motorsports and Kaulig Racing. He’s been rumored to move up to Cup in the coming years; even his team owner Dale Earnhardt, Jr. giving Noah some high praise as a driver.
In addition to Noah being rumored to Cup, Dale Jr. himself has also had rumors of return, though not as a driver. For about a year and a half now, rumors have shuffled around the NASCAR world that Dale was interested in purchasing a charter or two and fielding a Cup team. I think now is his perfect chance. With the vacancy at Petty-GMS, I think they will sell the #42 charter to Dale and his team, and sink their money into building their other driver, Erik Jones, into a weekly contender. Gragson will get the promotion to Cup, leaving his #9 Xfinity ride open.
Rather than downsize, I think Dale will keep that car around and bring Carson Hocevar out of the Truck Series in to fill the ride. In Hocevar’s brief career in NASCAR, he’s had 8 top 5’s and 16 top 10’s, as well as scoring the pole for a road course race with a broken ankle (although he wrecked shortly afterward and started the race from the rear). He’s come close to victory multiple times, and with 3 second place finishes, he’s due any race now. As for Ty Dillon, well, he’ll stay in the #42…in the Truck Series, taking Hocevar’s old ride.
With that, another chapter in the 2023 Silly Season concludes. Do Dale and Noah go Cup racing? Will Hocevar get the bump to the Xfinity Series? Where will Ty Dillon eventually end up? Let me know your thoughts on Twitter, and share this article!
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