Haas Factory Team Confirms 2026 Plans and Impending OEM Change
What’s Happening? The Haas Factory Team, the team owned by long-time NASCAR owner Gene Haas, will switch to Chevrolet in both…
Like any other sport, Free Agency is a key part of NASCAR. However, driver-free agency is not covered like in the MLB or the NBA; some drivers announce shocking moves almost out of nowhere. Based on public knowledge, here’s the current contract status of every full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver.
In 2026, the Haas Factory Team will once again field Cole Custer in the No. 41 for the team’s second season of NASCAR Cup Series competition. Though, this does not mean the team is not taking on change, as they will shift from Ford to Chevrolet with support from Hendrick Motorsports. HFT’s long-term driver plans are unknown, but they have two prospects in the Xfinity Series. That being said, Custer is the son of team President Joe Custer.
What’s Happening? The Haas Factory Team, the team owned by long-time NASCAR owner Gene Haas, will switch to Chevrolet in both…
What once was JTG-Daughtery Racing is now HYAK Motorsports. With a cycled ownership group and new branding, two things will stay the same: the car number and the driver. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. signed an extension with the team in May 2024. As the team’s winningest driver, this contract should carry HYAK comfortably into its new era.
What’s Happening? Thursday, JTG-Daugherty Racing officially debuted its new name and ownership. As one of NASCAR’s longest-tenured single-car teams and most…
Josh Berry is one of many drivers recovering from Stewart-Haas Racing’s closure. He is heading to Wood Brothers Racing as a veteran racer but is a sophomore in the Cup Series. A fresh driver with a championship history makes sense for the team, and that is reflected in his long-term deal signed in July 2024.
What’s Happening? The 2025 NASCAR season is closer than ever, and most driver rosters for 2025 are complete. This allows us…
Kaulig Racing is revamped and revitalized in 2024 with a new yet familiar lineup. Both drivers have little to no information on their contracts; with their age and young prospects at Kaulig, these contracts could be just long enough to get Kaulig’s next generation to Cup. However, team president Chris Rice confirmed to The Sporting News that Allmendinger will be back for 2026.
What’s Happening? Kaulig Racing finished its silly season this past weekend by adding its second Cup Series driver for the 2025…
Despite a difficult 2024, Legacy Motor Club is sticking with its lineup for 2025. There are no details about how long John Hunter Nemechek’s initial deal with the team is, but he could be on the hot seat if he struggles in 2025. Erik Jones will be at LMC for more years after he signed his extension with the team in August 2024.
What’s Happening? Legacy Motor Club has had a difficult season on track. Now, the team is making major changes to its…
Richard Childress Racing will line up its roster for at least one more season. On May 24, RCR announced they had re-signed Busch for at least one more season. In that same press release, RCR stated that Dillon will remain in the No. 3 spot for 2026 as well.
What’s Happening? Kyle Busch will continue driving the No. 8 Chevy for Richard Childress Racing through the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series…
The new look Front Row Motorsports looks locked in for the long-term future. They first signed SHR free agent Noah Gragson, then extended their long-time driver Todd Gilliland. To cap off a season, they signed the former Truck Series champion to drive the No. 38 this season, returning the driver to the team that developed him.
What’s Happening? Thursday morning, Front Row Motorsports announced that Zane Smith would drive the No. 38 for the team this season….
Both of Team Penske’s anchors, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney, appear to be comfortable with the team for the foreseeable future. However, Austin Cindric’s status is unknown. The former Daytona 500 champion has struggled since his 2022 debut; now, his father, Tim Cindric, is no longer overseeing Team Penske’s day-to-day operations, raising questions about his future with the team.
What’s Happening? Tim Cindric, a well-known face in the garage areas of NASCAR and IndyCar, is stepping back from his role…
RFK Racing has locked down Chris Buescher for at least one more year; the details of his extension are relatively unknown. Likewise, their new driver, Ryan Preece, is under similar circumstances as all references to his time with the team refer to just the 2025 season. Team owner Brad Keselowski, while he has some form of contract with the team, will likely not be going anywhere anytime soon.
What’s Happening? As a conclusion to a long-running rumor, Kroger and RFK Racing announced a new partnership beginning in the 2025…
Spire Motorsports now has a veteran, sophomore, and experienced driver in its lineup. Carson Hocevar, the reigning Rookie of the Year, is in the second year of his “Multi-Year Contract.” The team is bringing in both Justin Haley and Michael McDowell on a “Multi-Year Contract” as well. This appears to be their roster of the future, and these contracts reflect that.
What’s Happening? With less than two weeks until drivers take the green flag at Daytona for the 2025 NASCAR National Series…
Though Trackhouse Racing has Ross Chastain locked in on a long-term deal signed in 2023, don’t expect him to leave anytime soon. According to a May 30 report from Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic, Chastain has “multiple years” left on his current deal. However, his long-time teammate, Daniel Suarez, who was on a contract year in 2024, is back on a one-year extension, though the team has confirmed this is his final season. Finally, the team’s rookie talent, Shane van Gisbergen, has signed a multi-year contract, meaning he will be in the car at least through the 2027 season.
What’s Happening? Shane van Gisbergen is officially in NASCAR for the long haul. The four-time NASCAR Cup Series winner has signed…
23XI Racing has a lineup that looks locked in for the future. Tyler Reddick is still on his controversial deal he signed while still racing for Richard Childress, and the team recently signed Riley Herbst. Furthermore, the team’s original driver, Bubba Wallace, is locked in long-term on a long-term renewal following a contract year in 2024. Despite a lack of clarity on the length of Reddick and Herbst’s contracts, a May 30 report from Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic confirmed that all three will be back for 2026.
What’s Happening? According to a new report, despite fan speculation, 23XI Racing’s lineup for the 2026 season is set, with all…
Hendrick Motorsports drivers will fall off their contracts one year after another—Byron, then Larson, then Elliott, and finally Bowman. However, these drivers have multiple wins, championships, and a Daytona 500. This seems to be a long-term lineup for HMS, and likely, most, if not all, will return. However, HMS has signed a young prospect in Corey Day, who will one day hopefully race for HMS at the top level, implying at least one of these drivers will leave.
Update – May 23: In May, HMS announced that they had extended Byron’s current Contract through 2029. This means Kyle Larson is now the next driver on a contract year in 2026, followed by Elliott, then Bowman, and now Byron.
What’s Happening? Friday morning, Hendrick Motorsports confirmed that they have re-signed William Byron through at least the 2029 season. This means…
Joe Gibbs Racing has its ducks in a row for the future. Their three returning drivers, including Gibbs’s grandson Ty, will likely be back for 2026. Denny Hamlin, who struggled with sponsorship during the offseason, recently signed a “Multi-Year Contract Extension” that will likely keep him behind the wheel of the No. 11 through 2027. The last piece is new signee Chase Briscoe, who is on a multi-year deal, securing his long-term future with the team.
What’s Happening? Denny Hamlin will remain with Joe Gibbs Racing beyond the next two seasons, as the team has announced a…
This list will be updated as extensions, confirmed departures, and signings happen during the season.
EchoPark Speedway, or Atlanta Motor Speedway, is often touted as the most exciting track on the NASCAR circuit. What was first seen as a Frankenstein experiment, Marcus Smith’s idea to turn AMS into a baby Daytona worked out in the end. We’ve gotten great race after great race and tonight was no different as fans saw Tyler Reddick power by Carson Hocevar to go two in a row to start the season.
But not everyone had a season to remember. Many drivers and teams had a season that they’d sooner forget. These are the biggest losers of the 2026 EchoPark Speedway racing weekend.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race officials rightly got blasted online by fans after they made the extremely questionable decision to put the Truck race on Saturday on the weather clock. That would have been an understandable move if circumstances were different. But they caught flak because 1.) EchoPark Speedway has lights, 2.) the weather had moved out for the weekend, and 3.)…umm…they were only 10 laps shy from the scheduled distance anyway.
Now, we know who the defenders are. The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Race was slated to follow, but NASCAR has pushed races off in the past. And really, how much time would the CW have lost? Ten minutes? Twenty? If that? That, in my book, makes the NCTS officials some of the biggest losers on the weekend. They owe us fans ten more measly laps for racing!
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Of any driver currently in the Chevy ranks, none has had the support thrown behind them like Corey Day. Day, a protege of proven NASCAR champion Kyle Larson, apparently has turned some heads on the dirt scene. Makes sense, since Larson himself said that he’d rather win the Chili Bowl than the Daytona 500. But unlike other drivers, such as Connor Zilisch, who have excelled in other racing disciplines outside of NASCAR, Day’s career so far has been lukewarm at best. And his race yesterday was the epitome of a rookie race, ladened with senseless mistakes.
The incident that hurt the most was the one where he wrecked his fellow HMS/JRM teammates, Carson Kvapil and Justin Allgaier. He simply just took them out while racing for the race lead. Though he was, somehow, able to rebound to finish the race in the 4th position, yesterday was a sloppy performance that even Corey himself acknowledges that he’d rather put behind him.
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Chastain did it again! And now, the feelings are mixed. Remember when Ross Chastain used to just send drivers willy-nilly, and it really got on fans’ nerves? Well, thankfully, he’s calmed down in recent years and has become a more respectable veteran of the sport. That is not to say that he still doesn’t have his…moments. Saturday night at the O’Reilly Auto Parts race, Ross Chastain, going for the win, entered turn 1 and sent leader Austin Hill.
Hill was the overwhelming favorite to win this race, and fans have grown sick of him. So, really, this was a welcome return to form for Chastain, a version of him that used to be loathed by fans. Thus, while fans might have won out by Chastain doing what he does best and slaying Austin Hill, the RCR team, and really, anyone who has Chastain in their rearview mirror in the closing laps, are the real losers this weekend.
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There were a couple of drivers who ended 2025 on a sour note and were looking to turn things around and start 2026 strong. One of those has to be Josh Berry and his entire Wood Brothers team. After floundering around with Harrison Burton for a few seasons, the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford got the shot in the arm that they needed with a new crew chief and Josh Berry as their new driver. They led a bunch of laps at Atlanta in 2025, only for a wreck with 10 laps to go to take them out of contention. Not to worry, though: they followed it up with a win at Las Vegas.
But since that win, the team suffered a steep decline heading into the summer months. By the time the postseason rolled around, they had the single worst Playoff performance in history with three straight last-place finishes. Though he had a promising start to the season with a 9th-place run in the Daytona 500, it was the same old same old tonight. Berry showed some speed in the first stage but ultimately crashed after Christopher Bell forced the issue in the beginning of Stage 2. It’s a familiar routine for the Wood Brothers. Yet another last-place finish. That makes them one of the biggest losers of the weekend. If only they could have capitalized.
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This one’s a tired subject, so I won’t dwell on it too long. Kyle Busch’s late career decline at Richard Childress Racing should be studied. Though he showed speed early on, it was yet again a single-car spin that ended his day prematurely. Granted, he didn’t spin completely on his own. He was tagged from behind by Noah Gragson. But, that was after he checked up twice and recklessly pulled up in front of him in a hole that was barely there. Yet another disappointing outing for Rowdy Nation.
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The checkered flag has flown in the second race of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Season. And, at the end of the day, it was Tyler Reddick who went back-to-back to win at EchoPark Speedway. Tonight, Reddick became the sixth NASCAR Cup Series driver to win the first two races of the season. He is the first since NASCAR Hall of Famer Matt Kenseth did it to kick off the 2009 season.
But, of course, Reddick wasn’t the only one to have a great start to the season. Several drivers leave Atlanta with a great points day, including Carson Hocevar, Bubba Wallace, William Byron, and Ryan Blaney. Here are the highlights of tonight’s race:
From an awful showing in the 2025 Playoffs to yet another last-place finish, Josh Berry’s 2026 season is off to a rough start. Today, he got together with Ty Gibbs after Gibbs had an awful start to the year last year. The No. 54 was able to turn it around later in the season, though. But, for their 2026 outing, there’s a lot left to be desired. Check it out.
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Kyle Busch’s 2025 season was abysmal. But, after he put his No. 8 RCR Chevy on the pole for the 2026 Daytona 500, things seemed to be looking up. He smartly survived last week by lying back on the last lap and safely navigating through the crash, finishing 15th. And he was a contender early in this race. However, late, Kyle Busch continued his dismal legacy at RCR by spinning after contact with Noah Gragson. His day ended prematurely. Check it out:
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We got our first big crash of the race at Lap 224 when both Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano got loose in front of the field. You can read all about that incident with the link below:
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Things started to get real for the NASCAR Cup Series drivers as we got inside 40 laps to go. We got our first Big One of the afternoon at Lap 224. It was triggered as the field came out of Turn 4 and entered the dogleg. Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin, both whose cars were upset by the dirty air, got together. Logano was able to scoot on virtually unscathed. However, Hamlin turned in front of the pack, collecting several stars and heavy hitters. Here’s what happened:
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