Burton Slams the Negative Effects of Stage Racing on “The Little Guys”
What’s Happening? In a recent social media post, NASCAR Xfinity Series veteran Jeb Burton explained how stage points make a major…
With the departure of the Haas Factory Team from Ford, fans are wondering what teams the Blue Oval could flip to grow its dwindling car count in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
In a week packed with major news stories, one that was momentarily the talk of the town last weekend was the Haas Factory Team’s impending departure from Ford.
This move, nostalgic for many fans to see a Gene Haas-owned team back under the Hendrick alliance, had little implications for Ford on the Cup Series side, but, on the Xfinity Side, this loss is consequential.
In 2025, only four teams in the NASCAR Xfinity Series field Fords, HFT, AM Racing, RSS Racing, and Joey Gase Motorsports. While this adds up to a rough count of only seven cars any given weekend, only one team has won a race for Ford this year, the Haas Factory team.
In fact, the last Ford to win the Xfinity Series title came out of the same shop as the Haas Factory team, as under the team’s former iteration, Stewart-Haas Racing, which was its own separate team, Cole Custer won the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series title.
AM and RSS have shown winning speed at times; the move to Chevrolet has left Ford without its top Xfinity Series organization. While Ford has shown little interest in developing prospects via traditional methods, fans have speculated that some teams, particularly in the Chevrolet camp, should make the switch.
The thought behind this is that a team, floating on the border of success in the series, could be the top dog at Ford, thus pushing them into the upper echelon of the series, but, as of press time, no team has announced a switch to Ford, though there are rumors that teams are looking at a move.
Unfortunately, there are very few rumors as to which specific teams could make the switch to Ford. However, that hasn’t stopped speculation, with fans suggesting Alpha Prime Racing, Viking Motorsports, or Cope Family Racing make the switch.
While there may not be a clear answer to this jigsaw puzzle, there are growing murmurs within the rumor mill. During the latest episode of the Closing Laps Podcast, Matt from BrakeHard mentioned that he thinks a Chevrolet team will switch to Ford next season.
Though a name was not mentioned, he said that the team is a two-car team, but with the caveat that they are only a two-car team “most weeks.”
While this is just a rumor, and, as with any rumor, should be approached with caution, it is interesting to imagine what team this could be.
This season, 35 cars have made at least 20 NASCAR Xfinity Series races. Of those 34 cars, 23 are Chevrolets, and only eight of those Chevys are a part of the short list of teams with two full-time cars in their lineup.
These teams are DGM Racing, Jordan Anderson Racing, Richard Childress Racing, and SS GreenLight Racing. Utilizing the idea that this is a two-car team enters a occasional part-time car also eliminates SS GreenLight Racing, with the other three having done so throughout the season.
But, it is worth noting that the third car for both RCR and DGM are inconsistently entered into races, with both teams part-time entries having started a race on two occasions this season. After narrowing the field down, this leaves only Jordan Anderson Racing, who has entered the No. 32 and No. 87 a combined 20 times for 17 starts this season.
Right now, the team fields Blaine Perkins and Jeb Burton full-time, and after a tough 2024 season, Burton’s No. 27 team flirted with the playoffs this season. While JAR is an up-and-coming team and seems close to breaking out in a big way, this would be a significant shift for their team’s history.
Nonetheless, there is no confirmation that this is the team that BrakeHard was talking about, nor has there been any suggestion or confirmation from the team, drivers, or OEM that this could even happen.
So, for now, this seems like a wait-and-see, but with 2025 coming to a swift end, maybe we could see a team make the switch to Ford for 2026.
What’s Happening? In a recent social media post, NASCAR Xfinity Series veteran Jeb Burton explained how stage points make a major…
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