OPINION: NASCAR Silly Season Moves, Part One

HINSDALE, N.H. – The immediate future of NASCAR and what has been a volatile silly season, with the various driver moves that have been announced so far, has varying degrees of optimism for drivers and their fans.

Despite the fact that it’s early December, there are still plenty of moves to be made and seats to fill, but what we’ve gotten so far has definitely shaken things up in the NASCAR world across all three series.

This will be the first in a series of columns leading up to the holidays that look at how optimistic fans could, and perhaps should, be in regard to the various changes that have already taken place.

With each move, I will give an optimism rating out of 10; the lower the score, the less optimistic I am for the driver and/or team, whereas the higher the score, the more optimistic I am. Keep in mind, these are simply my thoughts as an impartial observer.

With that being said, let’s start off part one with the NASCAR Cup Series!

Michael McDowell (Front Row Motorsports) & Justin Haley (Rick Ware Racing) to Spire Motorsports

I’m lumping these two together because, in all honesty, the latter makes the former make more sense.

When McDowell announced back on May 8 that he was leaving Front Row Motorsports to go to Spire Motorsports, it left many inside the racing industry scratching our heads. McDowell had been with Front Row since 2018, and over the last few years started getting steadily better, getting his first Cup Series win in the 2021 Daytona 500 and this past season showcasing his improved qualifying ability with six poles, the most of any driver.

That’s not even mentioning the fact that Front Row has gotten a tier-one boost within the Ford camp, so the move from Front Row to Spire felt, at best, to be a lateral move, if not a decline in equipment. Fast forward four months, and we got a rare NASCAR trade that made McDowell’s move more sensible.

In late September, a driver swap occurred and carried with it ramifications for the future. Justin Haley, driving for Rick Ware Racing, was traded to Spire for Corey LaJoie starting at Kansas Speedway during the playoffs.

Like McDowell moving to Spire, Haley’s move to RWR from Kaulig Racing during the 2023 offseason was viewed as both surprising and strange. At the time, it felt like a massive downgrade, but later became somewhat of a smart move, as Kaulig – save for Shane van Gisbergen – was not the same team they’d been in the garage.

Haley overachieved numerous times in his RWR equipment, putting the No. 51 car in the top 20 on speed regularly, and a few times even inside the top 10. Now, with Haley in the No. 7 and paired with champion crew chief Rodney Childers, he has a chance to get a win beyond his rain-shortened 2019 victory at Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway.

That’s where the McDowell move, paired with Haley and reigning Cup Series rookie-of-the-year Carson Hocevar, makes more sense. McDowell is a very serviceable veteran with a couple wins and recent improvements in performance, working to help buoy a still-young driver building himself up in Haley and an even younger driver in Hocevar.

Collectively, I’ll give this realignment an eight out of 10, as I have high optimism that these moves will work for Spire, and that we could see at least one of the three in victory lane next season, if not more.

Chase Briscoe to Joe Gibbs Racing

In taking over for the now-retired, former Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr., Chase Briscoe has big shoes to fill. But for Truex fans looking for a new driver to support, I feel you should stick with Briscoe.

For those who may be doubters, let me explain why. Put simply, Briscoe entered a situation at Stewart-Haas Racing in 2021 that no one knew would be as bad as it became. One year prior, Briscoe had scored nine wins and dominated the NASCAR Xfinity Series, making the Championship 4 in Phoenix, but just missing out on the title.

He took over the No. 14 for the retiring Clint Bowyer the following season, and considering that Kevin Harvick had nine wins in the Cup Series in 2020, everyone expected Briscoe to be a race-winning contender. Unfortunately, everything went wrong for the four-car team.

Harvick went winless and Briscoe, along with teammates Cole Custer and Aric Almirola, all struggled. By the end of that campaign, SHR didn’t quite feel the same from a fan perspective. Briscoe got his first Cup win in 2022 and went to the playoff Round of 8, but then struggled again in 2023.

Briscoe ultimately scored SHR’s final win at Darlington right before the playoffs, but it always felt like the team was on a decline it could never quite pull out of, while Joe Gibbs Racing has been a mainstay presence in the championship conversation since that time.

If we are to see anything close to that dominant 2020 Xfinity season from Briscoe, this move to Joe Gibbs Racing should provide that potential. He’s an incredible driver, and Briscoe has a great chance to take the No. 19 back to victory lane and raise his own stock, while continuing the championship pedigree of JGR.

For that reason, I give this move an eight out of 10 also, as there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about Briscoe’s new environment. Frankly, I’d be shocked if it doesn’t work out.

Josh Berry to Wood Brothers Racing

With SHR’s closure and rebranding as the single-car Haas Factory Team, Josh Berry was announced in July to replace Harrison Burton at Wood Brothers Racing.

In Berry’s rookie Cup Series season, he had an OK run, with a pair of top 10s to his credit despite a wild crash at Daytona in August. I believe he’ll be an upgrade over Burton in the famous No. 21, though I can’t ignore Burton winning at that same Daytona race.

The issue here is simple: the Wood Brothers Ford is just not nearly as good as it was back in the day, and I’m not sure how well Berry will do because of that fact. He should, I think, be better than Burton was based on some of his late-season showings but that isn’t a very high bar to clear when it comes to individual race performances.

As such, I’ll only give this a four out of 10; I’m just not optimistic about Berry’s new situation, but I hope he can prove the detractors wrong.

Noah Gragson to Front Row Motorsports

With Michael McDowell moving over to Spire Motorsports, and Todd Gilliland swapping from the No. 38 to the No. 34 at Front Row, Noah Gragson has signed on to race for owner Bob Jenkins’ team starting next year.

His time at Stewart-Haas Racing last year was a rebound from his time at Legacy Motor Club, which was a tumultuous seven month stretch that included a fight, a wreck causing concussion-like symptoms, and a suspension and eventual firing for liking an offensive meme.

Gragson asked for his release and went away to focus on himself, but came back to the Cup Series this year to much improvement, with six top-10 finishes. He finished with seven top 20s in the final nine races, including four that were inside the top 15. Going to Front Row, which is going into its first full season with the Ford tier jump, should provide a good next step for Gragson in his career.

At minimum I believe Front Row will offer Gragson a chance to get more top 10s, and potentially even top fives and the ability to challenge for wins. As such, I’ll give this an optimism rating of 6 out of 10.

Ryan Preece to RFK Racing

The final of the four former Stewart-Haas Racing drivers to migrate across the Cup Series landscape is arguably the one that’s had the toughest road through the garage in Ryan Preece.

Multiple times this past season, it felt like SHR was a three-car team plus Preece, rather than a four-car operation. The hope here is that Preece is going to an organization that will care and give him a real chance at good finishes, and possibly even wins in RFK Racing.

But can Preece do it? Can he rise to the occasion in this ride? This might be the best ride he’s had in the Cup Series, considering that both his new teammates – Chris Buescher and team co-owner Brad Keselowski – won races in 2024. If he can’t prove himself at this point, he may be resigned to the Xfinity or Truck series, or going back to the modifieds where he made his name.

As a fellow New Englander, I want Preece to succeed, but I don’t know how well this will work out, despite RFK continuing to show growth. Making the jump to three full-time cars isn’t easy. For that, I give this a five out of 10.

That’s it for part one of this silly season column series; part two will continue with the Cup Series soon!

The opinions expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of Race Face Brand Development, Race Face Media, their staff, partners, or other subsidiaries.