Countdown to the 2022 Daytona 500: 88 days

During the off-season, this is a look at 2021 driver stats and what’s ahead for them in the new season. Chase Briscoe and other drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series will be covered. Since many teams have yet to firm up their 2022 plans, follow NASCAR Headlines and “Player” News on this website for the latest updates.

With 88 days to go before the green flag drops for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500, here are a few brief driver recaps followed by a tentative list of 2022 Cup Driver/Team lineups. Teams in that list plan on entering all events, some with multiple drivers.

NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)

2021: Erik Jones (Richard Petty Motorsports #43 Ford Mustang) – The Byron, Michigan native entered all 36 NCS races, scored six top-ten finishes, had a 22.7 average start, a 19.7 average finish and led nine laps. Jones earned 641 points and closed out the season 24th in the NCS driver standings. His best finish was a 7th place in the August 15th road course race on the Indianapolis Grand Prix Circuit.
2022: Jones will return for another season in RPM’s Ford. Dave Elenz, a 7-year Xfinity Series crew chief, will move up to Cup in that role for the #43 team. Elenz has a total of 228 NXS starts (5 years with JR Motorsports) and recorded 15 wins and 149 top-ten finishes. More news (Nov. 23): RPM announced FOCUSfactor®, a brain health supplement leader, will be a primary sponsor of the #43 for 26 events during 2022. This is a multi-year partnership.

2021: Chase Briscoe (Stewart-Haas Racing #14 Ford Mustang) – The Mitchell, Indiana native entered all 36 NCS races, scored three top-tens, had a 22.2 average start, a 19.6 average finish and led 18 laps. His best finishes were 6th places in the May 23rd Circuit of the Americas and July 4th Road America events (both road courses). He earned 655 points and closed out the season 23rd in the NCS driver standings. Briscoe also earned the 2021 Sunoco Rookie of the Year title. He entered BJ McLeod’s #99 Ford Mustang in the Xfinity Series races at Charlotte (finished 6th) and Daytona (19th). In the Truck Series, he drove Roper Racing’s #04 Ford F-150 in three races with a best finish of 5th in the Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol. Finally, Briscoe entered two ARCA Menards road course races in Chad Bryant’s #14 Ford. He had a DNF (Suspension failure) at Watkins Glen but started 3rd in the Sonoma Raceway race, led all 51 laps and won the event.
2022: Briscoe will be back for his sophomore season in SHR’s #14 Mustang.

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NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS)

2021: Kyle Weatherman (Mike Harmon Racing #47 Chevrolet Camaro) – The Wentzville, Missouri native entered 30 of the 33 NXS races, had a 26.5 average start, a 25.8 average finish and led three laps. His best finish was a 15th place in the season opener at Daytona Int’l Speedway. He earned 341 points and closed out the season 24th in the NXS driver standings.
2022: Mike Harmon has said he wants Weatherman to continue in the #47 Camaro but will let him move on if he gets a better offer. It just got a little harder to keep him. On November 22nd, Harmon was handed down a penalty from NASCAR for “violating vehicle testing policy”. Harmon used Rockingham Speedway to test cars including the one used in the NXS season finale at Phoenix. Besides a $50,000 fine and a six-race suspension for crew chief Ryan Bell, Mike Harmon Racing has been assessed with a loss of 75 owner points and 75 driver championship points which will be applied to the team at the start of the 2022 season.

2021: Jade Buford (Big Machine Racing #48 Chevrolet Camaro) – The Nashville, Tennessee native entered 32 of the 33 NXS races and scored one top-finish (9th in the August 21st event at Michigan Int’l Speedway), had a 22.0 average start and a 23.8 average finish. He earned 435 points and closed out the season 23rd in the NXS driver standings. Buford entered three ARCA Menards Series races in Andy Hillenburg’s cars and scored two top-ten finishes.
2022: Buford will return for another full-time season in the #48 Chevy. What’s new for 2022 is an extended partnership with Richard Childress Racing. RCR will provide Big Machine Racing with chassis and engineering support, along with other key assets. The team has already been receiving horsepower from ECR Engines, which will continue in 2022.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NTS)

2021: Spencer Boyd (Young’s Motorsports #20 Chevrolet Silverado) – The Creve Coeur, Missouri native entered 19 of the 22 NTS races. He scored one top-ten, a 7th at Talladega Superspeedway, where he also logged his lone NTS victory in 2019. Boyd had a 28.3 average start and a 24.7 average finish. He earned 237 points and closed out the season ranked 23rd in the NTS driver standings. Boyd also entered nine Xfinity series races with Jimmy Means Racing (4 races) and DGM Racing (5 races) to gain track experience.
2022: Boyd is expected back in the Young’s Motorsports #20 for his fourth season but no plans are announced yet in either the Trucks or the Xfinity series.

2021: Parker Kligerman (Henderson Motorsports #75 Chevrolet Silverado) – The Westport, Connecticut native is a part-time driver who entered 11 of the 22 NTS races. He scored two top-fives (5th place finishes at both Watkins Glen Int’l and Darlington Raceway), five top-tens, had a 26.5 average start and a 14.5 average finish. He earned 254 points and closed out season ranked 23rd in the NTS driver standings. Kligerman is also a regular NASCAR pit reporter during the NBC broadcast coverage of the Cup Series races.
2022: Since Kligerman has been driving the #75 truck part-time since 2017 he will most likely continue doing the same in 2022. Unless we hear different, he will also be working the pits again for NBC.

2022 Tentative NCS Series Team Chart