The 64th annual Daytona 500 in just 32 days

With just 32 days to go before the green flag drops for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500, this is a brief look at 2021 driver stats and what’s ahead in the new season. Ryan Blaney and others in the NASCAR Cup, Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series will be covered this week. Since many teams have yet to firm up their 2022 plans, follow NASCAR Headlines and “Player” News on this website for the latest updates. The tentative list of Cup Driver/Team lineups shown below is for those who plan on entering all events, including teams with multiple drivers splitting time in one car.

NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)

2021: Joey Logano (Team Penske #22 Ford Mustang), a Middletown, Connecticut native, entered all 36 NCS races. He scored one win (March 29th at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Track), 10 top-fives and 19 top-tens, had a 9.2 average start, a 12.6 average finish and led 453 laps. Logano earned a spot in the 2021 NCS Playoffs Round of 16. He advanced to the Round of 12 and the Round of 8 but was eliminated from the Playoffs before the Championship 4 race at Phoenix. He closed out the rest of the season 8th in the NCS driver standings.
2022: Logano has signed a contract with Team Penske through 2023 to stay in the #22 Mustang. Paul Wolfe will continue as his crew chief. Logano’s primary sponsor Shell-Pennzoil will also stay on board through 2023.

2021: Ryan Blaney (Team Penske #12 Ford Mustang), a High Point, North Carolina native, entered all 36 NCS races. He scored three wins (March 21st at Atlanta Motor Speedway, August 22nd at Michigan Int’l Speedway and August 28th at Daytona Int’l Speedway), 11 top-fives and 20 top-tens, had a 9.6 average start, an 11.9 average finish and led 423 laps. Blaney earned a spot in the 2021 NCS Playoffs Round of 16, advanced through the Round of 12 and the Round of 8 but was eliminated before the Championship 4 race at Phoenix. He closed out the rest of the season 7th in the NCS driver standings.
2022: Blaney is signed through at least 2022 as driver in Team Penske’s #12 Ford. Jonathan Hassler has moved from Wood Brothers Racing to Team Penske to be Blaney’s crew chief in 2022. Advance Auto Parts, BodyArmor, Menards and Dex Imaging are returning as sponsors. Discount Tire will also join the team as primary sponsor for two playoff races.

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NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS)

2021: Harrison Burton (Joe Gibbs Racing #20 Toyota Supra), a Huntersville, North Carolina native, entered all 33 NXS races. He scored 10 top-fives, 22 top-tens, had a 7.9 average start, a 12.7 average finish and led 184 laps. His best finish was 2nd place on September 4th at Darlington Raceway. Burton earned a spot in the 2021 NXS Playoffs Round of 12, advanced to the Round of 8 but was eliminated before the Championship 4 race at Phoenix. He closed out the rest of the season 8th in the NXS driver standings.
2022: During the 2021 season, Wood Brothers Racing announced Harrison Burton would move up to the Cup Series to pilot their iconic #21 Ford Mustang. Brian Wilson was also named crew chief for Burton’s #21 Ford. Motorcraft/Quick Lane and Menards will continue as primary sponsors for the team. Burton will also contend for the 2022 Sunoco Rookie of the Year title.

2021: Brandon Jones (Joe Gibbs Racing #19 Toyota Supra), an Atlanta, Georgia native, entered all 33 NXS races. He scored 11 top-fives, 19 top-tens, had an average start of 12.3, an average finish of 16.0 and led 88 laps. His best finishes were 2nd places (Feb. 27th at Homestead-Miami, Aug. 21th at Michigan Int’l Speedway and Oct. 2nd at Talladega Superspeedway). Jones earned a spot in the 2021 NXS Playoffs Round of 12, advanced to the Round of 8 but was eliminated before the Championship 4 race at Phoenix. He closed out the rest of the season 7th in the NXS driver standings. Jones also entered two ARCA Menards Series road course races (Mid-Ohio and Watkins Glen) driving Venturini Motorsports’ #25 Toyota. He finished 4th and 5th, respectively.
2022: Brandon Jones, along with crew chief Jeff Meendering, will return to the #19 Toyota for another year. Menards, who has supported Jones for his entire NXS career, has increased its primary sponsorship to a full 33-race season.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NTS)

2021: Chandler Smith (Kyle Busch Motorsports #18 Toyota Tundra), a Talking Rock, Georgia native, entered all 22 NTS races. He scored two wins (September 16th at Bristol Motor Speedway and the season finale on November 5th at Phoenix Raceway), six top-fives, nine top-tens, had a 9.8 average start, a 16.8 average finish and led 213 laps. He earned a spot in the 2021 NTS Playoffs Round of 10, advanced to the Round of 8 but was eliminated before the Championship 4 race at Phoenix. He closed out the rest of the season 8th in the NTS driver standings.
2022: Smith will return full-time in KBM’s #18 Tundra. Danny Stockman will also continue as crew chief. Safelite AutoGlass will sponsor Smith’s truck for 15 races. JBL will cover some of the rest of the season.

2021: Todd Gilliland (Front Row Motorsports #38 Ford F-150), a Sherrills Ford, North Carolina native, entered all 22 NTS races. He scored one win (the inaugural May 22nd road course race at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas), 10 top-fives, 16 top-tens, had an 8.2 average start, a 9.5 average finish and led 359 laps. He earned a spot in the 2021 NTS Playoffs Round of 10 but was eliminated before the Round of 8. Gilliland closed out the rest of the season 7th in the NTS driver standings.
2022: Gilliland moves up from driving the FRM #38 Ford truck to FRM’s #38 Ford Mustang in the NASCAR Cup Series for the new season. He follows his father, David, as driver of the #38 Cup car for FRM. Seth Barbour will work with Gilliland as the team crew chief. Sponsorship for the #38 Mustang has not been announced at this time. Zane Smith, with GMS Racing in the NTS in 2021, has been hired to replace Gilliland in the FRM #38 F-150.

2022 Tentative NCS Series Team Chart