Eyes on Xfinity: Remaining 2024 NASCAR Silly Season Dominoes

Each NASCAR Xfinity Series season, there is plenty of new faces in new places come the first green flag. Sometimes, it’s a move that doesn’t make much sense — while and other times, a young driver has their first consistent chance at victory lane.

Point being, Silly Season, as the free agency market has come to be named, offers endless surprises, and some fly under the radar.

Not here, they don’t. This is a comprehensive guide to what drivers and teams you can expect to see this season on Saturdays.

Full-Time Field

Alpha Prime Racing

Ryan Ellis will pilot the No. 43 Chevrolet Camaro with two current sponsors – Heartbeat Hot Sauce and Classic Collision. That’s after Ellis competed part time in the car in 2023 — 31 out of the 33 races in all.

Coming over from JD Motorsports is Brennan Poole to pilot the No. 44 Chevy Camaro. Poole was full time with JDM in all but one race in 2023, scoring a top five.

The No. 45, which was previously full time, is now currently a part-time affair; more on it later.

Big Machine Racing

Parker Kligerman returns to BMR in the No. 48 Chevy Camaro after an impressive run in 2023 that found him deep in the postseason. Kligerman made a name for himself and the single-car BMR team last season and enters this year with lofty goals and arguably higher expectations.

DGM Racing

The No. 91 Chevy Camaro will be driven by Kyle Weatherman in 2024. After some impressive part-time work, Weatherman and DGM decided to pair up for the full schedule this season.

The team has announced Josh Bilicki for its No. 92 in a limited schedule, but it’s not yet made it clear if the car will run full time in 2024 like it has in recent years.

Jeremy Clements Racing

You guessed it. Jeremy Clements will drive the No. 51 Chevrolet Camaro this season yet again with the most impressive list of sponsors in the field.

Jordan Anderson Racing

JAR returns its full bullpen this season with Jeb Burton in the No. 27 State Water Heaters Camaro with Shane Whitbeck as the crew chief and Parker Retzlaff in the No. 31 FunkAway Camaro. Retzlaff will be riding along with new crew chief Chad Kendrick.

JR Motorsports

Sam Mayer, Justin Allgaier and Brandon Jones will all return to the Nos. 1, 7 and 9, respectively. Jones will be getting a new crew chief in the form of Phillip Bell as Jason Burdett leaves for Legacy Motor Club and its transitionary period from Chevrolet to Toyota. Bell joins the team from the NASCAR Cup Series but is no stranger to JRM as nearly decade-long tenured member of the Hendrick Motorsports/JRM pipeline.

The new blood for JRM comes in the form of Sammy Smith, who replaces Josh Berry in the No. 8 Camaro following Berry’s call up to the Cup Series for Stewart-Haas Racing. Adam Wall will be the crew chief; he comes over from Kyle Larson‘s Hendrick team.

Kaulig Racing

Josh Williams will be parking it (see what I did there?) with Kaulig Racing in the No. 11 Camaro this season and bringing Alloy Employer Services along with him as the primary sponsor. Kaulig capitalized on Berry’s leaving for the Cup scene and got a crew chief out of it in the form of Kevin Walter, who served as an engineer for the No. 8 JRM team.

When Kaulig bought out Chandler Smith’s three-year contract amid rumors of him jumping ship to Joe Gibbs Racing, fans knew big things were coming. However, not many expected the result of AJ Allmendinger returning to the Xfinity Series full time for the team. That’s exactly what they got, though, as Allmendinger will have Alex Yontz as a crew chief and Celsius on board in a new-look package in 2024.

What really made Kaulig the mover and shaker that it was in the offseason, though, was the addition of Shane van Gisbergen to the full-time fold for this season as part of a deal with Cup team Trackhouse Racing. After his win at the Chicago street course last season, van Gisbergen set the stock car world alight and finished it off with other impressive performances in 2023. The former V8 Supercar wheelman will now put his full skills on display every weekend in 2024 with sponsorship from the likes of Wendy’s and WeatherTech.

Mike Harmon Racing

Formerly known as CHK Racing, Mike Harmon Racing announced that it intends to run the No. 74 Camaro full time in the 2024 season — and reverted to its old name. However, no driver or crew chief has been announced at this time.

Our Motorsports

Anthony Alfredo will return to Our Motorsports to drive the No. 5 Camaro in 2024 with Josh Graham to crew chief and DUDE Wipes as the primary sponsor. Alfredo previously drove for Our during the 2022 season before spending last year in the No. 78 Chevy for BJ McLeod Motorsports.

Richard Childress Racing

Amid a tumultuous ending to its 2023 campaign that saw tempers between drives boil over on the track, changes were always coming to RCR. Those changes came in the form of Jesse Love, the reigning ARCA Menards Series champion, getting elevated to the No. 2 Whelen Camaro. RCR is bringing in some heavy hitting to aid in Love’s transition to the NXS in the form of Danny Stockman, who was the crew chief for Austin Dillon‘s 2011 and 2013 Xfinity championships.

Austin Hill will remain with the team for 2024 following a successful season in 2023.

Young’s Motorsports

Making the jump up from the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is Young’s Motorsports and rookie driver Leland Honeyman Jr. in the No. 42 Camaro. Honeyman has eight starts in the NXS to his credit with a career high finish of 21st at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL last October.

AM Racing

As we dip into the Fords on the list, there’s no better place to start than with rookie Hailie Deegan in the No. 15 Mustang. After signing a multi-year deal with AMR, Deegan is looking to make the jump to Xfinity after three seasons in the Truck Series.

The No. 15 effectively takes over from the No. 25, which was AM’s full-time entry in 2023. The car will return part time in 2024.

RSS Racing

Kyle Sieg and Ryan Sieg will unsurprisingly return to the Nos. 28 and 39 Mustangs, respectively, this season. When your family operates the team, it’s an easy decision, really.

The No. 29 is elevated to full time with the team, with Blaine Perkins moving over to drive. The No. 38, which was previously full time, may run part time instead in 2024, with CJ McLaughlin its only announced driver so far.

Stewart-Haas Racing

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. SHR will return both of its postseason-hardened drivers in 2024, including the reigning NXS champion in Cole Custer.

Perhaps facing the most pressure in his young career after some impressive driving in last year’s playoffs, Riley Herbst should be returning to the No. 98 Mustang with a chip on his shoulder.

Joe Gibbs Racing

Joe Gibbs Racing will field four full time cars for the 2024 season, but only two of them will have full time drivers.

Sheldon Creed is coming over from RCR with a lot to prove to his former team. The former Truck champion will pilot the vacant No. 18 Supra left open by the departure of Sammy Smith. Sam McAuly will crew chief for Creed in his debut season for his new team.

After his departure from Kaulig, Chandler Smith will take to the driver’s seat of the No. 81 Supra in 2024 with Jeff Meendering to crew chief.

The No. 19 JGR car will be a revolving door of sorts throughout the season. Ryan Truex, Joe Graf, Jr., Taylor Gray and William Sawalich will all split time behind the wheel while Seth Chavka serves as crew chief following the retirement of Jason Ratcliff.

While mostly piloted by Aric Almirola, the No. 20 Supra will be split between he and John Hunter Nemechek, who just made the jump to Legacy Motor Club in the Cup Series. Tyler Allen will serve as the crew chief.

Sam Hunt Racing

SHR announced that the No. 26 will have several drivers this season, all with varying skill sets. Jeffrey Earnhardt, Corey Heim and Sage Karam will all hop behind the wheel at different points this year, with Karam starting things off at Daytona. It’s assumed the car will be full time.

Notable part-time entries

Alpha Prime Racing

APR will field the No. 45 Camaro for select races this season with a lineup of Brad Perez and Caesar Bacarella. The latter is slated to run at least four super speedway races, and Perez is set to run the No. 45 at Circuit of the Americas.

Kaulig Racing

Kaulig announced that Daniel Dye will run select races in the No. 10 Camaro during the 2024 season with Champion Container as the primary sponsor.

Peterson Racing Group

The No. 87 team, which debuted at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s ROVAL last year with Andy Lally but failed to qualify, will return for a part-time schedule with rookie Austin Green, son of former series competitor David Green.

Unannounced Seats

BJ McLeod Motorsports

It is unclear what BJM plans to do following the departure of Alfredo for Our Motorsports. The team may run a part- or full-time schedule this season.

Emerling-Gase Motorsports

It seems that both the Nos. 35 and 53 are planned to run full time again in 2024, but nothing aside from co-owner Patrick Emerling‘s return to the seat in a part-time role has been announced.

JD Motorsports

Talk about quiet — JDM hasn’t announced a driver, sponsor or crew chief for the No. 6 Camaro yet for next year. Without Poole back in the fold, JDM was going to have to go out and find someone who needed a seat pretty badly. As far as can be told for now, it hasn’t done that just yet.

MBM Motorsports

The Carl Long-owned team’s social media indicates it will return in 2024, but whether that’s full or part time with the No. 66 remains to be seen.

Sam Hunt Racing

While SHR’s No. 26 is confirmed to return, the No. 24, which was a part-time effort before 2023 when it contested the full schedule with a variety of drivers, is missing in action. Could it be going back to a part-time affair? Gone entirely? Unclear.

SS-Green Light Racing

It’s been more radio silence on SSGLR’s end regarding the Nos. 07 and 08 as well. Given that the Bobby Dotter-owned organization has been a mainstay in the series for some time, one expects a return, but the team has not yet revealed any plans.