Newly-minted NASCAR Cup Series teammates Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen will join JR Motorsports’ Xfinity Series program on a part-time basis in 2025, the team announced on Jan. 9.
The Trackhouse Racing duo will drive JRM’s fifth part-time car, the No. 9, in a grand total of nine races. Chastain will contest five races, while van Gisbergen will take the wheel for the other four.
Chastain will open the season for the team in the third race of the Xfinity season at Circuit of the Americas on March 1. After that, he will drive the car at Darlington Raceway on April 5, Nashville Superspeedway on May 31, Dover Motor Speedway on July 19 and Iowa Speedway on Aug. 2.
Van Gisbergen, whose schedule consists of only road courses, will make his first Xfinity start at Autodromos Hermanos Rodriguez on June 14, in the Xfinity Series’ return to Mexico City. He’ll follow that up by driving the car at the Chicago street course on July 5, Sonoma Raceway on June 12 and Watkins Glen International on Aug. 9.
Chastain and van Gisbergen will serve as valuable assets to JRM’s full-time program, which consists of rookies Carson Kvapil and Connor Zilisch (who is a Trackhouse driver, therefore true teammates with the duo), as well as young gun Sammy Smith and defending series champion Justin Allgaier.
The No. 9 now becomes the part-time fifth car for JRM, as Zilisch will drive the No. 88 in 2025, the team’s previous fifth car which ran in 17 races in 2024. Kvapil, Zilisch, Bubba Pollard, Connor Mosack, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. each drove the car, with Zilisch winning in it at Watkins Glen.
The No. 9 was driven full-time by Brandon Jones in 2023 and 2024. Further details on the team beyond Chastain and van Gisbergen driving the car have not been announced, including whether or not Earnhardt will make his annual one-off appearance in the car.