As NASCAR Xfinity Series Silly Season winds down, there are still a few dominoes left to fall.
Xfinity’s Silly Season is a unique beast. Without the prevalence of multiyear contracts alongside the combination of drivers moving up and down the ranks, there is a ton of change each year.
The biggest change was probably the emergence of Haas Factory Team, a revamped version of the former Stewart-Haas Racing. Both Xfinity drivers for SHR in 2024 have moved up to the Cup Series, and in their stead, Sam Mayer and Sheldon Creed came over from JR Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing, respectively. Their former rides were filled by Carson Kvapil and William Sawalich.
As the music is starting to slow down, here is the breakdown of what is still unknown for drivers and teams.
Joe Gibbs Racing
Rookies Sawalich and Taylor Gray will drive the No. 18 and No. 54, respectively. Brandon Jones has also returned to the team after two years at JRM, driving the No. 20.
Here’s where things get tricky. Modified star Justin Bonsignore has been announced to be driving five races in the team’s No. 19, but if this entry remains full time (not clear at this time), that leaves a lot of open dates.
It’s reasonable to expect this will be some sort of All-Star car featuring various drivers from the JGR NASCAR Cup Series stable, along with others like Corey Heim, Ryan Truex, Aric Almirola, John Hunter Nemechek or even Toni Breidinger, all of whom either drive for Toyota in other series or are recent JGR Xfinity part-timers.
RSS Racing
Last season, RSS Racing ran with three full-time cars, while a fourth, mostly driven by Matt DiBenedetto, was fielded in collaboration with Viking Motorsports. Right now, only its flagship entry, the No. 39 with Ryan Sieg, has been confirmed. Viking, meanwhile, has left the nest and has gone to Chevrolet as an independent team.
It’s not known what RSS plans to do outside of Sieg. Common sense would say that his younger brother Kyle Sieg will be in the picture again. Another rumor out there has been that NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Jake Garcia could drive one of the cars for part of the season, but that has not been confirmed.
Any one of the prospective RSS cars could be an attractive landing place, as the team has continued to get more competitive as the years have gone on.
Hendrick Motorsports
The Cup juggernaut has run its No. 17 entry with increasing frequency over the last few years in Xfinity. As of now, no confirmed plans have been announced for this ride, aside from the possibility of starts for Corey Day, who was announced to a development deal with the team and will run some Xfinity races this year, car unknown.
A likely outcome otherwise would be for Hendrick Cup drivers to run sporadically in the car when they would like to get some extra seat time at a particular track, or whenever the team has a desire to compete, as has happened in prior years. Chevrolet prospect Rajah Caruth, who drove the car in 2023, could be another candidate.
DGM Racing
Ryan Ellis will compete full time, driving the No. 71 car for Mario Gosselin’s team. It was also announced that Josh Bilicki will be in the No. 91 in the bulk of the races.
That could mean there are other races where another driver fills that seat, should it be full time like last year. Kyle Weatherman and Dawson Cram both raced for DGM last season but neither driver has announced plans for 2025 yet; they could be candidates to fill the open dates when Bilicki isn’t driving.
DGM also fielded a part-time third car in 2024, the No. 36. With the No. 92 from last year effectively becoming the No. 71, it’s not yet known which number the team would use if it needs to run a third entry at all.
Joey Gase Motorsports
Joey Gase‘s team currently plans a pair of full-time entries, the Nos. 35 and 53. We’ve got Greg Van Alst and Mason Maggio penciled in for some races. The others? Unclear, though owner Gase likely figures into the picture.
Other Teams
There are several other cars that have unknown status. These cars may run part-time or not at all. BJ McLeod is a driver/owner who has unknown status as of this writing; his No. 78 didn’t show up after the fourth race of last season. MBM Motorsports has announced a few races with Chad Finchum and Tyler Tomassi, and it would not be surprising to see it enter additional events with different drivers.
Mike Harmon Racing has not announced any plans for 2025 as of yet. Pardus Racing has entered a few events in recent seasons, mostly road courses with Preston Pardus driving, but as of now nothing has been announced for 2025. Rette-Jones Racing ran a limited schedule in 2024 with Noah Gragson behind the wheel but has no plans announced so far; RJR is still active, however, planning an entry in the ARCA Menards Series season opener.
Sam Hunt Racing has Dean Thompson in its No. 26 full time this year, which opens up its No. 24 for potential callers; the car appeared in two races in 2024. And barring a surprise return, it seems like JD Motorsports is out of the sport.
Drivers Without Announced Plans
Almirola and Truex are two drivers that have not announced their driving schedules yet. Truex will be a reserve driver for Gibbs in both series, but how many dates that translates to in the seat — if any — is not yet known.
Hailie Deegan exited the NASCAR world in the middle of last season and will race in Indy NXT in 2025, but in a recent interview she was still open to racing in NASCAR.
Jeffrey Earnhardt, David Starr, JJ Yeley, Dylan Lupton, Logan Bearden and Sage Karam are among the other drivers not already mentioned who ran at least six races in 2024 but have no announced Xfinity plans for 2025.
Steve Leffew joined Frontstretch in 2023 and covers the Xfinity Series. He has served honorably in the United States Air Force and and lives in Wisconsin.
Spare us Deagan and Starr.