With 74 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. Chris Buescher 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 for those who plan on entering all events, including teams with multiple drivers in one car, is shown below.
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
2021: Ross Chastain (Chip Ganassi Racing #42 Chevrolet Camaro) - The Alva, Florida native entered all 36 NCS races, scored three top-five and eight top-ten finishes, had a 19.8 average start, an 18.6 average finish and led 62 laps. He earned 729 points and closed out the season 20th in the NCS driver standings. His best finish was a 2nd place in the June 20th Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. Chastain also entered four Truck Series races in Niece Motorsports Chevy Silverados scoring one top-five and two top-ten finishes.
2022: Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) closed shop at the end of 2021 and sold all Cup Series vehicles, charters, equipment and CGR’s race shop to Trackhouse Racing. Chastain was hired to drive the #1 Camaro (formerly driven by Kurt Busch at CGR). Phil Surgen, Chastain’s #42 crew chief, continues with him and the #1 team. Chastain will also be a teammate to Trackhouse’s #99 driver Daniel Suarez in 2022.
2021: Chris Buescher (Roush Fenway Racing #17 Ford Mustang) - The Prosper, Texas native entered all 36 NCS races, scored one top-five (a 3rd place in the October 10 race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course), eight top-tens, had an 18.1 average start, a 17.3 average finish and led 93 laps. Buescher earned 771 points and closed out the season 19th in the NCS driver standings.
2022: Buescher will be back in the #17 Mustang but it will be under a new name. Brad Keselowski has become a partner with Roush Fenway and the team is rebranded to RFK Racing. Keselowski will also drive the teams #6 Ford as Buescher’s teammate. Scott Graves will return to crew chief for Buescher. Sponsors Fastenal, Violet Defense, Fifth Third Bank and Castrol will also continue with the #17 team.
NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS)
2021: Tommy Joe Martins (Alpha Prime Racing #44 Chevrolet Camaro) - The Como, Mississippi native entered all 33 NXS races, had a 21.0 average start, a 22.9 average finish and led 15 laps. His best finish was 11th place in the April 24 race at Talladega Superspeedway. Martins earned 497 points and closed out the season 20th in the NXS driver standings.
2022: Martins, owner of Martins Motor Sports, partnered with Caesar Bacarella to form Alpha Prime Racing early in 2021 and will continue into 2022. Plans are to field two cars with multiple drivers including Martins, Bacarella, Ryan Ellis, Andy Lally and Rajah Caruth.
2021: Alex Labbe (DGM Racing #36 Chevrolet Camaro) - The St. Albert, Quebec native entered all 33 NXS races and scored three top-ten finishes, had a 21.7 average start, a 22.4 average finish and led 2 laps. His best finish was an 8th place in the October 30th race at Martinsville Speedway. He earned 502 points and closed out the season 19th in the NXS driver standings.
2022: Labbe will likely return for another full-time season with DGM. In the last four years, he drove for the team full-time except for 2019. That season he entered the NASCAR Pinty’s Series in Canada as his primary ride but still managed to drive 10 NXS races in the DGM car.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NTS)
2021: Tate Fogleman (Young’s Motorsports #12 Chevrolet Silverado) - The Durham, North Carolina native entered all 22 NTS races. He scored one win (his series first, in the October 2nd race at Talladega Superspeedway), one top-five, two top-tens, had a 25.2 average start, a 24.6 average finish and led two laps. He earned 283 points and closed out the season ranked 20th in the NTS driver standings.
2022: Fogleman was hired last month to take over the On Point Motorsports #30 Toyota Tundra replacing Danny Bohn. Details on crew chief, sponsors and other details have not been firmed up at this time.
2021: Chase Purdy (GMS Racing #23 Chevrolet Silverado) - The Meridian, Mississippi native entered 21 of the 22 NTS races. He scored two top-tens, had a 20.9 average start, a 22.6 average finish and led eight laps. His best finish was 6th place in the August 20th race at World Wide Technology Raceway. He earned 311 points and closed out season ranked 19th in the NTS driver standings.
2022: Chase Purdy joined Hattori Racing Enterprises to drive the #61 Toyota Tundra. This is a new full-time truck for HRE to team up with the #16 driven by Tyler Ankrum. BAMA Buggies, Purdy’s sponsor since 2016, will continue with him on the new ride. Crew chief and other details on the new team will be announced at a later date.
2022 Tentative NCS Series Team Chart
| Car | Driver | Owner | Crew Chief | Sponsor |
| 1 Chevy | Ross Chastain | Trackhouse Racing | Phil Surgen | To Be Announced |
| 2 Ford | Austin Cindric R | Team Penske | Jeremy Bullins | Menards |
| 3 Chevy | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Justin Alexander | To Be Announced |
| 4 Ford | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Rodney Childers | GearWrench |
| 5 Chevy | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports | Cliff Daniels | HendrickCars.com |
| 6 Ford | Brad Keselowski | RFK Racing | Matt McCall | Violet Defense, Fastenal |
| 7 Chevy | Corey LaJoie | Spire Motorsports | Ryan Sparks | To Be Announced |
| 8 Chevy | Tyler Reddick | Richard Childress Racing | Randall Burdett | To Be Announced |
| 9 Chevy | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Alan Gustafson | NAPA Auto Parts, Adrenaline Shoc, Kelley Blue Book, Hooters |
| 10 Ford | Aric Almirola | Stewart-Haas Racing | Mike Bugarewics | To Be Announced |
| 11 Toyota | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Chris Gabehart | FedEx |
| 12 Ford | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Jonathan Hassler | Advance Auto Part, BodyArmour, Menards, DEX Imaging |
| 14 Ford | Chase Briscoe | Stewart-Haas Racing | John Klausmeier | To Be Announced |
| 15 Ford | To Be Announced | Rick Ware Racing | Pat Tryson | To Be Announced |
| 16 Chevy | Justin Haley | Kaulig Racing | Matt Swiderski | To Be Announced |
| 17 Ford | Chris Buescher | RFK Racing | Scott Graves | Fastenal, Castrol, Fifth Third Bank, Violet Defense |
| 18 Toyota | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Ben Beshore | M&Ms, Skittles, Pedigree, Interstate Batteries, Sports Clips, STANLEY |
| 19 Toyota | Martin Truex Jr. | Joe Gibbs Racing | James Small | To Be Announced |
| 20 Toyota | Christopher Bell | Joe Gibbs Racing | Adam Stevens | To Be Announced |
| 21 Ford | Harrison Burton R | Wood Brothers Racing | Brian Wilson | Motorcraft/Quick Lane, Menards |
| 22 Ford | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Paul Wolfe | To Be Announced |
| 23 Toyota | Bubba Wallace | 23XI Racing | Bootie Barker | McDonald’s |
| 24 Chevy | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports | Rudy Fugle | Axalta, Liberty University, Valvoline |
| 34 Ford | Michael McDowell | Front Row Motorsports | Drew Blickensderfer | To Be Announced |
| 38 Ford | Todd Gilliland R | Front Row Motorsports | Seth Barbour | To Be Announced |
| 41 Ford | Cole Custer | Stewart-Haas Racing | Mike Shiplett | Haas Automation / HaasTooling.com |
| 42 Chevy | Ty Dillon | Petty GMS Motorsports | Jerame Donley | To Be Announced |
| 43 Chevy | Erik Jones | Petty GMS Motorsports | Dave Elenz | FOCUSfactor, U.S. Air Force |
| 45 Toyota | Kurt Busch | 23XI Racing | Billy Scott | Monster Energy, McDonald’s |
| 47 Chevy | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | JTG Daugherty Racing | To Be Announced | To Be Announced |
| 48 Chevy | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Greg Ives | Ally Financial |
| 52 Ford | To Be Announced | Rick Ware Racing | Jason Houghtaling | To Be Announced |
| 53 Ford | To Be Announced | Rick Ware Racing | To Be Announced | To Be Announced |
| 77 Chevy | To Be Announced | Spire Motorsports | To Be Announced | To Be Announced |
| 78 Ford | BJ McLeod | Live Fast Motorsports | Frank Kerr | To Be Announced |
| 99 Chevy | Daniel Suarez | Trackhouse Racing | Travis Mack | Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge |
| R - Sunoco Rookie of The Year contender |
