NASCAR Draft Kit: 2022 Xfinity Rankings

Written by

Mark Taylor

Published on January 18, 2022

Noah Gragson – No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet – Gragson did not win the 2021 Xfinity Series championship, but he was in contention up until the final laps of last season. The JR Motorsports prospect would finish 12th-place in Phoenix for the season finale and come in a respectable third-place in the final driver points. After a season of three wins and 20 Top-10 finishes, Gragson represented himself well last year. The 23-year-old Nevadan has now finished in the Top 5 of the points each of the last two campaigns and is ready to possibly capture that elusive Xfinity Series crown in 2022. With Penske Racing no longer in the picture the odds are pretty good for Gragson. He'll be pairing with a new crew chief this season, but that should not hamper his continued upward trajectory.
AJ Allmendinger – No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet – The savvy veteran posted career-best season in 2021. Allmendinger hauled in five wins and 22 Top-10 finishes to make his first full season of Xfinity Series racing a resounding success. Kaulig Racing gave him great cars and the 40-year-old driver drove them to near-perfection. A mediocre performance in the season finale is really all that stood between Allmendinger and an Xfinity Series championship last season. He'll return to the same No. 16 Chevrolet team again in 2022 and partner with crew chief Jason Trinchere once again in pursuit of the Xfinity Series crown. The road courses and intermediate ovals should once again be this

Noah Gragson – No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet – Gragson did not win the 2021 Xfinity Series championship, but he was in contention up until the final laps of last season. The JR Motorsports prospect would finish 12th-place in Phoenix for the season finale and come in a respectable third-place in the final driver points. After a season of three wins and 20 Top-10 finishes, Gragson represented himself well last year. The 23-year-old Nevadan has now finished in the Top 5 of the points each of the last two campaigns and is ready to possibly capture that elusive Xfinity Series crown in 2022. With Penske Racing no longer in the picture the odds are pretty good for Gragson. He'll be pairing with a new crew chief this season, but that should not hamper his continued upward trajectory.
AJ Allmendinger – No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet – The savvy veteran posted career-best season in 2021. Allmendinger hauled in five wins and 22 Top-10 finishes to make his first full season of Xfinity Series racing a resounding success. Kaulig Racing gave him great cars and the 40-year-old driver drove them to near-perfection. A mediocre performance in the season finale is really all that stood between Allmendinger and an Xfinity Series championship last season. He'll return to the same No. 16 Chevrolet team again in 2022 and partner with crew chief Jason Trinchere once again in pursuit of the Xfinity Series crown. The road courses and intermediate ovals should once again be this team's strength. Allmendinger should grab another multi-win season and contend for the championship for Kaulig Racing.
Ty Gibbs – No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – The big buzz of last season was the surprising performance of prospect Gibbs in just a limited schedule. Gibbs made just 18 starts in his inaugural season, but he won immediately in his first start of the season on the Daytona road course, and kept winning right up until his next-to-last start at Kansas in October. It would all add up to a four-win 10 Top-10 performance in the partial schedule. Gibbs is a head-turner to be sure and incredibly talented. He'll take on the full 33-race slate in 2022, and powered by Joe Gibbs Racing speed and excellence. Frankly, it's a little shocking to think what could be possible with this young driver. He has some lessons still to be learned as a 19-year-old driver, but Gibbs' talent and potential is undeniably great.
Daniel Hemric – No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet – Hemric was the long-odds guy on winning the championship last year in this division of NASCAR, but he pulled it off. In the winner-take-all Chase format, Hemric piloted his former Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to a win in the season finale and an upset in the championship. Despite that being his only victory of the season, it was still a pretty solid campaign. Hemric's 15 Top-5 and 21 Top-10 finishes resolve any thoughts that he didn't earn that title. He's no longer with Gibbs, but has signed a deal to pilot Kaulig Racing's No. 11 entry this season. Hemric will attempt to defend his 2021 crown with a new team and new manufacturer. Given his choice of Kaulig Racing, he could pull it off. Hemric is quite talented and is just beginning to show his true driving potential at age 30.
Justin Allgaier – No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet – The Xfinity Series' top veteran driver did not disappoint in 2021. Allgaier collected two victories and 24 Top-10 finishes, but fell short of the championship race by just one spot in the standings. The JR Motorsports veteran continued to build on one of the more impressive Xfinity Series resumes in recent history. Now with 16-career wins and well over 200 Top-10 finishes, Allgaier is still seeking that elusive championship. But there's little doubt about his abilities and his potential to pack the statistical sheet each season. He'll return to the No. 7 JRM Chevrolet in 2022 and once again pair with crew chief Jason Burdett. The duo should have another multi-win season and 20-plus Top-10 performance up its sleeves. Whether it's enough to win the championship will depend on Allgaier's performance in those crucial final two races of the season.
Brandon Jones – No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – Jones returns in 2022 for another season in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota. Now with six full seasons under his belt in this division of NASCAR, Jones is quickly becoming a seasoned veteran in this series. While last year was a winless campaign for this driver and team, Jones still showed the speed to collect Top-5 (11) and Top-10 (19) finishes. However, his 88 laps led for the season were a four-year low mark and a major contributor to his lack of wins. We expect Jones to regain some of his swagger this season. The possibility of one or two victories is likely and modestly increased Top-10 total as he continues to find better consistency with crew chief Jeff Meendering.
Landon Cassill – No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet – Cassill is one of the big winners in the driver free agency sweepstakes. The veteran driver was announced in early December as a new signee for Kaulig Racing and its growing super stable. Cassill replaces Jeb Burton in the team's No. 10 Chevrolet and will race the full season with this very capable race team. He's a 12-season veteran of this division of NASCAR, but he's never competed with a team this well-equipped and strong. Burton drove this car to one victory and 16 Top-10 finishes in 2021. Cassill could reach that potential and much more. With close to 500 starts of experience between NASCAR's top two divisions, he has the experience to hit the ground running with this race team.
Josh Berry – No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet – This team was JRM's driver rotation entry in 2021, but it will belong solely to Berry this season. The young driver impressed last year with just 22 starts in this division of NASCAR. Berry would grab two wins and nab a dozen Top-10 finishes in that partial schedule. The Tennessee native was so impressive that JR Motorsports decided to give him a full slate in 2022. He'll partner with crew chief Taylor Moyer, and the duo will look to win more races and possibly contend for this season's championship. At 31-years-old Berry is more mature and seasoned than most of the prospect drivers in the Xfinity Series. He should be very strong in his first full schedule with this very capable race team.
TBD – No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – This is one of the more unsettled major teams in the driver rankings as of mid-January. Joe Gibbs Racing has not made an announcement about how many and which teams they'll be running in 2022. That leaves the No. 20 Toyota in limbo as of this writing. However, Harrison Burton raced this car to 22 Top-10 finishes last season and an eighth-place finish in the final driver standings. The potential is here to win races and possibly challenge for the championship. Until a driver is named, it's difficult to rank the No. 20 Toyota team. We're placing them at #9 in the rankings pre-season, with the potential to move up depending on who is named to drive this strong car.
Sam Mayer – No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet – Michael Annett retired at the end of last season and brought to an end his 11-season career in the Xfinity Series. JRM moved quickly and filled the No. 1 Chevrolet with prospect Mayer in an announcement October of last year. The 18-year-old made a big impression racing in just 18 events last season. Mayer claimed one Top-5 and six Top-10 finishes in those efforts. However, he did crash and DNF in six events as well. That shows he still has a lot to learn, but the talent is there to be developed. Mayer has won races and championships at every level he's raced, so he's quite talented. He'll get the full 33-race schedule and this strong race team as his support for his rookie campaign. Mayer is a talent to watch closely this season, and he could have some impact in the orbit of the championship battle.
Sheldon Creed – No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet – Creed is making the move from the Camping World Truck Series to the Xfinity Series in 2022. The 2020 truck series champion signed late last year to take over RCR's No. 2 Chevrolet for this season. The 24-year-old prospect had accomplished all he could in that division of NASCAR, and it was time to move up. With just four prior starts in this division, Creed will experience some learning curve headwinds this season. Still, there's little doubt about Creed's talent or the strength of this race team. Myatt Snider struggled in this car at times in 2021, but that should not be a problem for Creed. This is the same team that propelled Tyler Reddick to six victories and the Xfinity Series championship in 2019.
Riley Herbst – No. 98 Stewart Haas Racing Ford – Herbst returns for season two at Stewart Haas Racing. He piloted the No. 98 Ford in 2021 and grabbed five Top-5 and 13 Top-10 finishes in what was admittedly a campaign that fell a bit short of expectations. Other recent drivers have won in this car, but Herbst failed to scratch the win column last season and only led 57 laps for the full 33-race schedule. He'll look to take things up a notch in 2022. Herbst will once again be paired with crew chief, Richard Boswell, and the two will look to build on their performance. At just 21-years-old and with only 76 Xfinity Series starts to his credit, he has some learning and seasoning still ahead. The good news is that this team is capable of propelling him up the driver standings if Herbst puts in the work.
Austin Hill – No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet – One of the top candidates for Rookie of the Year in the Xfinity Series is Richard Childress Racing newcomer Hill. He makes the jump from a successful truck series career and into this higher division of NASCAR. In just the last three seasons alone, Hill grabbed eight victories and 45 Top-10 finishes in the trucks. He'll settle into one of RCR's Chevrolets and battle it out in this highly competitive division of NASCAR. We don't know some of the team details at the time of this writing, but they'll be sorted out by the time the green flag waves at Daytona. Hill is undeniably talented and should hit the ground running for this strong race team.
Brett Moffitt – No. 02 Our Motorsports Chevrolet – Our Motorsports is in rapid growth mode, and it's a good thing it has a veteran like Moffitt to head up its flagship entry. This will be season three for the veteran driver with this team, and they've gotten a little bit better with each season. We don't expect that trend line to break in 2022. Moffitt collected 10 Top-10 finishes last season and wound up 21st-place in the driver points. We expect modest improvements this season as the team expands from two to three cars and adds driving talents, Jeb Burton and Anthony Alfredo. Moffitt has the driving ability to win races, and he'll be paired with new crew chief, Jeff Hensley for this season. The veteran driver ended last season with Top 10's in two of the last three races and that's a good look going into 2022.
Jeb Burton – No. 27 Our Motorsports Chevrolet – Burton had a wildly successful season with Kaulig Racing last year in the No. 10 Chevrolet. He would collect career-best marks of one win and 16 Top-10 finishes. However, things would not work out for Burton to stay in that ride for 2022 as Landon Cassill would displace him there. The young driver lands squarely on his feet at the growing Our Motorsports stable. Burton will pilot the team's new car for this season, the No. 27 Chevrolet. He's being paired with long-time crew chief Chad Walter, and the two will look to form chemistry right away. Now with 76 Xfinity Series starts under his belt, Burton is becoming a seasoned driver. There will be some bumps in the road ahead as they get this new team off the ground, but Burton is capable of competitive racing.
Brandon Brown – No. 68 Brandonbilt Motorsports Chevrolet – This small, family-owned race team made some significant progress in 2021. Brown grabbed a career-best nine Top-10 finishes and even snagged his first-career victory with an upset win at Talladega last Fall. Despite all these advancements, his consistency did suffer a bit thanks to seven DNF's that pulled his average finish in the wrong direction (19.4). Still, Brown showed what he could do with his motivated race team. The team is struggling through a sponsorship/endorsement drama with NASCAR, so funding is far from sure. That's the one x-factor that may limit Brown's progress this season. If the team can secure sponsors, there's little doubt that Brown can stay on his upward trajectory.
Jeremy Clements – No. 51 Jeremy Clements Racing Chevrolet – The veteran driver just continues to incrementally improve each season, and Clements showed that ability again last year. The owner/driver piloted his team's Chevrolet to eight Top-10 finishes, which were a career-best mark. Clements also registered an impressive 12th-place finish in the final driver standings, which also tied a career-best. Everything returns intact for the No. 51 team in 2022, including ample sponsorship and crew chief, Mark Setzer. Clements is not a guy who's going to lead a lot of laps (just 5 last season in total) nor challenge for wins, but he's going to get into a groove and post multiple Top-10 and Top-15 finishes through a program built on consistency.
Ryan Sieg – No. 39 RSS Racing Ford – Sieg is another in the number of small, family-owned race teams in the Xfinity Series. The veteran pilot of the No. 39 Ford experienced a bit of a swoon in performance in 2021. Sieg posted just seven Top-10 finishes (a three-season low) and saw his average finish grow to 18.6 over 15.5 the previous season. A big part of the reason for the downturn was simply a growing and ever-increasing level of competition in the Xfinity Series. On the positive side of the ledger, Sieg was very competitive in intermediate oval racing. Those were his best tracks by far. The cookie cutter ovals make up the bulk of the schedule, so that's a positive to build on for 2022. As the series continues to grow younger and more competitive, the 34-year-old Sieg will be challenged to hang onto his gains.
Anthony Alfredo – No. 23 Our Motorsports Chevrolet – Unfortunately, after just one season at NASCAR's top level, things would not work out for Alfredo. His cup of coffee with Front Row Motorsports amounted to just one Top-10 finish and a distant 30th-place finish in the final driver standings of 2021. Fortunately for the 22-year-old driver, things would work out reasonably well this season. Alfredo signed a contract in December of last year to compete in the growing stable of Our Motorsports in the Xfinity Series. He will pilot the team's No. 23 Chevrolet and be paired with veteran crew chief, Pat Tryson. It's a great situation for the talented driver to land on his feet. Still, the newness of this expanding race team and the lack of experience racing in this division of NASCAR (just 19 starts) cause us to be a bit reserved about too high expectations for Alfredo.
Myatt Snider – No. 31 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet – This growing race team snagged an up-and-coming prospect in the form of Snider for 2022. Jordan Anderson Racing featured a variety of drivers last year, but they did manage to collect reasonably good results. The collective nabbed one Top-5 and six Top-10 finishes in just 23 starts last season. Snider has been brought in to be the full-time pilot of the No. 31 Chevrolet. He's spent the last two seasons racing in this division of NASCAR with owner Richard Childress. Last year he nabbed his first-career victory (Homestead) and 11 Top-10 finishes. This team has good sponsorship and funding, and they receive most of its technical support from Richard Childress Racing. Snider is talented, but it will be difficult to hold onto all the performance he had last year with RCR.
Alex Labbe – No. 36 DGM Racing Chevrolet – It hasn't been announced at the time of this writing, but it's believed that Labbe will return with DGM Racing for 2022. He's raced with this small team for the past several years. Last season Labbe would register just three Top-10 finishes and wind up a subpar 19th-place in the final driver standings. Those figures were down modestly over his 2020 statistics. Labbe will look to hit the reset button this season and claw his way back up the driver standings. At the rate that the Xfinity Series is growing and attracting new teams and talent, it will be a difficult task for the Canadian driver. Fortunately for DGM Racing, Labbe now has 112 starts of experience in this division of NASCAR and the funding seems somewhat secure. He'll be constantly battling with the other young drivers in the series to crack the Top-15 most weekends in the schedule.
Josh Williams – No. 78 B.J. McLeod Motorsports Chevrolet – After spending the last several seasons racing with owner Mario Gosselin, Williams moves to B.J. McLeod Motorsports for 2022. The Florida native has raced to eight Top-10 finishes in 126 Xfinity Series starts, and now has enough experience to be a valuable commodity with the smaller race teams in this division of NASCAR. The No. 78 Chevrolet is the flagship entry of BJMM and it featured a number of different drivers in 2021. The collective nabbed just two Top-10 finishes during last season. The hope is that with Williams behind the wheel for the full season, consistency and performance will improve. Williams will be paired with crew chief, Danny Johnson, and the two will look to form chemistry right away. This veteran driver has the ability to post a handful of Top-10 finishes this season.
Bayley Currey – No. 4 JD Motorsports Chevrolet – Currey raced for a couple different teams in 2021, but still only managed 24 starts total. However, it was his most impactful campaign to-date. Currey would nab one Top-10 finish and four Top-20 finishes for career-best marks. He joined JD Motorsports for the final six starts of last season and that's where he'll stay for 2022. Currey will pilot the team's No. 4 Chevrolet for the full schedule this season. The 25-year-old driver will pilot the team's flagship entry and look to make an impact on the driver standings. Landon Cassill primarily piloted this same car last season to pretty good effect, collecting four Top-15 and 14 Top-20 finishes. Currey is certainly capable of keeping this race team on its current trajectory.
Jade Buford – No. 48 Big Machine Records Racing Chevrolet – Buford's rookie season was a pretty good success in 2021. He raced the full slate, short of one event and grabbed one Top-10 and 16 Top-20 finishes. It would all add up to a respectable 23rd-place effort in the driver standings for this small race team. The effort was very impressive given how brief everyone's experience was with this team. Patrick Donahue returns at crew chief and he'll continue building chemistry with Buford. The team formed an enhanced technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing and that will only help matters. Better, faster cars should be the fruit of that partnership. Buford has a lot of room to grow and good upward momentum after his strong 2021 campaign.
Joe Graf Jr. – No. 07 SS Green Light Racing Ford – Graf will return for season three in 2022 with SS Green Light Racing. The 23-year-old prospect earned one Top-10 and seven Top-20 finishes in just 29 starts with this team last year. Graf will be reunited with crew chief, Joe Williams, once again and the two will look to continue advancing this race team up the standings. Ownership has formed a technical alliance with Stewart-Haas Racing and that will help increase competitiveness and improve equipment. As a part of that alliance, the team switches from Chevrolet to Ford this season and Roush Yates will supply the engines. Graf has some modest driving talent, but his 65 starts of experience are a limiting factor to this team's immediate growth.
TBD – No. 26 Sam Hunt Racing Toyota – Brandon Gdovic and Santino Ferrucci would primarily split time in this car last season, but a handful of other drivers would join in to fill out the 33-race schedule. For a driving collective, they didn't do a bad job. The team would collect two Top-10 and 10 Top-15 finishes. It was a very competitive effort. There are a lot of question marks surrounding the immediate future for Sam Hunt Racing. The team is expected to take on the full schedule once again in 2022, but no announcements have been made as of this writing about potential drivers. That variable limits the team's position in our pre-season rankings. Depending on who SHR puts behind the wheel, will largely dictate the season the No. 26 team has in store.
Tommy Joe Martins/Multiple Drivers – No. 44 Alpha Prime Racing Chevrolet – Martins has combined forces with Caesar Bacarella to form Alpha Prime Racing. The new joint venture will field two cars for the full season this year. Martins will share the No. 44 Chevrolet with a handful of other drivers to round out the 33-race schedule. The veteran driver grabbed 16 Top-20 finishes in 2021 for a very respectable campaign. We will likely see less of Martins and more of a driver rotation this season. That lack of continuity and youth movement will limit this team's performance to some degree. However, Dan Stillman will continue to call the shots from the pit box and give this team a good chance to compete each week.
Cole Custer/Chase Briscoe/TBD – No. 17 SS Green Light Racing Ford – This car is the team's second full-time entry for 2022. To this point, only Custer and Briscoe have been revealed as drivers for the team's Ford. Custer will race at least four events and Briscoe has been named for one race. These two talented pilots will give the team a lot of potential on those race weekends. However, the remaining schedule is unclear. Depending on who SS Green Light Racing tabs for the bulk of the schedule will largely dictate its potential this season. This is an entry to watch closely each week in weekly lineup and Daily Fantasy leagues. Custer and Briscoe have great talent and can take this car to surprising finishes. However, the team's overall outlook is somewhat cloudy due to uncertainty behind the wheel.
Sage Karam/Multiple Drivers – No. 45 Alpha Prime Racing Chevrolet – This entry is Alpha Prime's second full-time team in 2022. It will feature a pure driver rotation, but sports car and open-wheel veteran Karam will be featured in a few events. Karam got his first taste of the Xfinity Series last year with four starts at Jordan Anderson Racing. He would earn a top finish of 16th-place at Bristol last Summer, but it was a good learning experience for the 26-year-old driver. It's yet to be determined how many starts Karam will make this season, but it's clear that he'll share this car with a host of other drivers. Alpha Prime Racing is headed in the right direction and growing, but there will be some bumps in the road along the way.
Joey Gase – No. 35 Emerling-Gase Motorsports Chevrolet – After a very light schedule of Xfinity Series racing last season, Gase will set out to run the full schedule in 2022. He's teamed up with Patrick Emerling to form Emerling-Gase Motorsports and field two cars this season. Gase's No. 35 Chevrolet will be full-time and the second car will be a part-time effort. Many details such as crew chief and sponsorship are not known at the time of this writing, but should come together for the start of the season. With the full 33-race schedule ahead and many moving parts to this new race team, a realistic goal would seem to be seven or eight Top-20 finishes and a mid-20's finish in the final driver standings.
Timmy Hill/Multiple Drivers – No. 61 Hattori Racing Enterprises Toyota – Hattori Racing Enterprises will have an alliance with MBM to keep fielding its No. 61 Toyota in 2022. This car was shared by a number of different drivers last season and to pretty good effect. This team collected two Top-10 and seven Top-20 finishes throughout the prior campaign. Hill was not a part of that picture, but he'll play a significant role this season. It will once again be a driver rotation, but Hill will be one of the primary drivers of the No. 61 Toyota. He'll look to improve on a performance that saw him collect six Top-20 finishes in 15 starts last season. This is room to improve here for Hill and Hattori has been known for their relatively competitive efforts the last few seasons.
Mason Massey – No. 91 DGM Racing Chevrolet – Massey comes over from B.J. McLeod Motorsports last season. He raced a 13-event schedule for that team and nabbed just two Top-20 finishes in those efforts. Massey will take over the No. 91 Chevrolet of DGM Racing this season and start in a majority of the races. The team is believed to be full-time and Massey will be the majority pilot for the campaign. At just 24-years-old and with just 23 starts of Xfinity Series experience, Massey is a work in progress racing for a small race team. He will have limited impact over the 2022 season, but post the occasional Top-20 finish from time-to-time.
TBD – No. 47 Mike Harmon Racing Chevrolet – This race team featured Kyle Weatherman last season for the full campaign. In 30 starts he would collect seven Top-20 finishes and race competitively for this small race team. Weatherman and MHR would part ways at the end of last season. The team has not named its driver for 2022 at the time of this writing, but its plans are to race the full season once again. This team's potential and performance will be directly tied to that driver signing. It's difficult to forecast due to that uncertainty behind the wheel. At this point we've slotted them in the low 30's of the driver rankings, but they have the potential to climb if they hire a capable driver.
TBD – No. 0 JD Motorsports Chevrolet – Jeffrey Earnhardt piloted this car last season. He and JDM parted ways at the end of 2021. Earnhardt labored to just six Top-20 finishes last season and posted an average finish of 25.9. At the time of this writing JD Motorsports has not named its driver this season, but the team intends to race full-time once again with the No. 0 Chevrolet. We've been a bit conservative with our ranking of the No. 0 team due to this uncertainty. However, the team is capable of making headway up the driver standings if the right driver is put in the team's Chevrolet. This is a situation to watch closely as the start of the season approaches.
Stefan Parsons – No. 99 B.J. McLeod Motorsports Chevrolet – Parsons is tabbed to race the full schedule in 2022 for B.J. McLeod Motorsports. He made 11 starts for this team last year and collected three Top-20 finishes in that part-time effort. Four DNF's dotted Parsons' season as well which led to an inflated average finish of 26.5. The 23-year-old prospect will look to do better and be more consistent in his first full season of Xfinity Series racing. The potential for improvement is present, but with just 26-career starts in this division of NASCAR, there will be a steep learning curve. This season will hold a lot of ups-and-downs, but Parsons will get a full 33-race slate to groom his driving skills.
David Starr – No. 66 Motorsports Business Management Toyota – Starr has been able to pull in sponsorship money for this team and that has kept him racing well into his 50's. Last season the veteran driver made 26 starts, most of them for the MBM team. He only earned five Top-20 finishes in those efforts and an inflated 27.3 average finish. Still, Starr raced competitively as this team would allow and was not a start-and-park operation. In fact, he only suffered five DNF's throughout the 2021 campaign. Starr has not been confirmed in the team's No. 66 entry at the time of this writing, but he should be back for 2022. It will be another season of Xfinity Series racing for the 54-year-old Texan.
Matt Mills – No. 5 B.J. McLeod Motorsports Chevrolet – Mills has been a regular face for the BJMM team since 2019. He spent most of last season in the team's No. 5 Ford. Mills grabbed just three Top-20 finishes last season, but otherwise found it difficult to maintain the lead lap most weeks. It would all add up to a 28.3 average finish. Nothing has been announced by the team at this point, but it's expected that Mills will return to the No. 5 car again in 2022. The obvious goals for this driver and team is to become more competitive and to collect more Top-20 finishes this season. Cracking the Top-25 in driver points would seem like a reasonable goal as well.
Stephen Leicht/Chad Finchum – No. 13 Motorsports Business Management Toyota – This team had a hard time getting traction last season. The No. 13 MBM Toyota team featured a number of different drivers, but attempted the full season in 2021. It would only amount to 13 total starts and many DNQ's due to the team's lack of performance and lack of charter that would have locked them into all the races. This season is shaping up to be more of a two-driver split of the No. 13 car. Veteran Leicht and youngster Finchum will get most of the starts this season. With the return of practice and qualifying, that should help this small race team to be more competitive and make many more race fields. Still, this team only posted one Top-20 finish last season (Finchum) and faces a big uphill climb to more competitive racing.
Jesse Iwuji – No. ?? Jesse Iwuji Motorsports – Car TBD – Iwuji has made just five starts the last two seasons combined, but he's getting an opportunity to race much more in 2022. The 34-year-old Texan has formed his own race team with some help from former NFL star Emmitt Smith. Equity Prime Mortgage has also come on board for eight races which will help the funding situation greatly. The team has not announced a crew chief, manufacturer partnership nor other details that will likely be forthcoming in a few weeks. Iwuji faces a tall task getting this race team off the ground and racing competitively at every opportunity.
TBD – Jimmy Means Racing – No. 52 Chevrolet – JMR put this car on the track for the full season last year, but it was more of a start-and-park effort than a competitive racing effort. Gray Gaulding and a handful of drivers would take turns at the wheel of the No. 52 Chevrolet. It would all add up to 28 starts, three Top-20 finishes and nine DNF's. Some of the most competitive outings came on short tracks and road circuits. Jimmy Means has not announced the details for the 2022 season at this point, but it will likely be another driver rotation. Similar up-and-down results should be the outcome once again this season.