By: Ashley McCubbin

The theme of each NASCAR Silly Season is figuring out what the changes will be, so that way you can find the ride that your favourite driver(s) is(are) behind the wheel of. It’s why News From The Pits is here to help you sort through it all.

Read the full first part of the series by clicking here. /// Read the second part of the series by clicking here. /// Read the third part of the series by clicking here.

The countdown to Daytona International Speedway is on, and the announcements keep coming from teams.

#07: Joe Graf Jr, SS-GLR w/Jeff Lefcourt, Bucked Up Energy Ford Mustang

A pair of drivers already mentioned on the list with other commitments will be making select starts with Joe Gibbs Racing in their all-star entry they field shared by up and coming drivers alongside their NASCAR Cup Series stars.

Joe Graf Jr. will be run five events, alongside his schedule of a minimum 28 races for RSS Racing. As we stated, the New Jersey native ran 28 of the 33 events in 2022 for SS Green Light Racing, picking up four top-20’s including an eighth at Talladega Superspeedway – exactly what you want to see for a smaller organization in the series. Now partnered with JGR, it will be interesting to see just how far his talent can take him and what he can prove. Let’s face it – you show up well in the limited starts, and bam, you may have a bigger opportunity with a team of this caliber in 2024.

Connor Mosack is set for 20 races with Sam Hunt Racing as previously mentioned, and will add another three with JGR. As mentioned previously, continued progression for the late model standout should be the goal as this is the an opportunity to move on up.

It was a late announcement, but it surprises nobody that Kyle Sieg will run the full schedule for the family-owned team, RSS Racing, as a teammate to his brother Ryan Seig. He ran 17 events in 2022, earning his first top-10 finish at Daytona International Speedway in August; his average finish was 23.4 in his part-time schedule. It’s not as high as his brother’s who was a playoff contender, but certainly bringining the number down below 20 should be the goal as he starts to head in that direction.

Just because Big Machine Racing is heading down a new path, it does not mean Jade Buford is out of the equation. He will be making the trek down to Daytona behind the wheel of a second entry. He has ran 45 races over the past three years, scoring a top-10 performance each season. Not bad for a guy just getting introduced to Xfinity with a new team, but the expectations should continue to climb. After all, Scott Borchetta had 10 different drivers last season, including a couple Cup Series regulars, and had success courtesy of a win by Tyler Reddick – proving they can get the job done.

#48: Jade Buford, Big Machine Racing, Big Machine Vodka – Spiked Coolers Chevrolet Camaro

The Breakdown So Far:

• Anthony Alfredo – from OUR Motorsports to BJ McLeod Motorsports
• Blaine Perkins – from ARCA Menards to Series to SS Green Light Racing
• Brandon Jones – from Joe Gibbs Racing to JR Motorsports
• Brett Moffitt – from Our Motorsports to AM Racing
• Chandler Smith – from Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Truck Series to Kaulig Racing
• Cole Custer – from Stewart-Haas Racing in the Cup Series to SHR
• Connor Mosack – from Late Model standout to Sam Hunt Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing
• Dexter Stacey – from NASCAR Pinty’s Series to Daytona with MBM Motorsports
• Garrett Smithley – from a couple races to full-time with B.J. McLeod Motorsports
• Jeb Burton – from Our Motorsports to Jordan Anderson Racing
• Jeffrey Earnhardt – from partial schedule with three teams to full-time with Alpha Prime Racing
• Joe Graf Jr. – from SS Green Light Racing to RSS Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing
• John Hunter Nemechek – from KBM in the Truck Series to JGR
• Justin Haley – partial schedule with Kaulig alongside Cup commitments
• Landon Cassill – full-time with Kaulig to no plans announced
• Parker Kligerman – partial schedule with Henderson to full-time with Big Machine Racing
• Parker Retzlaff – partial schedule with RSS Racing to Jordan Anderson Racing
• Ryan Truex – from part-time with JGR to full-time JGR
• Ryan Vargas – from JD Motorsports with Gary Kellar to CHK Racing
• Tyler Reddick – part-time with Big Machine Racing to part-time with Sam Hunt Racing (alongside Cup commitments)