Trackhouse Racing, RFK Racing and Front Row Motorsports announced sponsorship deals Thursday morning.
Trackhouse said WWEX, a Dallas-based global logistics group, will increase its sponsorship presence with the team this year, serving as the primary sponsor in 21 races for drivers Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez.
WWEX will appear on Chastain’s Chevrolets in 19 races and will sponsor Suarez twice. The organization was a Trackhouse sponsor in 11 events in 2022, which was a breakout season for both Chastain and Suarez.
RFK announced that Solomon Plumbing, which joined the team last season, will expand its presence this season and in future years. The Michigan-based company will serve as the primary sponsor for several races on driver Brad Keselowski‘s No. 6 Ford.
Solomon specializes in plumbing and fire services for new development and construction. It initially sponsored Keselowski last season in the dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Front Row Motorsports has signed Quincy Compressor, a Bay Minette, Ala.-based compressor manufacturer, as a sponsor for four races.
It won’t be long before cars are on track for the Feb. 5 Busch Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Before the action takes place there, check out the driver uniforms for the 2023 Cup season.
Listed below are the drivers, based on their car numbers. Driver uniform pictures are not yet available for AJ Allmendinger, Noah Gragson, Erik Jones, Ty Gibbs and Ty Dillon. The rest of the drivers with chartered teams are displayed here.
Kyle Busch and Tyler Reddick — among the key storylines this season — got their first days on track with their new teams this week.
Busch, Reddick and Austin Cindric participated in a tire test Monday and Tuesday at Circuit of the Americas. The session marked Busch’s first official laps with his Richard Childress Racing team. It also was Reddick’s first laps with his 23XI Racing team.
Busch, a two-time Cup champion, joins RCR after having spent the past 15 seasons at Joe Gibbs Racing. Lack of sponsorship led to his move.
Busch heads into this season having won at least one Cup race in each of the past 18 seasons, tying him with Richard Petty for the all-time Cup record.
Busch, who estimated he ran 200 laps during the two days at the 3.41-mile road course in Austin, Texas, was pleased with the session.
“Had a lot of fun,” he told NBC Sports. “Was able to work with the guys and really (have) good communication, give good feedback and have that opportunity to have dialogue of ‘Let’s do this. Let’s do this. Let’s try this. What do you think about this?’
“(Was) able to talk about the car in ways I’m used to and have them hear me describe things in certain ways, so they can get a better understanding where, as you go on, you can say less words and they get what you’re saying.”
Reddick said the session was helpful to get settled in the No. 45 Toyota.
The session also proved valuable for Toyota, which seeks to improve its performance on road courses. Reddick won at Road America and the Indianapolis road course last year and could provide key feedback for Toyota.
The manufacturer struggled in the first five road courses last season — twice failing to have a driver finish in the top 12. In the season’s final road course event, Toyota won the Charlotte Roval playoff race with Christopher Bell.
Reddick told NBC Sports that a goal at the session was to “try and close the gap Toyota feels like they’ve had on the Chevys and some of the other competition last year on the road courses. I think we made some gains, but certainly, we’re going to work hard on that.”
While the racing at intermediate tracks was viewed favorably last year, drivers were critical of the racing on short tracks and how difficult it was to pass.
Sawyer said the sanctioning body will look at some changes to the underbody of the car.
Scott Graves, crew chief for Chris Buescher at RFK Racing, told NBC Sports that NASCAR will test some changes to the car’s underbody. Those changes came about from the Garage 56 effort.
“Some of the things they’re learning (have) started to trickle on to our side,” Graves said of the Garage 56 car. “They’ve done some things on the underbody.
“As NASCAR is looking to make short tracks in particular a little bit better, we’re trying to be less dependent on the outer body with aero and get more of it with the underbody — with the theory that it’s going to be less affected by traffic.”
A look at the underbody of a 2022 NASCAR Cup car. (Photo: Dustin Long)
Graves said that the plan is for the rear spoiler to be smaller at the Phoenix test with the underbody of the car generating more of the car’s downforce. NASCAR also is looking to better channel the air underneath the car with the diffuser.
Graves explained how having more of a car’s downforce generated underneath it could impact the race:
“When you look at the lap times, the guys that are up front have a huge advantage, but when they get to the back of the pack, they run the same speed.
“That’s what everybody in the pack is doing the whole race, running the same speed and having a hard time getting around each other. Hopefully, this will help with some of that, where it’s not so dependent on the outer body. You get into turbulent air, dirty air (in traffic) the (aero on the) outer body really goes away. The theory is that the underbody is still going to have that air underneath the car, so it will keep it a little bit better.”
Could he be joined by Kyle Busch? Busch has expressed an interest in also doing the double — something his brother Kurt did in 2014.
“I think that’s great that Kyle (Larson) has been able to kind of button that up early and get that done for himself to run the Indy 500 in 2024,” Busch told NBC Sports.
“I wasn’t so fortunate (in the past). We had a couple of deals kind of right there, right to the sign phase almost I guess you would say. It just didn’t really materialize. Teams got other deals that were more important to them that kind of didn’t want to give me the chance, or they didn’t want to go from three cars to four cars, whatever it might have been.
“A lot of discussions happened behind the scenes, but nothing materialized. I would say that our industry, both NASCAR and IndyCar is just short on people, having the right amount of people and good people to go and do these ventures. Yeah, you could go do it and go run circles and make laps, but is it going to be a winning effort was the question. That’s just kind of why it never materialized.”
Asked if he felt the door was closed to him to running the Indy 500, Busch said: “Yeah, I would say 2023, the door’s closed. I would say 2024, with Kyle (Larson’s) announcement, the door closed because that’s probably about the only team that could do it. Given the nature of who he’s racing with, but just with other teams trying to stretch too thin and not have enough people. Again it comes down to the people part. So, you just never know. See what happens.”
4. Looking into the future
As NASCAR celebrates its 75th anniversary season, it’s a chance to look back at many of the memorable moments on and off the track.
When NASCAR celebrates its 100th season and others in the future, Chastain’s move is likely to be among those memorable moments.
“I’m proud that I’ve been able to make a wave that will continue beyond just 2022 or just beyond me,” Chastain told NBC Sports. “There will probably be people that will learn about me because of that. I’m good with that. I’m proud of that.
“I don’t think it will ever happen again. I don’t think it will ever pay the reward that that paid off for us. I hope I’m around in 35 years to answer someone’s question about it, and I probably still won’t have a good answer on why it worked, or why I did it.”
5. A celebration
NASCAR takes time tonight to honor its past and induct three people into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Former Cup champion Matt Kenseth, Hershel McGriff and former champion crew chief Kirk Shelmerdine will be inducted as the 13th class in the Hall of Fame. NASCAR executive Mike Helton will be the recipient of the Landmark Award for outstanding contributions. Photographer T. Taylor Warren will be honored with the Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR media excellence.
RFK Racing has picked up additional sponsorship for drivers Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher for the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season.
The team announced Thursday morning that Castrol, an RFK sponsor since 2019, will continue to be the team’s oil supplier and will expand its presence on Keselowski’s No. 6 Ford and add sponsorship to Buescher’s No. 17 car.
“We’re thrilled to continue our relationship Castrol, as they have been an invaluable partner for our organization in every aspect of our business,” said RFK president Steve Newmark in a statement released by the team. “Their leading, best-in-class lubricants and technology have helped to improve our performance on the track, leading us back to victory lane.”
NASCAR Cup Series team RFK Racing has acquired sponsorship from Esperion Therapeutics, a Michigan-based pharmaceutical company.
In what the team called a multi-year agreement in a Wednesday morning announcement, Esperion will sponsor RFK drivers Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher in several Cup races through its Nexlizet and Nexletol brands.
“We’re thrilled to have Esperion, a company that is making waves in the pharmaceutical industry, on board with us,” said Steve Newmark, RFK Racing president, in a statement released by the team. “We’re thankful to the team at Esperion and can’t wait to introduce them to the sport in a big way in 2023.”
In addition to the Daytona 500, Esperion will serve as a primary sponsor on Keselowski’s No. 6 Ford at the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway and at Michigan Speedway in August.
The brand will serve as a primary on Buescher’s No. 17 at Las Vegas and both Martinsville races (April and October).
This will be Keselowski’s second season as part owner of RFK Racing.
Also announced Wednesday was continuing sponsorship of Front Row Motorsports by Fr8Auctions, an Atlanta-based auction firm.
Fr8Auctions will sponsor Michael McDowell in the Cup Series and defending champion Zane Smith in the Craftsman Truck Series.
“This is a big milestone to be celebrated and admired,” McDowell said in a statement released by the team. “Fr8Auctions has been a loyal supporter of Front Row Motorsports and has been a critical part of our growth.”
