While it is still a mystery where Ty Dillon will call home for the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, it is for certain he will not return to his current ride at Petty GMS Motorsports in 2023. Dillon and the organization announced that they have mutually agreed to part ways at the end of the 2022 season.
The speculation as to where Dillon will race is certainly something to discuss, however, what is even more interesting is when you think about who could replace Dillon in the No. 42 Chevrolet in 2023. With his ties to Chevrolet and his success on the track, Xfinity Series regular Noah Gragson appears to be someone many think could be a replacement for Dillon.
Yet others think Gragson is not ready for Cup and there are plenty of other good candidates to choose from to take over Dillon’s ride next season. Our writers Anthony Damcott and Mark Kristl debate whether or not Gragson is the leading candidate to replace Dillon.
GMS Racing Has More Options
When GMS Racing bought a majority stake in Petty GMS Motorsports, the number font and face of the team is still the Petty side of the operation. While some of the sponsors (like Allegiant, the airline company that GMS Racing owner Maurice Gallagher owns), come from GMS Racing. Therefore, fans associate the team more with Petty than GMS.
This is leading people to forget that GMS Racing is the primary owner and operator of the team, and they have several options to pull from within their organization, and even outside of it, to drive the No. 42 in 2023.
The team’s Camping World Truck Series drivers are probably far from what the Cup team is looking for, as Jack Wood is in the midst of his rookie season (an unfavorable one at that), and Grant Enfinger seems very content with staying in the Truck Series. But these two drivers are options nonetheless.
Then there’s the joint endeavor between GMS Racing and JR Motorsports that was formed in 2019, a driver development program called Drivers Edge Development. Along with Jack Wood and Gragson, the program also has Sam Mayer, and there are several former drivers that, maybe with the right convincing, they could steal from another team to driver the No. 42.
Zane Smith seems like the most likely option in that category, and would be my choice if I had to pick a replacement for Dillon. Smith had been largely rumored to take over the No. 1 for Kurt Busch at Chip Ganassi Racing this year, but we all know how that worked out: Ganassi sold his team to Justin Marks and…
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