Will Spire Motorsports Improve In 2023?

With the addition of Ty Dillon, will Spire Motorsports improve upon its 2022 performance?

Amy Henderson: That depends more on what Ty Dillon brings with him than Dillon himself. If he brings any kind of technical help from Richard Childress Racing, that could have an impact, and we should see it through Corey LaJoie‘s performance. Dillon himself hasn’t really improved any team for which he’s driven. He brought an improvement in equipment and technical help to Germain Racing but there wasn’t much tangible improvement. His average finish improved slightly, but Dillon didn’t match the team’s best points finish. It’s hard for a driver alone, without bringing money or something else to sweeten the pot, to improve an entire organization. That driver has to be an exceptional talent or leader to do that with no other organizational changes.

Luken Glover: The No. 7 team with LaJoie will show improvement. LaJoie has had a lot of bad breaks this year, but he has also had some really good runs that have flown under the radar. With a year of the Next Gen under its belts and increased familiarity, I expect its performance to rise. However, just like LaJoie in 2021, Dillon may struggle to get up to speed. He has been outrun by Erik Jones week in and week out this year, and the No. 77 is a downgrade in equipment. What he needs is long-term consistency, and he should find that at Spire.

Stephen Stumpf: Dillon isn’t a driver that will drastically move the needle for a team, but it will absolutely be a help for Spire to have two full-time drivers. With LaJoie and a rotating lineup of drivers in the No. 77 this year, it was much harder for the two teams to share notes and prepare for races without driver stability. Spire will improve on its 2022 performance, but it won’t be a huge difference. Both cars finishing between 26th-30th in points would be a feasible goal for 2023.

Mike Neff: Spire is still stacking pennies. It isn’t Trackhouse Racing Team, but it is better than when LaJoie started there. Will it win a race? It is still a long shot but more realistic than it has been.

Two out of the last five NASCAR Cup Series champions have also won that season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Is there a correlation between winning at Vegas and winning the championship? And will Joey Logano continue this trend?

Neff: It is a cute stat, but there isn’t much correlation. The cars, drivers and teams that are at their best over the last four races become…