Wins, contracts, charters and sponsors all up for grabs for NASCAR drivers
By Bob Pockrass
FOX Sports NASCAR Reporter
Aric Almirola went from a driver struggling, 27th in the standings, to a 2021 race winner and playoff participant when he won a week ago at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The win might have meant even more than that.
Smithfield Foods replaced its chief executive officer less than two weeks earlier, the second move at the top level of the organization in the past eight months.
Stewart-Haas Racing has to re-sign Smithfield — the team doesn’t comment on its sponsorship deals, but it is common knowledge across the garage that this deal is not sealed — for 2022. Smithfield has backed Almirola for the past 10 years.
A win can go a long way. Getting in the playoffs — the only way Almirola won’t make it is in the unlikely scenario that three winless drivers ahead of him in the standings win three of the final four regular-season races — means extra recognition. That never hurts when a new decision-maker in charge of the company and a decision on a sponsorship renewal need to be made.
A spot in the playoffs results in at least three weeks in which a driver will get more television coverage than usual. It means a driver participates in any event (postseason awards ceremonies, the Busch Clash, etc.) including anyone who makes the playoffs.
"[Not making the playoffs] would have been devastating," Almirola said. "Ever since I got to SHR, I made the playoffs every year. This year, it didn't look so good. It didn't look like that was going to be a possibility unless we won.
"That feels good. ... To continue to have success for them [at Smithfield] and put them in the limelight, win races, be in the playoffs – that's what they deserve."
Earlier in the day, prior to the NHMS race, Almirola couldn’t say that the sponsor would get what it deserved. That is how easily the outlook can change for a driver and/or team when it comes to looking ahead to next season.
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Take, for instance, if Smithfield doesn’t return and Almirola isn’t re-signed. That opens a spot at — though it's struggling at the moment — what many consider one of the top organizations.
"I’m real nervous. ... I don’t think I’m done yet at this point, for sure," free-agent driver Matt DiBenedetto said of not knowing what rides could end up open. "It’s just hard."
Drivers such as DiBenedetto (a free agent), Erik Jones (currently negotiating with Richard Petty Motorsports on his 2022 option) and Ross Chastain (also a free agent) would likely be candidates for Stewart-Haas Racing.
But they don’t even know if that opening will exist. Austin Dillon is expected to renew at Richard Childress Racing, and as long as JTG Daugherty Racing doesn’t sell its one charter, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is expected to renew there. The team announced additional sponsorship from Bimbo Foods on Friday, which is likely a sign that they are trying to have at least one car, if not two, next year.
A driver such as Chastain, whose Chip Ganassi Racing team is selling its NASCAR assets after this year, hopes to stick with the organization as the second driver for new owner Trackhouse Racing.
But he doesn’t know if that will happen, and so he tries to remember it is only late July. Chastain typically doesn’t have deals done this early — and as he learned in 2019, a sponsorship can evaporate at any time, as it did when sponsor D.C. Solar collapsed amid a federal investigation two months before the season.
Chastain said he has talked with his agent — he is still a client of Spire Motorsports, which owns a Cup team with Corey LaJoie as its driver — about what could be available. He compared the patience required to his family watermelon farm, saying at this point, "We would still be figuring out what land we’re going to farm."
"We’ve talked through all the scenarios that we think are on the board," Chastain said of the discussions with his management team. "I am still under contract with CGR. I’m the driver of the 42 car, and that’s where my head is at.
"I’m not calling anybody, and nobody else is calling me. ... I never knew this early, by far, what I’m doing."
Kurt Busch is penciled in to go to 23XI Racing, which plans to expand. But with the recent Trackhouse purchase of Ganassi, he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of staying (which would then put Chastain out of a ride), and the 23XI Racing expansion still needs to be finished with the purchase of a charter and/or obtaining of sponsors.
Busch won the week before Almirola and knows that doesn’t hurt his prospects or perceived value.
"Just keeping it fluid and keeping it fun right now is what has led us to this point ... and we've got things to decide in the next few weeks where we end up," Busch said after the Atlanta win.
Most drivers say they try to focus on racing, knowing that results matter.
"I wouldn't have a job and I wouldn't be driving a race car right now if Smithfield Foods had not supported me for the last 10 years," Almirola said. "It has been a phenomenal relationship. I owe them the world.
"Unfortunately, I can't give them the world, but I can give them a race win every once in a while, and [at NHMS] we were able to do that."
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Thinking Out Loud
Hendrick Motorsports likely wasn’t doing anything nefarious when it put a sealed engine Chase Elliott used to win a race earlier this year into the car of Alex Bowman at New Hampshire.
But that was against the rules. Teams must use a sealed, previously raced engine in 16 events (their choice) during the season. A winning engine that is sealed (meaning most of the main parts and pieces can’t be serviced) must be used in the same car number.
A non-winning engine can go into any other car, but to keep a team from pushing the limits of life expectancy of parts and pieces for better performance in a single race, NASCAR put in the rule this year that requires winning engines, if used again, to be put in the same car number.
Previously, whether the winning engine was in its first race or was a sealed engine from a previous race, NASCAR gave a team credit for using a sealed engine so that NASCAR could inspect it the next day. But that gave teams that won an advantage because they were using a fresh motor more often than others.
If Hendrick wanted to circumvent the rule, they would have given that Elliott engine to Ganassi, JTG Daugherty or Spire. They wouldn’t put it in one of their own cars.
But it is still concerning, beyond the one-race suspension to two Hendrick personnel (their GM and engine specialist), the 25-point reduction to Elliott and Bowman, and the $50,000 fine to their crew chiefs. Last year, Hendrick went minutes beyond the wind tunnel limits and was penalized with less time this year.
Not counting minutes properly and misallocating the race-winning engine to a different car number can both be explained as honest mistakes. But every honest mistake that occurs builds speculation of dishonesty. And that’s not something Hendrick or the sport can afford.
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Stat of Note
Kyle Larson has earned 253 stage points this year, while Denny Hamlin has earned 250. No other driver has earned 200. William Byron is third on the list, with 193.
They Said It
"Brad Keselowski and the Next Gen car and the things that we can do together in the near term and the future that we see long-term is my retirement plan, and I just hope I can take lots of green flags and lots of checkered flags before we get there." — Jack Roush after announcing that Brad Keselowski is buying in to the Roush Fenway organization
Bob Pockrass has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s. He joined FOX Sports in 2019 following stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @bobpockrass. Looking for more NASCAR content? Sign up for the FOX Sports NASCAR Newsletter with Bob Pockrass!