Less than a month before the 2022 Daytona 500

With just 25 days to go before the green flag drops for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500, this is a brief look at 2021 driver stats and what’s ahead in the new season. Kevin Harvick and others in the NASCAR Cup, Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series will be covered this week. Since many teams have yet to firm up their 2022 plans, follow NASCAR Headlines and “Player” News on this website for the latest updates. The tentative list of Cup Driver/Team lineups shown below is for those who plan on entering all events, including teams with multiple drivers splitting time in one car.

NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)

2021: Brad Keselowski (Team Penske #2 Ford Mustang), a Rochester Hills, Michigan native, entered all 36 NCS races. He scored one win (April 25th at Talladega Superspeedway), 10 top-fives and 17 top-tens, had an 11.4 average start, a 13.0 average finish and led 331 laps. Keselowski earned a spot in the 2021 NCS Playoffs Round of 16. He advanced to the Round of 12 and the Round of 8 but was eliminated from the Playoffs before the Championship 4 race at Phoenix. He closed out the rest of the season 6th in the NCS driver standings.
2022: Brad Keselowski announced late in the 2021 season that he would not only join Roush Fenway Racing in 2022, but would also become a part owner. The new name for the team is Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing (RFK Racing). Keselowski will also pilot the #6 Ford Mustang (replacing Ryan Newman who is still looking for a 2022 ride) full time in 2022. Matt McCall will call the shots as crew chief for Keselowski’s #6 team. So far, Kohler Generators, Violet Defense and Fastenal have signed-on as sponsors.

2021: Kevin Harvick (Stewart-Haas Racing #4 Ford Mustang), a Bakersfield, California native, entered all 36 NCS races. He scored 10 top-fives and 24 top-tens, had a 9.7 average start, a 10.9 average finish and led 217 laps. Harvick earned a spot in the 2021 NCS Playoffs Round of 16, advanced to the Round of 12 but was eliminated before the Round of 8. He closed out the rest of the season 5th in the NCS driver standings.
2022: Harvick is signed through 2023 as driver in SHR’s #4 Ford. Rodney Childers continues as crew chief. The Harvick/Childers duo is the longest-tenured active driver-crew chief pairing in the Cup garage. GearWrench (5 races) and Rheem (3) have committed to primary sponsorship so far. No word yet from Harvick’s long-time sponsors Busch Light, Hunt Brothers, Jimmy John’s and Mobil 1.

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NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS)

2021: Justin Haley (Kaulig Racing #11 Chevrolet Camaro), a Winamac, Indiana native, entered 32 of the 33 NXS races. He scored on win (August 28th at Daytona Int’l Speedway), 9 top-fives, 24 top-tens, had a 7.0 average start, a 10.7 average finish and led 59 laps. Haley earned a spot in the 2021 NXS Playoffs Round of 12, advanced to the Round of 8 but was eliminated before the Championship 4 race at Phoenix. He closed out the rest of the season 6th in the NXS driver standings. Haley entered 31 Cup races, mostly in Spire Motorsports #77 Chevrolet, with a best finish of 6th also on August 28th at Daytona.
2022: Haley moved up to the Cup Series driving Kaulig Racing’s #31 Chevrolet Camaro. Trent Owens, formerly crew chief for Ryan Preece at JTG Daugherty Racing, has been named crew chief for Haley in the team’s first, full-time Cup season. Sponsors will be announced at a later date.

2021: Justin Allgaier (JR Motorsports #7 Chevrolet Camaro), a Riverton, Illinois native, entered all 33 NXS races. He scored 2 wins (March 20th at Atlanta Motor Speedway and May 8th at Darlington Raceway), 16 top-fives, 24 top-tens, had an average start of 8.0, an average finish of 9.5 and led 468 laps. Allgaier earned a spot in the 2021 NXS Playoffs Round of 12, advanced to the Round of 8 but was eliminated before the Championship 4 race at Phoenix. He closed out the rest of the season 5th in the NXS driver standings. Allgaier also earned the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Most Popular Driver Award (his 3rd consecutive). A JRM driver has earned 12 of the last 14 Most Popular Driver honors in the NXS.
2022: Allgaier is returning to JRM’s #7 Chevrolet. He will be paired with Jason Burdett as his crew chief for their 7th season together at JRM. BRANDT and Unilever are primary sponsors.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NTS)

2021: Stewart Friesen (Halmar Friesen Racing #52 Toyota Tundra), a Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario native, entered all 22 NTS races. He scored 7 top-fives, 9 top-tens, had a 10.5 average start, a 14.5 average finish and led 20 laps. His best finish was 2nd place in the season ending November 5th race at Phoenix Raceway. Friesen earned a spot in the 2021 NTS Playoffs Round of 10, advanced to the Round of 8 but was eliminated before the Championship 4 race at Phoenix. He closed out the rest of the season 6th in the NTS driver standings.
2022: His plans are not known at this time but Friesen is expected to return for another full season in the HFR #52 Toyota Tundra.

2021: Sheldon Creed (GMS Racing #2 Chevrolet Silverado), an Alpine, California native, entered all 22 NTS races. He scored three wins (swept the May 7th and September 5th races at Darlington Raceway and won the August 20th race at World Wide Technology Raceway-Gateway), 9 top-fives, 11 top-tens, had a 7.8 average start, a 13.8 average finish and led 708 laps. He earned a spot in the 2021 NTS Playoffs Round of 10, advanced to the Round of 8 but was eliminated before the Championship 4 race at Phoenix. Creed closed out the rest of the season 5th in the NTS driver standings.
2022: Creed moved up to the Xfinity Series for 2022 driving Richard Childress Racing’s #2 Chevrolet Camaro. Whelen will be Creed’s sponsor for the entire season. The #2 team’s crew chief will be named at a later date.

2022 Tentative NCS Series Team Chart