Not sure who’s going where in NASCAR for 2025?
While it’s not quite time yet to walk through the full list of drivers on the move, here are three who could have a tremendous impact on the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season with their new team.
Chase Briscoe, Joe Gibbs Racing
Filling the seat of retired 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. means Briscoe will be expected to perform at a high level. But as part of Joe Gibbs Racing, a five-time Cup Series championship-winning organization, Briscoe will have all the resources he needs to excel.
As driver of the No. 14 car for Stewart-Haas Racing driver over the past four years, Briscoe made a pair of playoff appearances on the merits of two wins. While impressive enough to land Briscoe a ride at JGR for 2025, such infrequent trips to Victory Lane won’t cut it with his new team.
To remain part of JGR’s driver roster for the long haul, Briscoe will need to win with regularity and become a fixture of the playoffs. Most observers will be surprised if he doesn’t do both, because he’s certainly capable of it.
If he was anything less than capable, three-time Super Bowl-winning coach Joe Gibbs wouldn’t have hired him to replace Truex — a future NASCAR Hall of Famer who made the playoffs in five of six years with the company while collecting 15 of his 34 career wins.
Even though I think everyone knew, super excited to finally make it official! Can’t wait to join the @JoeGibbsRacing family and get to do it with the iconic @BassProShops on the hood! Can’t wait to get to work! pic.twitter.com/iCBo1P6K5v
— Chase Briscoe (@ChaseBriscoe_14) June 25, 2024
Noah Gragson, Front Row Motorsports
It’s been a rough-and-tumble first two seasons of full-time NASCAR Cup Series competition for Gragson. After a surprisingly poor and abbreviated 2023 season with Jimmie Johnson co-owned Legacy Motor Club, Gragson took over the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford for his sophomore campaign.
Despite being a lame duck for most of the season after SHR announced plans to cease operations at the end of 2024, Gragson showed significant improvements from 2023. No, he didn’t win a race or make the playoffs, but he recorded seven top-10 finishes, including a career-best third-place finish in the spring race at Talladega.
Gragson’s uptick in performance was enough to secure him a ride for 2025 with Front Row Motorsports, where he’ll pair up with veteran and former Daytona 500-winning crew chief Drew Blickensderfer while remaining part of the Ford family. Gragson, who captured a NASCAR Xfinity Series-high eight victories and finished runner-up to Ty Gibbs in the 2022 standings for NASCAR’s No. 2 division, has the talent be a Cup Series frontrunner.
He proved it in the Xfinity Series, where he went to Victory Lane a total of 13 times and finished no worse than fifth in points in his last three seasons with JR Motorsports.
Will 2025 be Gragson’s breakout season as he competes for his third NASCAR Cup Series team in as many years? Stay tuned.
NEWS: @Team_FRM announces @NoahGragson has signed a multiyear contract to drive for the team starting in 2025. pic.twitter.com/lEuwHSsfDW
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 10, 2024
Josh Berry, Wood Brothers Racing
Nothing about Berry’s rookie season as a NASCAR Cup Series driver went according to plan.
After two mostly successful full-time seasons in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with JR Motorsports, Berry hoped that success would carry over to his job as a Cup Series newcomer for Tony Stewart co-owned Stewart-Haas Racing.
However, the 2024 season proved to be a struggle for Berry, who finished a woeful 27th in the standings after posting only four top-10s — that included only two top-fives — in 36 points races. It didn’t help matters any that Berry — like the other three Cup Series drivers for SHR — spent most of the year as a lame duck after learning in late May that the organization would shutter at the conclusion of the 2024 season.
But thankfully for Berry, he found work for 2025 as driver of the No. 21 Ford for fabled Wood Brothers Racing. The Wood Brothers, NASCAR’s longest continuously operating team, have been in NASCAR from almost the very beginning. Last year, the organization ended a seven-year absence from Victory Lane when Harrison Burton prevailed in the August race at Daytona, giving the Wood Brothers their landmark 100th career triumph in NASCAR’s premier division.
Although Burton mostly struggled over three seasons with the Wood Brothers, the team is on solid footing. In 2025, it will continue its longstanding technical alliance with the powerhouse Team Penske organization that’s captured the last three NASCAR Cup Series championships.
Berry has an opportunity not only to win, as Burton did in 2024, but perform at a consistently higher level.
2025 x @woodbrothers21 x @FordPerformance.
Great fit for us all. Can’t wait to drive one of the most iconic rides in the history of NASCAR. Truly an honor. https://t.co/n8LXrqDj1E
— Josh Berry (@joshberry) July 3, 2024
