Silly Season 2024

cheesepuffs said:
Heck yes, can't wait to have him fulltime. Hope he lands a solid ride where he's able to showcase his talent.

Bold prediction: Austin Dillon hangs up the steering wheel for an RCR front office position. SVG takes over the 3.
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Austin might hang it up, but he'll have to look out his office window to see SVG over at the Kaulig shop.
 
If Red Bull follows him he is going to get suitors from every team with a open seat.

Which leads to point #2, Red Bull sponsorship model usually means they buy a stake directly into the team, I wouldn't be shocked at all if we something like Red Bull-Kaulig racing
 
cheesepuffs said:
I just don't see SVG making this type of a change to settle for a relatively back-marker team.
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With the RCR affiliation there could be a long term play.
Also, I don't think Kaulig will remain in their current slump. They have bigger plans.
 
I dont at all see the connection between SVG/RCR and SVG/Kaulig. In my view, its Trackhouse that is the leader to sign him. He knows them, they know him. He's raced with them already and racing again. I dont understand why those other two would even be an option. I dont think Trackhouse has a Charter for the 91, which would be a hinderance to my thinking, but yea I cant see him anywhere else besides racing for Marks next year.
 
I read this change as Kaulig needs sponsors and doesn’t want to run LeafFilter on their cars anymore. Haley is good but not good enough to run out of pocket anymore. The Haley/RWR move was out of left field, but I don’t think it’s the downgrade everyone is acting like.

Kaulig isn’t Hendrick. For for all the “trophy hunting” and chest beating they really haven’t been that great. Take away AJ’s Xfinity RC wins and they haven’t set the world on fire. The Cup program needs a shot in the arm especially. Someone with money like Austin Hill makes a lot of sense for the 31.

RWR has actually improved this year. They’ve outpaced the SHR cars not named Harvick in quite a few races. Part of that is SHR falling off, while also employing actual drivers not named Cody Ware. A RFK alliance and solid young driver like Haley could elevate that team a tier.
 
JBone88 said:
I read this change as Kaulig needs sponsors and doesn’t want to run LeafFilter on their cars anymore. Haley is good but not good enough to run out of pocket anymore. The Haley/RWR move was out of left field, but I don’t think it’s the downgrade everyone is acting like.

Kaulig isn’t Hendrick. For for all the “trophy hunting” and chest beating they really haven’t been that great. Take away AJ’s Xfinity RC wins and they haven’t set the world on fire. The Cup program needs a shot in the arm especially. Someone with money like Austin Hill makes a lot of sense for the 31.

RWR has actually improved this year. They’ve outpaced the SHR cars not named Harvick in quite a few races. Part of that is SHR falling off, while also employing actual drivers not named Cody Ware. A RFK alliance and solid young driver like Haley could elevate that team a tier.
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You have multiple points fer sure. RFK is on the rise. Haley might have caught the elevator.
 
Jorge De Guzman said:
I dont at all see the connection between SVG/RCR and SVG/Kaulig. In my view, its Trackhouse that is the leader to sign him. He knows them, they know him. He's raced with them already and racing again. I dont understand why those other two would even be an option. I dont think Trackhouse has a Charter for the 91, which would be a hinderance to my thinking, but yea I cant see him anywhere else besides racing for Marks next year.
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I don't think there's a 0% chance of RCR taking a big swing. They're also running Brodie for Indy so they have their money where their mouth is for trying to also bring in a Supercars talent. Austin is the one who approached Kyle Busch and facilitated his signing to the 8, which shows that he really does want top talent at the organization and wants to make a splash. Austin has basically gotten his teeth kicked in by Kyle this season, and was out-classed by Reddick too, so I'm just completely spit-balling here and have no info to say this is actually happening, but it wouldn't surprise me, or they go to a third car. They've been a three car team obviously in the past so maybe they get back to that even, who knows.

I agree with you that Trackhouse would be the front-runner since that relationship already exists, but I doubt that SVG has only one suitor. Heck, maybe Brodie goes fulltime at RCR next season and SVG does land at Trackhouse and we get an Aussie/Kiwi invasion. That's what I'm gonna hope for.
 
StandOnIt said:
You have multiple points fer sure. RFK is on the rise. Haley might have caught the elevator.
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I feel the same way. Even Ford as a whole has Zane Smith and that's basically it as far as realistic Cup prospects right now. This move positions Haley in the Ford pipeline kind of like how John Hunter went down a rung to get in the TRD fold. Yes RWR is a weird step down at face value, but like you said, RFK is only going up, and that's a good alliance to have with there not being too many open seats available right now. He's playing the long game.
 
Austin Hill is Cup-ready but if Kaulig need funding I’m not sure if he’s such a good fit there in the 31. United Rentals haven’t been on his car much this year and I’m not sure how big the Bennett group are and if they could afford to move up to Cup with him.
 
FLRacingFan said:
JHN is essentially a lock for JGR as soon as Truex retires, so very possibly as soon as next season. I doubt he moves elsewhere given his standing in the TRD order right now.
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Would not count out Legacy, if Noah wants to stay with thst organization and if GM wants to continue to back Noah.

Bennett is a solid sized company. Not unless if Kaulig will prematurely move Smith or move Hemric back to Cup.
 
The usual trying to pull clues out of Door Bumper Clear.

Hocevar may be going Cup racing
A former JGR Xfinity driver may be going back to JGR in Xfinity.
An Xfinity driver is most likely candidate for the 31 and Austin Hill seems to be the one.
 
cheesepuffs said:
Bold prediction: Austin Dillon hangs up the steering wheel for an RCR front office position. SVG takes over the 3.
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There's an interesting question that comes from this: Does RCR continue to run the 3 if Dillon isn't in it? One of the arguments for bringing back the 3 with Dillon is that it was Richard's number first.

At the very least, I would want SVG (or anyone else) to get a different stylized 3. I still associate the RCR 3 with Dale and the painful memory of that day and I don't think it's fair for any driver to carry that burden. When I see a 3 in other racing series, I don't have the same association with Dale because the number is styled differently.
 
kkfan91 said:
The usual trying to pull clues out of Door Bumper Clear.

Hocevar may be going Cup racing
A former JGR Xfinity driver may be going back to JGR in Xfinity.
An Xfinity driver is most likely candidate for the 31 and Austin Hill seems to be the one.
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Hocevar going to straight to Cup sounds terrible. He’s fast but extremely error-prone and could use a year or two racing against a stronger, cleaner field in Xfinity. Holding up well for 1/3 of a race at Gateway is respectable but nowhere near enough to be Cup-ready.

I’d guess Trevor Bayne is coming back to JGR.
 
JBone88 said:
RWR has actually improved this year. They’ve outpaced the SHR cars not named Harvick in quite a few races. Part of that is SHR falling off, while also employing actual drivers not named Cody Ware. A RFK alliance and solid young driver like Haley could elevate that team a tier.
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I agree that RWR has improved a bit this year, especially Yeley has had some decent runs.
I still think going from Kaulig to RWR is far from a lateral move. As far as I know RWR already has an alliance with RFK and they're still the second worst team after McLeod. If not for Gragson having the most terrible rookie season in recent memory and Ty Dillon being Ty Dillon they'd still have both cars in the bottom 3 of the owner standings.
Haley would've been better off going back to Xfinity imo.

Hocevar is certainly talented but he's also an immature hothead, he's nowhere near ready for Cup
 
I guess I didn't realize how often RWR cars really wrecked during a season. Cole Custer didn't do a terrible job Sunday and same for Yeley. Maybe adding Haley and vice versa is good for both sides.
 
The 21 is the most interesting part of silly season to me right now. Who gets a seat in the Penske pipeline next. I don't see them retaining Harrison either.
 
kkfan91 said:
I'm wondering if Brandon Jones is out at JRM that has not gone well this year.
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I got the distinct impression that there is going to be a MAJOR shakeup in the JRM driver roster. I would not be shocked at all to see Jones back at JGR, and I have to think that Sam Mayer is feeling the heat too. I thought Jones was a great hire for JRM, but for whatever reason, that car has been just putrid right from the first green flag of the year.
 
A couple of things jump out at me in that I did notice Gainbridge sponsoring the 7 and 77 the last few weeks, that made me wonder and second,Dale Jr may have missed the boat with the charter prices potentially increasing further
 
StandOnIt said:
Well yeah. Some of them are going to lose their minds trying to recruit him. The kicker is will he pan out in the Cup series, or just be a road race threat which we know he is.
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Seriously. I hope teams will have him test on a 1.5er and a short track before they sign anything.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
Seriously. I hope teams will have him test on a 1.5er and a short track before they sign anything.
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That's on them. I don't think some care, if he is loose from the Supercars, some of them will take what they saw at a street race and start throwing money around. It's going to whittle it down like crazy, first having room for another car and coughing up 30 million for a charter (if one is available) on top of that.
 
Hawaii808 said:
Not shocked at all. The guy is a wheelman and a fat check from his long time sponsor Red Bull is the icing on the cake.
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There is no indication Red Bull will be following him to NASCAR. They haven’t sponsored either of his Project 91 starts and Red Bull were the Triple Eight team sponsor before he drove for them and will be after he leaves as well.
 
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