Here’s some Top 3 NASCAR news to look out for today as the race cars have all returned on the race track at Daytona International Speedway ahead of the opening series’ rounds in Trucks & Xfinity this weekend including the Daytona 500.
Shane Van Gisbergen gets two Aussie-based sponsors ahead of his first full NASCAR season in Xfinity this weekend
First of all, it’s great to see New Zealander Shane Van Gisbergen pick up some extra sponsorship earlier this week, especially Aussie made businesses when it comes to flying the Supercars flag back here thanks to Quad Lock & SafetyCulture ahead of his Xfinity Series debut this weekend for Kaulig Racing (No.97 Chevy Camaro).
There shouldn’t be any issues not competing in Superspeedway tracks as long as SVG participates only for a one-off occasion that requires him to pass the test at the same time this weekend in the ARCA Menards Series. Sure he’ll do well from here & get used to running up front in a different competition other than Supercars now, so he can build on from his debut NASCAR Cup Series win last year in a road/street course at Chicago.
The No.44 number plate returns and so does NY Racing Team who still carries it after a year off in 2023
Next up it’s great to see the No.44 return to the sport but it won’t be Legacy Motor Club – who is a Toyota team now – as the rights still remains under part-time Cup outfit at NY Racing Team despite not racing at all last season.
LMC would have seen the 44 complement their usual 42 & 43 race cars but it doesn’t really matter unless NY doesn’t want it anymore for a certain fee & they still want to keep it as Legacy is happy to have the No.84 with Jimmie Johnson back now for another partial campaign after he took some time off late last year. The only change to NY’s comeback is that Greg Biffle won’t be back behind the wheel with JJ Yeley now onboard from Rick Ware Racing. It remains to be seen though if he can get the No.44 Chevy through to Sunday’s big race during one of the two qualifying duels tomorrow.
New manufacturer coming in at last? Could Honda be the next to enter NASCAR since Dodge in the early 2010s?
And last but not least, a new manufacturer could be on NASCAR’s watch at last for the first time in a long time since Dodge back in 2012. But this time Honda is the one who keeps on popping up in case the engine costs still remains high for their current IndyCar program going into 2026 and beyond. According to an Instagram post, Ford is keen on increasing support for Front Row Motorsport as one of their primary teams off the back of FRM’s recent change of technical support from RFK Racing to Team Penske. What’s even better earlier today that the No.34’s Michael McDowell has qualified 2nd fastest behind Penske’s Joey Logano in the No.22 car who took pole position to lead Sunday’s big race.
Back to Honda now, if they do leave IndyCar & want to be so serious about joining NASCAR; either Stewart-Haas or one of the 3rd-4th best Chevy teams would be willing to get onboard. SHR has four cars and yet they have been struggling over the last few years despite racing Fords. I don’t know if Trackhouse would wanna switch car makers & I know he won’t go to Toyota but Justin Marks is good with Chevy right now as long as they’re dominating and winning races up front. And I don’t know about Spire who made a huge investment behind the scenes over the off-season, but going for Honda would be good for them including its Trucks team after they also recently inherited the assets of Kyle Busch Motorsports. Plus, the link with Andretti via sponsor Gainbridge makes sense for Spire to pair up with Honda since Andretti currently runs Honda engines in IndyCar.
