JTG Daugherty has made a major decision that will have an impact on Silly Season. The team will no longer field two full-time cars in the NASCAR Cup Series. Instead, they will move forward with the focus on being more competitive.
Brad Daugherty, who co-owns the team with Tad and Jodi Geschickter, revealed the news during a media session on Tuesday, Aug. 31, per NBC Sports. He explained that the team would not pursue acquiring a second charter after running the 2021 season with Ryan Preece in the unchartered No. 37 Chevrolet Camaro and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the chartered No. 47.
“We kind of got into this second race car just because we were very, very fortunate with our sponsorship model,” Daugherty said during the media session. “We were able to have an excess of sponsorship dollars that we had to put somewhere, and we were asked to put into a second race team.
“So we did it for several seasons, had a lot of fun with it, made some of our business partners a lot of money. Made it really hard on our focus. We want to be a really strong one-car race company and that’s what we’re going to go back to next season. We can’t wait. We think we’re going to really surprise people with our performance. We’ve got some great commitments from some partners in the business that we haven’t had since I’ve been racing for 25 years. Looking forward to it.”
JTG Daugherty Racing Started With 1 Car
GettyMarcos Ambrose practices at Texas Motor Speedway in 2009.
The Cup Series team started out as a single-car operation with Marcos Ambrose as the driver of the No. 47. He made six starts for the new operation and another five for Wood Brothers Racing before going full-time in 2009 and 2010.
JTG Daugherty continued to field one entry in the Cup Series while showcasing a variety of drivers. Bobby Labonte ran full-time seasons in 2011 and 2012, as well as an additional 28 races in 2013. AJ Allmendinger took over as the full-time man in 2014, registering the only win in team history, and remained in the position until the end of the 2018 season.
In 2017, JTG Daugherty announced that they would expand to a two-car system. The No. 37 began competing in races on the Cup Series circuit with Chris Buescher behind the wheel. He remained with the team through the end of the 2019 season before heading over to Roush Fenway Racing.
Both JTG Daugherty Drivers Are Pending Free Agents
With the NASCAR team moving down to one car for the 2022 season, there are even more questions about current drivers Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Preece. Both men will become free agents at the end of the season, but only one will potentially remain with the team.
Stenhouse joined JTG Daugherty Racing ahead of the 2020 season after Roush Fenway Racing cut ties with him. He took over the No. 47 Chevrolet Camaro and posted three top-five finishes in his first 36 races. He added another at the 2021 dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Stenhouse is currently 20th in points heading toward the Cook Out Southern 500.
Preece, on the other hand, joined JTG Daugherty Racing in 2019 for his first full-time season in the Cup Series and posted his first top-five finish. He initially drove the No. 47 while Buescher finished out his time in the No. 37. However, Preece switched numbers for 2020 and 2021, adding another top-five at Daytona International Speedway. The driver of the No. 37 currently sits 27th in points.
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JTG Daugherty Makes Major Change for 2022 Season