As first reported by Sportsnaut, Chandler Smith has completed a buyout of his contract with Kaulig Racing and will compete full-time in 2024 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Joe Gibbs Racing. The No. 81 will have veteran crew chief Jeff Meendering calling the shots for the program as crew chief.
The lineup is part of a four-car, eight-driver combination for the flagship Toyota Racing Development program that includes two full-time efforts and a litany of part-time drivers across the other two cars.
Sheldon Creed, the 2020 Truck Series champion, was officially confirmed as moving to Joe Gibbs Racing from Richard Childress Racing and will drive the No. 18 with Sam McAulay serving as crew chief. While new to the crew chief role, McAulay has served as lead race engineer for Denny Hamlin in the Cup Series with a resume that includes three Daytona 500 wins. McAulay was also atop the pit box in 2022 when Hamlin won the Coca-Cola 600.
Aric Almirola and John Hunter Nemechek will split driving duties of the team’s No. 20 entry with first year crew chief Tyler Allen. Nemechek will race the No. 20 after driving it full-time this past season while Almirola will contest the remaining races following a decade-plus tenure in the Cup Series.
Almirola raced with Gibbs in the Xfinity Series in 2006 and 2007 so this is a ironic homecoming of sorts.
“I am so grateful and humbled that Coach called and asked me to come back home to JGR and finish my career here,” Almirola said in a statement. “God works in ways we cannot always understand and God has quite the sense of humor.
“I left JGR because all I wanted was a path to Cup and I didn’t see it happening with their driver lineup at the time. I wanted so desperately to race full-time and progress as a racer and now all I want is to race part-time in order to spend more time with my family.”
The No. 19 car with first-time crew chief Seth Chavka will be split between drivers Ryan Truex, William Sawalich, Taylor Gray and Joe Graf Jr. Truex, the younger brother of Gibbs Cup driver Martin Truex, won at Dover on a weekend where both brothers won.
Gray and Sawalich will both make their Xfinity Series debut this coming season while Graf is a mainstay on the tour.
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.