In a shocking twist with just under two weeks until the season-opening NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway, a full-time driver from 2019 will be switching teams.
David Starr — who spent the 2019 season driving for Jimmy Means Racing and was expected to return for the 2020 season — will be leaving the No. 52 team, according to a source from within the Jimmy Means Racing team who agreed to speak to TobyChristie.com on the condition on anonymity.
According to the source, Starr is expected to move to JD Motorsports for the 2020 season, although it is unknown what car he will drive for that team.
JD Motorsports would not comment on the story other than to say that they expect to have their full 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series driver lineup secured and announced this week.
Speculation began to run rampant on Monday evening after Joseph Srigley posted on Twitter that a full-time driver from a mid-pack Xfinity Series team would be on the move:
Expecting a mid-field NASCAR XFINITY Series team to announce a driver change for the 2020 season, removing a driver that everybody thought was set in stone, in favor of a NASCAR National Series rookie.?#sillyseason #staytuned #NASCAR #NASCARXFINITY
— Joseph Srigley (@joe_srigley) February 4, 2020
JD Motorsports, who will field four cars in 2020, have only announced two drivers (Jesse Little and Colby Howard) to their stable for this season.
The Jimmy Means Racing team is still figuring out their driver situation for Daytona, but it is expected that Kody Vanderwal — who has two wins in 35 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West starts — will make his Series debut at Phoenix Raceway in the fourth race of the year.
“That’s the plan,” says the source.
An attempt to secure a comment from Jimmy Means Racing’s social media team came back with no comment.
However, Brad Means, JMR’s Technical Director, has told TobyChristie.com that the team will look to make an official statement, “Within the next day or so.”
Starr has run 66 races over the last two season for JMR. In that span, he has not cracked the top-10 in any race but he has racked up 17 DNFs (did not finish).
Starr finished 23rd in the overall NASCAR Xfinity Series point standings in 2018 and 22nd last season.
