Following a couple of years without one, the NASCAR Cup Series drivers have started back up a drivers council for the 2022 season for which will be headed by former driver Jeff Burton. That decision was announced on Friday morning.

See, this is the second go around for this type of venture. The last started in 2015 and was spearheaded by Denny Hamlin but that fizzled out after the 2018 season.

The council then had 10 drivers on the panel but it was hard for decisions to be made with them in their best interest. So, it didn’t return in 2019 as the last three years they went without one.

But, according to the release, when it was announced last July that Atlanta would not only get repaved but go through a partial reconfiguration, the drivers were irate that they weren’t ever counseled on it. While they had previously put things in motion to start one back up, this was the final straw to really get it going.

So, Burton will be the lead man in charge to discuss things with NASCAR executives, tracks, owners and now the drivers. Then, six drivers will be below him on the DAC with Kurt Busch, Austin Dillon, Hamlin, Corey LaJoie, Joey Logano and Daniel Suarez. Kyle Petty was also named to the board as the eighth member including Burton.

As to how they came up with these six drivers?

They broke it down into three Tiers and grouped the drivers in them via average points finishing position over the last few seasons. They selected two drivers each for all three tiers which is how you get who you got.

The goal of this council is to just be a voice for the drivers in the garage and to help all parties work together.

Between the RTA (race team alliance), the now drivers council and NASCAR, each party has representation now.