A big piece of silly season news dropped on Thursday with Rick Ware Racing announcing that they’ve signed current Kaulig Racing driver Justin Haley to a multi-year agreement which is set to begin for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Haley, a 24-year-old native of Winamac, IN, will drive a Ford Mustang for the team on a full-time basis in the NASCAR Cup Series. Car number and partnerships will be announced at a later date.

He comes to RWR having won at every level of NASCAR in which he has competed. This includes one victory in the NASCAR Cup Series, four in the Xfinity Series, three Craftsman Trucks Series wins and five in the ARCA Menards Series.

“This is a great day for our team on many levels,” said Rick Ware. “Having someone with Justin’s talent and background become part of our future is a testament to our commitment to growth over the past few years. I have known Justin for a long time, respect all he has achieved in many forms of motorsports and look forward to great success together. His versatility as a driver in multiple series, the continuity we can build around Justin and the respect amongst his peers will pay great dividends for our team. He will be a great teammate for the RWR/RFK Racing alliance.”

This partnership pairs Haley with RWR’s NHRA driver Clay Millican in continuing to help support the Walmart Health and Wellness initiatives, along with many other RWR brands across the organization’s motorsports platforms.

Fresh off Millican’s second NHRA Top Fuel win this year, at the Mile-High Nationals this past weekend, RWR has made tremendous progress and positioned themselves as a unique and contending organization across the motorsports landscape. Additionally, the alliance between RWR and Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing presents an elevating step for Haley and the team’s NASCAR program, both on and off the track.

“This is a unique opportunity that I look forward to,” said Haley. “There are many key pieces of this program I believe can help me in taking the next steps in my NASCAR career. I look forward to working with our key partners, and many additional RWR partners to be announced soon. The alliance with RFK Racing is going to be pivotal for the future of our on-track success.”

This is a massive signing for RWR which typically has had multiple drivers run their two chartered cars. Now, they’ll know that they have at the very least one full time driver in 1 of the 2 entries.

As a result, that leaves an open ride with Kaulig. Is there a potential that both could be open or does this move force Allmendinger to stay?

Not that Allmendinger was looking to get out, but he was on a one-year contract in Cup with the No. 16 Chevrolet and he’s maintained that he’ll go where his bosses want him to. I don’t see him leaving the organization all together, it’s just if he doesn’t want to run full-time in Cup anymore he could always drop back down to the Xfinity Series program.

The only reason Allmendinger moved back up to a full season ride was that he was having fun again and wanted to see what he could do with Kaulig in Cup. With having an up-and-down year so far, one could wonder how much fun he’s having.

That’s the whole reason he left to begin in. He was a Cup driver already but without the results with JTG Daugherty Racing, he was miserable. So he walked away. Kaulig lured him back. It started off as part-time in Xfinity, then full-time, then some select Cup starts here and there and then a full-time Cup effort.

But, with losing Haley, it may mean that Kaulig would prefer him to stay in Cup.

The question now is, who replaces Haley?

Chandler Smith or Daniel Hemric would make the most sense, but is Smith truly ready after just two full seasons in Trucks and one season in Xfinity? His best path may be to eventually replace Allmendinger where Hemric who has plenty of Cup experience to move up to replace Haley.

Or maybe they look from the outside. They have an open Cup seat which is plenty to dangle.

Do they make a run at Corey LaJoie who’s nearing an extension with Spire? What about Ty Dillon?

Can they lure Zane Smith away from the Ford camp? Smith is tied with Ford and Front Row Motorsports which could force the hand of Stewart-Haas Racing and Ford here.

They could try and buy him out and get him to Cup quicker. They also have an Xfinity team he can also get some starts in too.

We know Aric Almirola is operating on a one-year deal and there’s no word yet on what he’s doing for 2024. Rumors are Michael McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. could be in play there if he doesn’t come back.

If he does, McDowell would almost certainly stay with FRM, but maybe Kaulig makes a run for another veteran here too.

FRM would love to move Smith up but does it come at the expense of losing McDowell or Todd Gilliland? All three drivers (McDowell, Gilliland and Smith) could be in play for the Kaulig seat but you know Ford doesn’t want to risk losing Smith either so this could force their hand to figure something out quickly.

SHR has 2 open rides (10 car, 41 car) and need to figure out soon what they’re doing. That would leave the next domino down to FRM and their 2 cars (34, 38).

The Wood Brothers also has the 21 seat open but there’s been no indication that they’re looking to get away from Harrison Burton either.

Then you have Toyota who’s waiting on Martin Truex Jr. If he returns, then great. If he doesn’t, then John Hunter Nemechek is an easy replacement. Does Kaulig make a run at JHN too?

Austin Hill makes a ton of sense here too which in my opinion could be the favorite and lead candidate for the 31 ride.

That’s why thought that this has sped up the silly season process because a decent Cup seat is open.