The Fallon Corner - August 2027
Coming off last year’s wild silly season period that featured the retirement of a first ballot Hall of Famer, a bidding war for one of the ASCA’s top young prospects, and a veteran’s homecoming to a top team - this year’s has a chance to be hysterical by comparison.
Generally we see top talents stick with their teams for the long haul, but contract disputes + inter team turmoil at numerous organizations could see that mold broken in a way the industry has never seen before.
Exactly 1/3rd of the grid sees their current contracts expire at the end of the year, and with a Cup Series champion, two time Windows 300 winner + two rising young stars included in that group it has an opportunity to turn the open market on its head over the next four months.
So who stays and who goes where?
The 2027 silly season period could very well re-shape how the ASCA landscape looks for the next decade - so we’ll break down who’s most likely to do what amongst the eight drivers on expiring deals.
Honorable Mentions
#4 Doug Bowden - Tico Bowden Motorsports
While Bowden has a contract in writing with his father’s team through the 2033 season, the elephant in the room is that Tico Bowden Motorsports is bankrupt and likely won’t survive past this year: which would automatically void his long term deal on the spot.
If by some miracle TBM is able to restructure their finances and compete in 2028 and beyond, Bowden stays put.
However, the likely scenario is the former Craftsman champion becomes collateral in the organization’s bankruptcy and will be looking for work along with his teammates during this silly season.
Considering Bowden’s two victories in the last three years on arguably the most dysfunctional team on the grid though, it’s safe to say he should have no trouble finding a new home.
Likely To Stay
#19 Brynn Rennerd - Michael White Racing
It was a disappointing conclusion to the 2026 season for Brynn Rennerd, free falling all the way down to 8th in points after leading the standings once upon a time heading into Denver; but a major step up from his first campaign behind the wheel of the No. 19.
Yet another Windows 300 victory, a career high in wins, and a serious championship challenge most of the year is what Michael White Racing paid the veteran $39M big ones for - a massive step up from his monumentally disappointing debut campaign with the squad.
While Rennerd is now getting up there at age having just turned 35, barring a terrible start to the new year it’s hard to justify the team seeing any sort of upgrade to his services moving forward.
MWR likely will not have the funds needed to allocate towards bringing in any major splash hires having just signed Lucas Sambér and currently in serious talks about extending the reigning Cup champion’s contract, meaning unless Will Moon or Kyler Herro light the Craftsman Series up there will be no better options than this.
Expect at least a short term extension to be announced here within the next couple weeks.
#42 Aiden Romo - Dexter Andrews Motorsports
While Aiden Romo’s rookie campaign wasn’t anything spectacular, stepping in and besting your more experienced teammate from day 1 certainly isn’t something that should be overlooked.
Romo never showed flashes of exceptional speed outside of his career best 6th place effort at Michigan, but despite scoring just a single top 10 the Texas native had numerous other 11th and 12th place results throughout the year that proves the consistency is there.
Having not even completed his second season yet, there’s no reason the team shouldn’t at least offer an additional one year ‘prove it’ extension - they still have no idea what the 23 year old’s true potential is yet.
Especially with the uncertainty surrounding the other squad at the organization, burring a catastrophic sophomore slump there’s no reason Romo shouldn’t be back behind the No. 42 in 2028.
On The Fence
#1 Marcus Edwards - Dexter Andrews Motorsports
Three races into the 2026 campaign, all signs seemed to be pointing towards Dexter Andrews Motorsports having found their long term replacement for Laquon Scransen as the team’s franchise driver.
Marcus Edwards was 5th in points off the heels of his third straight top 10 at West Virginia, and it seemed as if life was good.
Then the rest of the season happened.
Fast forward a year, and the talks about Edwards receiving a long term extension have completely evaporated. In fact, it’s a major question mark if he’ll even remain with the team past 2027 or not.
On one hand, the two time Craftsman winner has proven on his day he’s the much faster pilot between himself and Aiden Romo. If the team were to win a race not at Ajax Superspeedway on pure pace, it’d likely be at the hands of Edwards.
However, the Portland native has an extremely bad habit of overdriving his equipment to the tune of seven DNF’s in the final 14 races of last year - quite frankly an unacceptable amount.
If Edwards wants to save his job, the 24 year old will need a blistering start to this season as a reminder to DAM about the raw pace he possesses; and not the repair bills he racks up.
Otherwise, he may need to look elsewhere for work in 2028.
#17 Cameron Atwood - CJ Barrymore Racing
While the 2023 champion has backed down from his reported comments that he’d sit out this upcoming season if Caden Dunham was hired as his teammate, it’s clear that Cameron Atwood and CJ Barrymore Racing are at a crossroads.
At the age of 31, Atwood believes he’s still well within his prime and continues to boast a burning desire to chase a second championship.
As proven in the past, this is a driver that will take less money if it means a better chance at hardware. Tico Bowden Motorsports offered Atwood $11M/year to stay with them back in 2021, but he declined in favor of a $5M/year offer to pilot the No. 17 for CBR - and the rest is history.
Fast forward a few years, and with longtime teammates Ryan Dixon and Chris Barrymore out the door in favor of young blood it signals a shift in the organization’s thinking: CBR aren’t looking to compete now, they’re preparing for 2030.
On the other end, Atwood knows his title window is closing by the year now on the wrong side of 30. If he wants to strike gold again, he must do so while the iron is hot.
Sure, the hiring of rising crew chief Adam Steinbach from the likes of Michael White Racing is a big step in the right direction, but is it enough to make a team that barely finished top 10 in points last year title contenders in 2027?
It’s likely Atwood at least tests the open market and sees if better options are out there compared to what he has now.
All But Gone
#12 Carson Schmidt - Orkedi Bros Racing
The writing has been on the wall for some time now, but when the reports came out that Orkedi Bros Racing unsuccessfully attempted to buy out Carson Schmidt’s contract early last week at the behest of Ford it shows exactly where things are at between driver and team.
Schmidt wants out, the team doesn’t want him there, Diego Orkedi most certainly wants him gone - but the manufacturer insists this relationship must persist through the end of the signed contract.
Even despite all the turmoil and a winless season, last year the No. 12 camp was the highest placed of the blue ovals in 7th posting the third most top 10’s of any driver; which is precisely why Ford want the young budding star to stick around.
It will likely be a bitter divorce between Schmidt and Orkedi Bros Racing throughout the 2027 campaign, but make no mistake about it: the 24 year old will be one of the biggest names on the open market if a last ditch extension isn’t reached.
#48 Colin Ward - Ronnie Woods Motorsports
Unlike a couple other names soon to come on this list, the relationship between driver and team doesn’t seem to be completely fractured with Colin Ward.
It seems that Ward likes driving for Ronnie Woods Motorsports well enough, he just wants to be handsomely compensated for his services just like the rest of his teammates.
Currently on the final year of his $15M rookie contract, the 25 year old has expressed interest in topping the recent extension Greg Healey just got a season ago; demanding a salary of around ~$17-$18M to remain behind the wheel of the No. 48.
The problem for Ronnie Woods Motorsports though? They’re already stretched thin enough financially as is.
After inking their flagship driver Todd Kidd to a $90M extension, the team shelled out an additional $56M to bring in Chris Barrymore for the 2026 season; and just last month inked Shane Park to a $70M long term contract.
Understandably, coming off a multi-win campaign and his first top 5 points finish Ward wants a piece of the pie as well - but it appears all the slices might be already gone.
To let a talent just now entering the prime of his career like the South Bend native would be a grave miscalculation on the part of team owner Ronnie Woods, although if he can’t cough up the funds it appears that will become a reality.
Already Out The Door
#10 Toby Beckett - Tico Bowden Motorsports
#14 Danny Bradford - Tico Bowden Motorsports
Due to the likelihood of their current employer going belly up sooner rather than later, it’s likely the first dominos to fall will be getting Toby Beckett and Danny Bradford’s contracts off the books once they expire at season’s end.
Barring a miracle start to the campaign from either of these second year drivers or Tico Bowden Motorsports equipment becoming the best on the grid overnight, these two will be looking for work in some capacity for the 2028 season.
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