The 2025-26 Silly Season has felt less like a calendar shuffle and more like a tectonic plate shift. Charters have been courted, numbers renumbered, and team identities sharpened as NASCAR doubles down on parity and personality. Trackhouse Racing’s global-minded Project 91 matured from a novelty to a pipeline, culminating in a multi-year extension for breakout star Shane van Gisbergen and locking the No. 88 as a headline act for 2026 conversations. Meanwhile, the grid keeps morphing: 23XI Racing expanded to three cars with Riley Herbst in the No. 35; Front Row Motorsports reset its lineup around Zane Smith and Todd Gilliland; Kaulig Racing renumbered while shuffling veterans into fresh seats. The board is still moving rapidly, and that pressure is most visible where history and expectation

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