By the looks of things, there might be a new player in NASCAR come 2025. If pictures of the JTG Daugherty race shop on social media suggest anything, the Harrisburg, NC-based Cup Series organization has undergone its latest rebrand.

They now go by the name Hyak Motorsports, with only one registered team owner named in the new team’s company filings. That would mean long-time owners Tad and his wife Jodi Geschickter are no longer a part of the ‘JTG’ banner. For years, those two were the driving force behind the team’s connection to their $43B powerhouse sponsor, Kroger, through their marketing firm, Brand Activation Maximizer (BAM). But with the retail giants aligning with “a bigger team” in 2025, Hyak Motorsports’ future direction remains shrouded in mystery.

JTG Daugherty racing under a new banner in 2025

FOX correspondent for NASCAR, Bob Pockrass explained it better on X (formerly known as Twitter), “Tad/Jodi Geschickter, founding operational owners of JTG Daugherty, own marketing firm that handles Kroger sponsorship. Kroger is now at RFK & they still work w/Kroger. All year, JTG investor Gordon Smith has operated JTG & the sign indicates rebranding JTG to his company, Hyak.”

There are a lot of things to gather from that statement. For starters, various pictures have floated online from near the confines of the JTG Daugherty race shop, which shows the new ‘Hyak Motorsports’ logo resembling their solitary owner Gordon Smith’s company Hyak Maritime’s emblem. According to all the recent bearings, the Washington-based ship-building company owned by Smith will lend more than just its name to the newly rebranded organization.

Although nothing is official for now, on the other side of the story, JTG Daugherty Racing lost their primary sponsors for Ricky Stenhouse Jr‘s #47 car to Brad Keselowski‘s RFK Racing. RFK will be expanding to a three-car operation in 2025. They signed Ryan Preece for their new #60 Ford, who used to wheel JTG Daugherty cars in the Cup Series before he joined Stewart-Haas Racing. At RFK, Preece will find a familiar face in #17 driver Chris Buescher, a former JTG driver for three full-time seasons. Kroger’s affinity with both Buescher and Preece must have been an important consideration factor for Kroger.

Their partnership will be evident in the paint schemes of all three RFK Fords next season. And owner-driver Brad Keselowski believes Kroger’s “proper NASCAR program with really elite marketing” will help them benefit in “different ways.” But as for JTG Daugherty, the road ahead is anything but clear. Replying to a fan on Twitter, Bob Pockrass narrated a positive story. “When I was at the 47 shop in May, they were doing work on it and didn’t seem to be a team that was worried about making it. They seem confident about their future,” noted Pockrass.

Maybe so, but it’s like we’ve seen countless teams walk down this path. Sponsorships aren’t easy to come by in NASCAR. And with brands exiting on what feels like a monthly basis, nothing is ever certain when the conversation is about long-term sustainability as a team owner in the sport of stock car racing. But the specific conditions for JTG Daugherty Racing certainly spur additional concerns since fellow team owner Brad Daugherty’s status also remains unknown. Rumors online suggest the 5x NBA All-Star Center is no longer a part of the official ownership consortiums. But just like the very existence of Hyak Motorsports, nothing is official as of now.

These under-the-wrap conditions do not sit right with the collective NASCAR community. And they’re making their feelings heard loud and clear across social media forums.

Déjà vu or destiny? Fans recall the fall of MB2 Motorsports

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21k-Instagram followers strong NASCAR rumor page, @nascarrumornostalgia, posted one of the many images circulating online of the new banner at JTG’s old race shop at Harrisburg. The new branding reads Hyak Motorsports, alongside the #47 font for Ricky Stenhouse Jr’s car, emblazoned in red. Some fans questioned if this meant that JTG Daugherty had a “New owner/ investors.” But others stated the factual reality for JTG, writing, “Less owners/investors”

A few members of the NASCAR community asked: “Does this mean Spinhouse is finally gone?” Looks like that distasteful moniker will never turn old for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. However, for those unversed, the #47 driver, who won two Cup races for JTG Daugherty Racing, put pen to paper on a multi-year contract extension with the team earlier in May. But what’s even more eye-catching is the fact that even then, certain press releases listed Gordon Smith as the sole owner of the recently rebranded race team.

Others compared the new logo to that of an “Arca team” with “downgrade graphics.” To counter that opinion, a section of the grandstands rationalized that the big bucks from “Kroger already took off to go to RFK, so” there’s probably not much to expect to begin with. But amidst all the colorful thoughts, one comment stood out above the rest. As this fan wrote, “[The situation] reminds (me) of when MB2 Motorsports rebranded to Ginn Racing. It’s basically a shell of its former self.”

The similarities are real. MB2 Motorsports, based out of Mooresville, NC ran for ten straight seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series. They fielded cars for names like Sterling Marlin, Ken Schrader, Mark Martin, Joe Nemechek, and others, winning two races. That was until 2006 when the team faced a lack of sponsorship and tricky circumstances which forced a majority takeover from Florida-based developer David Ginn, who rebranded the team to Ginn Racing. At one point, there were talks of MB2 expanding to a four-car operation. But after a season under the new ownership, things did not improve. This led to a merger with Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) the following year. Eventually, DEI would merge its own operations with Chip Ganassi Racing, but even they would run into financial difficulties. Through it all, MB2 Motorsports faded into oblivion, becoming only a footnote in the NASCAR record books.

Hopefully, that will not be the case for JT Daugherty Racing, although the future has opened a Pandora’s box of conversations in the wake of all the recent bearings.