Reynolds expecting new Grove Racing deal

The Bathurst 1000 winner is currently in the final year of his current agreement with the Ford squad and is yet to formally ink a new deal.

Teammate Lee Holdsworth is also nearing the end of the single-year deal he signed with the Groves for 2022.

That means the only driver a lock for Grove Racing at the moment is Matt Payne, with team owner Stephen Grove having already declared the Kiwi rookie will be promoted from Super2 to the main game next year.

Holdsworth, however, is likely to depart the team to make way for Payne, the veteran thought to be a done deal at Blanchard Racing Team next season.

That means its long been expected that Reynolds will re-sign to partner Payne for 2023.

That's certainly what Reynolds himself is expecting, telling media at Sandown last weekend that he's not anticipating any change.

"We're working through a few things," he said when asked about a new deal by Motorsport.com.

"I'm definitely not anticipating any change. I hate change. I like consistent behaviour amongst people. I'm not a big fan of change.

"The formula is working, we're getting results. Next year is a big step for the whole category, so consistency is important."

Reynolds has made little secret of his dislike of contract negotiations in the past.

Back in 2019 he signed a 10-year deal with Erebus Motorsport on the premise of not having to do another deal before retirement.

However the relationship broke down in a single year, Reynolds splitting with Erebus at the end of the 2020 campaign after falling out with CEO Barry Ryan.

That prompted a move to what was then known as Kelly Grove Racing for 2021, before the Grove family took full control of the squad for 2022.

The Braeside squad is already known to be bolstering its technical stocks ahead of the debut of the Gen3 cars, with title winning race engineer Grant McPherson set to leave Walkinshaw Andretti United and join Grove Racing at the end of the year.