NASCAR Cup Series won't skip a beat in 2018 season

Many popular NASCAR Cup Series drivers have left the series in recent years. But don’t expect the series to skip a beat in the 2018 season.

As we leave 2017 in the rearview mirror and move into January 2018 just under one month from the start of the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season with the Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 18th, it is hard not to look back on seasons past and the things that have changed in the sport.

Drivers such as Jeff Gordon, Greg Biffle, Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards no longer drive in the NASCAR Cup Series. And after the 2017 season, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Danica Patrick officially retired from their full-time driver roles in the sport, with Matt Kenseth likely joining them.

With so many popular Cup Series drivers leaving the series and the smallest amount of household names set to drive for top-tier teams in the 2018 season in a while, many people have feared for the future of the sport with such huge driver fanbases no longer having their favorite driver to support.

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However, the Cup Series won’t skip a beat in the 2018 season for a number of reasons.

First of all, the champions of the sport in 11 of the past 12 seasons will all still be driving in the 2018 season. Given how close the competition in the sport has been in recent years, there should be no shortage in close racing in 2018, including close racing for the 2018 championship.

Secondly, there are plenty of other drivers who haven’t won championships but have been extremely competitive. They may not be drivers with household names, but many of them are young, up-and-coming drivers who have not had the chance to shine their brightest yet. Eventually, they should become stars.

Finally, drivers retire. It’s a fact and it’s not avoidable. Athletes in all sports retire. Plenty of past drivers have also retired, yet the sport has survived this long. There is no reason for that not to be the case now even though so many popular drivers have left in the last couple of seasons. There will be more popular drivers in the sport even if we can’t tell exactly who the next most popular driver will be yet.

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When you really get into it, there are plenty of other reasons why the NASCAR Cup Series will be fine in the 2018 season and moving forward. All in all, there is no reason for it to skip a beat. The 2018 season should be a good indication of how the future of the sport will shape out in many ways.

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NASCAR Cup Series won’t skip a beat in 2018 season

By Asher Fair | Dec 31, 2017

Many popular NASCAR Cup Series drivers have left the series in recent years. But don’t expect the series to skip a beat in the 2018 season.