NASCAR: Could we see more overflowing entry lists in 2020?

After three drivers went home from the Daytona 500, could we see more entry lists that feature more than 40 cars throughout the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season?

In the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season, the season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway was the only race on the entire schedule to feature an entry list containing more than 40 cars.

This race, for which 42 cars were entered, resulted in two drivers failing to qualify. But throughout the remainder of the 36-race season, all of the cars competed when they were entered.

Excluding the Daytona 500, that equates to 1,340 entries.

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This year’s Daytona 500 featured 43 drivers on the entry list, resulting in three drivers ultimately failing to qualify for the race.

Not since the November race at Texas Motor Speedway in 2018 has an entry list for a race other than the Daytona 500 featured more than 40 drivers.

There were 41 cars on the entry list for this race, and Timmy Hill failed to qualify. This race was one of four races throughout the 2018 season that resulted in a disqualification.

But will any other races throughout the 2020 season feature an overflowing entry list?

There are 36 chartered entries slated to compete in each of the season’s remaining 35 events, and there are two additional cars, the #66 MBM Motorsports car and the #96 Gaunt Brothers Racing Toyota, that have been confirmed with full-time drivers, Hill and Daniel Suarez, respectively, throughout the season.

Last year, 11 races didn’t even feature 38 drivers. This alone should not happen again in 2020 based on the fact that there are 38 full-time entries, assuming nothing changes on that front.

Even in the latter stages of the 2019 season, every race featured at least 38 drivers. The final 14 races included four with 38 drivers, four with 39 drivers and six with full fields of 40 drivers.

So whether or not any other races throughout the 2020 season feature an overflowing entry list is slated to come down to whether or not any more races feature at least three part-time entries.

There are already five cars with a limited schedule, but only one of them has been confirmed for anything more than the Daytona 500, and that is the #62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet. Brendan Gaughan is set to drive this car in the other three superspeedway races, including one at Daytona International Speedway and two at Talladega Superspeedway.

The others are the #16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet, the #27 Premium Motorsports Chevrolet, the #49 MBM Motorsports Toyota and the #54 Rick Ware Racing Ford. Justin Haley drove the #16 Chevrolet in the Daytona 500 while Reed Sorenson drove the #27 Chevrolet. Chad Finchum failed to qualify the #49 Toyota and J.J. Yeley failed to qualify the #54 Ford.

Based on the part-time entries from a year ago, it doesn’t look like there will be any more cars with limited scheduled throughout the 2020 season. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be at least a few more races with at least 41 cars on the entry list.

Kaulig Racing’s plans are unknown, but Premium Motorsports fielded the #27 Chevrolet in 27 races last year. MBM Motorsports fielded two cars in one race last year, but that was the first time they did so since they made their Cup Series debut in 2017.

Rick Ware Racing only fielded the #54 car in four races last year, but that was before they had three chartered entries. With three confirmed full-time entries this year, a schedule to run a fourth car could potentially become more flexible.

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Will this year’s Daytona 500 end up being the only race with an entry list containing more than 40 cars like it was in the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season? The entry list for tomorrow afternoon’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube, was released earlier this week, and it features 38 cars, the 38 full-time entries.

But with 38 slated to be the smallest field size this year, at least on paper as things stand right now, it appears as though we could very well see the first non-Daytona 500 disqualification since November of 2018 at some point this season.

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