NASCAR Cup Series: Is this the norm for 2020?

The same drivers who competed at Las Vegas Motor Speedway competed at Auto Club Speedway, and there were no part-time cars entered. Is this going to be the norm for the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season?

A total of 38 drivers competed in the Auto Club 400, the third race on the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule, at Auto Club Speedway this past Sunday afternoon. These same 38 drivers competed in the same cars in the previous Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

These 38 cars have all been confirmed for the full 36-race schedule this season. In total, 36 drivers have been confirmed for full-time schedules, although three have already missed at least one race.

A part-time entry has not competed in a race since the season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, and there were five of them. That resulted in two of the full-time drivers, Gaunt Brothers Racing’s Daniel Suarez and Rick Ware Racing’s J.J. Yeley, failing to qualify. There were 43 drivers on the entry list for this race, meaning three failed to qualify.

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Meanwhile, Roush Fenway Racing’s Ryan Newman was injured in a last-lap crash in that event and has not competed since. Ross Chastain has driven the #6 Ford in the two races that have been contested since that wreck, and there is no timetable on Newman’s return.

The only part-time entry that has been confirmed for any amount of time throughout the remainder of the season is the #62 Chevrolet for Beard Motorsports, which Brendan Gaughan is set to drive in the two races at Talladega Superspeedway and the remaining race at Daytona International Speedway.

With so few entries having been confirmed for partial schedules this season, could this 38-driver/car group become the norm, particularly due to the overall lack of flexibility with so many drivers having been confirmed for full-time schedules?

There could certainly be races that feature entry lists with more than 40 cars depending on what part-time entries get added throughout the rest of the season. It is highly unlikely that the #62 Chevrolet will remain the only confirmed part-time entry for the entire rest of the year.

The #27 Chevrolet for Premium Motorsports is the most likely candidate to compete in more races, as it was fielded in 27 of the 36 races on last year’s schedule. It ran this year’s Daytona 500 with Reed Sorenson behind the wheel.

But the only two races that have featured entry lists with more than 40 cars in the last two seasons are the two season-opening Daytona 500s, so the odds of landing additional entries on a regular basis are slim.

We could very well be looking at a similar lineup from top to bottom week in and week out.

Of course, our continued thoughts and prayers are with Newman in the hope that he makes a full recovery and is able to return to Cup Series competition behind the wheel of the #6 Ford in the near future. So that is one thing that may change: Newman in, Chastain out.

But other than that, what could change?

Not much.

Rick Ware Racing have, in the past, rotated drivers in and out on a regular basis, and they are one of the two teams with a chartered entry that does not have a full-time driver. In 2019 alone, they racked up a whopping 29 driver/car combinations involving 14 drivers and four cars.

But with three chartered entries, two full-time drivers (Yeley and Joey Gase) and a confirmed part-time driver in Garrett Smithley for an “expanded” schedule after he competed in nine races for the team last year, that doesn’t look like it will happen in nearly the same capacity that it has in the past.

They do have a part-time car, the #54 Ford, that may compete from time to time, so that could become one of the frequent additions to the field. The fact that they are guaranteed three entries in each race could increase their flexibility to field this car.

B.J. McLeod, who drove for Rick Ware Racing in the Daytona 500, is set to drive for the team in this Sunday’s race at Phoenix Raceway instead of Smithley in one of their three chartered entries, but other than that, everything else about the lineup remains the same, including the 38-car total.

The only other chartered entry without a full-time driver is the #77 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports. Chastain drove this car in the season opener and is set to do so at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May as well. Sorenson has driven it ever since and is set to do so this weekend as well.

Suffice it to say that the group of 38 drivers who have competed in the last two races will likely be seen quite frequently as the season progresses, and in the same cars from race to race.

The fourth race of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season, the FanShield 500, is scheduled to take place at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona this Sunday, March 8, and it is set to be broadcast live on Fox beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET.