NASCAR: The lone part-time driver who hasn’t missed a race in 2020

One part-time driver hasn’t missed a race so far in the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season. But that is slated to change tonight at Darlington Raceway.

The start of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season has featured multiple full-time drivers missing races, from failures to qualify to injuries to suspensions/firings for using a racial slur.

Gaunt Brothers Racing’s Daniel Suarez failed to qualify for the season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway while Roush Fenway Racing’s Ryan Newman was sidelined for three races after a nasty wreck at the end of this race left him with a brain bruise.

Meanwhile, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson lost his ride after uttering the N-word during a virtual race on iRacing which was being live streamed on multiple Twitch channels.

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Through four races, 35 drivers had competed in each event. Through five races, that total dropped to 33, as this past Sunday’s race at Darlington Raceway was the first race missed by Larson and the first race missed by Ross Chastain, Newman’s replacement for the three races he missed.

Chastain competed for Spire Motorsports behind the wheel of the #77 Chevrolet in the season opener. Newman return to action this past Sunday, leaving Chastain, who competes full-time for Kaulig Racing in the Xfinity Series, without a ride.

Of these 33 drivers, two aren’t even eligible to score Cup Series: Rick Ware Racing’s Joey Gase and MBM Motorsports’ Timmy Hill.

Of the 31 who are, however, only 30 are full-time drivers.

One part-time driver competed in each of the first five races on the schedule, and that driver is Reed Sorenson.

Sorenson, who hasn’t competed full-time since the 2014 season, has competed in at least 25 races in three of the last four seasons, so it was no surprise to see him competing as often as he was.

He drove the #27 Chevrolet for Premium Motorsports in the season opener before competing in the next four races behind the wheel of the #77 Chevrolet. Going back to last season, he has competed in seven consecutive races and 17 of the last 18.

However, his streak is slated to end at Darlington Raceway this evening, weather permitting. After tonight’s 228-lap Toyota 500 race at the four-turn, 1.366-mile (2.198-kilometer) egg-shaped oval in Darlington, South Carolina, there will be no more part-time drivers who have competed in every race this season.

After driving the #77 Chevrolet to a season-high 29th place finish at the track “Too Tough To Tame” this past Sunday, Sorenson is set to step aside and hand off the driving duties of the car to J.J. Yeley.

Yeley also competed in this past Sunday’s race, but he did so behind the wheel of the #27 Chevrolet for Rick Ware Racing. He finished in 28th place. Gray Gaulding is set to replace him behind the wheel for tonight’s race.

Tune in to Fox Sports 1 right now for the live broadcast of the Toyota 500 from “The Lady in Black”.