NASCAR: Way-too-early look at the 2021 Daytona 500 entry list

With the 63rd annual Daytona 500 scheduled to take place two months from today, let’s take an early look at the entry list for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season opener.

We are more than one-third of the way into the offseason between the 2020 and 2021 NASCAR Cup Series seasons, with the former having concluded just over five weeks ago with Chase Elliott winning the championship at Phoenix Raceway and the latter scheduled to begin two months from today.

The 63rd annual Daytona 500 is scheduled to get the 36-race 2021 season underway from Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, February 14.

A total of 31 drivers, all full-time drivers, have been confirmed for the “Great American Racing”, while there are an additional six chartered entries without driver confirmations.

While there are multiple non-chartered cars set to run partial schedules, only one of them has the Daytona 500 confirmed on its schedule for 2021.

Here’s a way-too-early look at the entry list for this race.

NOTE: “Chartered” refers to each car’s status as a confirmed full-time entry. “Full-time” / “Part-time” status refers to the status of the driver (or likely driver) for the Daytona 500.

23XI Racing

#23 Toyota – Bubba Wallace (chartered, full-time)

Chip Ganassi Racing

#1 Chevrolet – Kurt Busch (chartered, full-time)
#42 Chevrolet – Ross Chastain (chartered, full-time)

Front Row Motorsports

#34 Ford – Michael McDowell (chartered, full-time)
#38 Ford – Driver TBD (chartered, full-time)

Hendrick Motorsports

#5 Chevrolet – Kyle Larson (chartered, full-time)
#9 Chevrolet – Chase Elliott (chartered, full-time)
#24 Chevrolet – William Byron (chartered, full-time)
#48 Chevrolet – Alex Bowman (chartered, full-time)

JTG Daugherty Racing

#37 Chevrolet – Ryan Preece (chartered, full-time)
#47 Chevrolet – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (chartered, full-time)

Joe Gibbs Racing

#11 Toyota – Denny Hamlin (chartered, full-time)
#18 Toyota – Kyle Busch (chartered, full-time)
#19 Toyota – Martin Truex Jr. (chartered, full-time)
#20 Toyota – Christopher Bell (chartered, full-time)

Kaulig Racing

#16 Chevrolet – Driver TBD (unchartered, part-time)

Live Fast Motorsports

#78 Ford – B.J. McLeod (chartered, full-time)

Petty Ware Racing

#51 TBD – Driver TBD (chartered)

Richard Childress Racing

#3 Chevrolet – Austin Dillon (chartered, full-time)
#8 Chevrolet – Tyler Reddick (chartered, full-time)

Richard Petty Motorsports

#43 Chevrolet – Erik Jones (chartered, full-time)

Rick Ware Racing

#15 TBD – Driver TBD (chartered)
#27 TBD – Driver TBD (chartered)
#53 TBD – Driver TBD (chartered)

Roush Fenway Racing

#6 Ford – Ryan Newman (chartered, full-time)
#17 Ford – Chris Buescher (chartered, full-time)

Spire Motorsports

#7 Chevrolet – Corey LaJoie (chartered, full-time)
#77 Chevrolet – Driver TBD (chartered)

StarCom Racing

#00 Chevrolet – Quin Houff (chartered, full-time)

Stewart-Haas Racing

#4 Ford – Kevin Harvick (chartered, full-time)
#10 Ford – Aric Almirola (chartered, full-time)
#14 Ford – Chase Briscoe (chartered, full-time)
#41 Ford – Cole Custer (chartered, full-time)

Team Penske

#2 Ford – Brad Keselowski (chartered, full-time)
#12 Ford – Ryan Blaney (chartered, full-time)
#22 Ford – Joey Logano (chartered, full-time)

Trackhouse Racing Team

#99 Chevrolet – Daniel Suarez (chartered, full-time)

Wood Brothers Racing

#21 Ford – Matt DiBenedetto (chartered, full-time)