NASCAR: 2021 full-time driver lineup officially set?
By Asher Fair
We now know that NY Racing Team won’t compete in the 2021 Daytona 500. So is this year’s full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver lineup set?
NY Racing Team haven’t competed in the NASCAR Cup Series since 2018, and they haven’t competed in the season-opening Daytona 500 since 2015. They had planned to change both things this year, but that won’t happen.
The team with 17 total starts at NASCAR’s top level will not attempt to compete in the 63rd edition of the “Great American Race” to open up the season.
As a result of their absence from this 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked oval in Daytona Beach, Florida, they won’t be running the full 36-race schedule.
So is the full-time lineup for the upcoming Cup Series season set?
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It does appear that way. There are 37 cars slated to run the full schedule, including just one non-chartered entry. Ryan Preece is slated to drive the #37 Chevrolet for JTG Daugherty Racing again this year, but that car won’t have a charter after the team sold their charter to Spire Motorsports.
There are 34 full-time drivers set to compete as well, including Preece as the only full-time driver of a non-chartered car. The three chartered cars without full-time drivers include the #77 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports and two of Rick Ware Racing’s four cars, the #15 car and the #53 car.
Here’s a look at the entire confirmed full-time lineup for the 2021 season.
Chartered entries with full-time drivers
23XI Racing
- #23 Toyota – Bubba Wallace
Chip Ganassi Racing
- #1 Chevrolet – Kurt Busch
- #42 Chevrolet – Ross Chastain
Front Row Motorsports
- #34 Ford – Michael McDowell
- #38 Ford – Anthony Alfredo
Hendrick Motorsports
- #5 Chevrolet – Kyle Larson
- #9 Chevrolet – Chase Elliott
- #24 Chevrolet – William Byron
- #48 Chevrolet – Alex Bowman
JTG Daugherty Racing
- #47 Chevrolet – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Joe Gibbs Racing
- #11 Toyota – Denny Hamlin
- #18 Toyota – Kyle Busch
- #19 Toyota – Martin Truex Jr.
- #20 Toyota – Christopher Bell
Live Fast Motorsports
- #78 Ford – B.J. McLeod
Petty Ware Racing
- #51 Chevrolet – Cody Ware
Richard Childress Racing
- #3 Chevrolet – Austin Dillon
- #8 Chevrolet – Tyler Reddick
Richard Petty Motorsports
- #43 Chevrolet – Erik Jones
Rick Ware Racing
- #52 TBD – Josh Bilicki
Roush Fenway Racing
- #6 Ford – Ryan Newman
- #17 Ford – Chris Buescher
Spire Motorsports
- #7 Chevrolet – Corey LaJoie
StarCom Racing
- #00 Chevrolet – Quin Houff
Stewart-Haas Racing
- #4 Ford – Kevin Harvick
- #10 Ford – Aric Almirola
- #14 Ford – Chase Briscoe
- #41 Ford – Cole Custer
Team Penske
- #2 Ford – Brad Keselowski
- #12 Ford – Ryan Blaney
- #22 Ford – Joey Logano
Trackhouse Racing Team
- #99 Chevrolet – Daniel Suarez
Wood Brothers Racing
- #21 Ford – Matt DiBenedetto
Chartered entries without full-time drivers
Rick Ware Racing
- #15 TBD
- #53 TBD
Spire Motorsports
- #77 Chevrolet
Non-chartered entry with full-time driver
JTG Daugherty Racing
- #37 Chevrolet – Ryan Preece
Next. Early 2021 NASCAR power rankings. dark
The 63rd annual Daytona 500 is scheduled to get the 2021 season underway on Sunday, February 14, with Fox set to provide live coverage from Daytona International Speedway beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to get geared up with Fanatics ahead of the big race, and be sure to get your seven-day free trial of fuboTV to watch it live.