Driver changes from season to season are inevitable in the NASCAR Cup Series. Some drivers leave the sport, either via retirement or simply not having their contracts renewed. Others switch teams, while others move across the three national series (Cup, Xfinity, Truck).
Let's take a look back at one driver from each of several NASCAR teams whom you may have forgotten when it comes to those particular teams.
NOTE: Not every single team is included in this article.
Joe Gibbs Racing: J.J. Yeley
Before the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was driven by 63-time race winner and two-time champion Kyle Busch, it was the No. 18 Chevrolet and it was driven by J.J. Yeley.
Busch's predecessor behind the wheel of the No. 18 car has now competed in the Cup Series on some level in 21 of the last 22 years, but he has only run the entire 36-race schedule twice. In fact, his two seasons with Joe Gibbs' team remain the only two complete seasons of his lengthy career at stock car racing's highest level.
But his performances were lackluster, and that led to a forgettable stint with the team. While teammates Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart finished in third and 11th place, respectively, in 2006 and 12th and sixth, respectively, in 2007, Yeley finished in 29th and 21st.
He secured just two top five finishes and an additional two top 10 finishes in 72 starts with the team. He led just 34 of the 19,902 laps he completed and posted an average finish of 23.8.
Busch took over after leaving Hendrick Motorsports following the 2007 season, and he drove the car through 2022 before leaving for Richard Childress Racing. Joe Gibbs Racing renumbered the No. 18 car to the No. 54 car when Ty Gibbs took over.
Stewart-Haas Racing: The Dillon brothers
This one isn't just one driver; it's two. Both Dillon brothers, Austin and Ty, competed for Stewart-Haas Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series before landing full-time rides.
Both drivers replaced Tony Stewart behind the wheel of the No. 14 Chevrolet at various points throughout the closing stages of his career.
Austin competed in the race at Michigan International Speedway in August 2013 and finished in 14th place, the second-best finish of his career through 12 races at the time. He also competed at Talladega Superspeedway later that year in October, but a crash resulted in him being scored down in 26th.
The following year, he landed his full-time ride with his grandfather's team, Richard Childress Racing, and he has missed just one race since then due to a positive test for COVID-19.
As for Ty, he filled in for Stewart on four occasions during Stewart's final season in the Cup Series in 2016. He finished in 17th place at Atlanta Motor Speedway, 15th at Phoenix Raceway and 25th at Bristol Motor Speedway.
After qualifying for Stewart at Talladega Superspeedway, Dillon was not needed to begin the race, but he ended up relieving Stewart in the race and finishing in sixth place. However, that finish was credited to Stewart. Sound familiar?
The following year, Ty landed his full-time ride with Germain Racing, and NASCAR's ultimate journeyman has competed for a whopping seven other teams since.
Hendrick Motorsports: Joe Nemechek
When it comes to legendary drivers who have competed for Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Nemechek doesn't garner much attention compared to most of the others, but suffice it to say that he is legendary in his own right.
Nemechek competed in at least one of the three NASCAR national series on some level for 32 straight years from 1989 to 2020, broke Richard Petty's all-time record for starts across those three series by competing in the 2019 Truck Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, marking his 1,186th career start.
With 1,197 starts (674 Cup Series starts, 453 Xfinity Series starts and 70 Truck Series starts) to his name after the 2020 season, he held the record until Kevin Harvick broke it in early 2021.
As for his brief stint with Rick Hendrick's team, Nemechek never drove a full season for the team, but he drove in 57 races over two years. He competed in the final 25 races of the 2002 season as the replacement for Jerry Nadeau and the first 32 races of the 2003 season before he was replaced by Brian Vickers.
He did win one race at Richmond Raceway in 2003, but that was one of only two top five finishes he recorded for the team that year. He finished in 25th place in the championship standings.
His move to MB2 Motorsports paid off, as he spent the following three and a half years with the team and won a race at Kansas Speedway in 2004. He finished in 16th place in the championship standings in 2005, the second best result of his career.
Team Penske: Juan Pablo Montoya
After six years competing in Formula 1, four for Williams and two for McLaren, and seven seasons competing for Chip Ganassi Racing/Earnhardt Ganassi Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series, 1999 CART champion and 2000 Indianapolis 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya returned to American open-wheel racing in 2014.
He did so behind the wheel of the No. 2 Chevrolet for Team Penske's IndyCar team. He won at Pocono Raceway en route to a fourth place finish in the championship standings.
Montoya had never driven for any of Roger Penske's teams prior to 2014, but in addition to his full-time IndyCar ride, he also competed in two more Cup Series races, which would end up being the final two Cup Series races of his career.
Team Penske ran the No. 12 Ford for Montoya in the race at Michigan International Speedway in June 2014 and in the Brickyard 400 at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July of that year, two months removed from his fifth place effort in his first Indy 500 start at the track since his dominant 2000 win.
He finished in 18th place at Michigan International Speedway and 23rd at the track where he would end up winning the Indy 500 for the second time in May 2015. Prior to these two races, all 253 of his Cup Series starts had come with Chip Ganassi's team.
Chip Ganassi Racing: Dario Franchitti
Getting back to the IndyCar theme, Dario Franchitti's career with Chip Ganassi Racing featured much success, including 13 wins, two Indy 500 wins and three championships.
But let's not forget that before he was a Chip Ganassi Racing star, he was the ultimate Chip Ganassi Racing bust in a brief ill-fated stint which those who do remember would still like to forget.
Fresh off his 2007 Indy 500 triumph and 2007 IndyCar championship with Andretti Green Racing, Franchitti left IndyCar and made his NASCAR debut with Chip Ganassi Racing, and his overall debut with the team, in the Nationwide (now Xfinity) Series at Memphis International Raceway in October of 2007.
He finished in 32nd place, which would unfortunately end up being better than his average Cup Series finish the following year.
In 2008, he made his Cup Series debut, and he made his Cup Series departure shortly thereafter. In 10 starts behind the wheel of the No. 40 Dodge, he recorded a top finish of 22nd place at Martinsville Speedway and an average finish of 34.3. He also failed to qualify for two races and had to miss a race at Talladega Superspeedway after suffering injuries in a Nationwide Series crash at the track the day prior.
He did manage a fifth place finish at Watkins Glen International in August 2008 and a sixth place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March of 2008 in his 18 Xfinity Series starts with the team.
He returned to IndyCar the following year and went from zero to hero with Chip Ganassi's team. He reeled off three consecutive championships, something not repeated until Alex Palou's current run (2023 to 2025), and he also won the 2010 and 2012 Indy 500s before retiring after suffering injuries in a crash on the streets of Houston, Texas in October of 2013.
Roush Fenway Racing: Dave Blaney
Dave Blaney may not have ever found victory lane in the NASCAR Cup Series, but he retired after the 2014 season as one of the sport's most experienced drivers with 473 starts over the course of 17 seasons. And I don't think there are many people who would argue against the assertion that he is the greatest driver to never win a race.
One of those 473 starts came with Roush Racing (later Roush Fenway Racing, now RFK Racing).
Following the race at Watkins Glen International in August 2004, the 22nd race of the 36-race season, Jeff Burton, who had competed full-time for Roush Racing since 1996, moved on from the team and joined Richard Childress Racing, where he would ultimately conclude his career as a full-time driver in 2013.
That paved the way for Carl Edwards to make his Cup Series debut, which he did the following race at Michigan International Speedway. But later that year, he did not compete at Charlotte Motor Speedway after qualifying the car in 10th place.
Blaney, who was without a full-time ride in 2004 for the first time since before he became a full-time driver in 2000, ended up replacing him in what was the only start of his career for Jack Roush's team.
He was forced to start the race from the rear of the field due to the driver change, and he was scored in 37th place after a wreck knocked him out of competition.
Richard Childress Racing: Neil Bonnett
After winning 18 races in 360 starts in the 18 seasons from 1973 through 1990 and finishing as high as fourth place in the championship standings in 1985, Neil Bonnett did not compete in the Cup Series for more than three years.
But when he finally returned, he returned with Richard Childress Racing for two races behind the wheel of the No. 31 Chevrolet in the 1993 season.
He competed at Talladega Superspeedway but was knocked out late as a result of a scary crash in which he flipped, and an engine issue cost him a chance to compete beyond lap four at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Bonnett was set to return to the Cup Series in a part-time capacity for Phoenix Racing behind the wheel of the No. 51 Chevrolet in 1994 and 1995 on a six-race deal for both seasons. However, his two starts with Richard Childress Racing ended up being his last.
In practice for the 1994 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, which would have marked his first start in the "Great American Race" since 1990 and his 16th all-time, he was killed in a crash.
Bonnett became the 26th person and 25th driver to pass away at Daytona International Speedway since it opened in 1959. Rodney Orr died in a crash three days later, and Dale Earnhardt remains the most recent driver fatality at the track from back in 2001. Let's all hope and pray that that statement never needs to be revised.
Richard Petty Motorsports: Paul Menard
Paul Menard's 13-year career as a full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver wasn't the flashiest of careers to begin with, but if there was one season in particular that is easy to forget throughout his career, it was his 2010 season at Richard Petty Motorsports.
This was Menard's lone season competing for Richard Petty Motorsports, and he was not behind the wheel of the iconic No. 43 car, making it especially easy to forget that this season did, in fact, happen.
Menard piloted the No. 98 Ford in the 2010 season, just as he did in 2009. This ride was one that started out as a Yates Racing entry in 2009 but became a Richard Petty Motorsports entry after their merger.
At the time, his 23rd place finish in the championship standings was his career-high finish, and his six top 10 finishes topped his previous career-high of only one from 2006 and 2008 when he competed for Dale Earnhardt, Inc.
But the 2010 season was the only season in which Richard Petty Motorsports ran the No. 98 Ford, and Menard left the team after it ended. He signed with Richard Childress Racing and competed for them for seven years prior to his two-year stint at Wood Brothers Racing to cap off a career highlighted by his 2011 Brickyard 400 triumph.
Wood Brothers Racing: Junior Johnson
When you think of the legendary drivers of the iconic No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing car, Junior Johnson isn't necessarily one who comes to mind.
Likewise, when you think of the legendary Junior Johnson and the many teams he competed for over the course of his 14-year career, Wood Brothers Racing, the oldest team competing in the sport to this day, doesn't necessarily come to mind either.
Johnson competed in 313 races over the course of his career despite never competing full-time. In fact, on only seven occasions did he compete in more than half of the races on a season's schedule, and as a result, his 50 wins are the second-most all-time for a driver who never won a championship, trailing only active driver Denny Hamlin (currently 59).
Four of those 313 starts came behind the wheel of the iconic No. 21 Ford for the Wood Brothers. He competed for the team in two races in 1959 and another two races in 1960.
In 1959, he finished in 25th place at Southern States Fairgrounds after an engine issue forced him to retire, and he finished in fourth at Hickory Speedway. In 1960, he finished in fourth at Southern States Fairgrounds and went on to compete Asheville-Weaverville Speedway. But after starting from the pole position, a tie rod issue forced him to retire, and he was scored in 15th.
That race would ultimately conclude his brief stint with the team.
Kyle Busch Motorsports: Kimi Raikkonen
At no point was Kyle Busch Motorsports ever a NASCAR Cup Series team before being sold to Spire Motorsports after 2023, but we would be remiss not to look back at Kimi Raikkonen's two-race stint with the team following his first stint in Formula 1, which included 18 victories, a world championship with Ferrari in 2007, and a key role in what is still their most recent constructor title the following year.
The Iceman competed for the team in one Truck Series race and one Xfinity Series race in 2011, both at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In fact, his start in the Xfinity Series race was the team's first ever start at NASCAR's second highest level.
That's right; KBM's first Xfinity Series start came with an F1 world champion behind the wheel.
After starting in 31st place in his NASCAR debut in the Truck Series race, Raikkonen drove his No. 15 Toyota to a 15th place finish. He finished in 27th in what would be his second and final NASCAR start after starting in 22nd.
Raikkonen, who also competed in the World Rally Championship following his initial Formula 1 departure, ended up returning to Formula 1 in 2012 with Lotus, where he competed for two seasons before returning to Ferrari for a five-year stint.
He re-joined Alfa Romeo Racing, which had been known as Sauber when he competed for the team in 2001, in 2019 and remained there through 2021.
23XI Racing: Ty Dillon
23XI Racing is a race team that was literally born out of a false rumor and Michael Jordan's subsequent desire to turn fake news into real news with Denny Hamlin. Jordan had long made clear that he was content watching NASCAR from afar and did not need to become a team owner, but that changed in late 2020.
Bubba Wallace was the team's original driver for the 2021 season, and he has been there ever since. The thing is, he wasn't actually their original driver.
When you think of 23XI Racing, you might also think of Kurt Busch and Tyler Reddick. Maybe even Ty Gibbs, who replaced the injured Busch in 2022, or maybe even Daniel Hemric, who replaced Gibbs in the season finale after the passing of his father Coy Gibbs the night he won the Xfinity Series championship. Or who knows? Maybe you even think or Riley Herbst, or development driver Corey Heim.
But who you probably (or perhaps even definitely) don't think of is Ty Dillon, the driver who actually preceded Wallace as driver of the No. 23 Toyota – the original original.
Wallace was ineligible for the preseason exhibition Clash at the Daytona International Speedway road course in 2021, 23XI Racing's first season in the series. To get some in-race experience before the in-season action, 23XI Racing brought in Dillon, who was eligible but did not initially have a ride, to run the Clash. He was eligible simply because he won a stage in 2020.
Dillon was a part-time driver with Toyota's Gaunt Brothers Racing at the time. He is a career journeyman, having competed for 11 teams over his 12-year Cup Series career dating back to 2014. But the one team that doesn't officially show up on his resume is 23XI Racing, as the Clash is not a points race.