2021 NASCAR Cup Series

2021 NASCAR Cup Series

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Champions | Seasons

Denny Hamlin, the current points leader.

The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series is the 73rd season for NASCAR professional stock car racing in the United States and the 50th season for the modern era Cup Series. The season started at Daytona International Speedway with the Busch Clash, where it was the first year that the non-points event was run on the track's road course layout instead of the oval. That race was followed by the Bluegreen Vacations Duel qualifying races, and the 63rd running of the Daytona 500, the first points race of the season. The regular season will also end at Daytona with the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on August 28. The NASCAR playoffs will end with the Season Finale 500 at Phoenix Raceway on November 7.

Teams and drivers

Chartered teams

Manufacturer	Team	No.	Driver	Crew chief
Chevrolet	Chip Ganassi Racing	1	Kurt Busch	Matt McCall
		42	Ross Chastain	Phil Surgen
	Hendrick Motorsports	5	Kyle Larson	Cliff Daniels
		9	Chase Elliott	Alan Gustafson
		24	William Byron	Rudy Fugle
		48	Alex Bowman	Greg Ives
	JTG Daugherty Racing	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Brian Pattie
	Petty Ware Racing	51	Cody Ware	Mike Hillman Sr.
	Richard Childress Racing	3	Austin Dillon	Justin Alexander
		8	Tyler Reddick	Randall Burnett
	Richard Petty Motorsports	43	Erik Jones	Jerry Baxter
	Spire Motorsports	7	Corey LaJoie	Ryan Sparks 35 Steve Letarte 1
		77	Jamie McMurray 1	Kevin Bellicourt
			Justin Haley 6
			Stewart Friesen 1
			TBA 28
	StarCom Racing	00	Quin Houff	George Church
	Trackhouse Racing Team	99	Daniel Suárez	Travis Mack 35 Jose Blasco-Figueroa 1
Ford	Front Row Motorsports	34	Michael McDowell	Drew Blickensderfer
		38	Anthony Alfredo (R)	Seth Barbour
	Live Fast Motorsports	78	B. J. McLeod 34	Frank Kerr
			Scott Heckert 1
			Shane Golobic 1
	Roush Fenway Racing	6	Ryan Newman	Scott Graves
		17	Chris Buescher	Luke Lambert
	Stewart-Haas Racing	4	Kevin Harvick	Rodney Childers
		10	Aric Almirola	Mike Bugarewicz
		14	Chase Briscoe (R)	Johnny Klausmeier
		41	Cole Custer	Mike Shiplett 35 Davin Restivo 1
	Team Penske	2	Brad Keselowski	Jeremy Bullins 35 Grant Hutchens 1
		12	Ryan Blaney	Todd Gordon
		22	Joey Logano	Paul Wolfe
	Wood Brothers Racing	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Greg Erwin
Toyota	23XI Racing	23	Bubba Wallace	Mike Wheeler
	Joe Gibbs Racing	11	Denny Hamlin	Chris Gabehart
		18	Kyle Busch	Ben Beshore
		19	Martin Truex Jr.	James Small
		20	Christopher Bell	Adam Stevens
Chevrolet 7 Ford TBA	Rick Ware Racing	15	Derrike Cope 1	Pat Tryson
			James Davison 4
			Joey Gase 1
			Chris Windom 1
			Garrett Smithley TBA
			J. J. Yeley TBA
			TBA TBA
Ford 6 Chevrolet TBA		52	Josh Bilicki	Peter Sospenzo
Ford 1 Chevrolet 5		53	Joey Gase 2	Billy Plourde
			Garrett Smithley 4
			J. J. Yeley TBA
			James Davison TBA
			TBA TBA

Non-chartered teams

Complete schedule

Manufacturer	Team	No.	Driver	Crew chief
Chevrolet	JTG Daugherty Racing	37	Ryan Preece	Trent Owens
Ford 1 Toyota 5	MBM Motorsports	66	Timmy Hill 35	Clinton Cram
			Mike Marlar 1

Limited schedule

Manufacturer	Team	No.	Driver	Crew chief	Rounds
Chevrolet	Beard Motorsports	62	Noah Gragson	Darren Shaw	1
	Kaulig Racing	16	Kaz Grala	Matt Swiderski	1
			A. J. Allmendinger		1
			TBA		9
Ford	Front Row Motorsports	36	David Ragan	Derrick Finley	1
	Go Fas Racing	32	Ryan Ellis	TBA	TBA
	Team Penske	33	Austin Cindric	Miles Stanley	2
Toyota	Gaunt Brothers Racing	96	Ty Dillon	Dave Winston	2
			TBA		10
Ford 1 Toyota TBA	MBM Motorsports	13	Garrett Smithley	Mark Hillman	1
			Chad Finchum		TBA

Changes

Teams

• On July 23, 2020, it was reported that Leavine Family Racing owner Bob Leavine solicited bids for the team due to the financial fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. On August 4, Leavine confirmed that his team has been sold and would cease operations at the end of the 2020 season. On August 11, the team's charter was officially sold to Spire Motorsports, which would be used to field a second full-time car in 2021 (which would end up being the No. 7 of Corey LaJoie). With its purchase of Leavine Family Racing's assets, Spire Motorsports will expand into a two-car operation in 2021. On August 24, the team announced that they would be looking for two full-time drivers for the season.
• On September 1, 2020, it was reported that Germain Racing owner Bob Germain was exploring conversations for a potential sale of the team due to lack of sponsorship, as their contract with primary sponsor GEICO expired at the end of the 2020 season and it was confirmed four days later that they would not return for the 2021 season. Their charter was later put up for bid, and was purchased on September 21, and as a result, Germain ceased operations at the end of the 2020 season.
• On September 21, 2020, retired NBA player and Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan announced that he and Denny Hamlin would be forming 23XI Racing with Bubba Wallace as the driver after purchasing the charter from Germain Racing, which closed down after the 2020 season.
• On October 7, 2020, Trackhouse Racing Team, owned by Justin Marks, announced its entry into the Cup Series, fielding one full-time car, the No. 99, for Daniel Suárez in 2021. The team will run Chevrolets in a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing. The team has leased the charter from the No. 77 Spire Motorsports car for this season. On January 15, 2021, it was announced that musician Pitbull would co-own the team with Marks.
• On October 8, 2020, it was revealed that Spire Motorsports bought a third charter, which they will use for the No. 77 in 2021 after the team leased the original charter for the No. 77 to Trackhouse for 2021. Upon further reports on December 30, it was revealed that this third charter for Spire came from JTG Daugherty Racing for the No. 37, which will now be non-chartered in 2021.
• On October 22, 2020, Go Fas Racing owner Archie St. Hilaire announced that the team would scale down to a part-time schedule in 2021. Joe Falk will continue to own half of the team's charter while St. Hilaire transfers his half to Falk's new business partner. The following day, it was announced that B. J. McLeod and Matt Tifft had purchased Go Fas Racing's ownership stake in the charter, and it would be moved from the No. 32 to McLeod's No. 78, meaning that car will run full-time with a charter in 2021. On November 20, McLeod and Tifft announced the team's name as Live Fast Motorsports, with a technical alliance with Stewart-Haas Racing.
• On October 28, 2020, Hendrick Motorsports announced that the No. 88 team would be renumbered to the No. 5 in 2021.
• On November 20, 2020, Kaulig Racing announced they would run a partial schedule in 2021, with the intention of entering all superspeedway and road course races and the goal of running full-time in 2022, hoping to purchase a charter by then.
• On December 2, 2020, NY Racing Team teased a potential return to Cup competition after posting the No. 44 with "2021" on their Instagram account, as well as updating their website, which stated that they would attempt to qualify for the 2021 Daytona 500. On January 5, 2021, team owner John Cohen announced that NYRT will compete full-time as an open team. The team last competed in the series in 2018 with J. J. Yeley running part-time in partnerships with Premium Motorsports and BK Racing as well as one race by themselves in the 2018 Coca-Cola 600.
• On December 30, 2020, Bob Pockrass reported that Wood Brothers Racing purchased the charter they had leased from Go Fas Racing since 2017.
• On February 3, 2021, MBM Motorsports announced that NASCAR approved its number change from No. 49 to No. 13, which it had requested after the demise of Germain Racing.
• On February 9, 2021, it was revealed through the list of owner points transfers prior to the start of the season that Tommy Baldwin Racing would use the No. 71 if they end up attempting any races in 2021, a number the team previously used in 2019. The team gave their old car number, the No. 7, to Spire Motorsports to use for their new second car with Corey LaJoie.

Drivers

• On August 6, 2020, Erik Jones and Joe Gibbs Racing announced that they would mutually part ways at the end of the 2020 season. On October 21, Jones officially joined Richard Petty Motorsports as the driver of the organization's No. 43 entry.
• On August 21, 2020, Corey LaJoie and Go Fas Racing announced that they would mutually part ways at the end of the 2020 season. On November 12, Sports Business Journal's Adam Stern reported that LaJoie was a leading candidate for one of the Spire Motorsports teams in 2021. On November 30, Spire announced that LaJoie would drive the team's new second car, the No. 7, full-time.
• On September 9, 2020, Matt Kenseth mentioned on Sirius XM's Late Shift that he would more than likely not return to the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 team in 2021. On September 21, 2020, Chip Ganassi Racing announced that Ross Chastain would replace Kenseth in 2021.
• On September 10, 2020, Bubba Wallace announced that he would not be back in the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 in 2021. On September 21, it was made official that he will be the driver of the 23XI Racing No. 23 car.
• On September 15, 2020, Daniel Suárez announced that he would not be back in the Gaunt Brothers Racing No. 96 in 2021. On October 7, 2020, Suárez joined Trackhouse Racing Team full-time for the 2021 season.
• On October 6, 2020, Hendrick Motorsports announced that Alex Bowman will move from the No. 88 to the No. 48 team in 2021.
• On October 8, 2020, Team Penske announced that Austin Cindric will drive the No. 33 Ford in select Cup Series races while competing full-time in the Xfinity Series in 2021. He would then transition to the Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 team in 2022.
• On October 8, 2020, Clint Bowyer announced he would retire from full-time driving at the end of the 2020 season and work as a NASCAR on Fox commentator in 2021. Chase Briscoe, who previously drove for SHR in the Xfinity Series in their No. 98 car, replaced Bowyer in the No. 14.
• On October 19, 2020, NASCAR reinstated Kyle Larson six months after he was suspended from the sport and fired by Chip Ganassi Racing for using a racial slur during an iRacing event. He will be cleared to resume all NASCAR activities on January 1, 2021. On October 28, Hendrick Motorsports announced that Larson will drive the No. 5 (renumbered from the No. 88) for the team, replacing Alex Bowman, who moved over to the No. 48 to replace Jimmie Johnson.
• On November 8, 2020, Ryan Ellis announced that if sponsorship could be found, he would drive the now-part-time No. 32 for Go Fas Racing in 2021. Ellis has worked for the team as their public relations director since 2017. The team has yet to make an official announcement.
• On November 16, 2020, John Hunter Nemechek announced he would not return to Front Row Motorsports in 2021. On November 23, it was announced that Nemechek would return to the Camping World Truck Series to drive full-time for Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2021.
• On December 19, 2020, MBM Motorsports announced that Timmy Hill, Chad Finchum, and Stephen Leicht (who drives for the team's Xfinity Series program) will return to the team in 2021, with Hill and Finchum attempting to run the 2021 Daytona 500.
• On December 22, 2020, Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal reported that Anthony Alfredo was in talks with Front Row Motorsports to drive the No. 38 in 2021. On January 6, 2021, FRM confirmed that Alfredo will drive the No. 38 for the Rookie of the Year honors.
• On December 23, 2020, Chris Knight of Catchfence reported that JR Motorsports Xfinity Series driver and 2020 Daytona 300 winner Noah Gragson would attempt to qualify for the 2021 Daytona 500 in the No. 62 for Beard Motorsports. Since 2017, Brendan Gaughan, who retired after the 2020 season, drove this car at each of the restrictor plate races (as well as the Daytona Road Course in 2020). The team would officially announce this on January 14, 2021.
• On January 6, 2021, Front Row Motorsports announced that David Ragan would return to the No. 36 for the 2021 Daytona 500.
• On January 13, 2021, Kaulig Racing announced that Kaz Grala would attempt to qualify for the 2021 Daytona 500 for the team in the No. 16. On January 21, 2021, Kaulig announced that A. J. Allmendinger would drive the No. 16 at the Daytona road course, making his first start in the Cup Series since the end of the 2018 season.
• On January 15, 2021, Jim Utter of Motorsport.com reported that Ty Dillon was likely to drive the No. 96 Gaunt Brothers Racing car in the Daytona 500 as well as the Daytona Road Course race the following week. It is unclear if he will run any additional races for the team beyond that. On February 3, 23XI Racing announced that Dillon would drive the No. 23 at the 2021 Busch Clash, as he was eligible after winning a stage in 2020 while regular driver Bubba Wallace was not.
• On January 19, 2021, Spire Motorsports announced that Jamie McMurray would drive the No. 77 at the 2021 Daytona 500.
• On January 19, 2021, Rick Ware Racing announced that Derrike Cope would make his final Daytona 500 start in the No. 15.
• On March 15, 2021, MBM Motorsports announced that 2018 World of Outlaws Late Model Series champion Mike Marlar, who drove for the team in the Xfinity Series at Richmond in September 2019, would make his Cup Series debut in the Bristol dirt race for the team in the No. 66.
• On March 16, 2021, Spire Motorsports announced that full-time Truck Series driver and accomplished dirt racer Stewart Friesen would make his Cup Series debut in their No. 77 in the Bristol dirt race. Although Friesen's Truck team, Halmar Friesen Racing, is a Toyota team, Friesen will compete for Spire, a Chevrolet team, in this one race.

Crew chiefs

• On September 29, 2020, it was announced that the crew chiefing career of Hendrick Motorsports' seven-time championship winning crew chief Chad Knaus would end after the 2020 season, as he would be promoted to Vice President of Competition for the team starting in 2021. On October 26, 2020, it was announced that Knaus' replacement on the No. 24 car of William Byron will be Rudy Fugle, a decorated Truck Series crew chief for Kyle Busch Motorsports, who worked with Byron in 2016, winning seven races together. Fugle has won 28 races, two drivers' championships and five owners' championships with KBM.
• On October 6, 2020, Hendrick Motorsports announced that crew chief Greg Ives will join Alex Bowman in moving from the No. 88 to the No. 48 team in 2021.
• On October 28, 2020, Cliff Daniels, formerly the crew chief for Jimmie Johnson on the No. 48, was announced to be crew chief for Kyle Larson in Hendrick Motorsports' No. 5 (formerly No. 88) car, switching teams with Ives.
• On October 30, 2020, 23XI Racing announced that Mike Wheeler will be the crew chief of the No. 23 with Bubba Wallace in 2021.
• On November 13, 2020, Trackhouse Racing Team announced that Travis Mack will be the crew chief for Daniel Suárez in the No. 99. Mack previously served as crew chief for Michael Annett in the JR Motorsports No. 1 team in the NASCAR Xfinity Series from 2019 to 2020.
• On November 17, 2020, Joe Gibbs Racing announced changes to their crew chief lineup in 2021.
  • Adam Stevens, previously the crew chief of Kyle Busch's No. 18, will move to the No. 20 JGR Cup team, now driven by Christopher Bell, replacing Chris Gayle.
  • Chris Gayle will now be the crew chief of JGR's No. 54 team in the Xfinity Series, replacing Jacob Canter, JGR's test team manager.
  • Jason Ratcliff, previously the crew chief of the JGR-aligned No. 95 Leavine Family Racing team, which has closed down, will move back to the Xfinity Series and crew chief the No. 20 of Harrison Burton, replacing Ben Beshore.
  • Ben Beshore will move to the Cup Series and replace Stevens as the crew chief of the No. 18 of Kyle Busch.
• On December 10, 2020, Spire Motorsports announced their 2021 crew chief lineup.
  • Ryan Sparks will be the crew chief for Corey LaJoie's No. 7, after previously working with LaJoie at Go Fas Racing in 2020. On February 24, 2021, it was announced that Steve Letarte would fill in for Sparks at Homestead due to COVID-19 protocols.
  • Kevin Bellicourt, previously the crew chief for Derek Kraus at McAnally-Hilgemann Racing in the Truck Series, will be the No. 77 crew chief, replacing Peter Sospenzo.
• On January 20, 2021, Team Penske announced that race engineer Miles Stanley was announced as the crew chief for Austin Cindric in the No. 33 during the team's part-time schedule.
• On January 27, 2021, Kaulig Racing revealed their crew chief lineups for the 2021 season; Matt Swiderski, who was previously the crew chief for Team Penske's part-time No. 12 car in the Xfinity Series, will serve as crew chief for Kaulig's part-time Cup Series team.
• On January 28, 2021, it was announced that Frank Kerr would be the crew chief for the No. 78 of B. J. McLeod and his Live Fast Motorsports team in 2021. In 2020, Kerr spent part of the season with Niece Motorsports and part of the season with Martins Motorsports. The last time he was a Cup Series crew chief was in 2018 when he crew chiefed the TriStar Motorsports No. 72 of Corey LaJoie and Cole Whitt.

Interim crew chiefs

• On February 24, 2021, Spire Motorsports announced that Ryan Sparks, the crew chief of their No. 7 car of Corey LaJoie, would be unable to crew chief the car at Homestead-Miami due to being in quarantine after exposure to someone with COVID-19. NASCAR on NBC color commentator Steve Letarte, a retired crew chief who Spire had recently hired as a consultant, returned atop the pit box for the first time since 2014. Because the race was being broadcast by Fox, Letarte did not need to be in the booth for it and was available to crew chief the car for this one race.
• On March 8, 2021, it was revealed through the release of the entry list for the race at Phoenix in March that Davin Restivo would be the interim crew chief for Cole Custer's No. 41 for Stewart-Haas Racing in that race. Mike Shiplett, Custer's crew chief, was suspended for one race after the No. 41 had two loose lug nuts following the previous week's race at Homestead-Miami. Restivo is the car's engineer.
• On March 16, 2021, NASCAR announced that Brad Keselowski's crew chief, Jeremy Bullins, and Daniel Suárez's crew chief, Travis Mack, would both be suspended for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta. Both cars had two loose lug nuts following the previous week's race at Phoenix. The engineers for both teams, Grant Hutchens (for Keselowski's Penske No. 2) and Jose Blasco-Figueroa (for Suárez's Trackhouse No. 99), would become the interim crew chiefs for those teams in the race at Atlanta in March. In addition, Suárez and Blasco-Figueroa will make history as the first Hispanic driver-crew chief combination in Cup Series history when they work together in this race.

Manufacturers

• On October 1, 2020, Hendrick Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing announced they will form a joint venture to establish a common engine specification for Chevrolet teams starting in 2021.
• On October 30, 2020, 23XI Racing revealed that they will run Toyotas in a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing.

Sponsorship

• On September 5, 2020, it was revealed that GEICO would not return to sponsor the Germain Racing No. 13 team in 2021, although they would remain a premier partner of the NASCAR Cup Series.
• On October 20, 2020, HighPoint Technology was announced to join Chase Briscoe in moving from Stewart-Haas Racing's No. 98 Xfinity Series car to their No. 14 Cup Series car in 2021.
• On December 2, 2020, Biohaven Pharmaceuticals announced their Nurtec ODT brand would be the primary sponsor of the Rick Ware Racing No. 51 team for the entire 2021 season.
• On December 10, 2020, Keen Parts/CorvetteParts.net announced that they would sponsor the Live Fast Motorsports No. 78 team in 2021. The online Chevrolet Corvette parts store previously sponsored Go Fas Racing from 2016 to 2020.
• On December 14, 2020, 23XI Racing announced that DoorDash, McDonald's, Columbia Sportswear, Dr Pepper, and Root Insurance Company would be the sponsors of Bubba Wallace's No. 23 car in 2021. This is Dr Pepper's first sponsorship in NASCAR since their sponsorship of the former No. 23 BK Racing car. The other four companies moved over with Wallace from Richard Petty Motorsports. Also, with Dr Pepper being a competitor to Coca-Cola, Bubba Wallace will also no longer be a Coca-Cola Racing Family driver.
• On December 15, 2020, it was announced that Llumar would switch teams at Hendrick Motorsports and would now sponsor Chase Elliott's No. 9 (at Circuit of the Americas as well as the Busch Clash). The window film company had previously sponsored Alex Bowman's No. 88 car for the last two seasons. Llumar replaced Mountain Dew as a sponsor for Elliott, as their contract with Hendrick Motorsports expired after the 2020 season and parent company PepsiCo did not renew it. This ended PepsiCo's 24-year sponsorship of Hendrick (dating back to 1997), which included Pepsi's sponsorship of Jeff Gordon, AMP Energy's sponsorship of Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Mountain Dew's sponsorship of Earnhardt Jr., Kasey Kahne, and Elliott. On January 12, 2021, HMS announced that energy drink Adrenaline Shoc, which is distributed in the U.S. by Keurig Dr Pepper, would join the No. 9 in 2021 as a primary sponsor for two races and an associate sponsor for the rest of the season.
• On December 16, 2020, Rheem was announced to join Christopher Bell in moving from the closed No. 95 Leavine Family Racing car to the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 car in 2021.
• On December 23, 2020, it was revealed that RoofClaim.com, which was the primary sponsor of the No. 66 of Timmy Hill for MBM Motorsports, would not return to the team in 2021 due to lack of airtime on the TV broadcasts and the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in the lack of exposure with fans at the track. On March 4, 2021, it was announced that Diamondback Land Surveying would sponsor the car in several races.
• On January 19, 2021, Dixie Vodka was announced as the sponsor of the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 of Cole Custer for two races.
• On January 19, 2021, Bass Pro Shops and Black Rifle Coffee Company were announced as the sponsors of the Gaunt Brothers Racing No. 96 at the Daytona 500, driven by Ty Dillon, who Bass Pro Shops has sponsored numerous times in the past.
• On January 20, 2021, it was announced that Schlüter Systems would be the primary sponsor for seven races on Corey LaJoie's No. 7 for Spire Motorsports. The company moves over with LaJoie from Go Fas Racing. They had also sponsored him at BK Racing. On January 26, Youtheory Ashwagandha dietary supplement, which sponsored LaJoie at JGL Racing in the Xfinity Series in 2016, was announced as his sponsor for the Daytona 500.
• On January 28, 2021, NationsGuard, a subsidiary of the Hendrick Automotive Group, was announced as the primary sponsor of Kyle Larson's No. 5 for the first three races of the season (the Daytona 500, the Daytona Road Course, and Homestead). On February 4, Hendrick Motorsports announced that Cincinnati Inc. and Freightliner Trucks would each have two races of primary sponsorship on the No. 5, marking Larson's first outside sponsorship since returning from his suspension. On February 8, HendrickCars.com was announced as the primary sponsor for select races starting with the spring Las Vegas race.
• On January 28, 2021, Molson Coors Beverage Company announced its brand switch from Miller Lite to Keystone Light as a sponsor of the Team Penske No. 2 of Brad Keselowski in 2021. Just as they did in 2020, they will only be the primary sponsor of the car at the Coca-Cola 600.
• On February 8, 2021, Offerpad was announced as the primary sponsor of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 for two races in 2021.
• On February 19, 2021, Richard Petty Motorsports announced Tide and Food City as the sponsors of the No. 43 for the Bristol Dirt Race. On February 22, it was revealed that World Wide Technology ended its sponsorship deal with RPM.

Schedule

The official 2021 schedule was released on September 30, 2020.

No	Race title	Track	Date
	Busch Clash	Daytona International Speedway (Road Course), Daytona Beach, Florida	February 9
	Bluegreen Vacations Duel	Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida	February 11
1	Daytona 500		February 14–15
2	O'Reilly Auto Parts 253	Daytona International Speedway (Road Course), Daytona Beach, Florida	February 21
3	Dixie Vodka 400	Homestead–Miami Speedway, Homestead, Florida	February 28
4	Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube	Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, Nevada	March 7
5	Instacart 500	Phoenix Raceway, Phoenix, Arizona	March 14
6	Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500	Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, Georgia	March 21
7	Food City Dirt Race	Bristol Motor Speedway (Dirt Course), Bristol, Tennessee	March 28
8	Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500	Martinsville Speedway, Ridgeway, Virginia	April 10
9	Toyota Owners 400	Richmond Raceway, Richmond, Virginia	April 18
10	GEICO 500	Talladega Superspeedway, Lincoln, Alabama	April 25
11	Buschy McBusch Race 400	Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kansas	May 2
12	TBA	Darlington Raceway, Darlington, South Carolina	May 9
13	Drydene 400	Dover International Speedway, Dover, Delaware	May 16
14	EchoPark Texas Grand Prix	Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas	May 23
15	Coca-Cola 600	Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, North Carolina	May 30
16	Toyota/Save Mart 350	Sonoma Raceway, Sonoma, California	June 6
	NASCAR All Star Open	Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, Texas	June 13
	NASCAR All-Star Race
17	Ally 400	Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tennessee	June 20
18	Pocono Organics 325	Pocono Raceway, Long Pond, Pennsylvania	June 26
19	Pocono 350		June 27
20	TBA	Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin	July 4
21	Quaker State 400	Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, Georgia	July 11
22	Foxwoods Resort Casino 301	New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, New Hampshire	July 18
23	Go Bowling at The Glen	Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, New York	August 8
24	TBA	Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Road Course), Speedway, Indiana	August 15
25	FireKeepers Casino 400	Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, Michigan	August 22
26	Coke Zero Sugar 400	Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida	August 28
NASCAR Cup Championship Playoffs
Round of 16
27	Cook Out Southern 500	Darlington Raceway, Darlington, South Carolina	September 5
28	Federated Auto Parts 400	Richmond Raceway, Richmond, Virginia	September 11
29	Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race	Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, Tennessee	September 18
Round of 12
30	South Point 400	Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, Nevada	September 26
31	YellaWood 500	Talladega Superspeedway, Lincoln, Alabama	October 3
32	Bank of America Roval 400	Charlotte Motor Speedway (Road Course), Concord, North Carolina	October 10
Round of 8
33	Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500	Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, Texas	October 17
34	Hollywood Casino 400	Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kansas	October 24
35	Xfinity 500	Martinsville Speedway, Ridgeway, Virginia	October 31
Championship 4
36	Season Finale 500	Phoenix Raceway, Phoenix, Arizona	November 7

Bolded races indicate a NASCAR Major, also known as a Crown Jewel race.

Schedule changes

Further information: History of NASCAR schedule realignments § Realignment 2021

• The Busch Clash will be moved from the Sunday before the Daytona 500 to the Tuesday before (on February 9), in an effort to condense Speedweeks down to one week. The race will also be moved from the oval to the infield road course for the first time. The Daytona 500 will be held on Sunday, February 14.
• Nashville Superspeedway will host a Cup race, scheduled for Sunday, June 20 (Father's Day). It will be the first time the speedway will host a NASCAR Cup Series event, and the first time the track has hosted any NASCAR events since 2011. In order to put the track on the schedule, its owner, Dover Motorsports, moved one of their two Cup races at Dover (a track which they also own) to Nashville.
• On September 29, it was reported that Kentucky Speedway and Chicagoland Speedway would not be on the 2021 schedule.
• On September 30, NASCAR announced that Atlanta Motor Speedway would expand to two races, picking up the Quaker State 400 from Kentucky.
• On the same day, Road America was added back to the schedule for the first time since 1956 where a Grand National race took place. The race is scheduled for July 4, replacing the race weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which has been moved to August and will see the track's road course configuration used.
• The Cup Series will also race on dirt for the first time since 1970 as the spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway will have the concrete half-mile covered in dirt.
• After it lost one of its two races to Circuit of the Americas, NASCAR moved the All-Star Race, traditionally held at Charlotte Motor Speedway, to Texas Motor Speedway.

Schedule changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic

• Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, only 8 of the 36 points races will be held with practice and qualifying; the remaining events will be held as one-day shows. The races that will feature practice and qualifying will be limited to new venues/configurations and high-profile events and include: the Daytona 500, the Food City Dirt Race at Bristol, the EchoPark Texas Grand Prix at COTA, the Coca-Cola 600, the Ally 400 at Nashville, Road America, the Indianapolis road course, and the Season Finale 500 at Phoenix.
• On December 8, 2020, it was announced that Auto Club Speedway would not host a race in 2021 due to state COVID regulations in California. With the season-opening races for all three series at Daytona being two weeks before, NASCAR made the Daytona Road Course the second race of the season and bumped the Homestead-Miami Speedway race back by one week to where Auto Club had been.

Season summary

Race reports

Speedweeks 2021

In the Busch Clash, Ryan Blaney started on pole. Kevin Harvick spun twice early in the race. Martin Truex Jr. was leading when the competition caution came out but had to restart in the rear due to missing the final chicane while the race was under caution. Late in the race, Truex Jr. wrecked while leading. In the closing laps, Chase Elliott and Blaney were battling for the lead. In the final chicane on the last lap, Elliott and Blaney wrecked each other, which allowed Kyle Busch to pass and win the race. It was the first year that the race was run on the road course, and the second Cup Series race run on the track's road course layout.

In Daytona 500 qualifying, Alex Bowman won the pole while teammate William Byron qualified second.

In the Bluegreen Vacation Duel, Aric Almirola held off Joey Logano to win the first Duel. The start of the second Duel was delayed by rain. In the second Duel, there were multicar wrecks on lap 36 and with three laps to go in the race; the latter caution sent the race into an overtime finish. In overtime, Austin Dillon held off Bubba Wallace to win the second Duel.

Round 1: Daytona 500

Alex Bowman would start on pole, as the race was under threat from rain and thunderstorms. Derrike Cope would hit the wall on lap 4 to bring out the first caution while causing damage to Bubba Wallace. On lap 14, "The Big One" would strike in turn 3 as Aric Almirola and Bowman would get turned into the outside wall collecting 16 cars. Two laps later, the race was red-flagged for 5 hours and 40 minutes due to rain and lightning. The race would restart with Kevin Harvick as the leader. Defending winner Denny Hamlin would win stages 1 and 2 as Christopher Bell would lose a left-rear tire and spun collecting Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Jamie McMurray in stage 2. The final stage would remain caution-free as Hamlin, in contention to win the race for the third consecutive time, would pit from the lead on final pit stops, but would fall back to 13th as the pack got single file with Joey Logano leading. On the last lap, Brad Keselowski attempted to pass Logano on the backstretch, but the two would end up colliding creating a fiery crash sending Keselowski into the catchfence collecting Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson, Wallace, Logano, Kyle Busch, Ryan Preece, and Ross Chastain. Michael McDowell would dodge the last lap crash to win his first career victory under caution as well as earning Front Row Motorsports' third Cup victory.

Round 2: O'Reilly Auto Parts 253

Chase Elliott was awarded the pole. Michael McDowell, who started second, got a flat tire before entering the first turn as Kyle Busch got damage by running into the grass. Elliott won the first stage while Denny Hamlin would win the second stage. Kurt Busch spun while leading and then made contact and spun Brad Keselowski the following lap. On a restart, Elliott got into the grass while Kyle Larson spun while battling for the lead. Elliott made the way back to the front, but spun after contact with Hamlin. Joey Logano pulled away from Kurt Busch, but was ran down and passed by Christopher Bell, who would win the race for his first career Cup Series win.

Round 3: Dixie Vodka 400

Denny Hamlin was awarded the pole, but had to start at the rear due to an unapproved adjustment. Chris Buescher had the dominant car early and won the first stage while Hamlin struggled to get to the front. Buescher led early in the second stage, but Martin Truex Jr. took the lead and dominated. In a one lap dash to end the second stage, Hamlin slid into Truex and it allowed William Byron to win the stage. Kurt Busch had to return to pit road during a round of green flag pit stops due to a loose wheel. Aric Almirola got into the wall along with Ryan Blaney. Byron was able to get back to the lead and pulled away to hold off a charging Tyler Reddick for his second career Cup Series win.

Round 4: Pennzoil 400

Kevin Harvick was awarded the pole. Brad Keselowski would hold off Chase Elliott to win the first stage while Kyle Larson won the second stage. On a restart, Elliott spun after contact with Kurt Busch. Aric Almirola got into the wall after a flat tire. After the final round of green flag pit stops, Larson was able to take the lead from Daniel Suárez and hold off Keselowski for his first win with Hendrick Motorsports and his first win on an mile and a half track.

Round 5: Instacart 500

Brad Keselowski was awarded the pole. Alex Bowman spun after contact with Austin Dillon. Ryan Blaney won the first stage. Anthony Alfredo slammed the wall after contact with Cody Ware. Joey Logano won the second stage and dominated the final stage. Tyler Reddick got into the wall while Aric Almirola had to slow for a lapped car and got hit by Kyle Busch. On the restart, Martin Truex Jr. took the lead from Logano and pulled away for his 28th career win, tying Carl Edwards on NASCAR's all-time win list.

Round 5: Folds of Honor Quiktrip 500

Denny Hamlin was awarded the pole. Kyle Larson dominated the majority of the race by winning both stages. Kevin Harvick had to pit early in the first stage due to a flat tire. The race remained green for the majority of the race except for when Kurt Busch got into the wall after contact with Hamlin and when Chase Elliott blew an engine. Lapped traffic came in play at the end as Ryan Blaney was able to run down Larson and pass him for the lead and pull away to his fifth career win.

Results and standings

Race results

No.	Race	Pole position	Most laps led	Winning driver	Manufacturer	Report
	Busch Clash	Ryan Blaney	Denny Hamlin	Kyle Busch	Toyota	Report
	Bluegreen Vacations Duel 1	Alex Bowman	Aric Almirola	Aric Almirola	Ford	Report
	Bluegreen Vacations Duel 2	William Byron	William Byron	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet
1	Daytona 500	Alex Bowman	Denny Hamlin	Michael McDowell	Ford	Report
2	O'Reilly Auto Parts 253	Chase Elliott	Chase Elliott	Christopher Bell	Toyota	Report
3	Dixie Vodka 400	Denny Hamlin	William Byron	William Byron	Chevrolet	Report
4	Pennzoil 400	Kevin Harvick	Kyle Larson	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	Report
5	Instacart 500	Brad Keselowski	Joey Logano	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	Report
6	Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500	Denny Hamlin	Kyle Larson	Ryan Blaney	Ford	Report
7	Food City Dirt Race					Report

Drivers' championship

Further information: List of NASCAR points scoring systems

(key) Bold – Pole position awarded by time. Italics – Pole position set by final practice results or owner's points. * – Most laps led. ¹ – Stage 1 winner. ² – Stage 2 winner. ³ – Stage 3 winner. ^1–10

Pos.	Driver	DAY	DAY	HOM	LVS	PHO	ATL	BRI	MAR	RCH	TAL	KAN	DAR	DOV	COA	CLT	SON	NSH	POC	POC	ROA	ATL	NHA	GLN	IND	MCH	DAY		DAR	RCH	BRI	LVS	TAL	CLT	TEX	KAN	MAR	PHO	Pts.	Stage	Bonus
1	Denny Hamlin	5*12	32	11	4	3	4																																277	92	3
2	Kyle Larson	10	30	4	1*2	7	2*12																																234	58	8
3	Joey Logano	12	2	25	9	2*2	15																																214	50	1
4	Martin Truex Jr.	25	12	3	6	1	9																																212	42	5
5	Brad Keselowski	13	5	16	21	4	28																																206	52	1
6	Kevin Harvick	4	6	5	20	6	10																																203	24	–
7	Ryan Blaney	30	15	29	5	101	1																																191	50	6
8	William Byron	26	33	1*2	8	8	8																																188	46	6
9	Christopher Bell	16	1	20	7	9	21																																183	22	5
10	Chase Elliott	2	21*1	14	13	5	38																																183	47	1
11	Austin Dillon	3	34	12	12	17	6																																170	22	–
12	Kyle Busch	14	35	10	3	25	5																																163	26	–
13	Michael McDowell	1	8	6	17	23	19																																158	4	5
14	Alex Bowman	35	10	9	27	13	3																																157	32	–
15	Kurt Busch	22	4	8	19	15	39																																152	32	–
16	Chris Buescher	31	11	191	14	18	7																																144	21	1
17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	18	18	13	11	12	12																																138	–	–
18	Ryan Preece	6	9	21	15	26	25																																135	9	–
19	Bubba Wallace	17	26	22	28	16	16																																118	12	–
20	Ryan Newman	38	20	7	18	28	13																																108	–	–
21	Ross Chastain	7	39	17	23	19	14																																108	2	–
22	Cole Custer	11	13	23	25	31	18																																105	4	–
23	Daniel Suárez	36	16	15	26	21	17																																95	1	–
24	Matt DiBenedetto	33	37	28	16	14	11																																93	9	–
25	Erik Jones	39	14	27	10	20	24																																91	–	–
26	Aric Almirola	34	17	30	38	11	20																																87	3	–
27	Chase Briscoe (R)	19	32	18	21	22	23																																87	–	–
28	Tyler Reddick	27	38	2	22	29	26																																80	–	–
29	Corey LaJoie	9	31	36	37	27	29																																58	–	–
30	Anthony Alfredo (R)	32	22	24	24	37	27																																57	–	–
31	Jamie McMurray	8																																					30	–	–
32	James Davison		23	37		33	32																																24	–	–
33	Quin Houff	29	40	35	33	32	33																																24	–	–
34	Josh Bilicki	24	36	33	35	35	37																																23	–	–
35	Joey Gase	20			34		35																																22	–	–
36	Kaz Grala	28																																					9	–	–
37	Scott Heckert		28																																				9	–	–
38	David Ragan	37																																					4	–	–
39	Derrike Cope	40																																					1	–	–
Ineligible for driver points
Pos.	Driver	DAY	DAY	HOM	LVS	PHO	ATL	BRI	MAR	RCH	TAL	KAN	DAR	DOV	COA	CLT	SON	NSH	POC	POC	ROA	ATL	NHA	GLN	IND	MCH	DAY		DAR	RCH	BRI	LVS	TAL	CLT	TEX	KAN	MAR	PHO	Pts.	Stage	Bonus
	A. J. Allmendinger		7
	Austin Cindric	15					22
	Ty Dillon	DNQ	19
	Cody Ware	21	25	32	32	36	31
	B. J. McLeod	23		34	30	30	34
	Justin Haley		24	26	29	24	30
	Garrett Smithley	DNQ	27	31	31	34
	Timmy Hill	DNQ	29	38	36	38	36
	Noah Gragson	DNQ
Pos.	Driver	DAY	DAY	HOM	LVS	PHO	ATL	BRI	MAR	RCH	TAL	KAN	DAR	DOV	COA	CLT	SON	NSH	POC	POC	ROA	ATL	NHA	GLN	IND	MCH	DAY		DAR	RCH	BRI	LVS	TAL	CLT	TEX	KAN	MAR	PHO	Pts.	Stage	Bonus

Notes

Manufacturers' championship

After 6 of 36 races

Pos	Manufacturer	Wins	Points
1	Ford	2	217
2	Chevrolet	2	215
3	Toyota	2	213

See also

• 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series
• 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
• 2021 ARCA Menards Series
• 2021 ARCA Menards Series East
• 2021 ARCA Menards Series West
• 2021 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series