2021 Alternate NASCAR Cup Series
2021 Alternate NASCAR Cup Series | |
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Details | |
Owner | Aislabie |
Races | 30 +4 non-Championship events |
First Race | Daytona 500 |
Last Race | Championship 500 |
Major Championships | |
Drivers Championship | |
Owners Championship | |
Manufacturer Championship | |
Minor Championships | |
Daytona 500 Champion | |
Rookie of the Year | |
Earnhardt Award | |
Petty Award | |
Trickle Award | |
Gordon Award | |
Other Seasons | |
<<< | >>> |
None | 2022 |
Contents
Changes to the sport
The 2021 season had long been billed as the start of a new era, but it saw changes to almost every aspect of the sport as it sought to recapture its early-2000s popularity. In one three-month off-season, NASCAR undid a lot of the changes made over the course of the previous decade or so. These changes included:
- The return to a more manageable 30-race schedule, to avoid scheduling conflicts with the start of the football season.
- The abolition of the playoffs and return to a season-long points system.
- The abolition of the charter system, which had contributed to declining field sizes over the last few years.
- The abolition of stage racing, which saw cautions being thrown, and points awarded, to drivers at certain predefined "checkpoints" in the race.
In addition to this, extensive changes were made to the qualifying system for Cup races. Mimicking the Daytona 500 format, it was decided that for all 30 rounds of the Championship, one-lap qualifying would set the starting grids for two heat races (as well as deciding the first 20 cars qualified for the feature race), with ten cars from each heat having the opportunity to "race their way in". No cars would be protected from the possibility of failing to qualify, and the possibility of being able to make the main event through attrition in heat races should serve as an incentive to smaller teams. The points system was
NASCAR also proudly announced that two additional manufacturers would be joining the series, with the return of Dodge and the first-ever appearance of Honda in the Cup series. This brings the total number of manufacturers to five, with the models represented in the Cup being the Chevrolet Camaro, Dodge Charger, Ford Mustang, Honda Accord and Toyota Camry.
Calendar
Event | Track | Type | Laps | Winning driver | Winning team | Winning manufacturer | ||
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Busch Clash | Daytona International Speedway | Superspeedway | 40 | |||||
1 | Daytona 500 | 200 | ||||||
2 | Dixie Vodka Florida 400 | Homestead-Miami Speedway | Intermediate | 267 | ||||
3 | California 400 presented by Auto Club | Auto Club Speedway | Superspeedway | 200 | ||||
4 | Camping World Midwest 400 | Chicagoland Speedway | Intermediate | 267 | ||||
5 | Food City Southeastern 500 | Bristol Motor Speedway | Short Track | 500 | ||||
6 | Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief Virginia 500 | Martinsville Speedway | Short Track | 500 | ||||
7 | GEICO Alabama 500 | Talladega Superspeedway | Superspeedway | 188 | ||||
8 | Busch Spartan 300 by Crosley Radio | Kentucky Speedway | Intermediate | 200 | ||||
9 | Consumers Energy Yankee 400 | Michigan International Speedway | Superspeedway | 200 | ||||
10 | Drydene Delaware 400 | Dover International Speedway | Intermediate | 400 | ||||
NASCAR Open | Charlotte Motor Speedway | Intermediate | 40 | |||||
NASCAR All Star Race | 60 | |||||||
11 | Coca-Cola World 600 | 400 | ||||||
12 | Ally Music City 400 | Nashville Superspeedway | Intermediate | 200 | ||||
13 | Gander RV Mile High 400, presented by Pocono Organics | Pocono Raceway | Superspeedway | 160 | ||||
14 | Quaker State Atlanta 400 presented by Walmart | Atlanta Motor Speedway | Intermediate | 260 | ||||
15 | Foxwood Resort New England 300 | New Hampshire Motor Speedway | Intermediate | 300 | ||||
16 | GoBowling 350 at The Glen | Watkins Glen International | Road Course | 89 | ||||
17 | Big Machine Hand Sanitizer Brickyard 400 Powered by Big Machine Records | Indianapolis Motor Speedway | Superspeedway | 160 | ||||
18 | World Wide Technology Illinois 350 | Gateway Motorsports Park | Intermediate | 280 | ||||
19 | Coke Zero Firecracker 400 | Daytona International Speedway | Superspeedway | 160 | ||||
20 | NASCAR Throwback Southern 500 by Cook Out | Darlington Raceway | Intermediate | 367 | ||||
NASCAR Masters | Richmond Raceway | Short Track | 100 | |||||
21 | Federated Auto Parts Capital City 400 | 400 | ||||||
22 | Best Night Race In The World | Bristol Motor Speedway | Short Track | 400 | ||||
23 | Pennzoil Las Vegas 300 | Las Vegas Motor Speedway | Intermediate | 200 | ||||
24 | Yellawood Talladega 500 | Talladega Superspeedway | Superspeedway | 188 | ||||
25 | Bank of America Roval 400 | Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval | Road Course | 109 | ||||
26 | Buschy McBusch Race Kansas 400 | Kansas Speedway | Intermediate | 267 | ||||
27 | Xfinity Old Dominion 400 | Martinsville Speedway | Short Track | 400 | ||||
28 | Can-Am Phoenix 300 | Phoenix Raceway | Intermediate | 300 | ||||
29 | Disney 300, presented by Marvel Studios | Walt Disney World Speedway | Intermediate | 300 | ||||
NASCAR Exhibition | Homestead-Miami Speedway Roval | Road Course | 27 | |||||
30 | Bluegreen Vacations Championship 400 | Homestead-Miami Speedway | Intermediate | 267 |
Calendar Changes
In light of the disruption that occurred in the 2020 season, NASCAR took the opportunity to make sweeping changes to their calendar. These changes included:
- The reduction of the Cup schedule to only 30 races, reducing the scheduling conflict with the start of the football season.
- The introduction of Nashville Superspeedway, Gateway Motorsports Park and Walt Disney World Speedway to the Cup series for the first time.
- The introduction of two new non-championship events to complete a quartet of such race meetings.
The season finale also returned to Homestead-Miami Speedway after one year away at Phoenix Raceway, although unlike previous years this race (now dubbed the Championship 400) is not a guaranteed championship decider owing to the removal of the playoff system for deciding the championship.
Teams and Drivers
The charter system, which had been in place since 2016, was cancelled after five seasons of diminishing grid sizes. The return to an open field was coupled with the return of Dodge and the arrival of Honda in the Cup Series. This and the revolutionised qualifying system resulted in the largest field sizes NASCAR had seen for decades.
Note |
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Denotes the manufacturer's Works team |
Denotes a team with Factory support |
Denotes a team running Customer or Hire cars |
Denotes a team running Legacy cars |
Manufacturer | Team | # | Driver | Schedule | Primary Sponsor |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chevrolet | StarCom Racing [V] | 00 | Quin Houff | Full season | |
Chip Ganassi Racing [M] | 1 | Kurt Busch | Full season | Monster Energy | |
42 | Ross Chastain | Full season | |||
Richard Childress Racing [M] | 3 | Austin Dillon | Full season | ||
8 | Tyler Reddick | Full season | |||
29 | Ty Dillon | Full season | GEICO | ||
Tommy Baldwin Racing [V] | 7 | Full season | |||
Hendrick Motorsports [M] | 9 | Chase Elliott | Full season | ||
24 | William Byron | Full season | Liberty University | ||
48 | Kyle Larson | Full season | |||
88 | Alex Bowman | Full season | |||
Germain Racing [V] | 13 | Full season | |||
Premium Motorsports [V] | 15 | Brennan Poole | Full season | ||
Richard Petty Motorsports [V] | 43 | Bubba Wallace | Full season | ||
Beard Motorsports [V] | 62 | Noah Gragson | 1, 7, 19, 24 | Beard Oil | |
Spire Motorsports [M] | 74 | Greg Biffleus | 1 | ||
77 | Justin Haley | Full season | |||
Team Keller Racing [V] | 90 | 20 | |||
Trackhouse Racing [V] | 99 | Daniel Suárez | Full season | ||
Dodge | Team Penske [M] | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Full season | Discount Tire |
12 | Ryan Blaney | Full season | |||
22 | Joey Logano | Full season | Shell | ||
33 | Nicolas Steele | 1 | |||
Go Fas Racing [M] | 32 | Erik Jones | Full season | ||
Front Row Motorsports [M] | 34 | Michael McDowell | Full season | Love's Travel Stops | |
38 | Brett Moffitt | Full season | |||
Ford | Stewart-Haas Racing [V] | 4 | Parker Klingerman | Full season | |
10 | Cole Custer | Full season | |||
14 | Sheldon Creed | Full season | |||
41 | Aric Almirola | Full season | Smithfield | ||
JTG-Daugherty Racing [M] | 37 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Full season | Kroger | |
47 | Trevor Bayne | Full season | |||
85 | Henry Paul | TBC | |||
TBC | |||||
Roush Fenway Racing [M] | 6 | Kevin Harvick | Full season | ||
17 | Chris Buescher | Full season | |||
Wood Brothers Racing [V] | 21 | Matt DiBenedetto | Full season | ||
Live Fast Motorsports [V] | 78 | Full season | |||
Honda | Kaulig Racing [M] | 16 | Brandon Jones | Full season | |
Andretti Autosport [M] | 25 | Full season | |||
26 | Oliver Askew | Full season | |||
27 | Pietro Fittipaldi | Full season | |||
28 | A.J. Allmendinger | 1-26, 28-30 | |||
Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 27 | ||||
Hattori Racing Enterprises [M] | 61 | Jacques Villeneuve | Full season | ||
81 | Takuma Sato | 1 | |||
Toyota | Joe Gibbs Racing [M] | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Full season | FedEx |
18 | Kyle Busch | Full season | M&Ms | ||
19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Full season | Bass Pro Shops | ||
20 | Full season | ||||
23XI Racing [M] | 23 | Daniel Ricciardo | Full season | Optus | |
Gaunt Brothers Racing [M] | 40 | Travis Crabtree | 7, 16, 25 | ||
96 | Corey Lajoie | Full season | |||
NY Racing Team [M] | 44 | James James Davies | Full season | ||
82 | Justin Allgaier | Full season | |||
MBM Motorsports [V] | 49 | 1 | |||
66 | Timmy Hill | Full season | |||
Rick Ware Racing [M] | 51 | Full season | |||
52 | Full season | ||||
53 | Full season | ||||
54 | Full season | ||||
Leavine Family Racing [V] | 95 | Christopher Bell | Full season |
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Championship Standings
Points System
Qualifying
Position | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Rest |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Points | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
Heat Races
Position | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | Rest |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Points | 25 | 22 | 20 | 18 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
Feature Race
Position | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | DNQ |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Points | 50 | 45 | 42 | 40 | 38 | 36 | 34 | 33 | 32 | 31 | 30 | 29 | 28 | 27 | 26 | 25 | 24 | 23 | 22 | 21 | 20 | 19 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |