2021 Alternate NASCAR Cup Series
2021 Alternate NASCAR Cup Series | |
---|---|
Details | |
Owner | Aislabie |
Races | 30 +4 non-Championship events |
First Race | Template:USA Daytona 500 |
Last Race | Template:USA 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 |
The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series was the 73rd season of NASCAR-sanctioned stock car racing in the United States. The season saw sweeping changes from the 2020 season, which had seen Chase Elliott become the Champion Driver despite Kevin Harvick being statistically by far the leading driver all season long. 2021 saw the biggest changes to the Cup Series since at least 2004, as NASCAR aimed to revitalise itself by embracing its history as well as some of its modern innovations.
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Template:USA Chevrolet | Template:USA StarCom Racing [V] | 00 | Full season | ||
Template:USA Chip Ganassi Racing [M] | 1 | Full season | |||
42 | Full season | ||||
Template:USA Richard Childress Racing [M] | 3 | Template:USA Austin Dillon | Full season | ||
8 | Template:USA Tyler Reddick | Full season | |||
29 | Full season | ||||
Template:USA Tommy Baldwin Racing [V] | 7 | Full season | |||
Template:USA Hendrick Motorsports [M] | 9 | Full season | |||
24 | Full season | ||||
48 | Full season | ||||
88 | Full season | ||||
Template:USA Germain Racing [V] | 13 | Full season | |||
Template:USA Premium Motorsports [V] | 15 | Full season | |||
Template:USA Richard Petty Motorsports [V] | 43 | Full season | |||
Template:USA Beard Motorsports [V] | 62 | 1, 7, 19, 24 | Beard Oil | ||
Template:USA Spire Motorsports [M] | 74 | 1 | |||
77 | Full season | ||||
Template:USA Team Keller Racing [V] | 90 | 20 | |||
Template:USA Trackhouse Racing [V] | 99 | Full season | |||
Template:USA Dodge | Template:USA Team Penske [M] | 2 | Full season | ||
12 | Full season | ||||
22 | Full season | ||||
33 | 1 | ||||
Template:USA Go Fas Racing [M] | 32 | Full season | |||
Template:USA Front Row Motorsports [M] | 34 | Full season | |||
38 | Full season | ||||
Template:USA Ford | Template:USA Stewart-Haas Racing [V] | 4 | Full season | ||
10 | Full season | ||||
14 | Full season | ||||
41 | Template:USA Aric Almirola | Full season | |||
Template:USA JTG-Daugherty Racing [M] | 37 | Full season | |||
47 | Full season | ||||
85 | Full season | ||||
Template:USA Roush Fenway Racing [M] | 6 | Full season | |||
17 | Template:USA Chris Buescher | Full season | |||
Template:USA Wood Brothers Racing [V] | 21 | Full season | |||
Template:USA Live Fast Motorsports [V] | 78 | Full season | |||
Honda | Template:USA Kaulig Racing [M] | 16 | Full season | ||
Template:USA Andretti Autosport [M] | 25 | Full season | |||
26 | Full season | ||||
27 | Full season | ||||
28 | Full season | ||||
Hattori Racing Enterprises [M] | 61 | Full season | |||
81 | TBC | ||||
Toyota | Template:USA Joe Gibbs Racing [M] | 11 | Full season | ||
18 | Full season | ||||
19 | Full season | ||||
20 | Full season | ||||
Template:USA 23XI Racing [M] | 23 | Full season | |||
Gaunt Brothers Racing [M] | 40 | 1, 16, 25 | |||
96 | Full season | ||||
Template:USA NY Racing Team [M] | 44 | Full season | |||
82 | Full season | ||||
Template:USA MBM Motorsports [V] | 49 | 1 | |||
66 | Full season | ||||
Template:USA Rick Ware Racing [M] | 51 | Full season | |||
52 | Full season | ||||
53 | Full season | ||||
54 | Full season | ||||
Template:USA Leavine Family Racing [V] | 95 | Full season |
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 |