2021 Alternate NASCAR Cup Series

From Formula Rejects Wiki
Revision as of 17:25, 2 April 2021 by Pinkd56 (talk | contribs) (→‎Teams and Drivers)
Jump to: navigation, search
2021 Alternate NASCAR Cup Series
Alt-Cup.png
Details
Owner Aislabie
Races 30
+4 non-Championship events
First Race Flag of the United States svg.png Daytona 500
Last Race Flag of the United States svg.png 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
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
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
Flag of the United States svg.png Chevrolet Flag of the United States svg.png StarCom Racing [V] 00 Flag of the United States svg.png Quin Houff Full season
Flag of the United States svg.png Chip Ganassi Racing [M] 1 Flag of the United States svg.png Kurt Busch Full season Monster Energy
42 Flag of the United States svg.png Ross Chastain Full season
Flag of the United States svg.png Richard Childress Racing [M] 3 Flag of the United States svg.png Austin Dillon Full season
8 Flag of the United States svg.png Tyler Reddick Full season
29 Flag of the United States svg.png Ty Dillon Full season GEICO
Flag of the United States svg.png Tommy Baldwin Racing [V] 7 Full season
Flag of the United States svg.png Hendrick Motorsports [M] 9 Flag of the United States svg.png Chase Elliott Full season
24 Flag of the United States svg.png William Byron Full season Liberty University
48 Flag of the United States svg.png Kyle Larson Full season
88 Flag of the United States svg.png Alex Bowman Full season
Flag of the United States svg.png Germain Racing [V] 13 Full season
Flag of the United States svg.png Premium Motorsports [V] 15 Flag of the United States svg.png Brennan Poole Full season
Flag of the United States svg.png Richard Petty Motorsports [V] 43 Flag of the United States svg.png Bubba Wallace Full season
Flag of the United States svg.png Beard Motorsports [V] 62 Flag of the United States svg.png Noah Gragson 1, 7, 19, 24 Beard Oil
Flag of the United States svg.png Spire Motorsports [M] 74 1
77 Flag of the United States svg.png Justin Haley Full season
Flag of the United States svg.png Team Keller Racing [V] 90 20
Flag of the United States svg.png Trackhouse Racing [V] 99 Flag of Mexico svg.png Daniel Suárez Full season
Flag of the United States svg.png Dodge Flag of the United States svg.png Team Penske [M] 2 Flag of the United States svg.png Brad Keselowski Full season Discount Tire
12 Flag of the United States svg.png Ryan Blaney Full season
22 Flag of the United States svg.png Joey Logano Full season Shell
33 Flag of the United States svg.png Nicolas Steele 1
Flag of the United States svg.png Go Fas Racing [M] 32 Full season
Flag of the United States svg.png Front Row Motorsports [M] 34 Flag of the United States svg.png Michael McDowell Full season Love's Travel Stops
38 Flag of the United States svg.png Brett Moffitt Full season
Flag of the United States svg.png Ford Flag of the United States svg.png Stewart-Haas Racing [V] 4 Flag of the United States svg.png Parker Klingerman Full season
10 Flag of the United States svg.png Cole Custer Full season
14 Full season
41 Flag of the United States svg.png Aric Almirola Full season Smithfield
Flag of the United States svg.png JTG-Daugherty Racing [M] 37 Flag of the United States svg.png Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Full season Kroger
47 Flag of the United States svg.png Trevor Bayne Full season
85 Flag of the United Kingdom svg.png Henry Paul TBC
TBC
Flag of the United States svg.png Roush Fenway Racing [M] 6 Flag of the United States svg.png Kevin Harvick Full season
17 Flag of the United States svg.png Chris Buescher Full season
Flag of the United States svg.png Wood Brothers Racing [V] 21 Flag of the United States svg.png Matt DiBenedetto Full season
Flag of the United States svg.png Live Fast Motorsports [V] 78 Full season
Flag of Japan svg.png Honda Flag of the United States svg.png Kaulig Racing [M] 16 Full season
Flag of the United States svg.png Andretti Autosport [M] 25 Full season
26 Flag of the United States svg.png Oliver Askew Full season
27 Flag of Brazil svg.png Pietro Fittipaldi Full season
28 Full season
Flag of Japan svg.png Hattori Racing Enterprises [M] 61 Full season
81 TBC
Flag of Japan svg.png Toyota Flag of the United States svg.png Joe Gibbs Racing [M] 11 Flag of the United States svg.png Denny Hamlin Full season FedEx
18 Flag of the United States svg.png Kyle Busch Full season M&Ms
19 Flag of the United States svg.png Martin Truex Jr. Full season Bass Pro Shops
20 Full season
Flag of the United States svg.png 23XI Racing [M] 23 Flag of Australia svg.png Daniel Ricciardo Full season Optus
Flag of Canada svg.png Gaunt Brothers Racing [M] 40 Flag of the United States svg.png Travis Crabtree 7, 16, 25
96 Flag of the United States svg.png Corey Lajoie Full season
Flag of the United States svg.png NY Racing Team [M] 44 Flag of the United Kingdom svg.png James James Davies Full season
82 Full season
Flag of the United States svg.png MBM Motorsports [V] 49 1
66 Flag of the United States svg.png Timmy Hill Full season
Flag of the United States svg.png Rick Ware Racing [M] 51 Full season
52 Full season
53 Full season
54 Full season
Flag of the United States svg.png Leavine Family Racing [V] 95 Flag of the United States svg.png Christopher Bell 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
Retrieved from "http://formularejects.com/w/index.php?title=2021_Alternate_NASCAR_Cup_Series&oldid=56673"