2019 NASCAR Panasonic Cup Series (Johnsonverse)

The 2019 NASCAR Panasonic Cup Series will be the 71st season of professional stock car racing in the United States, and the 48th modern-era NASCAR Cup series season. The season will begin at Road America with the Harley-Davidson 250, followed by Daytona International Speedway with the Busch Clash, the Can-Am Duel qualifying races and the 61st running of the Daytona 500. The season will end with the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on November 17, 2019.

It will be the fifth season of the current 10-year television contract with Fox Sports, NBC Sports, and WBC Sports, and the fourth of a five-year race sanctioning agreement with all tracks.

It is scheduled to be the first season in which the Cup Series has raced at Lucas Oil Speedway (replacing the August Bristol race), Nazareth Speedway (falling on the former Father's Day off-weekend), The Milwaukee Mile (replacing the September Richmond race), Mid-Ohio Sports Car Complex (replacing the October Dover race), and Brands Hatch in Kent, England (falling on the former August off-weekend), marking the first international points-paying Cup Series race since 1958. The Brands Hatch, Mid-Ohio, and Nazareth races will be broadcast by WBC (Nazareth has been owned and operated by Johnson Industries since 2003), while the remainder will remain on NBC. This season will be the first time the season finale will have been held at Atlanta since 2000; Rockingham will host the third race on the schedule, after the Daytona 500 as it was from 1987 to 2001, with its old spot in the schedule occupied by Homestead.

In addition, this season will see Hyundai and Kia enter NASCAR competition with the Aslan and Optima, respectively; it will also see the return of Porsche (with the Boxster and 991), which last competed in NASCAR in 1954, Jaguar (with the XE), which last competed in 1956, and Aston Martin (with the DB11 Superleggera), which entered an unknown model in 1953. In addition, Toyota will begin fielding a second model, the Avalon, and Chrysler will field a third model, the Maserati GranTurismo, marking the first time a grand tourer has been used in NASCAR.

This will be the final season for 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup champion Matt Kenseth. His #60 Ford will be handed over to Kaz Grala.

2019 will also see NASCAR introduce the Summer Clash, which will see Cup, PrimeStar, and SuperTruck drivers competing on SSCs via a fan vote. The first Summer Clash will be raced at Pikrs Peak International Raceway.

Chevrolet

 * Hendrick Motorsports (Camaro)
 * 5 Justin Allgaier
 * 9 Chase Elliott
 * 24 William Byron
 * 25 Alex Bowman
 * 48 Jimmie Johnson
 * JTG Daugherty Racing (Impala)
 * 37 Chris Buescher
 * 47 Ryan Reed
 * 59 Tyler Reddick (R)
 * Richard Childress Racing (Impala)
 * 3 Austin Dillon
 * 29 Daniel Hemric (R)
 * 31 Ty Dillon
 * 33 John Wes Townley (R)
 * 62 Parker Kligerman (R)
 * Stewart-Haas Racing (Camaro)
 * 00 Cole Custer (R)
 * 4 Kevin Harvick
 * 10 Aric Almirola
 * 14 Tony Stewart
 * 41 Jeb Burton
 * Dale Earnhardt Inc. (Camaro)
 * 8 Jeffrey Earnhardt
 * 15 Macy Waltrip
 * StarCom Racing (Impala)
 * 99 Derrike Cope, Ralph Higgins (R)


 * Phoenix Racing (Camaro)
 * 09 Scott Heckert (R)
 * 50 Brian Vickers
 * 67 Brennan Newberry (R)
 * 74 Jamie McMurray
 * Premium Motorsports with Scuderia Corsa (Camaro)
 * 158 Ross Chastain

Ford

 * Front Row Motorsports (Mustang)
 * 34 Michael McDowell
 * 35 David Gilliland
 * 36 Nate Beasley (R)
 * 38 David Ragan
 * 39 Alan Walker (R)
 * Go FAS Racing (Taurus)
 * 32 Matt DiBenedetto
 * Roush Fenway Racing (Roush Mustang)
 * 06 Trevor Bayne
 * 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
 * 60 Matt Kenseth
 * 97 Carl Edwards
 * Wood Brothers Racing (Shelby GT500)
 * 21 Paul Menard
 * 121 Jon Wood (R)
 * Rick Ware Racing (Lincoln Continental)
 * 51 Cody Ware (R)

Toyota

 * GMS Racing (Avalon)
 * 73 Gray Gaulding
 * 82 Spencer Gallagher (R)
 * 83 Robert Richardson Jr.
 * 84 Amber Lucky
 * 85 Luke Trigger (R)
 * Joe Gibbs Racing (Camry)
 * 11 Denny Hamlin
 * 18 Christopher Bell (R)
 * 19 Daniel Suarez
 * 20 Erik Jones
 * 81 Ryan Preece


 * Kyle Busch Motorsports (Avalon)
 * 51 Jesse Clemons (R)
 * 54 Kyle Busch
 * 78 Kurt Busch
 * 87 Matt Tifft (R)


 * Hillman Racing (Camry)
 * 04 Landon Cassill

Dodge

 * Team Penske (Charger)
 * 02 Ryan Blaney
 * 2 Brad Keselowski
 * 22 Joey Logano
 * 77 Sam Hornish Jr.
 * Richard Petty Motorsports (Challenger)
 * 43 Darrell Wallace Jr.
 * 44 Billy Johnson
 * 45 James Buescher (R)
 * Evernham Motorsports (Charger)
 * 93 Kasey Kahne
 * Chip Ganassi Racing (Challenger)
 * 01 Martin Truex Jr.
 * 1 David Stremme
 * 39 Bryan Clauson
 * 42 Kyle Larson


 * Rusty Wallace Racing (Charger)
 * 102 Steve Wallace (R)

Honda

 * Orange County Racing (Accord)
 * 86 Jed Thomas
 * 90 Luke George
 * Doug Yates Racing (Civic)
 * 28 Elliott Sadler
 * 88 Vinnie Miller (R)
 * Leavine Family Racing (Accord)
 * 95 Ryan Reed

BMW (Only Fields M3)

 * Team Ohio
 * 64 Kelly Walker
 * 65 Rodney Clay
 * Germain Racing
 * 13 Ryan Newman


 * Dar-Wal Inc.
 * 17 Ray Black Jr. (R)

Nissan (Only Fields Sentra)

 * MAG Incorporated
 * 58 Lyle White
 * 59 Bill Fuller
 * 71 Randall Parker
 * 177 Randy Norton
 * Stash Motorsports
 * 91 Bo Abraham
 * 92 Beau Philips

Buick (Only Fields Regal)

 * Bobby Allison Racing
 * 12 Dakoda Armstrong
 * 152 Clint Bowyer
 * 153 Alvin Shields
 * Rossi Racing
 * 50 BJ Fisher
 * 53 Tyson Golston

Cadillac (Only Fields CTS-V)

 * Red Tiger Motorsports with Sterling Marlin
 * 170 Tracy Johnson
 * PBP Motorsports
 * 16 Ross Chastain
 * 49 Ned Shannon (R)
 * 62 Timmy Hill (R)
 * 66 Tanner Berryhill
 * 98 T.J. Bell (R)


 * NY Racing
 * 174 J.J. Yeley
 * 175 Jeff Green

Chrysler (RETURNING; Only Fields Maserati GranTurismo)

 * Cale Yarborough Racing
 * 98 Simon Stevens

Jaguar (RETURNING; Only Fields XE)

 * Travis Carter Racing
 * 23 Ben Rhodes


 * Ken Schrader Racing
 * 52 Josh Berry (R)

Porsche (RETURNING)

 * Kenny Bernstein Racing (Boxster)
 * 26 Harrison Rhodes


 * NEMCO Motorsports with Carl Long (991)
 * 66 John Hunter Nemechek (R)

Kia (NEW; Only Fields Optima)

 * Junior Johnson Racing
 * 27 BJ McCleod


 * Labonte Bros. Racing
 * 96 Justin Labonte (R)

Aston Martin (RETURNING; Only Fields DB11 Superleggera)

 * Delma Cowart Racing
 * 0 Noah Howe
 * 100 Chris Vallely
 * 180 Dave Hawkins (R)


 * Rudd Performance Motorsports
 * 110 Mike Murphy (R)


 * Butch Jones Enterprises with Geoffrey Bodine
 * 162 Clay Jones (R)
 * 163 Katie Bell (R)

Hyundai (NEW; Only Fields Aslan)

 * Tri-Star Motorsports
 * 58 Stephen Leicht
 * 67 Timothy Peters (R)
 * 72 Cole Whitt
 * 79 Corey LaJoie (R)


 * Stavola Bros. Racing
 * 08 Bo Abraham (R)


 * Robby Gordon Motorsports
 * 07 Takuma Sato (R)
 * 7 Kimi Raikkonen (R)

Chevrolet

 * StarCom Racing (Gen-6 Chevrolet SS)
 * 99 TBA
 * Beard Motorsports (Impala)
 * 62 Brendan Gaughan

Honda

 * Obaika Racing (Accord)
 * 101 TBA

Aston Martin

 * Gaunt Brothers Racing
 * 96 TBA

Teams and drivers

 * On August 23, 2018, Front Row Motorsports purchased majority of the assets of the bankrupt BK Racing for US$2.08 million. With this purchase, FRM will field a third team in the 2019 season.
 * On September 3, 2018, Obaika Racing announced that they will run a few races in the Cup series in 2018, before moving to full-time in 2019.
 * On September 4, 2018, Furniture Row Racing announced that they will close its doors following the 2018 season due to the loss of Five-Hour Energy as a sponsor.
 * On September 7, 2018, it was announced that Matt DiBenedetto will not return to Go Fas Racing in 2019.
 * On September 10, 2018, it was announced that Jamie McMurray will not return to Chip Ganassi Racing in 2019. CGR had offered McMurray a contract to drive at the 2019 Daytona 500 before moving to a leadership position with the team.
 * On September 15, 2018, it was announced that Ryan Newman will not return to Richard Childress Racing in 2019. Later on September 21, 2018, it was confirmed that Newman will move to Roush Fenway Racing in the No. 6 full-time, replacing Bayne and Kenseth.
 * On September 16, 2018, it was announced that Kyle Busch would be leaving Joe Gibbs Racing to expand Kyle Busch Motorsports to the Panasonic Cup Series. The four-car team will consist of Kyle Busch as an owner-driver, Kurt Busch, Jesse Clemons, and Matt Tifft, the latter two running for Rookie of the Year honors. The same day, Christopher Bell was announced as the new driver of the #18 car, also running for RotY honors.
 * On September 17, 2018, it was announced that Jeb Burton would inherit the #41 car from Kurt Busch at Stewart-Haas Racing.

Manufacturers

 * Toyota will begin fielding a second model, the Avalon, after five seasons of exclusively fielding the Camry. GMS Racing will switch to the Avalon, and Kyle Busch Motorsports will also field the model, while Joe Gibbs Racing and Hillman Racing have confirmed they will continue using the Camry.
 * A "Manufacturer Boom" will take place, as Kia, Maserati, and Hyundai will enter NASCAR competition. In addition, Aston Martin, Jaguar, and Porsche, all of which competed in the 1950s, will return to NASCAR.
 * After running the Honda Civic in 2018, Gaunt Brothers Racing will switch to the Aston-Martin DB11 Superleggera in 2019. So far, it is the only confirmed part-time Aston Martin team.
 * Dodge is considering offering the new Neon for restrictor-plate races, as it had with the now-discontinued Dart for short tracks and road courses in the first two years of the SSC.
 * Aston Martin had originally announced it would field the Vanquish Volante, but switched to the DB11 Superleggera after the Vanquish line was discontinued in 2018.
 * On October 28, 2018, prior to the Iowa Corn 400, Ford announced that the Taurus would be replaced by the Lincoln Continental due to the imminent discontinuation of the Taurus. Ford will reportedly be enforcing this switch very strictly, and any teams who continue using the Taurus will not receive factory support.



Rule changes

 * In response to the second "Great Team Boom" of 2018 and 2019, NASCAR will expand the field to 60 cars. Already, concerns have been raised about overcrowding on the smaller tracks; Tim Johnson has stated that NASCAR will address those concerns, one option being that short tracks will keep the 46-car limit
 * This season will see the return of the Winston Million, renamed the Panasonic Million to reflect Panasonic's title sponsorship.
 * It is rumored that NASCAR plans to stamp out the remaining Gen-6 car holdouts by either introducing new rules that would make the car uncompetitive, manufacturers offering trade-ins for SSCs, to outright banning the car; this ban would only apply to the Car of Tomorrow chassis, as StarCom Racing has used a Gen-6 body on an SSC chassis since 2016 and been competitive on the restrictor plate tracks with this configuration.

Schedule
The final schedule – comprising 39 races, as well as exhibition races, which are the Busch Clash, Can-Am Duels qualifying duel races for the Daytona 500, the All-Star Race, the Daytona Late Model Classic, and the Summer Clash – was released on April 3, 2018. Key changes from 2018 include:
 * Two of the three off-weekends (Father's Day and August) are now race weekends, occupied by Nazareth Speedway and Brands Hatch, respectively.
 * Atlanta was moved to November to become the season finale for the first time since 2000 (it was scheduled to be the season finale in 2001, before the New Hampshire 300 was delayed to the Sunday after November by 9/11). As a result, Homestead-Miami was moved to March, and Rockingham was moved to Atlanta's old spot on the schedule immediately following the Daytona 500 for the first time since 2001.
 * Several tracks lost races to other venues, none of which had ever hosted a Cup Series event (but had hosted, or do host, PrimeStar and SuperTruck Series events). Bristol lost its August night race to Lucas Oil Raceway (formerly Indianapolis Raceway Park), Richmond lost its September date to Milwaukee Mile, and Dover lost its October date to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
 * In broadcasting, the Walt Disney World Speedway race was moved from ESPN to WBC. With the move, the entire second-half of the season will be broadcast over-the-air, bar any weather-related broadcast moves.