2019 NASCAR Cup Series (Simpsonverse)

The 2019 NASCAR Cup Series is the 71st season of NASCAR professional stock car racing in the United States, and the 48th modern-era Cup series season. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the Busch Clash, the Gatorade 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 December 15, 2019.

The 2019 season is the first season in which Ford fields the Mustang GT, replacing the Fusion. It also saw the return of Pontiac, which fields the newly-relaunched Grand Prix and Firebird. This is also the final season for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth.

Rule changes

 * In response to the second "Great Team Boom" of 2018 and 2019, NASCAR will expand the field to 60 cars on superspeedways, 51 cars on intermediate tracks, 48 cars on road courses, and keep the 46 car field on short tracks.
 * This season will see the return of the Winston Million, renamed the NASCAR Million. 2019 will also see the return of the No Bull 5, renamed the CompuServe 5, and for a $500,000 bonus.
 * On January 4, 2019, NASCAR announced a new post-race inspection rule in all three series, where race-winning teams found to be in violation of the rule book will automatically be disqualified. Following a race, the first-place and second-place team, along with at least one randomly selected car, will undergo post-race inspection. The car that fails the inspection will receive last-place points.
 * Starting with the Daytona 500, more tire manufacturers were approved, including Pirelli, Yokohama, Bridgestone, Cooper, and Falken.

Schedule
The 2019 schedule was released on April 3, 2018. Sonoma Raceway will return to the original 2.52 mile course configuration for the first time since 1997, and Indianapolis Motor Speedway will switch to its roval in lieu of its oval. The race times were announced on December 11, 2018. The only changes were the Martinsville, Indianapolis and North Wilkesboro races being moved to prime time that day compared to last year.