2020 NASCAR Panasonic Cup Series (Johnsonverse)

The 2020 NASCAR Panasonic Cup Series is the 72nd season for NASCAR professional stock car racing in the United States and the 49th season for the modern era Cup Series. The season began with the Harley-Davidson 250 at Road America, followed by the events leading into the Daytona 500, and close with the Pepsi 400, also at Daytona International Speedway.

It was announced that 2020 will be the last full-time season for seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson as well as for part-timer Brendan Gaughan. This is also the first Cup Series season without Jamie McMurray since 2001 and Paul Menard since 2004.

This season was scheduled to be the final year for the original Strictly Stock Car, with the Strictly Stock Car II debuting in 2021. However, when the coronavirus pandemic postponed all NASCAR racing (and therefore, testing) until the month of May, the sanctioning body announced that the debut of the car would be pushed back a year to 2022.

Teams

 * On June 3, 2019, Morgan-McClure Motorsports announced its rebirth, with driver Jimmy Weller III driving the #04 Kodak Oldsmobile Cutlass.
 * On September 24, 2019, in a Frontstretch article, Rick Ware Racing owner Rick Ware was interviewed and said that he would like to run three cars full time in 2020. It would most likely be the No. 53 team that would run full time (to continue adding cars in numerical order). The No. 53 as well as their No. 54, a fourth car for the team, both ran part time schedules in 2019.
 * On October 25, 2019, it was reported that boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. is interested in starting a new NASCAR Cup Series team called The Money Team Racing. On January 23, 2020, hours before first practice for the Harley-Davidson 250 began, Mayweather announced that the team would run a full-time schedule with the #46 Pontiac driven by Michael Annett; Annett had not had a full-time Cup Series ride since 2016, having last driven (ironically) the #46 for the now-defunct HScott Motorsports.
 * Evernham Motorsports expanded to a four-car team, landing Wade Davis, Richie Reed, and Stan Mullis to join Kasey Kahne.

Drivers

 * On June 7, 2019, Jeb Burton was reportedly working on extending his one-year contract with Stewart-Haas Racing. On October 5, Burton stated that he and Stewart-Haas are getting close to an agreement.
 * On June 10, 2019, Richard Childress Racing was reportedly working on getting Tyler Reddick a full-time Cup Series ride in 2020, either with the team or its alliances. Later, on July 30, team owner Richard Childress said that Reddick would not be in the Busch Series next year as long as he stays with his team, and that the Cup Series was the only option. On September 4, it was reported that RCR is unclear if they can afford a third team for Reddick, and that Reddick has been talking to other teams such as Roush Fenway Racing. On October 2, RCR officially announced Reddick as the driver of the No. 33 Chevrolet for the 2020 season.
 * On July 20, 2019, Tommy Joe Martins confirmed he moved to MBM Motorsports with plans to run numerous Busch Series races in 2019 and 2020, and potentially a Cup race(s) in the near future.
 * On July 28, 2019, Joe Gibbs hinted at renewing Erik Jones' contract with Joe Gibbs Racing. On August 15, Jones confirmed that he is close to getting a deal done to extend his deal with JGR for the 2020 season. On September 2, when asked about Jones' contract situation, Gibbs responded, "He has a deal with us." On September 6, 2019, Jones' contract extension was finally officially announced, which runs for the one additional season of 2020.
 * On August 13, 2019, it was reported that Matt DiBenedetto may not return to Go FAS Racing in 2020, with rumors that the No. 32 Ford (model TBA) will be vacated for either Christopher Bell or Erik Jones, with the other driver in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20. Two days later, DiBenedetto confirmed that he would not be back with GFR after the end of the 2019 season.
 * On August 14, 2019, it was announced that David Ragan would be retiring from full-time competition following the 2019 season.
 * On August 16, 2019, Ryan Preece confirmed he will return to the JTG Daugherty Racing No. 47 Chevrolet for the 2020 season.
 * On August 17, 2019, Aric Almirola confirmed that he is signed with the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 10 Ford for the 2020 season.
 * On August 17, 2019, Daniel Hemric stated he was "iffy" about his status for 2020, with Tyler Reddick likely moving to Cup and if Richard Childress Racing is not able to find sponsorship to run a fifth car full time, Hemric may lose his ride despite having signed a two-year contract with the team last year. On September 17, RCR announced that Hemric would not return to the team following the 2019 season, before reversing course and announcing Hemric would run the No. 29 Chevrolet, with sponsorship coming from Doritos.
 * On August 21, 2019, it was reported that Rick Ware Racing was considering Garrett Smithley to drive the No. 51 full-time (in every race) in 2020. When asked about his future with RWR, Smithley replied: "I’m going to take it one race at a time." On September 24, Smithley was interviewed about those rumors and he stated that if he could do what he wanted, he would try to do something similar to what Ross Chastain did in 2019 and run as many races as possible in all three series (Cup, Xfinity, and Truck). In the same article, RWR team owner Rick Ware said that he anticipated Smithley would run several races with his team in 2020, whether it was full time or part time.
 * On September 10, 2019, Paul Menard announced he will retire from full-time racing after the 2019 season and at the same time, Wood Brothers Racing signed Matt DiBenedetto to drive for the No. 21 Ford full-time for the 2020 season. It was previously reported on July 12, 2019 that Menard had re-signed with WBR and was expected to return to the No. 21 team in 2020 with speculation that he had been considering retiring within the next few years after 2020.
 * On September 13, 2019, it was reported that Chris Buescher and JTG Daugherty Racing were "in progress" in negotiating Buescher's contract renewal. However, on September 25, it was announced that Buescher would be returning to Roush Fenway Racing and would drive the No. 17 Ford. In terms of who could replace Buescher in the No. 37 for JTGD, team co-owner Brad Daugherty said to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that the team "would like to find (a driver) with some experience (so the team) can continue to grow. We’ve taken good steps with that 37 car this year, really positive steps. We’d like to continue that. We don’t want to go backwards. It’s a tough situation to be in as an owner and a team, but we’re pretty resilient and we’ll figure it out. We’re going to give somebody a heck of an opportunity.”
 * On October 16, 2019, JTG Daugherty Racing announced that they signed Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to a multi-year deal starting in 2020.
 * On November 13, 2019, it was announced that Matt Tifft and Front Row Motorsports have mutually parted ways after Tifft started having health issues towards the end of the 2019 season.
 * On November 27, 2019, it was announced that Quin Houff would drive the No. 99 Chevrolet for StarCom Racing full-time in 2020 and 2021, replacing Ralph Higgins, who was fired after he was arrested for possession of child pornography. Houff had driven part-time for Spire Motorsports and Premium Motorsports last year in the Nos. 15, 27, and 77 cars. In addition, Houff will compete for the 2020 Rookie of the Year honors. Kip Branch will continue driving a part-time schedule in the team's unique "Frankenstein's Car" (consisting of a 2013 Car of Tomorrow body on a Strictly Stock Car chassis, the only Car of Tomorrow still running in the Cup Series; in response to this holdout, NASCAR will ban any CoT bodies from running after 2020, Lend-Lease entries nonwithstanding).
 * On December 14, 2019, it was announced that Australian James Davison would make his Cup debut at the Daytona 500 in an entry jointly fielded by Jonathan Byrd's Racing, an IndyCar Series team he has driven for in the past, and Hayward Motorsports, a Sprint Car team he has driven for in the past. The car will come from Rick Ware Racing. He has made four Xfinity Series starts as a road course ringer. Davison primarily drives in IndyCar, and will attempt to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 this year, meaning he will run both marquee races in the same year. The team's number is not yet known, though they have announced they will be running a Pontiac Firebird.
 * On December 20, 2019, Rick Ware Racing announced that Joey Gase will drive their sole car full-time in 2020. After many years running full-time in the Busch Series, this is Gase's first full season in Cup.
 * On December 21, 2019, Brendan Gaughan announced that he will retire from racing after the 2020 season.
 * On January 9, 2020, it was announced that Ross Chastain would drive the No. 77 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports at the Daytona 500 as well as the Coca-Cola 600 in a partnership with Chip Ganassi Racing, the same way how the two teams jointly fielded Jamie McMurray's entry at the 2019 Daytona 500.
 * On January 10, 2020, Justin Haley, a full-time Xfinity Series driver for Kaulig Racing, was announced to pilot Kaulig's new part-time Cup Series car, the No. 16 Chevrolet, in the Daytona 500. He ran three races last year driving the No. 77 for Spire Motorsports, including at the summer Daytona race where he pulled off an upset win in his third series start.
 * On February 17, 2020, Ryan Newman was injured in a last-lap flip across the finish line at the Daytona 500. Ross Chastain will drive for the team at Rockingham. Newman will return for the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at Rockingham.
 * On April 13, 2020, Chip Ganassi Racing suspended Kyle Larson indefinitely without pay after he was found to use a racial slur during an iRacing event the day before. Shortly after Ganassi's announcement, NASCAR also suspended him indefinitely (though this decision was made without Tim Johnson's approval; Tim was within minutes of reversing the ruling before Chloe reminded him that it could hurt their father's presidential campaign if he defended racism, which is a major part of Sheldon's platform), and multiple corporations such as McDonald's, Credit One Bank, and Dodge also terminated their sponsorship of Larson (several smaller companies who sponsor Larson in sprint cars chose to stay with him). The following day, Ganassi outright released Larson. Though Ross Chastain was considered the favorite, it was announced on April 27, 2020 that Matt Kenseth would come back to drive the #42 Dodge for the rest of the season.

Manufacturers

 * On October 31, 2019, Chevrolet announced a new Cup body based on the Camaro ZL1 1LE. The body was approved in Summer 2019. Chevrolet said the main goal was a flatter nose, as the pointed nose of the baseline ZL1 caused the Big One at plate tracks throughout 2018 and 2019 when attempting to push.
 * Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Plymouth, Studebaker, and Geyser will return to full-time NASCAR competition. It has been confirmed that Stewart-Haas Racing will switch from Chevrolet to Pontiac (as Tony Stewart had won his 2002 Winston Cup championship in a Pontiac), Richard Petty Motorsports will switch from Dodge to Plymouth (due to Richard Petty's legendary association with the Superbird), and the newly-reopened Morgan-McClure Motorsports will run Oldsmobile.
 * Multiple teams switched manufacturers in what was described as the "Great Charm Offensive of 2020". Among the changes were Stavola Bros. Racing switching to Oldsmobile, Rudd Performance Motorsports switching to Buick after a charm offensive to compensate for the closure of the #153 team at Bobby Allison Racing, Spinner-Marcis Auto Racing switching to Plymouth, Del-War Inc. switched to Studebaker as the only confirmed Studebaker team for 2020, and Hillman Racing switched to Porsche.
 * On January 5, 2020, Richard Childress Racing announced it would be switching back to the Camaro, believing the Malibu's performance was subpar compared to the discontinued Impala.
 * Dodge discontinued use of the Neon for superspeedway races after plans to sell the car in the United States and Canada were scrapped in response to General Motors and Ford paring down their passenger car lineups in favor of SUVs and pickup trucks (which has consequently seen a sharp rise in the amount of factory support for NASCAR's truck and SUV divisions).
 * On July 29, 2019, DeLorean announced that it would debut in NASCAR. Much like how Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Plymouth, Studebaker, and Geyser all fielded developmental cars in 2019 for five races, DeLorean will do the same for 2020 with Crissy Helmsworth from the Arby's Convertible Division and Walt Espnoza from the Howard Johnson's SUV Series driving the DMC-12 and DMC-13, respectively. Helmsworth and Espnoza will drive full-time for the revived Team Red Bull for the 2021 season.

Schedule
The schedule for the 2020 season was released in April 2019.

Changes
The 2020 schedule for the NASCAR Panasonic Cup Series will undergo a series of significant changes.


 * The PrimeStar Rebel 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway will no longer serve as the final race of the season as it was in 2019, instead being the penultimate race.
 * After 21 years of being NASCAR's Fourth of July weekend event (and 60 of 61 years overall), the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway will become the final race of the season. Tim Johnson explained he wanted the season to have a "perfect bookend". The Daytona split in place between WBC and Fox will remain through the end of the current television contract.
 * The STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway will be run under the lights for the first time on May 9, Mother's Day Weekend.
 * The Tyson Holly Farms 400, will move to May 31, 2020, after the Coca-Cola 600.
 * Both events at Tokyo Superspeedway will be run on consecutive days the weekend of July 4-5, marking the first time a Cup Series race has been run on Independence Day since 2009. As a result, the Daytona Late Model Classic will return to Tokyo.
 * The Geyser/Save Mart 350 will move one week earlier than 2018.
 * There will be two off weeks between Loudon and Michigan so WBC won't have to compete with the NBC networks' coverage of the 2020 Summer Olympics, meaning the off week for the U.S. Open Golf Championships that Fox instituted will be removed. WBC will instead run the Circuit City Summer Showdown during this period.

Changes due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

 * The Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway and the Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead–Miami Speedway were originally announced on March 12, 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic to take place without fans in attendance, but one day later on March 13, 2020, NASCAR announced that the two Cup races (including support races) would be postponed.
 * On March 16, 2020, NASCAR announced all race events through May 3 have been postponed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Prior to this announcement, Tim Johnson contemplated having the drivers run these races using Ultimate NASCAR, but ultimately decided to instead run doubleheaders later in the season. To facilitate this, he ordered Talladega Superspeedway to install a lighting system so the GEICO 500 could be run after the Sugarland Shine 250 SuperTruck race, then run the 1000Bulbs.com 500 the next day.
 * On April 30, 2020, Tim Johnson appeared on Hello World to announce the return of NASCAR racing on May 17. Races will be run at Darlington, Charlotte, and North Wilkesboro, and will see the revival of the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400, TranSouth 500, Bank of America 500, and First Union 400. Consideration is also being given for running races at Daytona, Homestead, Walt Disney World, and New Smyrna (which has never hosted a NASCAR race outside of the Sears All-American Racing Series). All races will be held without fans and, except for the Coca-Cola 600, the field will be set by owners points instead of heat races. To facilitate this, the Geyser/SaveMart 350 and Camping World 400 were cancelled, and it was also announced that the Toyota Owners 400 would not be made up; further cancellations may follow, and this schedule is subject to change based on whether or not any drivers, crew, or track staff get infected. On May 14, 2020, further races were announced, to be held at Bristol, Delaware, Martinsville, Homestead-Miami, and Talladega; despite the latter going ahead, the lighting system installation will continue.

Round 1: Harley-Davidson 250
Takuma Sato started on the pole, giving Hyundai its first pole. During the parade laps, news broke that Kobe Bryant had been killed in a helicopter crash, and Tim Johnson gave the order for the WBC booth to go silent at Lap 24 in his honor; as it was short-notice, the silent lap was not announced on-air, and Bryant's death wasn't announced until Lap 25, when Ken Squier broke the news; as if by an act of God, William Byron was leading during the silent lap, and would lead the most laps that day. The hotly-contested race was decided in a last-lap pass when Cole Custer pulled a bump-and-run on Byron for his first Cup Series win, as well as Pontiac's first NASCAR win since the 2003 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400.

Speedweeks 2020
In Daytona 500 qualifying, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the pole with Alex Bowman qualifying second.

In the Busch Clash, Ryan Newman started on pole. Brad Keselowski led the most laps, but got into the wall. Joey Logano was leading, but got into the wall after contact with Kyle Busch. On the restart, several drivers spun their tires causing a crash before the start-finish line including Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr., and Jimmie Johnson. In overtime, Denny Hamlin had a tire go down and collected several cars. On the next overtime restart, Chase Elliott spun after contact with Kyle Larson. Erik Jones, running with a damaged front end, made a last lap pass on Newman with help from Hamlin for the win. Out of the 16 cars that started the race, only six finished, these being Jones, Austin Dillon, Tony Stewart, Larson, Ryan Newman, and Hamlin, who was off the lead lap.

In the Gatorade Duel, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. led the first Duel. Daniel Suarez got into the wall after contact with Ryan Blaney. Joey Logano held off Aric Almirola to win his second straight Duel. In the second Duel, Alex Bowman led. J.J. Yeley hit the wall after contact with Corey LaJoie. William Byron and Jimmie Johnson drove past Kevin Harvick and Byron held off Johnson to win. Suarez, Yeley, Randall Park, Chad Finchum, Kyle Krisiloff, and a record 98 Lend-Lease entries (including Dale Jarrett, Harry Gant, and Rusty Wallace) failed to make the race. Richard Petty, driving a Lend-Lease Plymouth Superbird, qualified in ninth in his bid for win #201.

Round 2: Daytona 500
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. started on the pole. The race ran for 20 laps before the red flag was shown for rain, and by 6:50 PM EST, the decision was made to postpone the race to 4 PM EST on Monday, marking the second Daytona 500 delayed to Monday, the first being the infamous 2012 running that sparked massive change in NASCAR. The four Plymouth Superbirds in the field, as well as an older Superbird driven by Richard Petty in his first NASCAR start since the 1992 Hooter's 500, dominated for most of the day. William Byron spun and slammed the wall after contact with polesitter Stenhouse. Stenhouse was hit from behind coming to pit road. In the closing laps, Kyle Busch blew an engine as Brad Keselowski was turned into the wall collecting Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Aric Almirola, Bubba Wallace, Justin Haley, Martin Truex Jr., Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, Matt DiBenedetto, Dakoda Armstrong, defending series champion Noah Howe, Takuma Sato, Bill Fuller, Randall Park, Bryan Clauson, and eight Lend-Lease entries. Ross Chastain had a tire go down and collected Joey Logano, Ryan Preece, Ty Dillon, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Beau Philips, Vinnie Miller, Carl Maggio, Matt Rhodes, Dexter Bean, Matt Mill, and three Lend-Lease entries. Clint Bowyer and Michael McDowell spun sending the race to overtime. Ryan Newman took the lead from Tony Stewart on the last lap, but was turned by Ryan Blaney and went airborne and landing on the roof before being plowed into by Corey LaJoie. Stewart edged Blaney at the line for his third 500 win in six years and his second consecutive Daytona 500 win, becoming the first driver since Sterling Marlin to win back-to-back 500s; it was also Stewart's first win in a Pontiac since the 2002 Sirius Satellite Radio at the Glen, and Pontiac's first Daytona 500 win since Cale Yarborough's win in 1983. Richard Petty, driving a Lend-Lease 1970 Plymouth Superbird, finished third. Newman was found unresponsive and was removed from the car and was rushed to the hospital with serious, but non-life threatening injuries; he was awake and talking to family and doctors by the next day, and by Wednesday, had been released. Following the race, Ken Squier spoke with Tim Johnson on the air via telephone, during which time Tim ordered WBC to go to wall-to-wall coverage until an update on Newman was available, and also warned everyone not to spread rumors and fake news on social media. Later, during the press conference where Newman's condition was announced, Tim also ripped into those who ignored him and spread rumors of Newman's death, as well as on Fireside Chat with Tim Johnson the next night. LaJoie was also injured in the crash, complaining of testicular pain en route to the infield care center.

Round 3: Dodge Challenger 400
Tony Stewart won the pole after qualifying was cancelled due to rain. Chase Elliott dominated early. Martin Truex Jr. had to return to pit road to tighten lug nuts and later slammed the wall after having a tire go down. Elliott also had a tire go down and slammed the wall. Ryan Blaney, despite a tire rub, he took the lead from Joey Logano and was heading to the win until Ross Chastain spun. Blaney and Alex Bowman pitted while Logano stayed out. William Byron had a tire rub and wrecked along with Blaney, Kyle Busch, and John Hunter Nemechek as Logano held off Matt DiBenedetto for Penske's second straight win at Rockingham, and Dodge's first points win of 2020.

Round 4: Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube
Tony Stewart started on pole for the second week in a row. Clint Bowyer brought out the caution after having a tire go down. Kyle Larson got into the wall after contact with Denny Hamlin, but was able to keep going. Hamlin made contact with the wall. Alex Bowman took the lead from Martin Truex Jr. and continued to lead with Ryan Blaney in second. Blaney had to pit for a flat tire with three laps to go. Bowman continued to lead for his second career Cup victory over Kyle Busch, and Chevrolet's first points win of 2020.

Round 5: TicketGuardian 500
Chase Elliott started on the pole. Ryan Blaney slammed the wall after making contact with Denny Hamlin and collected Brad Keselowski. Erik Jones got into the wall. Tyler Reddick ran well until he got loose and got into the wall. Martin Truex Jr. plowed the wall after contact with Aric Almirola. Ross Chastain spun and an accident between John Hunter Nemechek and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. sent the race to overtime. Joey Logano was passed with two laps to go by defending series champion Noah Howe for his first win of the season, as well as Aston Martin's first win of 2020.

Round 6: Carolina Dodge Dealers 400
This race will mark the first NASCAR Panasonic Cup Series race since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States, as well as the first time Darlington Speedway has held a race in May since 2014, and the first 400-mile race at Darlington since 2004.