Well, at least for one race. The two-time Cup Series winner who retired from full-time Cup competition at the end of 2019 announced Friday he will contend in the Daytona 500 next month. He will drive the No. 36 Ford for Rick Ware Racing.
Ragan will be sponsored by Select Blinds and Speedy Cash. Select Blinds sponsored him in a few races last year at Front Row Motorsports.
The No. 36 was fielded by Front Row Motorsports in 2019, but the team scaled down to two cars for 2020 after the departure of Matt Tifft and his sponsorship. Front Row Motorsports confirmed to NBC Sports that Ragan’s car will be prepped by the team and the No. 36 will have a Rick Ware Racing charter, guaranteeing it entry in the 500.
Both of Ragan’s Cup Series wins came on superspeedways. He won the July race at Daytona in 2011. That was followed in 2013 when he earned Front Row Motorsports’ first Cup win at Talladega.
The fog of the offseason has begun to lift and the start of a new NASCAR season looms.
When the fog clears, we will be met with the 62nd Daytona 500 on Feb. 16.
But this won’t be the start of just another season in NASCAR’s premier series. It will have a very different landscape compared to when the 2019 season ended in Miami in November.
While there’s a lot to breakdown for the coming season, it’s all essentially a preamble for 2021, which will see the Cup Series with its Next Gen car and potentially a very different race schedule.
Here’s what the table looks like for the Cup Series heading into 2020.
New Era, New Names
After serving in the role for three years, Monster Energy is no longer the entitlement sponsor of the Cup Series. With its departure also comes the end of the Cup Series’ entitlement sponsor model that had been in place since 1971 beginning with Winston.
After five decades of being the Winston, Nextel, Sprint and finally the Monster Energy Cup Series, the premier series will simply be called the NASCAR Cup Series.
Farther down on the series ladder comes the official merger of the ARCA Menards Series with NASCAR and what had been its K&N Pro Series circuits. The regional series will now be called the ARCA Menards Series East and West.
A glimpse at what Martinsville Speedway will look like at night. (Photo by Sarah Crabill/Getty Images)
Shuffling the Schedule
There’s a lot of expectations for what the Cup Series schedule will look like in 2021 after the end of NASCAR’s current five-year agreement with tracks.
But 2020 also has plenty of groundbreaking schedule developments.
– Martinsville Speedway will host its first official Cup night race on May 9. The short track also will host the final playoff elimination race for all three national series, with the Cup race held Nov. 1.
– Pocono Raceway will be the site of the Cup Series’ first ever doubleheader weekend June 27-28. Saturday’s race will be preceded by a Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series event and Sunday begins with a Xfinity Series race.
– Daytona International Speedway will host the Cup regular season finale, moving its second date from the traditional July 4 weekend to Aug. 29. The July 4 weekend race is now held by Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Cup races there July 5).
– Darlington Raceway and the Southern 500 will open the Cup playoffs on Sept. 6. It’s joined in the opening round by Richmond Raceway and in the playoffs for the first time, Bristol Motor Speedway, which will be the first elimination race.
– After being the site of the first elimination race the last two seasons, the Charlotte Roval will be the Round of 12 elimination race (Oct. 11) and be preceded by Talladega Superspeedway.
– After a nearly two-decade run, Homestead-Miami Speedway is no longer the site of the championship weekend. Its place is now held by Phoenix Raceway, with the Cup championship race scheduled for Nov. 8. Miami’s Cup race will be March 22.
– Other notable changes: The Xfinity Series will compete at Martinsville (Oct. 31) for the first time since 2004. The Truck Series returns to Richmond Raceway (April 18) for the first time since 2005.
Chevrolet
Chevrolet Remodel
Chevrolet Cup teams will appear in Daytona with a slightly different look to their cars.
When the full Cup Series starting grid forms for the first time at the Daytona 500, there will be a lot familiar faces sporting new numbers with new teams. That includes a rather accomplished rookie class.
– Matt DiBenedetto debuts with Wood Brothers Racing in the No. 21 Ford, moving over from Leavine Family Racing and taking over for Paul Menard, who retired from full-time racing.
Cole Custer and Mike Shiplett after their first win together in 2019. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images)
– Cole Custer and crew chief Mike Shiplett were promoted by Stewart-Haas Racing to take over its No. 41 Cup car, taking the place of Daniel Suarez. Suarez has not announced his plans for this season. SHR has not announced plans for its Xfinity program in 2020.
– Rookie John Hunter Nemechek takes over Front Row Motorsports’ No. 38 Ford, which was driven by the now retired David Ragan. Nemechek is paired with Seth Barbour at crew chief.
– Ryan Sparks joins Go Fas Racing after 13 years with Richard Childress Racing, primarily as an engineer, and will serve as crew chief for Corey LaJoie in the No. 32, replacing Randy Cox.
That means the storyline of who will replace him in the No. 48 will simmer underneath the surface for much of the season. Who could succeed the seven-time champion?
Kyle Larson is entering the final season of his contract with Chip Ganassi Racing.
Erik Jones is racing on a one-year extension with Joe Gibbs Racing
Matt DiBenedetto is under a one-year deal with the Wood Brothers.
More possible candidates could include Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski and others.
No. 36: Front Row Motorsports announced Nov. 13 it was parting ways with Matt Tifft so he could focus on his health following his seizure at Martinsville in March. Tifft said he could not commit to racing in 2020.
No. 37:Ryan Preece moves over from the No. 47 to the No. 37. He will have a new crew chief, Trent Owens, who has been crew chief on the No. 37 for the past three seasons.
Richard Childress Racing — Has not announced its driver plans for 2020, but Richard Childress said after Tyler Reddick claimed the Xfinity title that it would field a full-time entry.
Stewart-Haas Racing – The team has not announced plans for the No. 00 Ford with Cole Custer moving to Cup or whether Chase Briscoe will return to the No. 98.
There was one big shakeup from last year’s end-of-the-year wins list, as Martin Truex Jr. leaped over Joey Logano on the list and is now seventh among active drivers.
The following list is made up of drivers who started in the season finale, including Joe Nemechek, who started in seven of the last 11 races. It also includes Paul Menard and David Ragan, who made their final full-time Cup starts in Miami:
1. Jimmie Johnson – 83 wins (Winless in last 95 starts)
2. Kyle Busch – 56 wins (Five wins in 2019. Has at least five wins in four of the last five seasons.)
3. Kevin Harvick – 49 wins (Four wins in 2019)
4. Denny Hamlin – 37 wins (Six wins in 2019, his most since 2010)
5. Kurt Busch – 31 wins (One win in 2018; Has won at least once in last six seasons)
6. Brad Keselowski – 30 wins (Three wins in 2019; Has three wins in each of the last three season.)
7. Martin Truex Jr. – 26 wins (Seven wins in 2019; At least four wins in each of last four seasons)
8. Joey Logano – 23 wins (Two wins in 2019)
9. Ryan Newman – 18 wins (Winless in last 104 starts)
10. Clint Bowyer – 10 wins (Winless in last 57 races)
12. Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson – 6 wins
13. Joe Nemechek – 4 wins (None since 2004)
14. Ryan Blaney – 3 wins (One win in each of last three seasons)
19. Aric Almirola, Austin Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., David Ragan, Erik Jones – 2 wins
23. Alex Bowman, Chris Buescher, Paul Menard, Justin Haley – 1 win
Johnson will exit the No. 48 Chevrolet after 19 seasons at the end of next year. That sets the stage for a potentially wild Silly Season, especially with the current contracts of drivers like Erik Jones at Joe Gibbs Racing coming to end after the 2020 season.
Here’s how the current 2019-20 Silly Season has played out so far.
No. 36: Front Row Motorsports announced Nov. 13 it was parting ways with Matt Tifft so he could focus on his health following his seizure at Martinsville in March. Tifft said he could not commit to racing in 2020.
Stewart-Haas Racing – The team has not announced plans for the No. 00 Ford with Cole Custer moving to Cup or whether Chase Briscoe will return to the No. 98.
