With news of Kasey Kahne’s retirement, it got us thinking: What has the turnover been for teams since the start of the playoffs in 2017? Bob Pockrass has you covered.
If you are thinking that plenty of changes in the NASCAR Cup Series have occurred over the past year, you would be right. Look no further than Thursday’s news that after 15 years in the Cup series, Kasey Kahne is retiring from full-time racing.
More than half of the Cup cars have had a driver or a crew chief or a number change since the start of the 2017 playoffs.
Kasey Kahne, who has 18 career wins in 527 starts, will no longer race full time in the Cup Series after the 2018 season.
Elliott Sadler, who has competed full time at the NASCAR national series level since 1997, will not return to full-time racing in 2019.
NASCAR’s annual scramble to secure rides for the next season involves several prominent drivers, including Martin Truex Jr. Here are some who are still looking.
That number likely will increase by the start of 2019 as several drivers have their deals end after this season. And even more could see their contracts bought out by the time this season ends.
Here’s a look at the full-time car changes since the start of the playoffs in 2017:
00: This Derrike Cope -managed team is running full time this year. It started the season with Jeffrey Earnhardt before Landon Cassill stepped into the seat for many of the recent races. Rick Bourgeois came over from BK Racing as crew chief during the summer, replacing Tony Furr.
6: Trevor Bayne has been pulled from the car for select races this year in favor of Matt Kenseth .
9: Chase Elliott moved to this car number from the No. 24 last year.
10: Aric Almirola replaced Danica Patrick starting in 2018. This car has Kurt Busch ’s crew from last year minus crew chief Tony Gibson. John Klausmeier, Gibson’s lead engineer, is the crew chief.
12: Ryan Blaney moved from the Wood Brothers No. 21 car to this new Penske car, a third in-house car. His crew chief, Jeremy Bullins, and many of the crew came with him.
13: Ty Dillon crew chief Matt Borland, formerly crew chief for Paul Menard at Richard Childress Racing, took over the reins this year from Robert „Bootie“ Barker.
15: Ross Chastain has been the primary driver of this car this year. Reed Sorenson had that role in 2017. Pat Tryson is the crew chief; Tommy Baldwin was the crew chief at the start of the playoffs last year.
20: Erik Jones replaced Kenseth in this car following the 2017 season. His crew chief, Chris Gayle, came with him from Furniture Row Racing.
21: Menard moved from RCR to replace Blaney in this Penske-affiliate car. Crew chief Greg Erwin came over from Penske.
23: This team has been in bankruptcy all season. It has had several drivers ( Corey LaJoie was the primary driver last year) and also had a few crew chiefs from Randy Cox to Rick Bourgeois to currently Tony Furr.
24: William Byron replaced Kahne at Hendrick Motorsports for 2018 and the No. 5 team moved over to the No. 24 car as Elliott went to the newly numbered 9 car. Darian Grubb, who took over as crew chief for Kahne last September, remains the crew chief.
27: This RCR team shut down. Its charter went to the No. 00 team.
32: This team added Joe Falk as a partner and obtained use of his charter prior to the 2018 season. Gene Nead was replaced by BK Racing’s Randy Cox as the crew chief.
33: This team shut down after the season and Joe Falk moved into a partnership with Go Fas Racing.
34: Michael McDowell replaced Cassill in this car for 2018. Seth Barbour, crew chief of the team’s other car (the No. 38 of David Ragan) is named crew chief of this car in a team crew chief swap prior to the start of the year.
38: Ragan now has former No. 34 team crew chief Derrick Finley as his crew chief.
41: Billy Scott and Patrick’s team moved to work with Kurt Busch this year.
43: Bubba Wallace replaced Almirola as this team’s driver. The team also moved from Ford to Chevrolet.
51: The Rick Ware Racing team (30 attempts last year) is full time this year as it leased a charter from Richard Petty Motorsports. It has used a variety of drivers.
55: Premium Motorsports fielded this car for 27 races in 2017. It is now the No. 7 car on most weekends. It has had a variety of drivers. Peter Sospenzo is the current crew chief.
72: Cole Whitt stepped back from full-time racing and now shares this ride with LaJoie.
83: This BK Racing car competed in 33 races with a variety of drivers in 2017 and was shut down prior to the 2018 season.
77: This Furniture Row Racing team (Erik Jones) shut down after last season.
88: Alex Bowman replaced Dale Earnhardt Jr. as the driver.
95: Kahne replaced McDowell as the driver in the offseason. Travis Mack came from Hendrick Motorsports to be the crew chief (Todd Parrott was crew chief at the start of the playoffs but left the team prior to the end of the season). Mack was released over the summer. Jon Leonard, a team engineer, is the crew chief.
