Who drove for every team in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series

The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series ran with 36 chartered teams, each holding a charter that guaranteed a place in every championship race. Open entries filled further spots, and driver swaps, injury stand-ins, suspensions and sponsor changes kept the garage moving from the first practice to the final race.

How many teams were chartered in 2023?

Thirty-six teams held charters for the 2023 season, which guaranteed each a place in every championship race. Several open entries also took part, while some announced teams never reached the grid. MBM Motorsports ran no Cup races in 2023, although its owner said cars were prepared pending sponsorship.

Several owners reshaped their line-ups before the first race. Front Row Motorsports added Zane Smith as a part-time third car, an arrangement announced on 25 August 2022, and Kaulig Racing gave Chandler Smith a shot at a Cup debut in the Daytona 500. The seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson bought an ownership stake in Petty GMS Motorsports on 4 November 2022. That team later rebranded as Legacy Motor Club, and Johnson ran select races himself, including an attempt at the Daytona 500.

Two organisations also changed their supply lines. Rick Ware Racing formed a technical alliance with RFK Racing for 2023, ending a one-year alliance with Stewart-Haas Racing. Live Fast Motorsports moved from Ford to Chevrolet and took ECR Engines for the season.

Front Row Motorsports also shared its third car. Zane Smith was scheduled to drive the No. 38 in six races, splitting the seat with Todd Gilliland.

Not every announced entry made it to the track. Finish Line Motorsports Marketing said it would enter a No. 80 Ford with J. J. Yeley at the wheel in the Daytona 500, but the team did not take the start. Beard Motorsports planned to run Austin Hill in seven races, a schedule announced on 28 October 2022.

Thirty-six chartered teams, and a season that kept rewriting who sat in which car.

Which drivers changed teams for 2023?

Kyle Busch left Joe Gibbs Racing for Richard Childress Racing, and Tyler Reddick moved from RCR to 23XI Racing a year early after his contract was bought out. Ty Gibbs took over the car Busch vacated and ran it as the No. 54. Kurt Busch's concussion led him to step back from full-time racing.

That injury came in Pocono qualifying during 2022. On 15 October 2022 he announced he would step back from full-time racing in 2023, and he stayed with 23XI in an advisory role, with the option of driving part-time once cleared to race. On 26 August 2023 he formally announced his retirement from Cup racing.

Reddick had first been slated to drive a third RCR entry in 2023, with a move to 23XI planned for 2024. Once Kurt Busch stepped back, his contract was bought out and he took over the No. 45 a season early. Kyle Busch's move was the bigger story in the garage, coming after months of speculation about his contract talks with Joe Gibbs Racing.

Aric Almirola had announced he would retire from full-time driving after 2022, but he agreed a multi-year contract with Stewart-Haas Racing that delayed the retirement. Ryan Preece replaced Cole Custer in the No. 41 for 2023, and Chad Johnston took over as crew chief from Mike Shiplett. Johnston had worked for the team before, as crew chief of the No. 14 in 2014 and 2015.

A.J. Allmendinger drove the No. 16 full-time for Kaulig Racing, his first full Cup season since 2018. The team announced the move on 5 October 2022, and Matt Swiderski returned as crew chief.

Several drivers made one-off appearances. Kimi Raikkonen returned to the No. 91 at COTA, a track where he had scored his final Formula One victory in 2018, and Shane van Gisbergen, a three-time Supercars champion, drove the car at the Chicago street race. Jenson Button drove the Rick Ware No. 15 at COTA, Chicago and the Indianapolis road course. Andy Lally took over five road course races for the team, split between the No. 15 and the No. 51, and Ryan Newman drove the No. 51 in select races from Darlington. Jordan Taylor made his NASCAR debut in the No. 9 at COTA. Taylor had been a teammate of Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon when they won the 2017 24 Hours of Daytona together.

Which drivers were chasing the 2023 Daytona 500?

Several drivers tried to make the field for the season-opening Daytona 500. Zane Smith was entered in the No. 36 for Front Row Motorsports, Riley Herbst drove the No. 15 for Rick Ware Racing, and Chandler Smith, Jimmie Johnson and Travis Pastrana all had attempts planned.

Pastrana was set to drive the No. 67 for 23XI Racing with Black Rifle Coffee sponsorship, and Eric Phillips was named as his crew chief. Chandler Smith's attempt came in Kaulig Racing's No. 13, while Johnson's came with the team he had bought into the previous November.

Herbst's entry was announced on 31 January 2023 alongside SunnyD sponsorship. Guns N' Roses also backed Erik Jones's No. 43 for the same race, so the Daytona field mixed new names with familiar car numbers.

Who drove the No. 42 car in 2023?

Noah Gragson was signed to a two-year contract to drive the No. 42 for Legacy Motor Club, but NASCAR suspended him indefinitely in August 2023 over a social media post. Several stand-ins took the car, including Grant Enfinger, Mike Rockenfeller and Carson Hocevar, who was signed for the final four races.

Enfinger, who drives for co-owner Maury Gallagher's GMS Racing in the Truck Series, filled in at Sonoma after Gragson was ruled out with concussion-like symptoms from his Gateway crash. Enfinger's last Cup try had come in 2011, when he could not qualify for the Homestead finale with Sinica Motorsports. Rockenfeller then drove at Indianapolis and Watkins Glen, and Hocevar drove the car in the Darlington, Kansas and Bristol night events before his final four races were signed.

Gragson asked to be released from his contract on 10 August 2023 so he could focus on the reinstatement process. NASCAR lifted the suspension on 12 September 2023 after he completed diversity and inclusion training, and he had not yet announced his plans after reinstatement.

2023 changes at a glance

Why were four Hendrick crew chiefs suspended?

NASCAR suspended four Hendrick Motorsports crew chiefs for four races on 15 March 2023 after finding illegally modified hood louvers on all five of the organisation's cars. Each team received an L2 penalty. Those races were Atlanta and COTA, then Richmond and the Bristol dirt event, and interim crew chiefs took over.

Kaulig Racing's No. 31 crew chief, Trent Owens, was suspended for the same four races, though that suspension was deferred until after the team's appeal. Kevin Meendering took the No. 5, Tom Gray the No. 9, Brian Campe the No. 24 and Greg Ives the No. 48. Hendrick announced it would appeal the penalty but chose not to delay the suspensions. A second penalty followed on 6 April 2023, when the greenhouse areas of the No. 24 and No. 48 cars were found to be illegally modified, and Campe and Ives were suspended for two races at Martinsville and Talladega.

Other teams took similar hits. Keith Rodden, crew chief of the No. 3 at Richard Childress Racing, was suspended for two races on 19 April 2023 after an improperly assembled underwing was found on the car. NASCAR ejected 23XI crew chief Billy Scott at Darlington on 12 May 2023 after the No. 45 failed pre-qualifying inspection twice, and Dave Rogers stood in.

Johnny Klausmeier was suspended for six races after a counterfeit component turned up on the No. 14 at Stewart-Haas Racing, and Richard Boswell took over from Nashville. On 7 June 2023 Legacy Motor Club's No. 43 drew an L1 penalty when inspectors found an illegal greenhouse section on its Gateway car. Crew chief Dave Elenz served a two-race suspension, and the team's engineer Danny Efland stood in at the Chicago street race after the appeal was lost.

Justin Alexander, who had been the permanent crew chief of Richard Childress Racing's No. 3 in 2022, returned as interim crew chief for Talladega and Dover while Rodden served his suspension.

Team Penske made a swap in late August. Jeremy Bullins and Brian Wilson switched between the No. 2 and the No. 21 from Darlington after both cars missed the 2023 playoffs. Spire Motorsports also replaced the crew chief of its No. 77 on 25 July 2023, after poor performance compared with its No. 7 car.

Stewart-Haas Racing also needed a stand-in on 20 August 2023, when crew chief Rodney Childers withdrew from Kevin Harvick's No. 4 at Watkins Glen because of a family emergency. Stephen Doran served as interim crew chief for the race.

Which sponsors changed for the 2023 season?

M&M's and parent Mars left NASCAR after 2022, and Monster Energy backed Ty Gibbs in the No. 54 for most of the season. Chase Elliott joined the Coca-Cola Racing Family on 16 February 2023, bringing the brand back to Hendrick Motorsports for the first time since Jeff Gordon in 1996. Several smaller brands also backed individual races.

Netspend backed the No. 8 at COTA, while SunnyD sponsored the No. 15 at the Daytona 500 and the No. 4 at Darlington and Kansas. Guns N' Roses put its name on the No. 43 for the Daytona 500, and Procter & Gamble brands ran on Kaulig's No. 16 and No. 31 at the Bristol dirt race. Jinya Ramen Bar signed on with the No. 5 through 2024.

Camping World returned to NASCAR on 5 June 2023 as the sponsor of Andy Lally's road course races, its first time back since ending its title sponsorship of the Truck Series after 2022.

Old Spice and Wonder Bread also ran tribute liveries at Talladega in September, on the No. 14 and the No. 41, as a tribute to the film Talladega Nights. Driver changes get the headlines, but a car's number, sponsor and crew chief can change without the driver moving at all.