Cup Category

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season for the full-time drivers in the series leading into February’s running of the Daytona 500. Age: 42 Years in Cup: 18 Career Wins: 18 A team change can go two ways in the NASCAR Cup Series. The driver will either flourish or crumble into pieces. Ryan Newman certainly flourished and brought the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford Mustang squad its best overall season in over a decade. After missing the playoffs forRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season for the full-time drivers in the series leading into February’s running of the Daytona 500. Age: 23 Years in Cup: Four Career Wins: Two Accomplishments: 2015 NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series Champion Erik Jones punched his ticket into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs for the second straight year in 2019 by scoring the biggest win of his young career – the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington. Shortly thereafter, his plans for 2020 were securedRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season for the full-time drivers in the series leading into February’s running of the Daytona 500. Age: 21 Years in Cup: Rookie Career Wins: Nine in Xfinity Series and Two in Truck Series Six years competing on the national tour has culminated to this pinnacle moment for Cole Custer. It feels like yesterday when Custer broke through with a win at Loudon in just his seventh Truck Series start at the tender age ofRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season for the full-time drivers in the series leading into February’s running of the Daytona 500. Age: 44 Years in Cup: 19 Career Wins: 83 Accomplishments: Seven Cup Series championships (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2016) One last ride. After announcing over the offseason that the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season would be his last, Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 team are gearing up to send the greatest driver of his generation off withRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Note: This is the first in a five-part series of features highlighting the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2020 – Buddy Baker, Joe Gibbs, Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart and Waddell Wilson. The class will be officially enshrined on Jan. 31 at the Charlotte Convention Center, broadcast live at 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The indications were there from that first green flag he took as a little boy growing up in small town Texas. Bobby LabonteRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season for the full-time drivers in the series leading into February’s running of the Daytona 500. Age: 28 Years in Cup: Five Career Wins: Zero “I’m not done yet. Something will come open. It’s going to happen. I’m here to win. Something’s going to come open.” Those are the words Matt DiBenedetto said after his greatest drive of his ongoing roller coaster NASCAR career during last August’s memorable Bristol Night Race. The sport’s favorite underdog led 93 of 500Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season for the full-time drivers in the series leading into February’s running of the Daytona 500. Age: 27 Years in Cup: Five Career Wins: One Cup Series win, three Xfinity Series wins Accomplishments: 2012 ARCA championship, 2015 Xfinity Series championship After a four-year absence, Chris Buescher is headed back home to Roush Fenway Racing in 2020, taking over in the No. 17 Ford that had been driven by Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. since 2013. Before he climbs behindRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season for the full-time drivers in the series leading into February’s running of the Daytona 500. Age: 29 Years in Cup: Seven Career Wins: Two Austin Dillon’s 2019 campaign can be described as ambivalent. On one side, his playoff streak of three consecutive snapped as he struggled finding consistency on race days as shown with a dip on his average finish from 17.5 in 2018 to 19.5. Add insult to injury, he failed toRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season for the full-time drivers in the series leading into February’s running of the Daytona 500. Age: 25 Years in Cup: Rookie Career Wins: Seven Truck Series wins, 16 Xfinity Series wins Accomplishments: 2017 Truck Series championship Welcome to the big show, Christopher Bell. After working his way through the Toyota driver development pipeline over the past five years, the Norman, Oklahoma native finally gets his shot in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2020, taking over theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The much maligned aerodynamic packages that were rolled out for the NASCAR Cup Series last year are getting a facelift heading into 2020 — at least on the short tracks and road courses. Last season, the aero packages were split between a 750 horsepower package that ran on oval tracks one-mile or shorter and road courses, along with a 550 horsepower package that ran the remainder of the schedule. The massive eight-inch spoiler and other aerodynamic devices had a negative effect on the racing atRead More