The new NASCAR season is only a few short weeks away and the Monster Energy Cup Series teams are preparing for Speedwekks at Daytona.
As the 2017 season ended there were a number of changes to the list of drivers with some retiring and others making team changes.
As always throughout the season there are one off races where a driver will take over duties in a car or an owner will field an additional car; but the 2018 regular driver lineup is as follows:
Jamie McMurray will continue driving the number one car for Chip Ganassi Racing.
Brad Keselowski continues driving the number two car for Team Penske.
Austin Dillon continues in driving the number three car for Richard Childress Racing.
Kevin Harvick continues driving the number four Stewart-Haas Racing car.
The number five car is no longer being fielded
Trevor Bayne continues driving the number six car for Roush Fenway Racing.
After driving the number 24 car last season, Chase Elliott continues to drive for Hendrick Motorsports but returns to his old number and will now be in the number nine car.
Aric Almirola takes over driving duties in the number 10 car for Stewart-Haas Racing.
Denny Hamlin continues driving the number eleven car for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Ryan Blaney moves to Team Penske to drive the number 12 car as Penske fields a third team.
Ty Dillon continues driving the number 13 car for Germain Racing.
Clint Bowyer continues to drive the number 14 car for Stewart-Haas Racing.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr will continue to drive the number 17 car for Roush Fenway Racing.
Kyle Busch led over 2,000 laps last season in his number 18 M&Ms car. He will continue to drive the 18 in the 2018 racing season.
Daniel Suarez will continue to drive the number 19 car for Joe Gibbs Racing.
2017 Rookie of the Year Erik Jones moves over to Joe Gibbs Racing to drive the number 20 car.
Paul Menard moves over to Wood Brothers Racing to take over driving duties in the number 21 car.
New Dad Joey Logano continues to drive for Team Penske in his number 22 car.
Xfinity Racing champion William Byron will vie for Rookie of the Year honours as he takes over in the number 24 car for Hendrick Motorsports.
Rocket man Ryan Newman will continue to drive his number 31 car for Richard Childress Racing in the new year.
Matt DiBenedetto will drive the number 32 car for Go Fas Racing for another year.
Chris Buescher will stay on to the drive number 37 car for JTG Daugherty Racing team.
After much speculation, Kurt Busch will stay on at Stewart-Haas Racing to drive the number 41 car.
Kyle Larson is looking to continue his speedy ways with Chip Ganassi Racing in the number 42 car.
After losing his ride last season, Darrell Wallace Jr returns to NASCAR to take over the driving duties in the number 43 car for Richard Petty Motorsports.
AJ Allmendinger continues to drive for JTG Daugherty Racing in the number 47 car.
Seven time race champion Jimmie Johnson continues to drive the number 48 car for Hendrick Motorsports.
The 2017 NASCAR champion Martin Truex Jr will continue to drive the number 78 car for Furniture Row Racing.
After the sport’s most popular driver Dale Earnhardt Jr retired at the end of the 2017 season, Alex Bowman takes over the driving duties of the number 88 car for Hendrick Motorsports in the 2018 season.
After vacating the number five car last season, Kasey Kahne moves over to Leavine Family Racing to drive the number 95 car.
In a car number yet to be determined, Michael McDowell will be driving for Front Row Motorsports.
Also in a car number yet to be determined, David Ragan will also be driving for Front Row Motorsports in the 2018 season.
photo credit: By U.S. Air Force photo by Larry McTighe – United States Air Force, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=566736