This article is part of our NASCAR Draft Kit series.
Driver Changes
Thanks to the usual silly season movement and free-agent driver signings, we have several drivers who have moved to new teams in 2019. A handful of teams shut down and some are starting new. A few teams have merged or contracted to stay competitive. Also, a handful of driver/team swaps have taken place; among the most notable are the Martin Truex Jr., Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman moves, and the multiple retirements/Daniel Hemric and Ryan Preece promotions.
| DRIVER | NEW TEAM | OLD TEAM |
| Daniel Suarez | No. 41 Stewart Haas Racing | No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing |
| Matt DiBenedetto | No. 95 Leavine Family Racing | No. 32 Go FAS Racing |
| Kurt Busch | No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing | No. 41 Stewart Haas Racing |
| Martin Truex Jr. | No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing | No. 78 Furniture Row Racing |
| Daniel Hemric | No. 8 Richard Childress Racing | No. 21 Xfinity Series |
| Ryan Preece | No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing | No. 18 Xfinity Series |
| Ryan Newman | No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing | No. 31 Richard Childress Racing |
| Matt Tifft | No. 36 Front Row Motorsports | No. 2 Xfinity Series |
| Tanner Berryhill | No. 97 Obaika Racing | Free Agent |
| TBD | No. |
Driver Changes
Thanks to the usual silly season movement and free-agent driver signings, we have several drivers who have moved to new teams in 2019. A handful of teams shut down and some are starting new. A few teams have merged or contracted to stay competitive. Also, a handful of driver/team swaps have taken place; among the most notable are the Martin Truex Jr., Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman moves, and the multiple retirements/Daniel Hemric and Ryan Preece promotions.
| DRIVER | NEW TEAM | OLD TEAM |
| Daniel Suarez | No. 41 Stewart Haas Racing | No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing |
| Matt DiBenedetto | No. 95 Leavine Family Racing | No. 32 Go FAS Racing |
| Kurt Busch | No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing | No. 41 Stewart Haas Racing |
| Martin Truex Jr. | No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing | No. 78 Furniture Row Racing |
| Daniel Hemric | No. 8 Richard Childress Racing | No. 21 Xfinity Series |
| Ryan Preece | No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing | No. 18 Xfinity Series |
| Ryan Newman | No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing | No. 31 Richard Childress Racing |
| Matt Tifft | No. 36 Front Row Motorsports | No. 2 Xfinity Series |
| Tanner Berryhill | No. 97 Obaika Racing | Free Agent |
| TBD | No. 77 Spire Sports | TBD |
| Corey Lajoie | No. 32 Go FAS Racing | No. 72 TriStar Motorsports |
New Baseline Rules Packages
NASCAR made two changes this season to its baseline rules packages:
• Enhanced aerodynamic and engine configurations to reduce horsepower on speedways longer than one mile, which will be in place for 17 of 36 races. Pocono, Atlanta, Darlington and Homestead are the exceptions.
• Daytona and Talladega will be run without restrictor plates for the first time since 1987.
The hope is these changes increase competition and create tighter racing.
Ford Teams Switching from Fusion to Mustang
Ford teams will drive Mustang cars for the first time, beginning at Daytona in February. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. drove a Mustang to consecutive championships on the Xfinity Series in 2011 and 2012 and Roger Penske won the owner's title four the last five years with Mustangs. Mustang is Ford's fourth Cup model since 1972 (Thunderbird, Taurus, Fusion).
Hopefully, Ford watched and learned some lessons from Chevrolet's struggles to break in the new Camaro last season. We still expect an adjustment period for most Ford teams, but hopefully over a shorter period. If the adjustment is a struggle, we could see some Ford teams take half the season to sort things out much like most of the Chevy teams did in 2018. In the long run, it should be a very good move to Mustang for all the Ford camps.
Miscellaneous Rule Changes for 2019
NASCAR continues to look for cost savings in terms of team operation. More and more of the technical rules and testing rules are leaning in this direction. NASCAR is tightening these requirements to help teams save money, and to put more parity in the racing between the smaller teams and large mega-team stables.
Camping World is Now Gander Outdoors
Camping World, which took over the naming rights to the truck series in 2009, will rebrand the series to the company's partner brand Gander Outdoors through 2022. It's been a wildly successful run for Camping World in partnering with NASCAR. Camping World has seen its brand embraced by race fans nationally. It hopes NASCAR will do for Gander Outdoors what's done for Camping World. This move comes in conjunction with Gander becoming more visible in NASCAR and getting naming rights to a couple of Pocono races last season.
Schedule Changes
For the 18th consecutive year, the Monster Energy Cup Series schedule will consist of 36 points races as well as two additional weekends featuring non-points events. The Advance Auto Parts Clash (Feb. 11) and two Daytona 500 qualifying races (both on Feb. 14) will take place before the season officially starts. The NASCAR Monster Energy All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway is May 18.
Aside from tweaking some start times, the schedule remains unchanged from 2018. We still have the same lineup of tracks in the regular season and Chase, and all in the same weekend slots. After a couple seasons of tweaking things a bit, it's nice to see the schedule remain essentially unchanged for the 2019 campaign. This gives the fans and teams the consistency and reliability of knowing where things are going, and how to plan.
The new-look Chase schedule will remain the same as last year. We kick things off again in Las Vegas, but race at night instead of daytime like we did in 2018. The Charlotte Roval still marks the cut-race for the first round of the Chase, and we still crown the champion in Homestead. As for the much anticipated Daytona 500, we still kick off the year in the second week of February as has been the case for several years now. The schedule will be one variable that's substantially set in stone for this season.
