The 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is about to begin and here’s how drivers stack up heading into the new campaign.
Joey Logano
The 2018 champion stays on top until someone can knock him off. Logano enters the year as the reigning champ and the No. 22 Team Penske unit remains intact led by crew chief Todd Gordon and looking to become the first to win two straight in nearly a decade.
Kevin Harvick
An eight-time winner a year ago, Harvick and company will again be one of the season’s frontrunners. Stewart-Haas Racing remains an elite organization and Harvick has more than enough recourses at his disposal to challenge for a second career Cup title.
Kyle Busch
He’s already one of the more outspoken drivers regarding the new rules package but it won’t slow Busch down in 2019. He’s also an eight-time winner from a season ago and as always Busch should not be discounted on a near weekly basis.
Martin Truex Jr.
Although his address has changed, don’t expect much else to for Truex Jr. and crew chief Cole Pearn. Now a member of Joe Gibbs Racing rather than a satellite team as with the now defunct Furniture Row Racing, the duo should pick up right where it left off in 2018.
Chase Elliott
He had a breakthrough year in 2018 and was the best of the Hendrick Motorsports stable. Elliott and crew chief Alan Gustafson have much to build on in year four of working together. They are expected to win regularly and be in the championship picture.
Brad Keselowski
The odds makers already have Keselowski as the favorite to win the Daytona 500, which would be the perfect way for the former Cup champion to put himself in the conversation for title number two.
Kyle Larson
The Chip Ganassi Racing driver is poised to prove last year’s winless season was indeed an anomaly. The number of second-place finishes in 2018 would lead one to believe Larson was right and the No. 42 car will find its way to Victory Lane multiple times in the new campaign.
Denny Hamlin
Hamlin is out to prove a point this year after enduring his first winless season as a Cup driver in 2018. He’ll have a new crew chief in Chris Gabehart and quite frankly a little more pressure to perform with Christopher Bell peering over his shoulder for a Cup ride in 2020.
Kurt Busch
Busch has the uncanny ability to lift an organization upon his arrival and the veteran hopes to do it again as he joins Chip Ganassi Racing. He takes over the No. 1 ride that hasn’t won in nearly five years but Busch is more than capable to end that drought in 2019.
Ryan Blaney
The Team Penske won last year albeit in a gift at the Charlotte Roval thanks to a last lap dust-up between Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson. But Blaney still put some solid overall numbers on the board and the foundation to build on for an even better 2019 are in place.
