The 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series was the 70th season of NASCAR professional stock car racing in the United States, and the 47th modern-era Cup series season. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the Advance Auto Parts Clash, the Can-Am Duel qualifying races and the 60th running of the Daytona 500. The regular season ended with the Brickyard 400 on September 9, 2018. The playoffs ended with the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 18, 2018. Martin Truex Jr. was the defending champion, having won his first in the series.
The 2018 season was the fourth of a 10-year television contract with Fox Sports and NBC Sports and the third of a five-year race sanctioning agreement with all tracks. It was the first season to feature the Regular Season Championship trophy, which is awarded at the final race before the playoffs. Kyle Busch clinched the MENCS Regular Season Championship trophy at the end of Stage 2 of the 2018 Brickyard 400.
The season marked the debut of the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, which replaced the outgoing Chevrolet SS and became the first coupe-based Chevrolet stock car since the Monte Carlo SS was discontinued in 2007. This was also the last season for Kasey Kahne, who announced his intention to retire from racing at the end of the season and was forced to step away in early October 2018 after not being medically cleared to continue, as well as BK Racing who sold its equipment to Front Row Motorsports, and Furniture Row Racing, which ceased operations after 2018. It was also the final season Ford fielded the Fusion, replacing it with the Ford Mustang in 2019.
Joey Logano, driving for Team Penske in a Ford won the championship, after defeating Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch in a 1–2–3–4 finish for the "Championship 4" at the final round at Homestead. Logano won three races during the course of the season, having also won the spring race at Talladega and the fall race at Martinsville. Austin Dillon was the Daytona 500 winner. Kyle Busch and Harvick won the most races with eight each, with Denny Hamlin and seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson concluding their first winless seasons in full-time Cup competition. The 2018 season also marked the fifteenth consecutive and final time that Johnson made the playoffs since its inception in 2004. Erik Jones and Chase Elliott won their first career victories and William Byron became Rookie of the Year.
Teams and drivers Chartered teams
ManufacturerTeamRace driverCrew chiefChevroletChip Ganassi Racing1Jamie McMurrayMatt McCall42Kyle LarsonChad JohnstonGermain Racing13Ty DillonMatt BorlandHendrick Motorsports9Chase ElliottAlan Gustafson24William Byron (R)Darian Grubb48Jimmie JohnsonChad Knaus88Alex BowmanGreg IvesJTG Daugherty Racing37Chris BuescherTrent Owens47A. J. AllmendingerTristan SmithLeavine Family Racing95Kasey Kahne Travis Mack Jon Leonard Regan Smith Premium MotorsportsDanica Patrick Tony Eury Jr. Ross Chastain Todd Parrott Pat Tryson Justin Marks Richard Childress Racing3Austin DillonJustin Alexander31Ryan NewmanLuke LambertRichard Petty Motorsports43Bubba Wallace (R)Drew Blickensderfer StarCom Racing 00Jeffrey Earnhardt Tony Furr Jonas Bell Rick Bourgeois Landon Cassill Joey Gase Tomy Drissi TriStar Motorsports 72Corey LaJoie Frankie KerrCole Whitt FordFront Row Motorsports34Michael McDowellDerrick Finley38David RaganSeth BarbourGo Fas Racing32Matt DiBenedettoGene Nead Randy Cox Roush Fenway Racing6Trevor Bayne Matt PucciaMatt Kenseth 17Ricky Stenhouse Jr.Brian PattieStewart–Haas Racing4Kevin HarvickRodney Childers Tony Gibson 10Aric AlmirolaJohnny Klausmeier14Clint BowyerMike Bugarewicz41Kurt BuschBilly ScottTeam Penske2Brad KeselowskiPaul Wolfe12Ryan BlaneyJeremy Bullins22Joey LoganoTodd GordonWood Brothers Racing21Paul MenardGreg ErwinToyotaFurniture Row Racing78Martin Truex Jr.Cole PearnJoe Gibbs Racing11Denny HamlinMike Wheeler18Kyle BuschAdam Stevens19Daniel SuárezScott Graves Dave Rogers 20Erik JonesChris Gayle Toyota Ford BK Racing 23Gray Gaulding Rick Bourgeois Tony Furr J. J. Yeley Blake Jones Spencer Gallagher Joey Gase Alon Day Chevrolet Ford Toyota Rick Ware Racing 51Justin Marks Pat Tryson Ken Evans George Church Harrison Rhodes Cole Custer Timmy Hill Cody Ware B. J. McLeod Chris Cook Ray Black Jr. Josh Bilicki Reed Sorenson David Starr Stanton Barrett Jeb Burton Joey Gase Source:
Limited schedule
ManufacturerTeamRace driverCrew chiefRound(s) ChevroletBeard Motorsports 62 Brendan Gaughan Darren Shaw NY Racing Team 7 J. J. Yeley George Church Premium Motorsports Todd Parrott Peter Sospenzo D. J. Kennington Reed Sorenson Jeffrey Earnhardt Jesse Little Garrett Smithley Ross Chastain Hermie Sadler 55 Joey Gase Reed Sorenson J. J. Yeley Jeffrey Earnhardt Richard Childress Racing 8 Daniel Hemric Brandon Thomas StarCom Racing 99 Derrike Cope Domenick Turse Jonas Bell Derrike Cope Wayne Carroll Jr. Garrett Smithley Kyle Weatherman Landon Cassill Gray Gaulding FordRBR Enterprises 92 David Gilliland Mike Hester Timothy Peters ToyotaGaunt Brothers Racing 96 D. J. Kennington Mark Hillman Parker Kligerman Jeffrey Earnhardt Jesse Little Obaika Racing 97 David Starr Dan Stillman Tanner Berryhill Ford Toyota Chevrolet MBM Motorsports 66Mark Thompson Mike Hillman Sr. Robert Scott Gary Showalter Michael Groves Chad Finchum Timmy Hill Chevrolet Ford Rick Ware Racing 52 Cody Ware George Church Ken Evans B. J. McLeod J. J. Yeley Gray Gaulding Harrison Rhodes
Changes Teams Team Penske would expand to a three-car team with the addition of Ryan Blaney in the No. 12, previously with Wood Brothers Racing in the No. 21 in 2017. On August 29, 2017, Hendrick Motorsports announced that the No. 24 team driven by Chase Elliott would be changing to the No. 9 team, while the No. 5 would become the new No. 24 team to be driven by rookie William Byron. Alan Gustafson would remain as Elliott's crew chief while Darian Grubb would work with William Byron. Furniture Row Racing would downsize from a two car team to a one car team, shutting down the No. 77 team as sponsor 5-hour Energy moved to the No. 78 team. On September 25, 2017, it was announced that a new Chevrolet team, StarCom Racing, would open and run the No. 00 car full-time, with driver Derrike Cope, moving from Premium Motorsports. Cope was planning to drive the majority of the 2018 schedule with other drivers possibly running races, however, Jeffrey Earnhardt was later announced as the driver for the season. The No. 00 was also guaranteed to run every race as they had leased a charter from the now shuttered Richard Childress Racing No. 27 team. Cope would instead run a second car later in the season, the No. 99 Camaro. After Fontana, Earnhardt and StarCom mutually agreed to part ways. After starting the season without a ride, Landon Cassill would take over the 00 for Martinsville, Texas, Bristol, Richmond and possibly the rest of the season. Joey Gase was later announced as the driver for Talladega and road course ringer Tomy Drissi was announced as the driver for Sonoma. The No. 99 would debut with Cope at the first Dover race of the season. On November 14, 2017, JTG Daugherty Racing announced that they would switch their technical alliance from Richard Childress Racing to Hendrick Motorsports in the 2018 season. On November 22, 2017, Rick Ware Racing announced an expansion from a 30-race open team to one full-time team for Ray Black Jr. and one part-time team for Cody Ware, Kyle Weatherman, B. J. McLeod and John Graham. However, before the season began, the deal with Black fell through, but Black will still drive the No. 51 at Daytona in July. RWR has fielded the No. 51 for Black, Justin Marks, Cole Custer, Harrison Rhodes, Timmy Hill, Cody Ware, B.J. McLeod, and Chris Cook. The No. 52 would make its debut at Sonoma with Cody Ware. On December 7, 2017, after it was announced that Richard Petty Motorsports would be switching manufacturers from Ford to Chevrolet, RPM also announced that in 2018 they would have a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing. On December 12, 2017, it was announced that Circle Sport Racing and The Motorsports Group, who became one team in 2017, parted ways. Both teams will field a car for 2018. Circle Sport will continue with the No. 33, but Jeffrey Earnhardt was released even though he was going to be the No. 33 driver in 2018. Both teams will have different drivers and sponsors. On January 3, 2018, it was announced that Team Penske had purchased a charter from Roush Fenway Racing in order to field the No. 12 car for Ryan Blaney full-time in 2018. The charter had been leased to JTG Daugherty Racing to field the No. 37 for Chris Buescher in 2017, and had previously been used for the No. 16 of Greg Biffle in 2016. On January 17, 2018, it was announced that RBR Enterprises would join the Cup series and would field the No. 92 Ford to attempt the Daytona 500 with David Gilliland behind the wheel. The team spent the past eight seasons competing 79 races in the Truck series. On January 22, 2018, it was announced that Gaunt Brothers Racing would return to the Daytona 500 with D. J. Kennington driving the No. 96 Toyota. The team entered the spring ISM Raceway race, which would be their first appearance on a non-restrictor track. On January 23, 2018, Richard Childress Racing announced that it would downsize to two full-time teams and one part-time team for 2018. The No. 27 team would be renumbered as the No. 8 and it would run two races with Daniel Hemric. On April 25, 2018, Roush Fenway Racing announced that Matt Kenseth would reunite with RFR and would share the No. 6 car with Trevor Bayne for the 2018 season. On August 5, 2018, Leavine Family Racing announced that its technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing would end after the 2018 season. On August 23, 2018, Front Row Motorsports purchased majority of the assets of the bankrupt BK Racing for $2.08 million, outbidding GMS Racing's offer of $1.8 million. In addition, the trustee of BK Racing sold some secondary assets to Obaika Racing for $265,000 and a tractor to Rick Ware Racing to $35,000. On September 4, 2018, it was announced that Furniture Row Racing would cease operations after the 2018 season, making defending champion Martin Truex Jr. a free agent for 2019. On September 12, 2018, NASCAR collaborated with the Race Team Alliance and Twitter to unveil customized hashtags and emojis for the top 16 drivers entering the playoffs. Each driver would have their hashtag and emoji displayed on the sides of their cars until they were eliminated from contention. Non-playoff drivers could have their hashtags and the Twitter logo displayed on their cars. This was in effect until the 2018 Hollywood Casino 400. From the 2018 First Data 500 to the 2018 Can-Am 500, all hashtag and emoji labels were replaced with the NBC logo. On November 12, 2018, NASCAR partnered with Snapchat to have all cars sport Snapcodes at the season-ending 2018 Ford EcoBoost 400. On October 5, 2018, Obaika Racing announced that they would attempt their first ever MENCS race at Talladega Superspeedway, fielding the No. 97 Space Grill Toyota Camry for the 2018 1000Bulbs.com 500 with David Starr. The team ultimately failed to qualify in the race, but made the field with Starr in their second attempt at the fall Texas race.
Drivers On April 25, 2017, Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced that he would retire from full-time racing. On July 20, 2017, Alex Bowman was announced as his full-time replacement. On July 11, 2017, it was announced that Erik Jones would be replacing Matt Kenseth in the No. 20 car for Joe Gibbs Racing. On November 4, 2017, Kenseth announced he would be stepping away from full-time racing and would not compete in any 2018 events, but on April 25, 2018, it was announced that Kenseth would drive the No. 6 part-time along with Trevor Bayne for Roush Fenway Racing.