The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series was the 73rd season for NASCAR professional stock car racing in the United States and the 50th season for the modern era Cup Series. The season started at Daytona International Speedway with the Busch Clash, where it was the first year that the non–points event was run on the track's road course layout instead of the oval. That race was followed by the Bluegreen Vacations Duel qualifying races, and the 63rd running of the Daytona 500, the first points race of the season. The regular season also ended at Daytona with the 2021 Coke Zero Sugar 400 on August 28, where Kyle Larson won the Regular Season Championship. Following the 2021 Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway on October 31, Chevrolet claimed its 40th Manufacturer's Championship and its first since 2015. The NASCAR playoffs ended with the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway on November 7 with Larson earning his first Cup Series championship after a 10-win season.
The 2021 season represented a new era as several mainstays of the sport were absent. This was also the first season for 23XI Racing and Trackhouse Racing. It was also the last season for Chip Ganassi Racing, as Trackhouse purchased the entirety of CGR's NASCAR team for 2022, and the Cup Series Generation 6 car, which was replaced with the Next Gen car in 2022. In addition, this was the final season to have races covered by NBCSN, which shut down at the end of the year and had its coverage of NASCAR and all other sporting events taken over by USA Network.
Teams and drivers Chartered teams Manufacturer Team Driver Crew chief Chevrolet Chip Ganassi Racing 1 Kurt Busch Matt McCall 42 Ross Chastain Phil Surgen Hendrick Motorsports 5 Kyle Larson Cliff Daniels 9 Chase Elliott Alan Gustafson Tom Gray 24 William Byron Rudy Fugle 48 Alex Bowman Greg Ives JTG Daugherty Racing 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Brian Pattie Richard Childress Racing 3 Austin Dillon Justin Alexander 8 Tyler Reddick Randall Burnett Andrew Dickenson Richard Petty Motorsports 43 Erik Jones Jerry Baxter Spire Motorsports 7 Corey LaJoie Ryan Sparks Steve Letarte Josh Berry 77 Jamie McMurray Kevin Bellicourt Peter Sospenzo Justin Haley Stewart Friesen Josh Berry Ben Rhodes Justin Allgaier StarCom Racing 00 Quin Houff George Church Trackhouse Racing 99 Daniel Suárez Travis Mack Jose Blasco-Figueroa Ford Front Row Motorsports 34 Michael McDowell Drew Blickensderfer Jason Sheets 38 Anthony Alfredo (R) Seth Barbour Derrick Finley Live Fast Motorsports 78 B. J. McLeod Frank Kerr Scott Heckert Shane Golobic Kyle Tilley Andy Lally Rick Ware Racing 52 Josh Bilicki Bilicki is running the full season for Rick Ware Racing split between the Nos. 15 and 52. Peter Sospenzo Jason Houghtaling Joey Hand Roush Fenway Racing 6 Ryan Newman Scott Graves Luke Lambert 17 Chris Buescher Luke Lambert Scott Graves Stewart–Haas Racing 4 Kevin Harvick Rodney Childers Greg Zipadelli 10 Aric Almirola Mike Bugarewicz 14 Chase Briscoe (R) Johnny Klausmeier Michael Cook 41 Cole Custer Mike Shiplett Davin Restivo Team Penske 2 Brad Keselowski Jeremy Bullins Grant Hutchens 12 Ryan Blaney Todd Gordon 22 Joey Logano Paul Wolfe Jonathan Hassler Wood Brothers Racing 21 Matt DiBenedetto Greg Erwin Jonathan Hassler Toyota 23XI Racing 23 Bubba Wallace Mike Wheeler Bootie Barker Joe Gibbs Racing 11 Denny Hamlin Chris Gabehart 18 Kyle Busch Ben Beshore Seth Chavka 19 Martin Truex Jr. James Small 20 Christopher Bell Adam Stevens Chris Sherwood Chevrolet Ford Petty Ware Racing 51 Cody Ware Mike Hillman Sr. Billy Plourde Garrett Smithley J. J. Yeley James Davison Chevrolet Ford Rick Ware Racing 15 Derrike Cope Pat Tryson Ken Evans Billy Plourde James Davison Joey Gase Chris Windom J. J. Yeley Bayley Currey R. C. Enerson Garrett Smithley Josh Bilicki Ryan Ellis Ford Chevrolet Joey Gase Billy Plourde Mike Hillman Sr. Ken Evans Garrett Smithley J. J. Yeley Cody Ware Ryan Eversley James Davison
Non–chartered teams Complete schedule Models Team Driver Crew chief Chevrolet JTG Daugherty Racing 37 Ryan Preece Trent Owens
Limited schedule Manufacturer Team Driver Crew chief Rounds Chevrolet Beard Motorsports 62 Noah Gragson Darren Shaw Kaulig Racing 16 Kaz Grala Matt Swiderski A. J. Allmendinger Justin Haley Ford B. J. McLeod Motorsports 55 Matt Mills Lee Leslie Front Row Motorsports 36 David Ragan Derrick Finley Team Penske 33 Austin Cindric Miles Stanley Toyota Gaunt Brothers Racing 96 Ty Dillon Dave Winston Jacob Canter A. J. Genail Harrison Burton Landon Cassill Parker Kligerman Ford Toyota MBM Motorsports 13 Garrett SmithleyEntries were fielded in a collaboration with Rick Ware Racing. Mark Hillman Sebastian LaForge Mike Contarino Johnny Roten David Starr Timmy Hill Ford Toyota 66 Clinton Cram Mike Contarino Johnny Roten Mike Marlar David Starr Chad Finchum J. J. Yeley James Davison
Notes
Changes Teams On July 23, 2020, it was reported that Leavine Family Racing owner Bob Leavine solicited bids for the team due to the financial fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. On August 4, 2020, Leavine confirmed that his team has been sold and would cease operations at the end of the 2020 season. On August 11, 2020, the team's charter was officially sold to Spire Motorsports, which would be used to field a second full–time car in 2021 (which would end up being the No. 7 of Corey LaJoie). With its purchase of Leavine Family Racing's assets, Spire Motorsports will expand into a two–car operation in 2021. On August 24, 2020, the team announced that they would be looking for two full-time drivers for the season. On September 1, 2020, it was reported that Germain Racing owner Bob Germain was exploring conversations for a potential sale of the team due to lack of sponsorship, as their contract with primary sponsor GEICO expired at the end of the 2020 season and it was confirmed four days later that they would not return for the 2021 season. Their charter was later put up for bid, and was purchased on September 21, 2020, and as a result, Germain ceased operations at the end of the 2020 season. On September 21, 2020, retired NBA player and Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan announced that he and Denny Hamlin would be forming 23XI Racing with Bubba Wallace as the driver after purchasing the charter from Germain Racing, which closed down after the 2020 season. On October 7, 2020, Trackhouse Racing, owned by Justin Marks, announced its entry into the Cup Series, fielding one full-time car, the No. 99, for Daniel Suárez in 2021. The team will run Chevrolets in a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing. The team has leased the charter from the No. 77 Spire Motorsports car for this season. On January 15, 2021, it was announced that musician Pitbull would co-own the team with Marks. On October 8, 2020, it was revealed that Spire Motorsports bought a third charter, which they will use for the No. 77 in 2021 after the team leased the original charter for the No. 77 to Trackhouse for 2021. Upon further reports on December 30, 2020, it was revealed that this third charter for Spire came from JTG Daugherty Racing for the No. 37, which will now be non-chartered in 2021. On October 22, 2020, Go Fas Racing owner Archie St. Hilaire announced that the team would scale down to a part-time schedule in 2021. Joe Falk will continue to own half of the team's charter while St. Hilaire transfers his half to Falk's new business partner. The following day, it was announced that B. J. McLeod and Matt Tifft had purchased Go Fas Racing's ownership stake in the charter, and it would be moved from the No. 32 to McLeod's No. 78, meaning that car will run full-time with a charter in 2021. On November 20, 2020, McLeod and Tifft announced the team's name as Live Fast Motorsports, with a technical alliance with Stewart–Haas Racing. On October 28, 2020, Hendrick Motorsports announced that the No. 88 team would be renumbered to the No. 5 in 2021. On November 20, 2020, Kaulig Racing announced they would run a partial schedule in 2021, with the intention of entering all superspeedway and road course races and the goal of running full-time in 2022, hoping to purchase a charter by then. On December 2, 2020, NY Racing Team teased a potential return to Cup competition after posting the No. 44 with "2021" on their Instagram account, as well as updating their website, which stated that they would attempt to qualify for the 2021 Daytona 500. On December 30, 2020, Bob Pockrass reported that Wood Brothers Racing purchased the charter they had leased from Go Fas Racing since 2017. On January 5, 2021, team owner John Cohen announced that NYRT will compete full-time as an open team. The team last competed in the series in 2018 with J. J. Yeley running part-time in partnerships with Premium Motorsports and BK Racing as well as one race by themselves in the 2018 Coca-Cola 600. On February 3, 2021, MBM Motorsports announced that NASCAR approved its number change from No. 49 to No. 13, which it had requested after the demise of Germain Racing. On February 9, 2021, it was revealed through the list of owner points transfers prior to the start of the season that Tommy Baldwin Racing would use the No. 71 if they end up attempting any races in 2021, a number the team previously used in 2019. The team gave their old car number, the No. 7, to Spire Motorsports to use for their new second car with Corey LaJoie. On April 6, 2021, Rick Ware Racing announced that the No. 53 driven by Joey Gase would be renumbered to the No. 28 with a Havoline-inspired paint scheme for the spring Talladega race to honor the late Davey Allison. Gase would also drive the No. 28 (renumbered from the No. 17) at the Talladega Xfinity race. On April 26, 2021, it was announced that B. J. McLeod Motorsports would return to the Cup Series and field a car, the No. 55, for Matt Mills, one of their full-time Xfinity Series drivers, in the spring race at Kansas. (This entry was not a second car for Live Fast Motorsports, which McLeod also owns).
Drivers On August 6, 2020, Erik Jones and Joe Gibbs Racing announced that they would mutually part ways at the end of the 2020 season. On October 21, 2020, Jones officially joined Richard Petty Motorsports as the driver of the organization's No. 43 entry. On August 21, 2020, Corey LaJoie and Go Fas Racing announced that they would mutually part ways at the end of the 2020 season. On November 12, 2020, Sports Business Journals Adam Stern reported that LaJoie was a leading candidate for one of the Spire Motorsports teams in 2021. On November 30, 2020, Spire announced that LaJoie would drive the team's new second car, the No. 7, full-time. On September 9, 2020, Matt Kenseth mentioned on SiriusXM's Late Shift that he would more than likely not return to the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 team in 2021. On September 21, 2020, Chip Ganassi Racing announced that Ross Chastain would replace Kenseth in 2021. On September 10, 2020, Bubba Wallace announced that he would not be back in the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 in 2021. On September 21, 2020, it was made official that he will be the driver of the 23XI Racing No. 23 car. On September 15, 2020, Daniel Suárez announced that he would not be back in the Gaunt Brothers Racing No. 96 in 2021. On October 7, 2020, Suárez joined Trackhouse Racing full-time for the 2021 season. On October 6, 2020, Hendrick Motorsports announced that Alex Bowman will move from the No. 88 to the No. 48 team in 2021. On October 8, 2020, Team Penske announced that Austin Cindric will drive the No. 33 Ford in select Cup Series races while competing full-time in the Xfinity Series in 2021. He would then transition to the Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 team in 2022.