When it comes to stock car racing, the cream of the crop competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. Every Cup driver is constantly looking to put up a strong performance, whether it's in an exhibition race like the Busch Clash, a tone-setting event like the Daytona 500, or the championship race at Phoenix.
There are currently a total of 16 full-time teams and four part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series. Now, each team is limited to a maximum of four race cars in each of the NASCAR national series, so teams like Joe Gibbs Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing, and Hendrick Motorsports happily run as many cars as they can.
While there are also a number of NASCAR teams that compete in the Xfinity Series and Truck Series, here we'll just break down the teams and drivers running (so far) in the Cup Series.
Full-Time Teams in the NASCAR Cup Series
23XI Racing
Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Image
Drivers: Bubba Wallace (No. 23 Toyota), Kurt Busch (No. 45 Toyota)
Front Row Motorsports
Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images
Drivers: Michael McDowell (No. 34 Ford), Todd Gilliland (No. 38 Ford)
Hendrick Motorsports
Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
Drivers: Kyle Larson (No. 5 Chevrolet), Chase Elliott (No. 9 Chevrolet), William Byron (No. 24 Chevrolet), Alex Bowman (No. 48 Chevrolet)
Joe Gibbs Racing
Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
Drivers: Denny Hamlin (No. 11 Toyota), Kyle Busch (No. 18 Toyota), Martin Truex Jr. (No. 19 Toyota), Christopher Bell (No. 20 Toyota)
JTG Daugherty Racing
Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images
Driver: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (No. 47 Chevrolet)
Kaulig Racing
Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images
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Drivers: A.J. Allmendinger, Daniel Hemric, Noah Gragson (No. 16 Chevrolet), Justin Haley (No. 31 Chevrolet)
Live Fast Motorsports
Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images
Driver: B.J. McLeod (No. 78 Ford)
Petty GMS Motorsports
Photo by Kevin Abele/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Drivers: Ty Dillon (No. 42 Chevrolet), Erik Jones (No. 43 Chevrolet)
RFK Racing
Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images
Drivers: Brad Keselowski (No. 6 Ford), Chris Buescher (No. 17 Ford)
Richard Childress Racing
Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images
Drivers: Austin Dillon (No. 3 Chevrolet), Tyler Reddick (No. 8 Chevrolet)
Rick Ware Racing
Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Drivers: David Ragan, Ryan Preece, Joey Hand (No. 15 Ford), Cody Ware (No. 51 Ford)
Spire Motorsports
Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images
Drivers: Corey LaJoie (No. 7 Chevrolet), Josh Bilicki, Landon Cassill (No. 77 Chevrolet)
Stewart-Haas Racing
Photo by Matthew Pearce/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Drivers: Kevin Harvick (No. 4 Ford), Aric Almirola (No. 10 Ford), Chase Briscoe (No. 14 Ford), Cole Custer (No. 41 Ford)
Team Penske
Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/NASCAR via Getty Images
Drivers: Austin Cindric (No. 2 Ford), Ryan Blaney (No. 12 Ford), Joey Logano (No. 22 Ford)
Trackhouse Racing
Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images
Drivers: Ross Chastain (No. 1 Chevrolet), Daniel Suarez (No. 99 Chevrolet)
Wood Brothers Racing
Photo by David Rosenblum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Drivers: Harrison Burton (No. 21 Ford)
Part-Time Teams in the NASCAR Cup Series
Beard Motorsports
Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images
Driver: Noah Gragson (No. 62 Chevrolet)
MBM Motorsports
Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Driver: Timmy Hill (No. 66 Ford)
Team Hezeberg
Photo by Kevin Abele/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Drivers: Loris Hezemans and Jacques Villeneuve (No. 27 Ford)
The Money Team Racing
Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images
Driver: Kaz Grala (No. 50 Chevrolet)
This post was originally published on May 18, 2021.
