# 2023 NASCAR Cup Series

The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series was the 75th season for NASCAR professional stock car racing in the United States and the 52nd season for the modern-era Cup Series. The season started with the Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on February 5. That race was followed by the Daytona Duel qualifying races and the 65th running of the Daytona 500 (the first points race of the season) on February 19, both at Daytona International Speedway. The season ended with the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway on November 5.
This was the final season for 2014 champion and Stewart–Haas Racing driver Kevin Harvick, who announced his plans to retire at the end of the season on January 12, 2023. This was also the first season since 1999 without 2004 champion Kurt Busch, who announced on October 15, 2022, that he would retire from full-time Cup Series competition. On August 26, 2023, Busch announced his complete retirement from the Cup Series.
Following the 2023 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona, Martin Truex Jr. of Joe Gibbs Racing clinched the regular season championship. Ty Gibbs, also of Joe Gibbs Racing, won NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors after Noah Gragson was suspended and released from Legacy Motor Club in August 2023. Prior to the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville, Chevrolet claimed its 42nd Manufacturers' Championship. At season's end, Ryan Blaney of Team Penske won the 2023 championship.

## Teams and drivers
### Chartered teams

| Manufacturer | Team | No. | Driver | Crew chief |
| Chevrolet | Hendrick Motorsports | 5 | Kyle Larson | Cliff Daniels 32 Kevin Meendering 4 |
| Chevrolet | Hendrick Motorsports | 9 | Chase Elliott 29 | Alan Gustafson 32 Tom Gray 4 |
| Chevrolet | Hendrick Motorsports | 9 | Josh Berry 5 | Alan Gustafson 32 Tom Gray 4 |
| Chevrolet | Hendrick Motorsports | 9 | Jordan Taylor 1 | Alan Gustafson 32 Tom Gray 4 |
| Chevrolet | Hendrick Motorsports | 9 | Corey LaJoie 1 | Alan Gustafson 32 Tom Gray 4 |
| Chevrolet | Hendrick Motorsports | 24 | William Byron | Rudy Fugle 32 Brian Campe 4 |
| Chevrolet | Hendrick Motorsports | 48 | Alex Bowman 33 | Blake Harris 32 Greg Ives 4 |
| Chevrolet | Hendrick Motorsports | 48 | Josh Berry 3 | Blake Harris 32 Greg Ives 4 |
| Chevrolet | JTG Daugherty Racing | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Mike Kelley |
| Chevrolet | Kaulig Racing | 16 | A. J. Allmendinger | Matt Swiderski |
| Chevrolet | Kaulig Racing | 31 | Justin Haley | Trent Owens 32 Eddie Pardue 4 |
| Chevrolet | Legacy Motor Club | 42 | Noah Gragson (R) 21 | Luke Lambert |
| Chevrolet | Legacy Motor Club | 42 | Grant Enfinger 1 | Luke Lambert |
| Chevrolet | Legacy Motor Club | 42 | Josh Berry 2 | Luke Lambert |
| Chevrolet | Legacy Motor Club | 42 | Mike Rockenfeller 3 | Luke Lambert |
| Chevrolet | Legacy Motor Club | 42 | Carson Hocevar 8 | Luke Lambert |
| Chevrolet | Legacy Motor Club | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek 1 | Luke Lambert |
| Chevrolet | Legacy Motor Club | 43 | Erik Jones | Dave Elenz 34 Joey Cohen 1 Danny Efland 1 |
| Chevrolet | Live Fast Motorsports | 78 | B. J. McLeod 23 | George Ingram |
| Chevrolet | Live Fast Motorsports | 78 | Josh Bilicki 10 | George Ingram |
| Chevrolet | Live Fast Motorsports | 78 | Anthony Alfredo 2 | George Ingram |
| Chevrolet | Live Fast Motorsports | 78 | Sheldon Creed 1 | George Ingram |
| Chevrolet | Richard Childress Racing | 3 | Austin Dillon | Keith Rodden 34 Justin Alexander 2 |
| Chevrolet | Richard Childress Racing | 8 | Kyle Busch | Randall Burnett |
| Chevrolet | Spire Motorsports | 7 | Corey LaJoie 35 | Ryan Sparks |
| Chevrolet | Spire Motorsports | 7 | Carson Hocevar 1 | Ryan Sparks |
| Chevrolet | Spire Motorsports | 77 | Ty Dillon | Kevin Bellicourt 20 Kevin Manion 15 Peter Sospenzo 1 |
| Chevrolet | Trackhouse Racing | 1 | Ross Chastain | Phil Surgen |
| Chevrolet | Trackhouse Racing | 99 | Daniel Suárez | Travis Mack |
| Ford | Front Row Motorsports | 34 | Michael McDowell | Travis Peterson |
| Ford | Front Row Motorsports | 38 | Todd Gilliland 30 | Ryan Bergenty |
| Ford | Front Row Motorsports | 38 | Zane Smith 6 | Ryan Bergenty |
| Ford | RFK Racing | 6 | Brad Keselowski | Matt McCall |
| Ford | RFK Racing | 17 | Chris Buescher | Scott Graves |
| Ford | Rick Ware Racing | 15 | Riley Herbst 2 | Billy Plourde 31 Jerry Kelley 5 |
| Ford | Rick Ware Racing | 15 | J. J. Yeley 18 | Billy Plourde 31 Jerry Kelley 5 |
| Ford | Rick Ware Racing | 15 | Todd Gilliland 1 | Billy Plourde 31 Jerry Kelley 5 |
| Ford | Rick Ware Racing | 15 | Jenson Button 3 | Billy Plourde 31 Jerry Kelley 5 |
| Ford | Rick Ware Racing | 15 | Brennan Poole 7 | Billy Plourde 31 Jerry Kelley 5 |
| Ford | Rick Ware Racing | 15 | Gray Gaulding 1 | Billy Plourde 31 Jerry Kelley 5 |
| Ford | Rick Ware Racing | 15 | Andy Lally 3 | Billy Plourde 31 Jerry Kelley 5 |
| Ford | Rick Ware Racing | 15 | Ryan Newman 1 | Billy Plourde 31 Jerry Kelley 5 |
| Ford | Rick Ware Racing | 51 | Cody Ware 7 | Jerry Kelley 31 Billy Plourde 5 |
| Ford | Rick Ware Racing | 51 | Matt Crafton 1 | Jerry Kelley 31 Billy Plourde 5 |
| Ford | Rick Ware Racing | 51 | Zane Smith 1 | Jerry Kelley 31 Billy Plourde 5 |
| Ford | Rick Ware Racing | 51 | J. J. Yeley 8 | Jerry Kelley 31 Billy Plourde 5 |
| Ford | Rick Ware Racing | 51 | Ryan Newman 7 | Jerry Kelley 31 Billy Plourde 5 |
| Ford | Rick Ware Racing | 51 | Todd Gilliland 4 | Jerry Kelley 31 Billy Plourde 5 |
| Ford | Rick Ware Racing | 51 | Andy Lally 2 | Jerry Kelley 31 Billy Plourde 5 |
| Ford | Rick Ware Racing | 51 | Cole Custer 6 | Jerry Kelley 31 Billy Plourde 5 |
| Ford | Stewart–Haas Racing | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Rodney Childers 35 Stephen Doran 1 |
| Ford | Stewart–Haas Racing | 10 | Aric Almirola | Drew Blickensderfer |
| Ford | Stewart–Haas Racing | 14 | Chase Briscoe | Johnny Klausmeier 14 Mike Bugarewicz 2 Richard Boswell 20 |
| Ford | Stewart–Haas Racing | 41 | Ryan Preece | Chad Johnston |
| Ford | Team Penske | 2 | Austin Cindric | Jeremy Bullins 26 Brian Wilson 10 |
| Ford | Team Penske | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Jonathan Hassler |
| Ford | Team Penske | 22 | Joey Logano | Paul Wolfe |
| Ford | Wood Brothers Racing | 21 | Harrison Burton | Brian Wilson 26 Jeremy Bullins 10 |
| Toyota | 23XI Racing | 23 | Bubba Wallace | Bootie Barker |
| Toyota | 23XI Racing | 45 | Tyler Reddick | Billy Scott 35 Dave Rogers 1 |
| Toyota | Joe Gibbs Racing | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Chris Gabehart |
| Toyota | Joe Gibbs Racing | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | James Small |
| Toyota | Joe Gibbs Racing | 20 | Christopher Bell | Adam Stevens |
| Toyota | Joe Gibbs Racing | 54 | Ty Gibbs (R) | Chris Gayle |

### Non-chartered teams
#### Limited schedule

| Manufacturer | Team | No. | Driver | Crew chief | Races |
| Chevrolet | Beard Motorsports | 62 | Austin Hill | Darren Shaw | 6 |
| Chevrolet | Kaulig Racing | 13 | Chandler Smith | Eddie Pardue | 4 |
| Chevrolet | Kaulig Racing | 13 | Jonathan Davenport | Eddie Pardue | 1 |
| Chevrolet | Legacy Motor Club | 84 | Jimmie Johnson | Todd Gordon | 3 |
| Chevrolet | Richard Childress Racing | 33 | Brodie Kostecki | Justin Alexander | 1 |
| Chevrolet | The Money Team Racing | 50 | Conor Daly | Tony Eury Jr. | 2 |
| Chevrolet | Trackhouse Racing | 91 | Kimi Räikkönen | Darian Grubb | 1 |
| Chevrolet | Trackhouse Racing | 91 | Shane van Gisbergen | Darian Grubb | 2 |
| Ford | Front Row Motorsports | 36 | Zane Smith | Chris Lawson | 1 |
| Ford | Front Row Motorsports | 36 | Todd Gilliland | Chris Lawson | 1 |
| Ford | Front Row Motorsports | 36 | Riley Herbst | Tony Manzer | 2 |
| Toyota | 23XI Racing | 67 | Travis Pastrana | Eric Phillips | 1 |
| Toyota | 23XI Racing | 67 | Kamui Kobayashi | Eric Phillips | 1 |

#### Notes

* 1 2 Corey LaJoie is running the full season split between the No. 7 Spire Motorsports car and the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports car.
* 1 2 3 4 Todd Gilliland is running the full season split between the No. 38 and 36 Front Row Motorsports cars and the No. 15 and 51 Rick Ware Racing cars.

## Rule changes

* NASCAR debuted a "wet weather" package for short tracks in 2023 in response to rain delays. The package will consist of a windshield wiper, flaps behind the wheels, taillights, and rain tires. This was made official on January 31, 2023, when NASCAR announced that the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Martinsville Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, North Wilkesboro Speedway, Richmond Raceway, the Chicago Street Course, and Phoenix Raceway would have wet weather packages.
* Due to safety concerns from the 2022 season with drivers suffering concussions and feeling sore due to rear-end crashes, NASCAR made changes to the Next Gen's rear structure for 2023 to create a bigger crumple zone in the hopes that it will prevent the energy from those impacts from affecting the driver. The adjustment also includes slight changes to the center section of the car. Changes to the front structure were also slated to be made for the 2nd race at Atlanta Motor Speedway to further decrease the risk of injury.
* NASCAR formally banned drivers from wall-riding (after Ross Chastain's "Hail Melon" stunt at the 2022 Xfinity 500). NASCAR cited previously existing rules that will now be enforced in a manner to ban the move.
* Loose wheel penalties have been reduced to a two-lap penalty and two-race suspension to crew members (instead of four-race crew chief suspension).
* The requirement that drivers must be in the top 30 of the standings to be eligible for the playoffs has been removed.
* Stage break cautions have been eliminated at all road course races. Stage points will still be awarded to drivers on predetermined laps, but no caution will be displayed. This was done in an effort to reduce the time spent under cautions at lengthy tracks and to increase strategy during the race. On September 12, 2023, NASCAR officials announced that the playoff race at the Charlotte ROVAL will not have this rule and that there will be cautions at the stage ends. This was done due to there only be one caution in the previous two road course events at Indianapolis and Watkins Glen. Additionally, Elton Sawyer, NASCAR's senior vice president of competition, "noted the desire to officiate all 10 Playoffs races consistently – with each race having stage-break cautions."
* The choose cone rule, introduced in 2020, was extended to plate/superspeedway races for 2023, as well to dirt races. On March 9, 2023, NASCAR announced that all road courses would have the choose cone rule for 2023, meaning that every race will have this rule.

## Schedule

The 2023 schedule was released on September 14, 2022. The 2023 Daytona 500 was held on Sunday, February 19. The season finale was held at Phoenix Raceway during the first weekend of November. The Busch Light Clash returned to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the second year in a row and the race was held on February 5, which again was one week before the Super Bowl and two weeks before the Daytona 500. This was the final season for Auto Club Speedway in its 2 mile configuration, as the track has since been dropped from the schedule to be reconfigured as a short track.
| No | Race name | Track | Location | Date | Time (ET) | Channel | Radio |
| Regular Season ||||||||
| | Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum | O Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | Los Angeles, California | February 5 | 8pm | FOX | MRN |
| | Bluegreen Vacations Duel | O Daytona International Speedway | Daytona Beach, Florida | February 16 | 7pm | FS1 | MRN |
| 1 | Daytona 500 | O Daytona International Speedway | Daytona Beach, Florida | February 19 | 2:30pm | FOX | MRN |
| 2 | Pala Casino 400 | O Auto Club Speedway | Fontana, California | February 26 | 3:30pm | FOX | MRN |
| 3 | Pennzoil 400 | O Las Vegas Motor Speedway | Las Vegas, Nevada | March 5 | 3:30pm | FOX | PRN |
| 4 | United Rentals Work United 500 | O Phoenix Raceway | Avondale, Arizona | March 12 | 3:30pm | FOX | MRN |
| 5 | Ambetter Health 400 | O Atlanta Motor Speedway | Hampton, Georgia | March 19 | 3pm | FOX | PRN |
| 6 | EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix | R Circuit of the Americas | Austin, Texas | March 26 | 3:30pm | FOX | PRN |
| 7 | Toyota Owners 400 | O Richmond Raceway | Richmond, Virginia | April 2 | 3:30pm | FS1 | MRN |
| 8 | Food City Dirt Race | D Bristol Motor Speedway (Dirt Course) | Bristol, Tennessee | April 9 | 7pm | FOX | PRN |
| 9 | NOCO 400 | O Martinsville Speedway | Ridgeway, Virginia | April 16 | 3pm | FS1 | MRN |
| 10 | GEICO 500 | O Talladega Superspeedway | Lincoln, Alabama | April 23 | 3pm | FOX | MRN |
| 11 | Würth 400 | O Dover Motor Speedway | Dover, Delaware | May 1 | 12pm | FS1 | PRN |
| 12 | AdventHealth 400 | O Kansas Speedway | Kansas City, Kansas | May 7 | 3pm | FS1 | MRN |
| 13 | Goodyear 400 | O Darlington Raceway | Darlington, South Carolina | May 14 | 3pm | FS1 | MRN |
| | NASCAR All Star Open | O North Wilkesboro Speedway | North Wilkesboro, North Carolina | May 21 | 6pm | FS1 | MRN |
| | NASCAR All-Star Race | O North Wilkesboro Speedway | North Wilkesboro, North Carolina | May 21 | 8pm | FS1 | MRN |
| 14 | Coca-Cola 600 | O Charlotte Motor Speedway | Concord, North Carolina | May 29 | 3pm | FOX | PRN |
| 15 | Enjoy Illinois 300 presented by TicketSmarter | O World Wide Technology Raceway | Madison, Illinois | June 4 | 3:30pm | FS1 | MRN |
| 16 | Toyota/Save Mart 350 | R Sonoma Raceway | Sonoma, California | June 11 | 3:30pm | FOX | PRN |
| 17 | Ally 400 | O Nashville Superspeedway | Lebanon, Tennessee | June 25 | 7pm | NBC | PRN |
| 18 | Grant Park 220 | S Chicago Street Course | Chicago, Illinois | July 2 | 5:30pm | NBC | MRN |
| 19 | Quaker State 400 Presented by Walmart | O Atlanta Motor Speedway | Hampton, Georgia | July 9 | 7pm | USA | PRN |
| 20 | Crayon 301 | O New Hampshire Motor Speedway | Loudon, New Hampshire | July 17 | 12pm | USA | PRN |
| 21 | HighPoint.com 400 | O Pocono Raceway | Long Pond, Pennsylvania | July 23 | 2:30pm | USA | MRN |
| 22 | Cook Out 400 | O Richmond Raceway | Richmond, Virginia | July 30 | 3pm | USA | MRN |
| 23 | FireKeepers Casino 400 | O Michigan International Speedway | Brooklyn, Michigan | August 6–7 | 2:30pm | USA | MRN |
| 24 | Verizon 200 at the Brickyard | R Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Road Course) | Speedway, Indiana | August 13 | 2:30pm | NBC | IMS |
| 25 | Go Bowling 220 at The Glen | R Watkins Glen International | Watkins Glen, New York | August 20 | 3pm | USA | MRN |
| 26 | Coke Zero Sugar 400 | O Daytona International Speedway | Daytona Beach, Florida | August 26 | 7pm | NBC | MRN |
| NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs ||||||||
| Round of 16 ||||||||
| 27 | Cook Out Southern 500 | O Darlington Raceway | Darlington, South Carolina | September 3 | 6pm | USA | MRN |
| 28 | Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by Barstool Sportsbook | O Kansas Speedway | Kansas City, Kansas | September 10 | 3pm | USA | MRN |
| 29 | Bass Pro Shops Night Race | O Bristol Motor Speedway | Bristol, Tennessee | September 16 | 7:30pm | USA | PRN |
| Round of 12 ||||||||
| 30 | Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 | O Texas Motor Speedway | Fort Worth, Texas | September 24 | 3:30pm | USA | PRN |
| 31 | YellaWood 500 | O Talladega Superspeedway | Lincoln, Alabama | October 1 | 2:30pm | NBC | MRN |
| 32 | Bank of America Roval 400 | R Charlotte Motor Speedway (Roval) | Concord, North Carolina | October 8 | 2pm | NBC | PRN |
| Round of 8 ||||||||
| 33 | South Point 400 | O Las Vegas Motor Speedway | Las Vegas, Nevada | October 15 | 2:30pm | NBC | PRN |
| 34 | 4EVER 400 Presented by Mobil 1 | O Homestead–Miami Speedway | Homestead, Florida | October 22 | 2:30pm | NBC | MRN |
| 35 | Xfinity 500 | O Martinsville Speedway | Ridgeway, Virginia | October 29 | 2pm | NBC | MRN |
| Championship 4 ||||||||
| 36 | NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race | O Phoenix Raceway | Avondale, Arizona | November 5 | 3pm | NBC | MRN |