Fantasy Alarm NASCAR: 2018 Driver Recaps

Numbers of interest from 2018:

12 – Number of drivers that accounted for all 36 race wins in 2018.

2 – Number of drivers to get their first MENCS wins in 2018 (Chase Elliott and Erik Jones).

8 – Amount of Top-10 finishes for Austin Dillon in 2018 (half as many as any other driver with a win).

0 – How many times Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson made it to Victory Lane combined in 2018.

5,370 – Laps led by Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., and Joey Logano combined which equals 52.6% of total laps (10,211) run in the season.

2 – Teams to have all of their drivers win a race in 2018, excluding the one-car team of Furniture Row Racing (Stewart-Haas Racing and Team Penske).

19 – Wins by Fords in 2018 led by Kevin Harvick’s eight.

Driver Recaps

*Drivers are listed by 2019 car numbers

#00 – StarCom Fiber Chevrolet

Team: StarCom Racing

Driver: Landon Cassill

2018 Stats: 0 wins, 0 Top-5s, 0 Top-10s, Two Top-20s, 0 Laps Led, 0 Poles, Avg Finish: 29.69, Avg Rating: 36.1

This will be Cassill’s second full season with the StarCom 00-car team after racing in 29 races for the team in 2018 with the best finish being an 18^th-place finish at the second Las Vegas Motor Speedway race. He will continue to be a budget-friendly play in DFS this season but I don’t see his stat line from 2019 looking much different than the 2018 one did.

#1 – Monster Energy Ford

Team: Chip Ganassi Racing

Driver: Kurt Busch

2018 Stats: One win, Six Top-5s, 22 Top-10s, 30 Top-20s, 644 Laps Led, Five Poles, Avg Finish: 12.11, Avg Rating: 98.4

It was a consistent year for the eldest Busch brother in 2018 with the fifth-best average finish mark of anyone in the Cup series and another playoff for Stewart-Haas Racing. There was a stretch of races from the first Talladega date through the end of the regular season (18 races) in which he finished outside the top-10 just four times and finished with 10 top-six finishes. This season sees him switch teams to Chip Ganassi Racing to be teammates with Kyle Larson as he takes the former Jamie McMurray ride. With the move he will switch to Chevy from Ford along with adjusting to the new racing package but given how solid Kyle Larson has been recently, expect more the same from Kurt Busch after the first several races of the season.

#2 – Miller Lite Ford

Team: Team Penske

Driver: Brad Keselowski

2018 Stats: Three wins, 12 Top-5s, 20 Top-10s, 27 Top-20s, 705 Laps Led, 0 Poles, Avg Finish: 13.36, Avg Rating: 97.6

Keselowski’s three wins came in a back-to-back-to-back stretch between Darlington, Indy, and Las Vegas. That stretch almost made people forget how inconsistent his 2018 season was even the stats above show what seems to be a very good season. If you take a look at his season in segments, you’ll see that he would finish inside the top-10 two or three of four races but then miss it for two or three of four races with the most-consistent stretch coming from Michigan to Richmond late in the season when he posted five of six top-10s and four of six top-fives including the three wins. The key to the 2-team’s 2019 is finding the speed on a more week-in-and-week-out basis, which might be tough given the body change and the rules package changes to contend with on the track.

#3 – Dow Chevrolet

Team: Richard Childress Racing

Driver: Austin Dillon

2018 Stats: One win, Two Top-5s, Eight Top-10s, 24 Top-20s, 23 Laps Led, 0 Poles, Avg Finish: 17.47, Avg Rating: 72.0

Dillon’s season got off to a roaring success with his win in the Daytona 500 after last lap chaos broke out once more. However, it wasn’t great after that with his next top-10 finish coming at Auto Club and the third one not coming until the second Daytona race in July. The Richard Childress Racing team did find more speed in the car late in the year as he had seven top-11 finishes in the 10 Chase races to end the year. Part of the lack of speed could have been coming from learning a new body style in the Chevy Camaro that debuted last year but now in 2019 he will be reunited with a familiar face atop the Pit Box in Danny Stockman Jr. who was his Crew Chief for his championship seasons in the Truck series and Xfinity series, which should help gain him some consistency.

#4 – Jimmy John’s Ford

Team: Stewart-Haas Racing

Driver: Kevin Harvick

2018 Stats: Eight wins, 23 Top-5s, 29 Top-10s, 31 Top-20s, 1,955 Laps Led, Four Poles, Avg Finish: 8.83, Avg Rating: 115.5

Almost from the drop of every green flag last year, Harvick was the driver to beat in 2018. The 4-car team had the fastest car and a driver that was locked in at pretty much every track, except for off weeks he had which were few and far between. It wasn’t without controversy though as he did have two L1 penalties leveled against him after two of his cars failed post-race inspections at the NASCAR R&D Center with one of those happening in the second to last race before the Championship and thus made him have to point his way in at Phoenix. The Ford Mustang will be the change for him this year but in interviews so far this offseason, he’s sounded pretty confident in what he’s working with to this point.

#6 – Oscar Mayer Ford

Team: Roush-Fenway Racing

Driver: Ryan Newman

2018 Stats: 0 wins, 0 Top-5s, Nine Top-10s, 24 Top-20s, 57 Laps Led, 0 Poles, Avg Finish: 17.25, Avg Rating: 74.0

Newman was one of those guys that always seemed to hang around the middle of the pack all season and was a guy you could play at certain tracks and when the price was right. Starting with the coverage switch between networks at Chicagoland at the start of July, Newman finished outside of the top-20 just twice in the final 20 races. Keep in mind that season was done in a new Chevy Camaro and for a different team than he’ll race for in 2019 as he switches from RCR to Roush Fenway and the new Ford Mustang. The veteran driver should still be able to produce a pretty similar stat line to 2018 in 2019 Even though the 6-car team had a down season last year and split starts between Trevor Bayne and Matt Kenseth.

#8 – Caterpillar Chevrolet

Team: Richard Childress Racing

Driver: Daniel Hemric

2018 Stats: 0 wins, 16 top-5s, 23 Top-10s, 28 Top-20s, 440 Laps Led, Four Poles, Avg Finish: 8.8 (Xfinity)

Hemric has been in the Xfinity series for a couple of seasons now and his 2018 season was really a breakout with the 16 top-fives coming in 33 starts. At 27 years old he’s a bit older than most rookies, but the talent speaks for itself and his familiarity with the organization will help but the jump to the MENCS can still be a bit of a bigger jump than some expect. This car is the former 31-car with a different number but Hemric should be able to pilot it to some top-10 finishes in 2019.

#9 – NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet

Team: Hendrick Motorsports

Driver: Chase Elliott

2018 Stats: Three wins, 11 Top-5s, 21 Top-10s, 29 Top-20s, 325 Laps Led, 1 Pole, Avg Finish: 12.25, Avg Rating: 94.2

A breakout of all breakouts is what Elliott experienced in 2018 when he not only notched his first career MENCS with a great final 20 laps at Watkins Glen but he also grabbed two more wins, and nearly made the Championship Four for the first time as well. He also became arguably the best car in the Hendrick Motorsports stable with his showing last year and now that he’s through the growing pains of the new body style, and is off the schneid in terms of wins, 2019 should be a big year for Elliott and the 9-car team.

#10 – Smithfield Ford

Team: Stewart-Haas Racing

Driver: Aric Almirola

2018 Stats: One win, Four Top-5s, 17 Top-10s, 29 Top-20s, 181 Laps Led, 0 Poles, Avg Finish: 12.75, Avg Rating: 88.6

Almirola nearly brought home the win in the opening race of the 2018 season and his inaugural race for Stewart-Haas Racing in the Daytona 500 until he crashed on the backstretch trying to block with the lead. The stat line seems to not fully show off the year he had since he was seemingly always in the hunt race-in-and-race-out but he ultimately did get a win in the 10-car with a team-wide domination of the Talladega Chase race which allowed him to move further into the Chase than he’d previously been while at Richard Petty Motorsports. SHR is still using Yates engines and even with the rules package changes, I still expect the SHR Fords to be some of the best on the track every week.

#11 – FedEx Toyota

Team: Joe Gibbs Racing

Driver: Denny Hamlin

2018 Stats: 0 wins, 10 Top-5s, 17 Top-10s, 31 Top-20s, 380 Laps Led, Four Poles, Avg Finish: 12.56 Avg Rating: 91.4

It was a season that Hamlin wants to forget as quickly as possible since he ended a streak that had been going for 12 years with at least one win in each of those previous seasons. The pairing with Mike Wheeler on the Pit Box has ended as well with the new Crew Chief, Chris Gabehart, coming up from the Xfinity ranks to try and right the ship. Hamlin was running closer to the front in the latter third of the season so if he can keep that speed up, Hamlin should be back to his normal self if everything clicks the right way for the JGR 11-car team in 2019.

#12 – Menards Ford

Team: Team Penske

Driver: Ryan Blaney

2018 Stats: One win, Eight Top-5s, 16 Top-10s, 28 Top-20s, 660 Laps Led, Three Poles, Avg Finish: 14.83 Avg Rating: 94.3

Blaney was in an official Team Penske car for the first time in 2018 after spending some time developing in the Cup series in the Wood Brothers car (an affiliate of Team Penske). The year was a solid one for Blaney, though he was behind his fellow Penske teammates in most categories, and he did get a win that was gifted to him at the Roval when Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex Jr. crashed in the final corner. There were several weeks in which he appeared to be able to challenge the front of pack cars with top-end speed, but he just didn’t have enough to last all the way till the end. The 12-team should be in a good spot to improve on his 2018 campaign and perhaps add a few more wins to his growing career total.

#13 – GEICO Chevrolet

Team: Germain Racing

Driver: Ty Dillon

2018 Stats: 0 wins, 0 Top-5s, One Top-10, Seven Top-20s, Three Laps Led, 0 Poles, Avg Finish: 24.1, Avg Rating: 52.4

The younger Dillon brother continued to show improvement in 2018 and in fact decided to stay with Germain Racing because he liked what they have building in the garage there. The top-end finishes haven’t materialized yet, the lone top-10 being at the July Daytona race, but the upside of that is it was his first top-10 in his Cup series career. He will continue to be a favorite budget-play nearly any week across all platforms.

#14 – Rush Truck Centers Ford

Team: Stewart-Haas Racing

Driver: Clint Bowyer

2018 Stats: Two wins, Nine Top-5s, 16 Top-10s, 27 Top-20s, 490 Laps Led, 0 Poles, Avg Finish: 13.75, Avg Rating: 93.0

It was a career year for Bowyer in his third year as a SHR driver in 2018, breaking a 190-race winless drought with the dominant day at Martinsville in March as that race accounts for a bulk of the laps led total he posted all season. There was an interesting trend for him in 2018 as the two wins came in the races before off-weeks and he nearly won the race before the third off-week as well at Bristol Motor Speedway in August. Everything is looking good for Bowyer as the same crew members are back for 2019 with the only real hiccup being the change in body style with the Mustang coming to the MENCS.

#17 – Fastenal Ford

Team: Roush Fenway Racing

Driver: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

2018 Stats: 0 wins, Three Top-5s, Five Top-10s, 22 Top-20s, 133 Laps Led, 0 Poles, Avg Finish: 19.4, Avg Rating: 71.3

Excitement was building for Stenhouse coming into 2018 following a handful of wins in 2017 including being dominant at restrictor plate tracks, but then, and excuse the pun, the wheels fell off to a degree in 2018 when all was said and done. His best stretch of the season came starting at the first Talladega race up through the first Pocono race where he racked up six top-15s, two top-10s, and a top-five in those six races. Both Roush Fenway cars had down years in 2018 so there’s really only one way to go in 2019 and the addition Ryan Newman to the garage should give a different vantage point on how to improve things as well.

#18 – M&Ms Toyota

Team: Joe Gibbs Racing

Driver: Kyle Busch

2018 Stats: Eight wins, 22 Top-5s, 28 Top-10s, 31 Top-20s, 1,469 Laps Led, Four Poles, Avg Finish: 8.3, Avg Rating: 109.3

Busch didn’t really play second fiddle to anyone last year as he and Kevin Harvick went tit for tat all season with nearly identical stat lines by season’s end. One of only three drivers with a 100+ rating for the whole year, he put on a show everywhere he went but came up just short in the Championship when a late-race restart didn’t go his way. He gains a new teammate this year in Martin Truex Jr. which should only help to propel him to another season like his 2018 one though the competition within the garage certainly takes a tick upward with the move as well.

#19 – Bass Pro Shops Toyota

Team: Joe Gibbs Racing

Driver: Martin Truex Jr.

2018 Stats: Four Wins, 20 Top-5s, 21 Top-10s, 30 Top-20s, 1,016 Laps Led, Four Poles, Avg Finish: 10.72, Avg Rating: 101.8

Truex Jr. started the year as the defending MENCS champion but 2018 wouldn’t be a typical season we’ve come to expect from MTJ and crew. His first win came at Auto Club and the other three came in a six-race stretch from Pocono to Kentucky in mid-summer. By the time August rolled around, news broke that Furniture Row was having trouble filling sponsorship and within a month and a half it was announced this would be the last season for the single-car team. During the Chase Playoffs, Truex finished with consistency with four top-10s in the last five races and three of those were top-fives including a runner-up to Joey Logano in the Championship race. For 2019, MTJ moves to the 19-car formerly driven by Daniel Suarez, and he relocates to Charlotte, North Carolina from Denver to work in the JGR team garage. With Cole Pearn also making the move and no real equipment changes, Truex Jr. is still an elite play throughout the season.

#20 – Dewalt Toyota

Team: Joe Gibbs Racing

Driver: Erik Jones

2018 Stats: One win, Nine Top-5s, 18 Top-10s, 28 Top-20s, 99 Laps Led, One Pole, Avg Finish: 14.0 Avg Rating: 84.7

That Jones Boy as he goes by now, had a breakout season of sorts in 2018 as he nailed down his first Cup series win at the July Daytona race but also managed a top-five finish in 25% of the races he ran in 2018. It was likely between he and Daniel Suarez for the young gun that would stick in the JGR team garage past the 2018 season, and with the strong showing Jones’ seat is safe in the 20-car. Jones has flown a bit under the radar so far in his MENCS career, but that will change in 2019 given his showings in 2018 and that might make him a bit more of a marked man to pick off in the packs.

#21 – Menards Ford

Team: Wood Brothers Racing

Driver: Paul Menard

2018 Stats: 0 wins, One Top-5s, Seven Top-10s, 20 Top-20s, 14 Laps Led, One Pole, Avg Finish: 19.4. Avg Rating: 71.1

Menard spent the 2018 season driving for the Wood Brothers, his first with the iconic team, after Ryan Blaney moved on to the 12-car and it was a pretty solid debut season. Not elite level finishes by any means but he was competitive week-in-and-week-out and the seven top-10s show that off. The 21-team is still aligned with Team Penske and, after having one of the owners pass away this offseason, Menard and company are looking at having another solid 2019 season if they can grow from their 2018 experience.

#22 – Shell Pennzoil Ford

Team: Team Penske

Driver: Joey Logano

2018 Stats: Three wins, 13 Top-5s, 26 Top-10s, 31 Top-20s, 1,016 Laps Led, Four Poles, Avg Finish: 10.67, Avg Rating: 97.3

The 2018 season will be remembered for Logano winning his first Cup series championship after driving away from the pack in the final restart at Homestead-Miami. In the last 14 races of the season, Logano finishes outside the top-10 just three times and outside the top-14 just once, the crash at Phoenix, including getting two wins in the final four races of the season. Coming into the prime of his career in his late-20s, Logano is primed to have another run at the Championship Four in 2019 behind the wheel of the new Ford Mustang.

#24 – Axalta Chevrolet

Team: Hendrick Motorsports

Driver: William Byron

2018 Stats: 0 wins, 0 Top-5s, Four Top-10s, 21 Top-20s, 61 Laps Led, 0 Poles, Avg Finish: 22.1, Avg Rating: 68.1

Byron was the SUNOCO Rookie of the Year in 2018 after placing 23^rd in the standings by season’s end with his four top-10s bolstering his stock. Now he gets a seven-time champion crew chief in Chad Knaus atop his box this season to really try and get things going for the young driver. Having success in the major series is expected from Byron since he won seven times in his only season in the Truck series and four times in his Xfinity championship season in 2017. The upgrade at crew chief should pay immediate dividends for him and it might be time to buy low on him in 2019.

#32 – Schluter Systems Ford

Team: Go Fas Racing

Driver: Corey LaJoie

2018 Stats: 0 wins, 0 Top-5s, 0 Top-10s, One Top-20s, 0 Laps Led, 0 Poles, Avg Finish: 31.5, Avg Rating: 36.7

The part-time role at TriStar Motorsports in the 72-car has now translated to a full-time ride with Go Fas Racing going forward for another of our favorite budget-plays. In his 55 starts in the MENCS his best finish is 11^th in last July’s Daytona race. Not a big jump in results should be expected but he does have some talent and the former driver of the 32-car did manage three top-10s in it.

#34 – Love’s Travel Stops Ford

Team: Front Row Motorsports

Driver: Michael McDowell

2018 Stats: 0 wins, 0 Top-5s, One Top-10, 10 Top-20s, 33 Laps Led, 0 Poles, Avg Finish: 24.53, Avg Rating: 53.6

McDowell’s best races of the year came in the season-opener Daytona 500 when he finished ninth after moving up 13 spots from his starting spot, and his effort at Kansas in May when he finished 20^th after starting 36^th. The driver of the 34-car has been one of those guys that’s always in a spot to move up from his starting spot in nearly every race, and now in 2019 the FRM team has added another car to work with on the track which should help McDowell out as well.

#36 – TBA Ford

Team: Front Row Motorsports

Driver: Matt Tifft

2018 Stats: 0 wins, Six Top-5s, 19 Top-10s, 28 Top-20s, 38 Laps Led, One Pole, Avg Finish: 12.6 (Xfinity)

Tifft made news a couple of years ago for having a brain tumor removed and then within months, resuming a racing schedule and making the playoffs in the Xfinity series. In order to make room for Tifft, Front Row Motorsports is adding a car using the charter vacated by the closing of Furniture Row Racing making FRM a three-car team this year. Tifft ran a total of 77 races in the Xfinity series notching 38 Top-10s giving him a career 13.45 average finish at that level. There’s no doubt that he is in a bit lower class equipment than some other rookies will be in this year, but he’s got the talent to be a main competitor for the SUNOCO Rookie of the Year honors.

#37 – Kroger ClickList Chevrolet

Team: JTG Daugherty Racing

Driver: Chris Buescher

2018 Stats: 0 wins, Two Top-5s, Two Top-10s, 18 Top-20s, One Lap Led, 0 Poles, Avg Finish: 21.0, Avg Rating: 59.3

There is a pretty decent chance that you new his teammate better than you knew Buescher throughout last season, his previous teammate was A.J. Allmendinger in the 47. However, Buescher was actually a tick better than Allmendinger throughout the season including two P5 finishes at Daytona in 2018. Buescher now takes on the leader role at JTG Daugherty with his teammate now being a rookie in Ryan Preece, but going into his third year with the same team, Buescher should be ready to get a few more top-10 finishes in 2019.

#38 – SelectBlinds.com Ford

Team: Front Row Motorsports

Driver: David Ragan

2018 Stats: 0 wins, 0 Top-5s, One Top-10, 14 Top-20s, 0 Laps Led, 0 Poles, Avg Finish: 22.9, Avg Rating: 53.5

He and his teammate Michael McDowell had similar seasons in 2018 including having two his best finishes at restrictor plate tracks with P6 at Talladega and a P15 at the July Daytona race. Ragan gets to be a member of a three-car garage as well this year which should also help increase the amount of info they are brining in practice sessions and simulator work in terms of telemetric data. Expect Ragan to be in play at the restrictor plate tracks once more this year as he’s gotten his second and third best average finishes at those two tracks in his career.

#41 – Haas Automation/Arris Ford

Team: Stewart-Haas Racing

Driver: Daniel Suarez

2018 Stats: 0 wins, Three Top-5s, Nine Top-10s, 21 Top-20s, 35 Laps Led, One Pole, Avg Finish: 18.5, Avg Rating: 70.5

What turned out to be the final year, for the time being, of Suarez in the Joe Gibbs Racing garage, was a disappointing one for the young driver. His 2018 season was actually a tad worse than his rookie campaign was after stepping in following the surprise retirement of Carl Edwards, which likely doomed his chances at returning to JGR. Instead he is now taking over the ride that used to be Kurt Busch’s at Stewar-Haas and will switch manufacturers in doing so. So far he’s only managed 21 Top-10s in 72 career MENCS, that rate will need to step up to fulfill his promise, oh and he’s getting used to a new crew chief too as he switches teams.

#42 – Credit One Back Chevrolet

Team: Chip Ganassi Racing

Driver: Kyle Larson

2018 Stats: 0 wins, 12 Top-5s, 19 Top-10s, 29 Top-20s, 782 Laps Led, Three Poles, Avg Finish: 12.6, Avg Rating: 95.7

The only thing missing from Larson’s 2018 stat line is a win, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. Of the dozen top-fives he had, six of those were runner-up finishes and three of those were losses to Kyle Busch (Bristol, Pocono, and Chicago) the last of which led to the now famous call by Dale Earnhardt Jr. of “slide job.” Here was near the front of the pick quite a lot and oftentimes had the fastest long run car on the track for the whole weekend. He’s clearly a talented driver that just didn’t quite finish last year, but now he gets some veteran leadership from Kurt Busch in the garage which might just add the little bits missing from his “game” so to speak to get him consistently over the top.

#43 – Smithfield Chevrolet

Team: Richard Petty Motorsports

Driver: Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr.

2018 Stats: 0 wins, One Top-5, Three Top-10s, 10 Top-20s, 19 Laps Led, 0 Poles, Avg Finish: 24.5, Avg Rating: 54.8

His rookie campaign got off to a flying start in the 2018 Daytona 500 when he started P7 and finished battling for second at the checkered flag. After that however, the good finishes were few and far between as he had to wait until the first Texas race for another top-10 and then his third came at ISM Raceway in the second-to-last race of the season. There were some decent showings as the 10 top-20s show, but the speed just wasn’t consistently there for the underfunded 43-team. Wallace has talent but everything will have to click for him and his team for there to be more high finishes in 2019, which could be tough.

#47 – Kroger ClickList Chevrolet

Team: JTG Dougherty Racing

Driver: Ryan Preece

2018 Stats: One win, Seven Top-5s, 10 Top-10s, 11 Top-20s, 53 Laps Led, One Pole, Avg Finish: 12.3 (15 Xfinity races)

Preece is a guy that took a shot on himself in the 2018 season. After not getting a full-time ride, he pieced together some part-time rides, most notably for Joe Gibbs Racing, and whenever he was on the track, he was clearly doing very well. The bet on himself worked well enough to get him a full-time gig in the 47-car at the Monster Energy Cup series level, that was previously driven by AJ Allmendinger. Preece will be in his rookie year in 2019 as a 28-year-old but that shouldn’t make you underestimate his abilities behind the wheel.

#51 – Chevrolet

Team: Rick Ware Racing

Driver: Cody Ware

This car is a bit different than pretty much any other on the track as it was driven by 13 different drivers last year alone with B.J. McLeod racing it 14 times, Harrison Rhoades six, Cody Ware and Timmy Hill three, taking up the bulk of the on-track runs. It was constantly near or at the bottom of the salary lists on both sites and the best finish of the year for the 51-team was a 12^th place finish in the Daytona 500 by Justin Marks with the next best being 16^th at the second Daytona race. The shifting of drivers will continue again in 2019 making it tough to get a routine down for one driver for more than a few races in a row.

#88 – Nationwide Chevrolet

Team: Hendrick Motorsports

Driver: Alex Bowman

2018 Stats: 0 wins, Three Top-5s, 11 Top-10s, 26 Top-20s, 71 Laps Led, One Pole, Avg Finish: 17.0, Avg Rating: 77.6

Granted it was his first full-time season at the Cup level, but it was a career year for Bowman as he set career marks in several categories and locked down a career-best finish of P3 at the second Pocono race. For a time in the middle of the season as well, Bowman was arguably the most-consistent driver in the Hendrick garage as he had seven top-15s in a nine-race span starting with Sonoma and ending with the Bristol Night Race including five top-10s in that span. Bowman took over for the retired Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2018 and managed to get himself into the playoffs in his first try, it’s time to build on that success in 2019 as they have a year under their belt in the Camaro body.

#95 – Procore Toyota

Team: Leavine Family Racing

Driver: Matt DiBenedetto

2018 Stats: 0 wins, 0 Top-5s, One Top-10, Six Top-20s, Eight Laps Led, 0 Poles, Avg Finish: 26.9, Avg Rating: 46

DiBenedetto is one of the most well-liked drivers amongst his colleagues you will find. He now takes over for a retired Kasey Kahne, due to health issues, and gets himself a better ride than he’s had in his previous five years in the Cup series. There was always a feeling that DiBenedetto was getting more out of his equipment than it should have been able to give and hence the reason he gets to drive for a better team now. To be clear this won’t be without hiccups as he and the team both go through a manufacturer switch to Toyota and learn the new rules package, and he gets used to a new crew chief, but the alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing will certainly help, just look at what it did for Furniture Row before the closed shop. Expect more top-20s and a few more top-10s for DiBenedetto in 2019.

#97 – WAVE Sports Toyota

Team: Obaika Racing

Driver: Tanner Berryhill

2018 Stats: Two Cup races: Avg. Finish: 34.5

Berryhill raced just twice in 2018 with a best finish of 31^st at Phoenix in the second to last race of the year. He managed to get a full-time ride from that brief tryout but not much should be expected from this team this year given their low-budget and his so-so driving ability. Berryhill will likely always be the cheapest option on both sites but won’t garner and reason to play him.

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