2026 NASCAR Draft Kit: Driver Rankings

Below are RotoWire's driver rankings and outlooks for the 2026 NASCAR season.

1. Kyle Larson – The Hendrick Motorsports star would only rack up three victories this past season, the lowest total of his last five Cup Series campaigns, but it would be good enough to make his series champion for the second time in his career. Larson's 22 Top-10 finishes were the second-best total of his NASCAR career, and it would be that great consistency that would help him to drive deep into the playoffs and capture the crown. His 1,100+ laps led would be second to only William Byron and underscore his dominance last season. Larson has shown over his last five seasons of competition that he's arguably the top driver in NASCAR. He's a threat to win on a variety of different tracks and possesses the widest skillset in the garage area. We expect Larson and crew chief Cliff Daniels to keep racking up the victories in 2026 and be a top contender in the championship hunt.
2. Christopher Bell – Bell had arguably his best season in Cup Series competition in 2025. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver accumulated four victories and 22 Top-10 finishes. He also registered his best average finish of his six-season career at a strong 11.2. Those wins, that consistency would push him far into the playoffs. However, the inability to win late in the postseason would be the prime reason that Bell would not make the championship round at Phoenix. Still, it was a remarkable campaign for the No. 20 Toyota team. Bell and crew chief Adam Stevens are hitting on all cylinders. With no major changes expected to this team, we believe Bell will grab another multi-win season and rack up over 20+ Top 10's once again in 2026. He'll be in the running to win the Cup Series championship and if the breaks go his way, Bell could walk away with his first title in NASCAR's top division.  
3. Ryan Blaney – The driver of the No. 12 Ford would suffer some inconsistency at times last season. Blaney would also have to battle through a whopping eight DNF's during the campaign. Despite those obstacles, the Penske Racing star would hang four victories on the board and push the 20 Top-10 plateau with 19 Top-10 finishes in 2025. Blaney would fail to make the championship round in Phoenix due to some inconsistency during the playoffs. However, you couldn't end the season on a higher note than finishing runner-up at Martinsville and winning the finale in Phoenix. That close of the season dominance sends a clear message to the garage area. Blaney and his Penske Racing team will hit the ground running in 2026. The 32-year-old veteran is approaching 400 Cup Series starts for his career and his 17 total wins are a figure that's beginning to stand out.           
4. Denny Hamlin – Just when you think Hamlin is approaching that age where his skill will begin to deteriorate, he goes out in 2025 and racks up six victories (leading the series) and 18 Top-10 finishes. His late-season heroics would catapult the No. 11 Toyota team in the championship round at Phoenix. However, Hamlin still couldn't deliver on that long awaited championship. Despite leading 208 laps that day, Hamlin would fade to sixth-place by the checkered flag and watch Kyle Larson collect his second series championship. At 45-years-old and with over 700 Cup Series starts to his credit, we keep waiting for Father Time to catch up to Hamlin, but it hasn't happened yet. He keeps winning races (now 60 to his credit) and pushing the 20 Top-10 envelope each season. Hamlin still has fire in his belly and it shows on the race track. He's never to be underestimated.  
5. William Byron – It's difficult to call a three-win, 16 Top-10 campaign a letdown, but in many ways, it was for Byron last season. The Hendrick Motorsports star had two stellar seasons in 2023 and 2024 and set the bar of expectations pretty high. A lack of consistency would cause his average finish position to balloon near 1.5 spots over his 2024 mark to 14.5. The drop in Top 10's was partly to blame. Speed didn't seem to be an issue as Byron would lead a series-leading 1,330 laps, the most of his career. But it would be let down performances at tracks like Atlanta and Phoenix that would plague his season. Byron has a lot of rebound potential for the 2026 season, so there's a lot to like here. We've moved him down the rankings just a bit to take him out of the direct top championship discussion. However, the upside here is undeniable.
6. Chase Briscoe – Briscoe's first season with Joe Gibbs Racing would go better than anticipated. The journeyman driver would post career-best marks in wins (3), Top 5's (15) and Top 10's (19). He would pull down a whopping seven pole positions which would lead the Cup Series. The time to integrate into this new race team was very short and Briscoe started reaping the benefits almost immediately. It would take him until the 17th race of the season to pick up his first victory of the campaign, but that was about the only part of his game that lagged in 2025. Briscoe will now not only look to equal but to improve upon these numbers in the upcoming season. We believe some modest improvement is possible. The fact that Briscoe and his crew chief, James Small, can rack up these kinds of numbers makes he and this team championship contenders in 2026. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has absolutely nothing to prove after last season's performance and should be focused entirely on raising the bar.  
7. Chase Elliott – The Most Popular Driver in NASCAR would log his first multi-win (2) season since 2022 but otherwise nearly match his performance from the 2024 season with 11 Top 5's and 19 Top 10's. Good consistency and good number of laps led (454) would pace his 2025 campaign. It wasn't the performance of which championships are made so he'd slot eighth in the final driver point standings, but it was a good step in the right direction for the No. 9 Chevrolet team. Long-time crew chief, Alan Gustafson, will return in 2026 and continue to build on this work with Elliott. The two have accomplished much over the years and have good chemistry. We don't expect any big moves or breakouts for Elliott so he'll once again be one of those lower "A" tier drivers in the upcoming season.
8. Joey Logano – The three-time series champion would come up short in his pursuit of a fourth NASCAR crown. Logano's one-win, 13 Top-10 campaign in 2025 would continue a pattern that has been ongoing for the Penske Racing star for much of the past five seasons. The ability to win races, but also the ability to be inconsistent at times and completely disappear some race weekends altogether. At 35-years-old he's not the oldest driver in the garage but we feel like Logano has taken on some of the age-related drop in performance characteristics you see in some older drivers. Regardless, Roger Penske has complete faith in this driver and team and Logano will be back for another run at a fourth championship in 2026. Paul Wolfe will continue to be his man on top of the war wagon and for good reason. The two have combined for 14 victories and two championships over the past six seasons.  
9. Alex Bowman – Bowman had a down season in 2025. He'd fail to scratch the win column and take an early exit from the NASCAR playoffs. The Hendrick Motorsports veteran would post a reasonable 16 Top-10 finishes but his consistency wasn't there and his average finish would balloon 2.5 spots to 17.4 over the 2024 campaign. This was one of those teams that the last season couldn't end fast enough going down the stretch. We expect a rebound of sorts for Bowman in the upcoming season. This is a contract year for the driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet and the rumors about the security of his seat are heating up. We expect Bowman to respond. He's shown the ability to win races in the past and to perform like an A-tier driver. We expect him to do it once more. In terms of age and experience, Bowman is not over the hill he just needs a good reset in focus. He presents good upside and should come cheap in fantasy drafts and auctions.
10. Tyler Reddick – One of the more puzzling drivers of last season was Reddick. He had elevated himself to the championship discussion with his three-win, 21 Top 10 campaign in 2024. However, he would go out and post a winless 2025 season with just 14 Top-10 finishes. A lack of speed, lack of laps led and overall drop in performance would plague his year. It would lead to an early exit from the playoffs and ninth-place finish in the final driver point standings. The 23XI Racing star will look to hit the reset button in the upcoming season. We expect no major changes to this team and Billy Scott will return to act as his crew chief. Whatever inconsistencies plagued their 2025 season, they will sort them out and try to claw back some of that lost performance. However, we would stop short of considering Reddick a top championship contender in 2026.
11. Chris Buescher – He would be held out of victory lane for the first time in the past four seasons in 2025. However, Buescher would continue to post consistent performances with 16 Top-10 finishes and a respectable average finish of 14.3 which would mirror his 2024 campaign. Buescher's laps led would also drop to just 47 which was much lower than his previous three seasons. The veteran Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing driver will look to rebound in the upcoming season and we believe he will. He's been one of the top consistent performers on both superspeedway ovals and road circuits for the past few years running. The 33-year-old driver has time left on his contract with this team and he'll once again be coached by crew chief Scott Graves. He and the No. 17 Ford team make nice rebound candidates in the upcoming season.  
12. Ross Chastain – Melon Man would scratch the win column last season (Charlotte) and build his current win streak to four seasons in NASCAR's top division. However, over that time we've seen his Top 10's diminish to just 12 last season and his average finish rise to 15.8. It's not a good trend but we believe it will stop in the upcoming season. Trackhouse Racing has replaced crew chief, Phil Surgen, with Brandon McSwain for 2026. He is an up-and-coming crew chief who has some time in the lower divisions of NASCAR, and most recently was the race engineer for the No. 24 car and William Byron. We'll see how quickly the two can work out some chemistry and begin to show some results. Chastain has demonstrated the ability to win races on both ovals and road circuits and to be a fierce competitor no matter where NASCAR races. We believe he has a lot left in the tank and Trackhouse has not run out of surprises.      
13. Bubba Wallace – By many measures Wallace's 2025 season will be considered his best campaign to this point in his Cup Series career. The one victory (Indianapolis) and 14 Top-10 finishes placed him 11th in the final driver standings of last season. They were career-best marks for the driver of the No. 23 Toyota. Wallace would suffer some inconsistency throughout the season still and that would lead to an inflated 18.5 average finish. However, he'd make his second-career appearance in the Cup Series playoffs and have a nice all-around season. His 378 laps led would also be a top mark for his eight-season Cup Series career. Wallace will look to build on these accomplishments in the upcoming season with crew chief, Charles Denike. The veteran driver inked a multi-year contract with 23XI in 2024 so he's set here for the foreseeable future.  
14. Shane van Gisbergen – His first full Cup Series season was quite the sensation. Van Gisbergen would win five of the six road/street courses last year and nearly sweep the road racing circuit of 2025. That type of dominance on the road circuits has never been seen in the modern NASCAR era. The one "knock" on van Gisbergen's rookie season was his lack of performance on the many ovals of the Cup Series schedule. That said, the Trackhouse Racing talent began to show some progress in that regards towards the end of last season. He would grab 10th-, 11th- and 14th-place finishes late in the year at Kansas, Talladega and Martinsville. Those hopeful signs highlight his potential for 2026. Van Gisbergen is likely never going to be as good on ovals as he is on road courses, but if he can manage even some competitiveness and consistency, it will add greatly to his fantasy racing value and make him a solid B-tier driver.
15. Ryan Preece – The move to Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing would pay off pretty big for Preece and he would become one of the more pleasant surprises of the 2025 season. The journeyman driver posted 14 Top-10 finishes and registered a career-best 15.7 average finish across the campaign. Preece would fall short of making the NASCAR playoffs but it would still be a successful season for the No. 60 Ford team. Now Preece can focus on moving the bar up in 2026 and we believe he will, albeit modestly. Derrick Finley will once again call the shots from the team's war wagon and look to break Preece possibly into victory lane for the first time. This driver and team finished 2025 on a heater with four Top 10's in the final five races of last season. That's a great last look heading into the 2026 campaign.     
16. Brad Keselowski – We're tentatively placing Keselowski No. 16 in the pre-season driver rankings. The owner/driver suffered a broken leg in a December skiing accident and will be fully engaged in recovery and healing prior to the start of the 2026 season. As we saw with Chase Elliott's broken leg in a snow boarding accident a few years ago, it can take some time to recover from an injury like this. The team insists Keselowski will be ready to go at Daytona, but that remains to be seen at this point. Given that he went winless in 2025 and posted 13 Top-10 finishes, which may be the ceiling for the No. 6 Ford team in the upcoming season. Despite Keselowski's near-600 starts of experience and 36-career victories, some question marks do hang over his 2026 campaign. We're putting a caution tag on Keselowski for fantasy racing buyers this season.   
17. Ty Gibbs – The anticipation of the "breakout" has now grown a bit dim and the excitement of his rookie campaign is now growing longer in the rearview mirror. The 23-year-old talent once again was held out of victory lane in 2025 and is still seeking his first-career win. Gibbs also saw his Top 10 total shrink to just 10 last season and his average finish inflate to 17.9. Not good signs for a young driver that's supposed to be improving with each season and not regressing. Gibbs is now standing squarely in the shadows of the other drivers at Joe Gibbs Racing and beginning to look pale in comparison. The young driver will get another season in 2026 to possibly stage that long awaited breakout. Tyler Allen remains his crew chief to start the new season, but we wonder just how long that will hold up. Gibbs has been with three different crew chiefs in his short, three-and-a-half season run. It may not be that the crew chief is the issue.  
18. Kyle Busch – Longtime supporters and fans of Busch are now getting concerned. You could even likely say they are pressing the panic button. The now 40-year-old star hasn't won in the past two seasons and he's posted just 10 Top-10 finishes in each of the last two campaigns. It's led to 20th- and 21st-place finishes in the driver standings the last two years. What started out so positively for Busch at Richard Childress Racing in 2023 (three victories, 17 Top 10's) has now gone stale. Qualifying has been a big problem, and Busch's pace is nonexistent. He led a career-low of just 88 laps last season. Jim Pohlman has been brought in to fill the crew chief role in a Hail Mary move of sorts. However, we have to wonder if this mediocrity continues, if he'll move on from Richard Childress Racing after 2026 or just retire from NASCAR altogether.
19. Connor Zilisch – The talented 19-year-old makes the jump from the Xfinity Series to the Cup Series in 2026. Zilisch will take a third seat at Trackhouse Racing and pilot the team's No. 88 Chevrolet in the upcoming season. This young driver absolutely demolished NASCAR's junior circuit in 2025 with a whopping 10 victories and 23 Top-10 finishes. Zilisch wouldn't win the championship due to the quirkiness of the playoff format, but his record-setting season in this division of NASCAR turned heads. He made just three Cup Series starts last year so his seat time in the Cup car is very limited. Zilisch seemed to struggle in those three efforts and his top finish was 11th-place at Atlanta. Randall Burnett comes over from Richard Childress Racing to Trackhouse to be crew chief for this young talent. There will be a learning curve, but it could be pretty quick for Zilisch. His impact won't be immediate but he should shine at times during his rookie season.
20. Austin Cindric – Cindric scratched the win column at Talladega last season for his third-career Cup Series victory. However, outside of that superspeedway win it would be a pretty lean campaign for the driver of the No. 2 Penske Racing Ford. Cindric would manage just five Top 10's during the entire season and he'd witness his average finish balloon to 20.9. The victory would put him in the playoffs for a second-straight season, but his lack of performance would once again lead to an early exit from the postseason. Now 27-years-old and with over 150 Cup starts to his credit, Cindric is not viewed as a young driver anymore. With him failing to live up to the performance levels of his teammates, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney, we frankly worry about his longevity with this team. Cindric is good through 2026 contractually, but his seat has to be growing warmer by the day. The pressure to perform is definitely on.      
21. Josh Berry – His strong driving helped to turn around a slumping Wood Brothers Racing team in 2025. Berry came over from the now defunct Stewart Haas Racing and paced the No. 21 Ford to a victory (Las Vegas) and eight Top-10 finishes throughout last season. Berry would finish last in the playoff field, 16th-place in the final driver standings, but it would be a career-best performance for the 35-year-old driver. What does the upcoming season hold in store for his second campaign at Wood Brothers? More of the same we expect. It may be a stretch to get back into victory lane, but we expect more steady racing and more Top 10's from Berry. He ended last season with 10th- and seventh-place finishes at Martinsville and Phoenix, so he should ride that momentum into 2026.
22. Carson Hocevar – The 2024 Rookie of the Year built on his strong first season and posted good numbers last year. Hocevar would scratch for nine Top 10's with his No. 77 Spire Motorsports team. The young driver and crew chief Luke Lambert seem to be growing together and developing some real chemistry. The superspeedways and short tracks were his best ovals and where his best results came from. If Hocevar could reduce the DNF's (eight last season) and improve his week-to-week consistency, he could climb the rankings in the upcoming season. Those gains have yet to be realized but Hocevar has the talent to make it happen. He and this race team are good speculative buy low candidates in just about any fantasy racing format.    
23. Michael McDowell – The move from Front Row Motorsports to Spire Motorsports wouldn't go quite as smoothly as planned, but McDowell would still unearth some good performances with the No. 71 Chevrolet team. The veteran driver would nab a surprising two pole positions during the year and collect six Top-10 finishes. The 18.2 average finish wasn't too bad at all with all things considered. McDowell just turned 41 during the offseason, so Father Time is starting to add up. At over 500+ Cup Series starts McDowell is one of the more seasoned drivers on the grid. His days of winning, even on superspeedways, could be over. However, McDowell should continue to be competitive and gather a handful of Top-10 finishes each season moving forward.
24. John Hunter Nemechek – Nemechek delivered in 2025. The young driver would pilot the team's No. 42 Toyota to eight Top-10 finishes and a 25th-place finish in the final driver standings. Both were career-best marks. With just over 100 Cup Series starts to his credit, Nemechek has a lot of good years and good racing to go. While his lack of overall consistency pulled his average finish up to a 20.3, his lack of DNF's meant he was racing at the end of almost all the races. No major changes are happening with his Legacy Motor Club team, but it's hard to imagine they could raise the bar much higher than this with their limited resources as a team. Nemchek's best tracks last year were the intermediate and larger ovals. That's something to remember not just in year-long fantasy formats but also in weekly lineup leagues.             
25. Austin Dillon – For the second-straight season, Dillon was able to engineer an upset victory at Richmond Raceway and qualify for the Cup Series playoff field. Other than that huge moment, it would be another struggle-filled campaign for the No. 3 Chevrolet team. Dillon would lead more laps this season than ones in recent past (119) but he would only hang five Top-10 finishes on the board after the year was complete. This level of performance is well below what Richard Childress expects from this team and yet there doesn't seem to be any signs of a break in this trend line for Dillon. He's soon to be 36-years-old and has nearly 450 Cup Series starts to his credit, but it doesn't seem the team can give him any better cars than what he has had the last few seasons. Richard Boswell returns as crew chief in 2026 and he will try once again to get Dillon more consistency and more Top 10's.
26. AJ Allmendinger – The veteran of nearly 500 Cup Series starts will return to Kaulig Racing once again in 2026. Allmendinger will pilot the team's No. 16 Chevrolet and partner with crew chief, Trent Owens, to elevate this team's performance over last season. Allmendinger would nab seven Top-10 finishes in 2025 and end the campaign at 26th-place in the overall driver standings. He wasn't able to add to his win total last season but he did grab a surprise pole position at Bristol and secure a pair of strong Top 5's at both Charlotte and Darlington. As per usual, Allmendinger's true strength is road course racing and he'll impress in those events. However, don't underestimate the Kaulig Racing veteran on the intermediate ovals. Allmendinger has shown some skill with those and can engineer Top 10's on them.
27. Daniel Suarez – The five-season run at Trackhouse Racing came to an end at the conclusion of last year. Suarez had one of his worst performances with that team in 2025. He would only collect seven Top-10 finishes and wind up a distant 29th-place in the final driver standings. The team parted ways with Suarez and he would end up at Spire Motorsports for the upcoming season. He replaces Justin Haley in the team's No. 7 Chevrolet. Suarez will be teamed with Ryan Sparks at crew chief and the two will look to get this team up off the mat. Haley would collect just two Top-10 finishes with this team last season, so they're currently not in a good place. Suarez brings over 300 Cup Series starts of experience and two-career victories to the table for this project. However, he'll face some headwinds of his own in trying to boost this struggling team.     
28. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – 2025 wasn't the best season for Stenhouse and the No. 47 HYAK Motorsports team. The veteran driver would struggle to a four-year low of just three Top-10 finishes and a career-low of 30th-place in the championship driver standings. Stenhouse would post a 22.9 average finish for last season which was his highest in recent memory. The team returns unchanged from last year and with Mike Kelley still calling the shots from atop the team's war wagon. Stenhouse and Kelley have a lot of work to do to get this team back to competitive racing. The intermediate and superspeedway ovals which have been a strength of Stenhouse were a weakness last season. They'll look to address that right away. Modest improvement should be expected, but we don't expect any major breakouts for this driver and team.
29. Todd Gilliland – Gilliland was modestly improved in his fourth full-time Cup Series season in 2025. The Front Row Motorsports driver grabbed a career-high five Top-10 finishes during the campaign and lowered his average finish to a career-best 20.8 for the season. Despite these small gains, it wouldn't fetch better than 27th-place in the final driver point standings. FRM returns this team intact for 2026 and with crew chief Chris Lawson once again teaming with Gilliland. The team's sweet spot appears to be intermediate and larger ovals, so they'll focus on that. Prospects for improving short track and road racing performance seem slim at best. Gilliland is just 25-years-old so modest gains are possible, but we don't expect any earth-shattering improvements. As long as he stays at Front Row Motorsports there's going to be a cap of limitation on the success he can achieve.     
30. Zane Smith – The California native saw some modest gains last season. Smith accumulated five Top-10 finishes and even one pole position (Talladega). However, much like his teammate Todd Gilliland, there were limits to Smith's success. The No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford team returns pretty much unchanged from the last season. Ryan Bergenty is still crew chief and he'll once again team with Smith. The duo would like to do better than their 28th-place finish in the final driver standings, but there will be some limits to that ability to improve. In addition to superspeedway ovals, Smith seems to have some short track ability. He did grab some good finishes at Bristol, Richmond and Phoenix along the way. So that is a good positive to build on going forward.     
31. Erik Jones – The veteran of over 300 Cup Series starts and three-time winner in NASCAR's top division returns for another season with Legacy Motor Club. Jones would gather five Top 10's last season and post a 20.2 average finish. Those accomplishments were in line with his previous two campaigns, so no big surprises for the No. 43 Legacy Motor Club team. Ben Beshore will move on from his crew chief role to serve another duty within the LMC team. Veteran Justin Alexander will take the reigns from atop the pit box beginning in 2026. Alexander has won five races at the Cup level as a crew chief. Intermediate and larger ovals, including superspeedways, continue to be this driver and team's strength. The team's Toyotas have their limits so there's limits to where the No. 43 team can go from here. Jones has experience and has won in the past and that does favor him over younger drivers in this part of the Cup Series field.  
32. Cole Custer – Custer's return to the Cup Series after a one-season hiatus didn't exactly go as planned. The new Haas Factory team that rose up out of the now-defunct Stewart-Haas Racing had plenty of challenges as a one-car race team. Custer would struggle to just three Top-10 finishes on the season and a distant 32nd-place finish in the final driver standings. The superspeedways were really the only highlight of this team's campaign. Despite all the success that Custer has had at the lower divisions of the sport, they just simply haven't translated to the Cup Series. The team is making the shift from Ford to Chevrolet in the upcoming season, so there's some hope of a boost on that front. However, given Custer's track record, we'll need to see some results early in the season to buy into that idea.
33. Noah Gragson – Unfortunately, Gragson would take some steps backward in 2025. After the closure at Stewart-Haas Racing, he would land with Front Row Motorsports last year in their No. 4 Ford. Gragson would labor to just three Top 10's throughout the season and an uninspiring 25.2 average finish. Trying to maintain a competitive presence on the track each week would be a challenge due to a whopping 8 DNF's during the campaign. Without much consistency nor fanfare, Gragson would pale in comparison to his other FRM teammates. He'll look for better results in 2026 under the guidance of Drew Blickensderfer. We expect there will be some marginal improvement, but nothing incredible. Gragson has shown that he can win in the lower divisions of NASCAR, but he's yet to show it in 111 Cup Series starts.
34. Ty Dillon – The return to full-time Cup Series racing wouldn't go quite as expected. Dillon would labor to just one Top-10 finish throughout the entire year and stumble home 33rd-place in the final driver standings. Kaulig Racing didn't exactly get the greatest of returns with this team situation but they announced that Dillon's contract had been extended in early December of 2025. Despite his over 250 starts in NASCAR's top division, a lot of things have to improve in this team situation for there to be any progress. Dillon hasn't finished better than 29th in the driver standings since the 2022 season. For the time being it looks like he's destined to be deep in the driver field each week and battling to stay on the lead lap.    
35. Riley Herbst – The 2025 rookie of the year candidate and new face at 23XI Racing had a tough first full season of racing in NASCAR's top division. Herbst would collect a mere eight Top-20 finishes last year and that would slot him a distant 35th-place in the driver standings by the close of the season. He would pale in comparison to his teammates, Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace. Herbst is back for season two in the No. 35 Toyota but the pressure is definitely on. The young driver will need to find results early and often in the 2026 campaign to secure this seat going forward. Herbst is already feeling some tremendous pressure from Corey Heim who is the team's top development driver and reigning Craftsman Truck Series champion.
36. Cody Ware – Ware's full season of racing in 2025 would yield just two Top-20 finishes vs. 11 DNF's. There wasn't a whole lot of competitive racing going on in the No. 51 Ford team. The team has made the decision to switch back from Ford and to Chevrolet in the upcoming season. So there will be some hope and positive outlook from that move. Ware will once again drive full-time for the team in 2026 and partner with crew chief, Billy Plourde. This veteran driver has nearly 150 Cup Series starts spread over the last 10 seasons. There's not shortage of experience here, but this resource-limited team will always struggle to be competitive. Ware can occasionally surprise and outperform on superspeedway ovals, however, he shouldn't be looked to in fantasy racing games for consistent results.
37. J.J. Yeley – The veteran driver is expected to return to the part-time NY Racing team again in 2026. Yeley made 10 starts for this team last year with very limited results. In fact, his best finish in those efforts was a mere 30th-place at Las Vegas late last season. Yeley's efforts were up over the eight starts he made with this team in 2024 but only marginally so. The No. 44 Chevrolet team should take on a similar slate in the upcoming season. However, as has been the case to this point, it will come with very little in the way of results. Yeley's qualifying average last season was a distant 37.4 and his average finish wasn't much better at 34.4. Given this team's limited schedule and lack of overall results, Yeley has next to no fantasy racing value.
38. Austin Hill – For the forth straight year in 2025, Hill took on a part-time Cup Series schedule in addition to his full-season efforts in the O'Reilly Series. He's a race winner and championship contender for Richard Childress Racing in that lower division of NASCAR. However, his impact in the Cup Series is dramatically less. Hill made five starts last season and did earn his first-career Top-10 (Chicago Street Course). However, the other four starts were a whole lotta racing outside the Top 20. Hill should be in line for another similar sized part-time schedule in RCR's No. 33 Chevrolet in 2026. Always a wild card to do something big on superspeedways as those are his best tracks across both the Cup and O'Reilly Series. But his fantasy impact will still be very minimal due to the very limited schedule.   
39. Corey Heim – Heim is the reigning Craftsman Truck Series champion and he's coming off an amazing, record-setting 12-win season in 2025. The young talent is coming off two part-time efforts in the Cup Series and Heim earned his first-career Top 10 (Bristol) last season. Heim's primary focus will once again be on the Truck Series in the upcoming season but he'll still be involved in a handful of races in NASCAR's top division. He is 23XI Racing's top development driver and next in line for a ride in the Cup Series when the opportunity comes along. For now he'll have to wait and keep stacking up victories and championships in the Truck Series. While his footprint of races and corresponding impact is small, Heim is wildly talented and a driver to watch very closely in the near future.                         
40. B.J. McLeod – With just five starts in 2025, it was the lightest schedule of this part-time driver's full Cup Series history. Live Fast Motorsports would field McLeod in just the superspeedway events and Atlanta because it behaves much like a superspeedway despite it's intermediate size. McLeod would grab just one Top-20 finish in those efforts and register a 26.2 average finish across the five attempts. At 42-years-old and with nearly 150 Cup Series starts to his credit, McLeod is not short on experience. However, his impact is very small with the part-time schedule and this resource-limited team. His 2026 schedule has not been announced but we would imagine he'll run the superspeedways once again as that's the ovals he can have the most impact.