<Li> On January 23, 2018, Richard Childress Racing announced that it will downsize to two full - time teams and one part - time team for 2018, the No. 27 team will be renumbered as the No. 8 and it will run two races with Daniel Hemric . </Li> <Li> On April 25, 2018, Roush Fenway Racing announced that Matt Kenseth will reunite with RFR and will share the #6 car with Trevor Bayne for the 2018 season . </Li> <Ul> <Li> On April 25, 2017, Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced that he would retire from full - time racing . On July 20, 2017, Alex Bowman was announced as his full - time replacement . </Li> <Li> On July 11, 2017, it was announced that Erik Jones will be replacing Matt Kenseth in the No. 20 car for Joe Gibbs Racing . On November 4, 2017, Kenseth announced he would be stepping away from full - time racing and will not compete in any 2018 events, but on April 25, 2018, it was announced that Kenseth would drive the No. 6 part - time along with Trevor Bayne for Roush Fenway Racing . </Li> <Li> On July 26, 2017, it was announced that Paul Menard will replace Ryan Blaney in the No. 21 car for Wood Brothers Racing . </Li> <Li> On August 1, 2017, it was announced that Kurt Busch will become a free agent after driving the No. 41 car for Stewart Haas Racing . However, on December 11, 2017, it was announced that Busch had re-signed with Stewart - Haas Racing on a 1 - year deal . </Li> <Li> On August 7, 2017, it was announced that Kasey Kahne would be leaving the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports car at the end of 2017 . On August 8, 2017, it was announced that William Byron was named as his full - time replacement in the renumbered No. 24 car and will be running for Rookie of the Year honors . On September 19, 2017, it was announced that Kahne would be driving the No. 95 Chevrolet Camaro for Leavine Family Racing, replacing Michael McDowell . </Li> <Li> On September 12, 2017, Danica Patrick announced that she would not be returning to Stewart - Haas Racing in 2018 . Later that day, Richard Petty Motorsports announced that Aric Almirola would not be returning to the No. 43 team in 2018 . On October 25, 2017, Richard Petty Motorsports announced that Darrell Wallace Jr. would drive the No. 43 and compete for Rookie of the Year Honors . In 2017, Wallace Jr. was going to run the full NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule driving the No. 6 Ford Mustang for Roush Fenway Racing, but the team shut down in June due to a lack of sponsorship . Wallace would also drive the No. 43 in the Cup series, filling in for Almirola when he was injured in a crash at Kansas . Wallace also drove the No. 98 Ford Mustang for Biagi - DenBeste Racing in the Xfinity Series at Chicago, and the No. 99 Chevrolet Silverado for MDM Motorsports in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Michigan . </Li> <Li> On September 25, 2017, Derrike Cope announced he would leave the No. 55 car of Premium Motorsports to drive the new No. 99 for StarCom Racing . Cope also serves as Team Manager, and the No. 00 team will run the full schedule after securing a charter and Landon Cassill will drive the majority of the schedule . </Li> <Li> On October 10, 2017, Front Row Motorsports announced that Landon Cassill would not return to drive the teams No. 34 entry in 2018 . On December 14, 2017, it has been confirmed that Michael McDowell will drive full - time in the No. 34, and David Ragan is returning to FRM in the No. 38 . </Li> <Li> On November 8, 2017, Stewart - Haas Racing announced that Aric Almirola would take over the No. 10 Ford full - time in 2018, replacing Danica Patrick . </Li> <Li> On November 15, 2017, it was announced that Danica Patrick would be retiring from auto racing . She plans to race in the 2018 Daytona 500 (NASCAR) and the 2018 Indy 500 (IndyCar) before retiring . </Li> <Li> On November 22, 2017, it was announced that Ray Black Jr. would compete full - time and challenge for Rookie of the Year with Rick Ware Racing's No. 51 chartered entry . The No. 51 did not have a charter in 2017 . RWR also announced a part - time No. 52 team with drivers Cody Ware, Kyle Weatherman, B.J. McLeod and John Graham . However, in early February, it was that Justin Marks would drive the No. 51 in the Daytona 500, even though Ray Black Jr. was announced as the full - time driver . It is rumored that the deal fell through . Marks, Black, Cole Custer, Harrison Rhodes, Timmy Hill, Cody Ware, B.J. McLeod, and Chris Cook all made starts in the car . The No. 52 would make its debut at Sonoma with Cody Ware . </Li> <Li> On January 30, 2018, StarCom Racing signed Jeffrey Earnhardt to drive its chartered No. 00 Chevrolet for the season . Earnhardt replaces Derrike Cope, who will remain as team manager and also will drive a second car for the team later in the year . Earnhardt previously drove for Circle Sport--The Motorsports Group full - time in 2017 . After the first 5 races, Earnhardt was replaced by Landon Cassill . Joey Gase was later announced as the driver for Talladega and road course ringer Tomy Drissi was announced as the driver for Sonoma . </Li> <Li> On February 5, 2018, TriStar Motorsports announced that Corey LaJoie would split the chartered No. 72 team with Cole Whitt, with sponsorship from Schluter Systems . LaJoie previously drove for BK Racing's Nos. 23 and 83 in most of the races in 2017 . </Li> <Li> On March 20, 2018, Richard Childress Racing announced that Daniel Hemric would drive a part - time No. 8 car in the Cup Series during the Richmond spring race and the during the playoffs on the new Charlotte "Roval" course . </Li> </Ul> <Li> On April 25, 2017, Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced that he would retire from full - time racing . On July 20, 2017, Alex Bowman was announced as his full - time replacement . </Li>

Who drives the 99 car in nascar in 2018