The 2026 lineup in the NASCAR Cup Series appears relatively set.
Assuming there is no upheaval from the antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR, there are no seats open in Cup for full-time chartered teams.
What are the changes as far as driver-crew chief lineup for 2026? Here they are by car number (and we will add to this list as any changes do occur in the offseason):
Chastain has a new crew chief for 2026 in Brandon McSwain. McSwain has 16 wins as an engineer in the Cup Series, most recently being paired with William Byron. Chastain crew chief Phil Surgen will take another job in the Trackhouse organization.
Suarez comes from Trackhouse to Spire Motorsports to replace Justin Haley. Ryan Sparks, who was the competition director and interim crew chief for Suarez, will remain crew for Suarez, while Matt McCall will take over as Cup Series competition director. Haley has landed a full-time truck ride at Kaulig.
Busch has a new crew chief in Jim Pohlman, who was crew chief for Justin Allgaier the last few years, including for his Xfinity championship season in 2024. It is a return for Pohlman to RCR, where he worked on the early development of the Next Gen car until he left for JRM in 2023.
43-Erik Jones
Jones will have a new crew chief as Justin Alexander, a former Richard Childress Racing crew chief, will guide the Jones team in 2026. He replaces Ben Beshore, who moves to a director of race engineering role.
51-Cody Ware
Ware won’t have a new crew chief but he will be driving a new brand of car, as Rick Ware Racing will switch to Chevrolet. The team will have a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing.
Zilisch, who won 10 races in Xfinity this season, will be a rookie driving full time for Trackhouse. He replaces Daniel Suarez but will take the number used by Shane van Gisbergen, while SVG will use the No. 97 starting next year. Randall Burnett, who was crew chief for Kyle Busch for most of the last three years, will be Zilisch’s crew chief.
Connor Zilisch is making the leap to the Cup Series after a dominant 2025 season in Xfinity.
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
