The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series was the 74th season for NASCAR professional stock car racing in the United States and the 51st season for the modern Cup Series. The 2022 season marked the debut of the Next Gen Car, which was originally supposed to debut in 2021, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, this was the first season to have races covered by USA Network, which took over for the then-defunct NBCSN (revived in 2025 by NBC Sports Group).
Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports clinched the regular season championship following the 2022 Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International. Prior to the 2022 Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway, Chevrolet clinched its 41st manufacturers' championship. Austin Cindric of Team Penske won the NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors. At the conclusion of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway, Joey Logano of Team Penske claimed his second Cup Series championship.
This season concluded with 19 different drivers winning a race, which tied the modern-era (1972–present) record set in 2001, making the 2022 season one of the most competitive in history.
Teams and drivers Chartered teams Manufacturer Team Driver Crew chief Chevrolet Hendrick Motorsports 5 Kyle Larson Cliff Daniels Kevin Meendering 9 Chase Elliott Alan Gustafson 24 William Byron Rudy Fugle 48 Alex Bowman Greg Ives Noah Gragson JTG Daugherty Racing 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Brian Pattie Kaulig Racing 16 Daniel Hemric Matt Swiderski George Spencer A. J. Allmendinger Noah Gragson 31 Justin Haley Trent Owens Caleb Williams Jaron Antley Petty GMS Motorsports 42 Ty Dillon Jerame Donley Joey Cohen Chad Norris 43 Erik Jones Dave Elenz Danny Efland Richard Childress Racing 3 Austin Dillon Justin Alexander Jim Pohlman 8 Tyler Reddick Randall Burnett Spire Motorsports 7 Corey LaJoie Ryan Sparks Peter Sospenzo 77 Landon Cassill Kevin Bellicourt Josh Bilicki Justin Allgaier Mike Rockenfeller Trackhouse Racing 1 Ross Chastain Phil Surgen 99 Daniel Suárez Travis Mack Ford Front Row Motorsports 34 Michael McDowell Blake Harris Chris Yerges 38 Todd Gilliland (R) Seth Barbour Troy Raker Live Fast Motorsports 78 B. J. McLeod Lee Leslie Christopher Stanley Keith Wolfe Andy Lally Josh Williams Scott Heckert Kyle Tilley RFK Racing 6 Brad Keselowski Matt McCall Josh Sell 17 Chris Buescher Scott Graves Travis Peterson Zane Smith Rick Ware Racing 15 David Ragan Mike Hillman Sr. Ken Evans Kevyn Rebolledo Garrett Smithley Joey Hand J. J. Yeley Ryan Preece Parker Kligerman 51 Cody Ware Billy Plourde Ken Evans J. J. Yeley Stewart–Haas Racing 4 Kevin Harvick Rodney Childers Stephen Doran 10 Aric Almirola Drew Blickensderfer 14 Chase Briscoe Johnny Klausmeier 41 Cole Custer Mike Shiplett Tony Cardamone Team Penske 2 Austin Cindric (R) Jeremy Bullins Grant Hutchens 12 Ryan Blaney Jonathan Hassler Miles Stanley 22 Joey Logano Paul Wolfe Wood Brothers Racing 21 Harrison Burton (R) Brian Wilson Toyota 23XI Racing 23 Bubba Wallace Bootie Barker Dave Rogers Billy Scott Ty Gibbs Daniel Hemric 45 Kurt Busch Billy Scott Bootie Barker Ty Gibbs Bubba Wallace John Hunter Nemechek Joe Gibbs Racing 11 Denny Hamlin Chris Gabehart Sam McAulay 18 Kyle Busch Ben Beshore Seth Chavka 19 Martin Truex Jr. James Small 20 Christopher Bell Adam Stevens
Non-chartered teams Limited schedule Manufacturer Team Driver Crew chief Rounds Chevrolet Beard Motorsports 62 Noah Gragson Darren Shaw Justin Allgaier NY Racing Team 44 Greg Biffle Jay Guy Richard Childress Racing 33 Austin Hill Jim Pohlman The Money Team Racing 50 Kaz Grala Tony Eury Jr. Conor Daly Trackhouse Racing 91 Kimi Räikkönen Darian Grubb Ford MBM Motorsports 55 J. J. Yeley George Church Jeff Weaver 66 Timmy Hill Jeff Weaver Boris Said Team Hezeberg powered by Reaume Brothers Racing 27 Jacques Villeneuve Josh Reaume Mike Gramke Toine Hezemans Loris Hezemans Toyota 26 Daniil Kvyat Toine Hezemans Mike Hezemans
Changes
Teams On April 28, 2021, Kaulig Racing announced they would run at least one full-time Cup car in 2022. The team made their Cup Series debut in the 2020 Daytona 500 with their Xfinity Series driver Justin Haley driving the No. 16 car. They then entered the No. 16 in all superspeedways (with Kaz Grala) and road course races (with their Xfinity Series driver A. J. Allmendinger) in 2021. On June 18, the team announced that Haley would drive the No. 16 full-time in 2022. On June 5, team owner Matt Kaulig announced that Allmendinger would return to run the road courses and would also run the superspeedway races for the team in the Cup Series in 2022. Because Matt Kaulig also then announced that their full-time car will have one full-time driver, Allmendinger will drive a new second Cup Series car for Kaulig. On June 18, the team announced that they had purchased two charters from Spire Motorsports. On December 14, Kaulig announced that Allmendinger would instead drive the No. 16 and the other drivers sharing the car with him would be Noah Gragson and Daniel Hemric, with Haley driving Kaulig's other car. On December 15, it was announced that Haley's car number would be the No. 31. On May 14, 2021, Rick Ware Racing owner Rick Ware told NBC Sports that he may lease out one of his four charters in 2022. On October 10, RWR announced that they would form a technical alliance with Stewart–Haas Racing in 2022 and would field two full-time cars with the possibility of a third if sponsorship can be found. On May 29, 2021, Denny Hamlin hinted that 23XI Racing may expand to a two-car operation in 2022, with or without a charter. On August 14, Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports reported a potential deal between 23XI and Front Row Motorsports that would allow 23XI to lease or purchase one of FRM's charters. On August 27, 2021, Kurt Busch was officially announced as the driver of the No. 45 car. On October 3, Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic reported that Hamlin had secured a charter for the No. 45. On October 13, Pockrass reported that they had been working with FRM, but the deal had fallen through. On November 13, David Wilson from Toyota Racing Development revealed in an interview to Jenna Fryer from the Associated Press that 23XI had secured a charter for the No. 45 car. He did not announce which team they got it from and if they purchased it or are leasing it. On November 16, 23XI's president Steve Lauletta confirmed that the team has purchased StarCom Racing's charter for 13.5 million, the most expensive purchase of the charter since the implementation of the system in 2016. On June 10, 2021, Justin Marks stated on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio that his Trackhouse Racing may expand to a two-car operation in 2022. On June 30, the team announced that they had purchased the entirety of Chip Ganassi Racing's NASCAR operations, effective at the end of the 2021 season. On May 24, 2022, Trackhouse announced that they would field a third car, the No. 91, part-time in 2022. The entry will be fielded for international drivers in other racing series through an initiative known as PROJECT91. The car will be fielded in at least one race in 2022 and in additional races in 2023. On June 17, 2021, it was announced that the Truck Series team GMS Racing would debut in the Cup Series in 2022. They did not announce whether the team would run full-time or part-time and their car number at the time. On October 10, GMS announced that they would run full-time with Ty Dillon driving the No. 94 car. The team will also have a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing, the team owned by Dillon's grandfather, Richard Childress. On December 1, GMS purchased a majority interest in Richard Petty Motorsports for 19 million. The deal includes both of RPM's charters; the No. 43 will continue to operate with its charter while the second charter, which was leased to Rick Ware Racing for the No. 51 from 2019 to 2021, will be transferred to GMS' No. 94. On December 7, the team was renamed Petty GMS Motorsports, with the No. 94 renumbered to the No. 42, a former Petty Enterprises number which became available after Chip Ganassi Racing closed down. On June 18, 2021, Spire Motorsports announced the sale of two of its three charters to Kaulig Racing, which left the team with one charter in 2022 for Corey LaJoie's No. 7 car and no charter for their No. 77 car. When Rick Ware Racing scaled back their operations from four full-time cars to two in 2022, they sold their No. 53 charter to Spire; the purchased charter was assigned to the No. 7, with the No. 7's former charter reassigned to the No. 77, with Landon Cassill and Josh Bilicki sharing the ride. On August 31, 2021, JTG Daugherty Racing announced that it would scale down to one full-time team (the No. 47) in 2022. The team's No. 37 car, which ran full-time without a charter in 2021, was shut down at the end of the season. On September 1, 2021, Catchfence.com reported that StarCom Racing would be selling its charter after the 2021 season. The purchasing team has yet to be announced. On September 15, StarCom Racing's shop foreman and mechanical director Charlie Langenstein prematurely revealed in a since-deleted tweet that the team would shut down at the end of the 2021 season. On November 5, StarCom itself confirmed that they would be closing down. StarCom was in talks to sell its charter to Spire Motorsports, but the deal ultimately fell through. The charter was sold to 23XI Racing for the No. 45 car on November 16. On September 7, 2021, Beard Motorsports announced that the team will enter their No. 62 car in the Daytona 500 as well as the other three superspeedway races in 2022. The team only attempted the Daytona 500 in 2021 after previously attempting all Cup Series superspeedway races from 2017 to 2020. On October 9, 2021, NASCAR Whelen Euro Series driver Loris Hezemans and Reaume Brothers Racing announced that they would form a new Cup Series team, Team Hezeberg, that will field the No. 27 car part-time in 2022 for Hezemans and fellow Euro Series driver Jacques Villeneuve. Hezemans, who drove part-time in the Xfinity Series for Reaume in partnerships with other teams in 2021, will run all of the road course races with the possibility of some short track races. Villeneuve, whose races in the car have yet to be announced, will make his first Cup Series and NASCAR national series start since 2013. The team hopes to compete in the Cup Series full-time in 2023. On November 16, 2021, Roush Fenway Racing announced their rebrand to RFK Racing (Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing) due to Brad Keselowski joining the team as a co-owner. On January 19, 2022, Adam Stern from Sports Business Journal reported that The Money Team Racing, a team co-owned by or affiliated with boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. that has unsuccessfully tried to enter the series since 2019, had secured a car and a sponsor and was finalizing a deal to attempt to qualify for the Daytona 500 with Kaz Grala as the driver of their No. 50 car. On February 1, the team officially announced these plans. In addition, it was revealed that former StarCom Racing owners Michael and Matt Kohler and Bill Woehlemann have invested in the team. On February 3, 2022, MBM Motorsports announced that J. J. Yeley would attempt to qualify for the 2022 Daytona 500 in the team's renumbered No. 55 car. This is the fourth straight year that MBM's second car has changed numbers, as it was previously the No. 46 in 2019, the No. 49 in 2020 and the No. 13 in 2021. On February 14, 2022, NY Racing Team announced that they would attempt to qualify for the 2022 Daytona 500 with Greg Biffle driving their No. 44 Chevrolet. The team has its car bodies supplied by Richard Childress Racing and engines by Hendrick Motorsports.