New Teams For 2018

Starting a new team is one of the most challenging deals to make happen in this sport. You have to build a good group of guys around your race team and be able to bring good equipment to the table to race head to head with some of the most successful teams in the business. To be able to get the best equipment out there takes a lot of money and funds to gather up some of the best equipment for your race team and then to make the car go fast you have to have some really good engineers in the shop to tune the car up and make some speed.



These are some of the challenges these newer teams will face as most of them don't have the best equipment as some of the top teams in the series.... Let's introduce you some of the new teams coming into the new year.



Jeff James Inc.

Jeff James just came off 3 seasons in a row of being a title contender for Martin Motorsports decided to make the tough choice to leave the team who brought him 10 career victories in 3 seasons. James teammed up with Mace Enterprises late in 2017 preparing for the 2018 Season... James and Mace during the off season has worked hard to get Jeff James Inc. ready for the new year with some Mace Enterprises employees actually being transferred to the JJI team for the new year with equipment being shared between the two. We expect this team to be the sister team to Mace Enterprises which saw all of it's drivers in 2017 win races... We expect this team to hold their own in the 2018 Season compared to the rest.



Kurtis Racing

Just coming off a Hardee's National Series Championship, Kurtis Racing made the push towards the Cup Level for the 2018 Season. Kurtis Racing formed an alliance with Athenian Motorsports during the off season as the two worked together with sharing data and equipment. Kurtis Racing will be bringing along defending HNS Champion, Dylan Schwallenberg and also a very promising driver from the National Level, Luis Hernandez as their driver line up for the 2018 Season. Kurtis Racing getting support from Athenian might be the best thing for them. With this team being formed of rookie drivers in the Cup Level it is thought that this team's progression in 2018 might start off slow but this team might become stronger as the season goes along.




Tauger Racing Unit

Treck Tauger retired after 2017 and made the effort to move his National Series team to the Cup Level. Tauger will be the car chief for the #74 Chevy for 2018 with rookie driver Milton Cambell as the driver. This program struggled in the National Series last year with Robert Harrison as the team's driver. The team finished 35th in points with 0 Top 10 finishes all year with an average finish of 29th. This team has been criticized by many as making a Cup program being too early as their HNS Program not being that good to begin with. Making the races will be a challenge for Tauger and his race team for the 2018 Season but it's a challenge Tauger is willing to take as he plans to take more responsibility with his race team as the car chief. 



Gardner Racing

Jonny Gardner making the move to start up his own race team in the Cup Series is one making expected many years ago but never happened. Gardner made his Cup debut back in Season 11 and ran in the Cup Level for many seasons, however, never having as much success went to the National Series with CM Racing and had a lot of success, after 2 seasons in the National Series, Gardner decided to make his own Cup Series team and return back as a Cup driver. With a team of his own and little help from sponsorship, Gardner Racing will have a tough road ahead of them in trying to make races and be competitive at the same time, Gardner and Cole Deaver will both drive for the team in 2018 as a 2-car team.



Archangel Automotive Group

Angel Navarro being the owner of this race team said he wanted to race in the Cup Series again, with no teams offering him a ride in the series he went about making his own race team, Navarro has said that he knows making races and being competitive is going to be tough because his team runs off a budget when all the top dollar race teams spends so much money each week on bettering their equipment as for them they are using old race cars and equipment each week. This team will be on an uphill climb when it comes to qualifying for the races and falls under the category with Tauger Racing Unit and Gardner Racing as teams that will need to find something in qualifying to manage their underfunded teams into the field.



Young Wicked Racing

Hayden Kline made his own race team in early January when Kline found out he wasn't going to be able to find a Cup ride for the 2018 Season. Hayden Kline the Season 4 Champion of the series was able to go out and find sponsorship willing to help the champion out in trying to build the necessary stuff to get ready for 2018. Even though this team is well behind in comparison to other teams getting ready for Daytona, Kline has hired on what seems to be only about a dozen people at his shop getting ready to race Daytona and try to race the 2018 Season. Kline since his return after 10 Seasons hasn't been able to find as good of magic behind the wheel as the early days however this hasn't discouraged Kline and his efforts to be the best. Kline managed to score 4 Top 20 finishes last year, Kline has a past champion provisional if he needs to use it which many speculate he will end up having to use his and might possibly have to use all his provisionals during the 2018 Season.



Coast To Coast Motorsports

This team is so new that this team only has the body for the race car at their shop, they are currently in the process of getting the chassis, engine and all the parts and pieces ready for Daytona. With Daytona Speedweeks coming in less than a month it is unsure if this team will be able to get everything they need to attempt the DAYTONA 500 but this team has said they plan to run the entire 2018 Season. Doug Lockrow is the owner of the car and is also going to be the driver of the team. This little start up team out of New York is rumored to only have about 6 members working at the shop getting everything ready. Lockrow will be attempting his first SCS race with his start up team at Daytona. This team currently only has the body of the race car ready while they prepare to get the car ready. This team will be nervous all speedweeks and early in 2018 as they only have enough money starting out to have 1 race car at their shop.