Last season, there were 33 full-time drivers, including 31 who were eligible to score Cup Series points. But despite the fact that there is only one more driver currently in the full-time lineup for 2020 than there was last year, there have been quite a few changes to that lineup.

Of the 33 drivers who competed full-time last season, just 26 are set to be back in 2020, as two retired, four were replaced and one left NASCAR for health reasons.

Of those 26 drivers, three switched teams, and an additional driver switched to a different car within his team, meaning that only 22 drivers are actually slated to stay put from 2019 to 2020.
Eight drivers who did not compete full-time in the 2019 season are set to compete in the 2020 season, including six drivers who are slated to battle for the Rookie of the Year Award.

Four of these six rookies do have Cup Series experience, but not enough to have previously qualified as rookies. The other two drivers who are set to compete full-time in 2020 after not doing so in 2019 both did compete in 2019 and in several previous seasons as well, but they only competed part-time last year.