This is what the start of the 2012 Sprint Cup season is set to look like. There are some "part time" teams expected to run but I haven't included that information
| 2012 NASCAR Nextel CUP DRIVER LIST | ||||
| Driver | # | Sponsor | Model | Team/Owner |
| McMurray, Jamie | 1 | Bass Pro Shop | Chevy | Earnhardt Ganassi Racing |
| Keselowski, Brad | 2 | Miller Lite | Dodge | Penske Racing |
| Kahne, Kasey | 5 | GoDaddy.com/ Farmers Ins/ CARQUEST | Chevy | Rick Hendrick |
| 6 | Ford | Roush Fenway Racing | ||
| Ambrose, Marco | 9 | Stanley Black & Becker | Ford | Richard Petty Motorsports |
| Patrick, Danica {partial season} | 10 | GoDaddy.com | Chevy | Stewart Haas Racing |
| Hamlin, Denny | 11 | FedEx | Toyota | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| Mears, Casey | 13 | GEICO | Toyota | Germain Racing |
| Stewart, Tony | 14 | Office Depot / Old Spice / Burger King | Chevy | Stewart Haas Racing |
| Bowyer, Clint | 15 | Five Hour Energy Drint | Toyota | Michael Waltrip Racing |
| Biffle, Gregg | 16 | 3M | Ford | Roush Fenway Racing |
| Kenseth, Matt | 17 | Best Buy | Ford | Roush Fenway Racing |
| Busch, Kyle | 18 | M&M's/Snickers/Pedigree Dog Food/Interstate | Toyota | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| Logano, Joey | 20 | Home Depot / Dollar General | Toyota | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| Bayne, Trevor {partial season} | 21 | Motorcraft | Ford | Wood Brothers |
| Allmendinger, AJ | 22 | Shell/Penzoil | Ford | Penske Racing |
| Richardson, Robert | 23 | Chevy | R3 Motorsports | |
| Gordon, Jeff | 24 | Drive to End Hunger / Du Pont | Chevy | Rick Hendrick |
| Menard, Paul | 27 | Menard's | Chevy | Richard Childress |
| Harvick, Kevin | 29 | Budweiser / Rheem | Chevy | Richard Childress |
| Streeme, David | 30 | Chevy | Inception Morotsports | |
| Burton, Jeff | 31 | Catapiller | Chevy | Richard Childress |
| 33 | Chevy | Richard Childress | ||
| Gilliland, David | 34 | Taco Bell | Ford | Front Row Motorsports |
| Wise, Josh | 37 | Long John Silver's | Ford | Larry Gunseiman |
| Newman, Ryan | 39 | U. S. Army / Haas Automation / Tornados | Chevy | Stewart Haas Racing |
| Montoya, Juan Pablo | 42 | Target / Big Red / Juicy Fruit | Chevy | Earnhardt Ganassi Racing |
| Almirola, Aric | 43 | Ford | Richard Petty Motorsports | |
| Labonte, Bobby | 47 | Little Debbie's / Clorax / Kingsford | Toyota | JTG Daugherty Racing |
| Johnson, Jimmie | 48 | Lowe's | Chevy | Rick Hendrick |
| Busch, Kurt | 51 | Phoenix Racing | ||
| Martin, Mark & Waltrip, Michael | 55 | Aaron's Dream Machine | Toyota | Michael Waltrip Racing |
| Truex Jr, Martin | 56 | NAPA | Toyota | Michael Waltrip |
| Smith, Regan | 78 | Furniture Row | Chevy | Furniture Row Racing |
| Earnhardt Jr, Dale | 88 | Mountain Dew/Amp / National Guard | Chevy | Rick Hendrick |
| Edwards, Carl | 99 | Aflac | Ford | Roush Fenway Racing |