With the Daytona 500 just three weeks away, it’s time we take a look at the hectic offseason and preview for what seems to be an amazing 2024 NASCAR Season. One of the biggest changes is how Qualifying will work in 2024. NASCAR has elected to keep things the same with how the top ten spots are determined which results in the field being broken up into two groups. These groups are labeled Group A and Group B and the fastest five drivers from each group advance to determine the top ten. The format for spots 11-40 has changed a bit. Last year, if you were not inside that top five, you would be placed in your starting spot based on how your lap time compared to the others that did not make the top ten. Starting this year, except for the Daytona 500, the drivers in Group A who do not make the top five will determine the outside row, while the drivers in Group B who also missed determine the inside row!
The NASCAR schedule will also look a little different this season with the addition of two tracks and the loss of two tracks. We start with the losses, Fontana, otherwise known as Auto Club Speedway, will not be featured this season as the track is under renovation and will look to be back on the NASCAR schedule in the coming years. There will also no longer be a dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway. After three years of running one race on dirt and one on concrete, NASCAR has elected to put both exhilarating races on concrete. The 2024 season will also see the long-awaited returns of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Iowa Motor Speedway. The historic Brickyard makes its triumphant return to the NASCAR circuit this season. Now, the series has consistently visited Indy over the past few years, but they have been running the Indy Road Course instead of the full historic track. The track was dropped for its road course for the 2021 season, but will make its return, pleasing many NASCAR fans across the globe!
But the bigger news is Iowa Speedway. Iowa has never hosted a Nascar Cup Series race, and will be hosting a Nascar-sanctioned race for the first time since 2019! Iowa used to be on the Xfinity and Truck Series schedules every season from 2009 to 2019. The self-proclaimed “Fastest Short Track on the Planet” makes its debut in the Cup Series on Sunday, June 16, at 6 p.m. CDT! When looking back on previous NASCAR Playoffs, Darlington Raceway has always opened the Championship run for drivers. This season is not the case, the regular season will end with Darlington and now start with Atlanta. In other news regarding the playoffs, Texas Motor Speedway will no longer be featured, but there is a new addition of Watkins Glenn. The track will be making its playoff debut and becomes the second road course with the Roval in the Playoffs!
With the addition of a second road course to the playoffs and a total of five road courses, the drivers should be pleased to know that NASCAR has elected to bring back the wet-weather tires. These tires have been approved for use on all of the road course races and for all races on ovals that are one mile in length or shorter, with the exception of Bristol Motor Speedway and Dover Motor Speedway. In addition to bringing back the wet-weather tires, Chevrolet is the only manufacturer to return the same car body from the 2023 season. Toyota is making the switch over to the brand new Toyota Camry XSE and Ford is revamping its Mustang with the unveiling of the Dark Horse. It’s not only manufacturers making changes for the 2024 season. A team and sponsor will also make a change ahead of the new year. Legacy Motor Club will be making the switch from being a Chevy team to a Toyota team and Busch Light will be making the move from being a sponsor of the newly retired Kevin Harvick at Stewart-Haas Racing to being a sponsor of Ross Chastain at Trackhouse Racing.
Kevin Harvick’s retirement shook up the NASCAR world, which moved many drivers around and gave new opportunities to some fresh faces and new beginnings to veterans. Josh Berry will sign with Stewart-Haas Racing to take over for Kevin Harvick and be the new pilot of the four-car. Berry was not the only new driver who signed with SHR, Noah Gragson signed over to take over the ten-car for Aric Almirola, who left for Joe Gibbs Racing and the Xfinity Series. The Kaulig Racing Team also lost a Cup driver, as A.J. Allmendinger decided to slide back down to the Xfinity Series for the team. Daniel Hemric previously was driving the eleven-car for Kaulig in the Xfinity Series but will get the call-up to the Cup Series to drive the thirty-one-car for the departing Justin Haley. Haley, the long-time Kaulig driver, will head to the Rick Ware Racing Team for the 24 season and drive the fifty-one car. Joining Haley at RWR is Kaz Grala who will drive the fifteen-car. Spire Motorsports has joined in on the craziness and called up Carson Hocevar from the Truck Series to pilot the seventy-seven car. Spire also called up Zane Smith from the Truck Series, like Hocevar, to drive the seventy-one-car, which is a shared car between Spire Motorsports and Trackhouse Racing. Trackhouse will be providing the Australian star Shane van Gisbergen with a car for seven Cup races, where he will pilot the ninety-one car for Trackhouse. SVG most recently decided to move to the Americas and will run in the Xfinity Series full-time this upcoming year. Gisbergen has a single Cup win under his belt, which was the inaugural Chicago Street Race.
Wrapping every move up was Legacy Motor Club’s addition of John Hunter Nemechek. He will be replacing the newly vacated forty-two car with the departure of Noah Gragson for Stewart-Haas, and finally, RFK Racing has added a new program called Stage 60. This will be the third car added to the team and will be piloted by David Ragan.
Now that we have recapped this extremely hectic offseason, we can begin looking towards the Clash at the Coliseum and the Daytona 500. In the past two years of the Daytona 500, we have seen first-time winners, Austin Cindric and Ricky Stenhouse Jr, take the checkered flag. Going into the week of the Great American Race, defending Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney leads all drivers with the best odds to win, but is closely followed by Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliot, and the one-two duo of RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher.
If I started thinking about a winner, my first thoughts go to Kyle Busch or Bubba Wallace. Both men have come extremely close in the past two years and maybe this is the year they can finally get it done in Daytona! However, my pick to win the whole race is Chase Elliott, who had a horrible and frustrating 2023 season, filled with injuries and a suspension. The six-time voted most popular driver Elliott will look to come back stronger than before and become a two-time Cup champion by the end of the season. So with my pick, when the checkered flag waves, you can bet they will be ringing the sirens at the pool room in Dawsonville!