Notable changes for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series
The 2024 NASCAR season begins in just over two months with the Daytona 500. Here are some notable changes within the NASCAR.
- Schedule Changes
Despite hopes of a race in Canada, only one new race has been added (Iowa Speedway on June 16) and the beloved Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., is now gone.
The NASCAR calendar has significant re-arranging.
The Spring Atlanta race will follow the Daytona 500, meaning back-to-back drafting style tracks. Bristol Dirt has been replaced with the traditional pavement race and will be moved from Easter Sunday. Indianapolis Motor Speedway will return the conventional oval. Finally, The Summer Daytona race will no longer be the regular season cut-off. Instead, Darlington Raceway becomes the cut-off race. This change may be due to the two-week break for the 2024 Summer Olympics. Hopefully the cut-off race will go back to Daytona in 2025.
- Cars
Two of the three car manufactures make changes to 2024 Cup cars.
Ford and Toyota will each sport new noses, which they hope will increase aerodynamic efficiency. This is especially true for Ford. Despite its driver, Ryan Blaney, winning the championship, it struggled against the Chevys and the Toyotas for much of the year.
Toyota speed was good throughout 2023 but they are hoping an aerodynamic upgrade will push their speed even further.
Chevy, who was the class of the field for 2023, is the only manufacturer to not make changes to its car design. It will be interesting to see how the changes (or lack of changes) affect performance, especially in the first handful of races.
The other big car news for 2024 is Legacy Motor Club leaving Chevrolet for Toyota. It was not secret that Legacy received very little manufacturer support from Chevrolet, likely contributing to its 2023 struggles. The additional manufacturer support at Toyota should push Legacy toward the front.
- Drivers
Driver changes are always the most exciting news of a new season and 2024 is no exception.
Kevin Harvick leaves the Cup garage to join the TV booth at Fox. He will be replaced by Josh Berry, who was the “super-sub” last year, replacing both Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman while they were injured.
Berry will be joined at Stewart Haas Racing by his Xfinity teammate at JR Motorsports, Noah Gragson, who coming off his season ending 2023 suspension, will replace Aric Almirola in the No. 10 car.
Xfinity Series Champion, Daniel Hemric, will replace Justin Haley in the No. 31 Kaulig Racing entry, and Haley moves to Rick Ware Racing to drive the No. 51 machine.
John Hunter Nemecheck will get his second opportunity in the Cup Series as he is slated to drive the No. 42 Legacy Motor Club entry.
Finally, Carson Hocevar will take over Ty Dillons ride in the No. 77 Spire Motorsports car. The only unknown at this point is who will drive the No. 16 Kaulig Racing after A.J. Allmendinger returns to the Xfinity Series.
Zech Yoder is a local resident, an attorney at Adler Attorneys in Noblesville, and a lifelong race fan.