It’s a 4-part preview for the 2024 season as Nascar goes “back to school”.
1.) Cup Series Driver Preview: The 36 Types of Drivers
2.) Cup Series Team Rankings: Making the Grade
3.) Xfinity Series Team & Driver Preview: Breaking Down the Class
4.) Truck Series Team & Driver Preview: Jocks to Watch
All information is as accurate as possible at time of writing—drivers, sponsors, owners, and bad jokes subject to change.
There’s 14* full-time Cup Series teams competing in 2024, and all of them are hoping to improve from last year (yes, even Rick Ware Racing). But where are they now, where do we think they’ll go, and what does the future hold? That’s what we aim to find out!
Note: Only full-time entries are listed
(*—though there’s 15 teams in the legal sense, the Wood Brothers operate as a de facto fourth Team Penske car).
Chevrolet Ford Toyota
1. (tie) Team Penske/Wood Bros. (2, 12, 22, 21)
2023 Driver Performance: B+
Sponsorship Situation: A+
The Next Few Years: A
It was a tale of two halves for Ford’s lead team last year, but not with two parts of the season, but rather two parts of the team. Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano both had strong playoff runs, while Austin Cindric and Harrison Burton continued to disappoint. With some young talent starting to mature in the Trucks and Xfinity Series, this could be a make or break year for the lesser half of this bunch.
1. (tie) Hendrick Motorsports (5, 9, 24, 48)
Sponsorship Situation: B+
The Next Few Years: A
Here’s how good HMS has been over the past few years—two drivers missed the Playoffs last year and it was considered a massive disappointment. Assuming that Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman are back at 100% in 2024, expect to see them with a legitimate shot to have all four drivers in the playoffs for years to come.
3. Joe Gibbs Racing (11, 19, 20, 54)
Sponsorship Situation: B
The Next Few Years: A
We saw a bit of a change in the JGR pecking order last year, with Christopher Bell establishing himself as a real championship contender. That puts JGR in a pretty enviable spot with two wily veterans (Martin Truex Jr, Denny Hamlin), a maturing young star (Bell), and a rising young talent (Ty Gibbs). Now if they could just find another sponsor or two…
4. 23XI Racing (23, 45)
Sponsorship Situation: A
The Next Few Years: A
23XI finds itself in what I like to call the “Formula One Situation”—they have one driver who is a real championship threat in Tyler Reddick, and another who is a real sponsorship magnet (Bubba Wallace). However, Bubba remains a race win contender, and really the only thing holding this team back is its size.
5. Trackhouse Racing Team (1, 99)
2023 Driver Performance: B-
Sponsorship Situation: A+
The Next Few Years: A+
Outside the “big three” of Penske, Hendrick, and Gibbs, I don’t know if there’s a team that’s better set-up for the future than Trackhouse. They have two young but experienced drivers under contract—one (Ross Chastain) is a championship contender and the other (Daniel Suarez) is a race win contender who brings plenty of sponsorship. Best of all, they have Shane van Gisbergen or Zane Smith waiting in the wings for a hypothetical third full-time chartered team.
6. RFK Racing (6, 17)
2023 Driver Performance: B+
Sponsorship Situation: B+
The Next Few Years: B-
Here they are—Nascar’s most-improved team from 2023. Chris Buescher established himself as a multiple race-winner and a dark horse candidate for the Cup championship, while Brad Keselowski put in a solid if unspectacular effort. Unfortunately the degradation of the former Roush/RFR team means there’s no obvious candidate in the pipeline for when BKes retires to full-time ownership—or if another team makes a power-play for Buescher.
7. Richard Childress Racing (3, 8)
2023 Driver Performance: B-
Sponsorship Situation: B-
The Next Few Years: B
The resurrection of RCR took a major step forward in 2023 with Kyle Busch showing he hasn’t lost a step—if anything, he upped his game. The team has a successful Xfinity Series program to develop young drivers, and seems to be holding onto sponsors. And then there’s Austin Dillon, who’s good, but pales in comparison to Rowdy.
8. Stewart-Haas Racing (4, 10, 14, 41)
2023 Driver Performance: C+
Sponsorship Situation: D
The Next Few Years: B+
SHR fell flat last year, with all four drivers struggling to contend for race wins, much less a championship. Here’s hoping this year sees the start of a Roush or Childress-like rebuild, with four relatively young drivers leading the charge for better results and more outside sponsorship.
9. JTG-Daugherty Racing (47)
2023 Driver Performance: C
Sponsorship Situation: A
The Next Few Years: C
I’ve had a lot of fun at Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s expense, but he showed me at the Daytona 500. And yeah, plate tracks are crapshoots, but last time I checked wins there still count just as much as wins elsewhere.
10. Spire Motorsports (7, 71, 77)
2023 Driver Performance: D+
Sponsorship Situation: C+
The Next Few Years: B
The slow growth of Spire’s race teams is likely to get a shot in the arm this year with a pair of rookies—Zane Smith and Carson Hocevar. And while Smith is likely a year or two “placeholder” until he’s ready for Trackhouse, he’s shown what he can do when in the right situation. Corey Lajoie is…also there.
2023 Driver Performance: C
Sponsorship Situation: B
The Next Few Years: D
Kaulig likely made a business decision in hiring Daniel Hemric full-time this year. Same for moving AJ Allmendinger to a part-time schedule in the 16. Sometimes teams have to make decisions that run contrary to on-track results for long-term gain. With that all being said, this could be a rough year for them.
12. Legacy Motor Club (42, 43)
2023 Driver Performance: D+
Sponsorship Situation: C-
The Next Few Years: C
2023 was a rough year for LMC, mostly due to off-track issues. Having John Hunter Nemechek in place of a rotating cast of characters in the 42 will likely add some much-needed stability, and Erik Jones has shown he can win in the right situations.
13. Front Row Motorsports (34, 38)
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2023 Driver Performance: C
Sponsorship Situation: C
The Next Few Years: D-
Michael McDowell remains a threat to win on plate tracks and road courses, and seems to run a sponsored car every weekend. The 38 on the other hand…yeesh. Here’s hoping Todd Gilliland can hold onto his ride for the whole year.
14. Rick Ware Racing (15, 51)
2023 Driver Performance: F
Sponsorship Situation: D+
The Next Few Years: C-
Somebody has to be worst, but there’s still hope for RWR. They’ve signed an enhanced partnership with RFK that could see Justin Haley’s ride be an ersatz third Roush car, and, um, hopefully they can keep Cody Ware away from the shop.
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