The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season wrapped a little over a week ago with Ryan Blaney winning the Championship at Phoenix. However, it’s never too early to start getting excited for next season, and 2024 already has a lot to look forward to.
1. Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Ford is coming off of back-to-back Championship seasons with Team Penske. And prior to this year’s finale, the manufacturer unveiled its new Cup Car for 2024, the Mustang Dark Horse. The car will debut at the Clash at the Coliseum in February.
Ford released the Dark Horse commercially in 2022 and it will now be racing Globally in America’s highest-tier of stock car racing and in GT3 and GT4 international series.
The most noticeable difference to the car is a sleek new nose design which gives the front end less of a boxed look. The Dark Horse overall looks faster but only time will tell with on-track results. Ford has been particularly strong on Superspeedways. Its short track program has also been competitive as Blaney won his way into the Championship 4, at Martinsville. Despite a Coca-Cola 600 win at Charlotte, the manufacturer has not been the strongest at Intermediate tracks.
The first look of the car on a true 1.5-miler will be in Las Vegas in March, with Atlanta being more of a hybrid-drafting track since its repave. Watching how this car develops through the year and whether or not it keeps its strengths, falls back, or makes improvements will be intriguing as Ford looks to make it three straight titles.
2. SVG developing with Trackhouse + Erebus Motorsport Enters the Fold
Shane Van Gisbergen blew up stateside after winning in his NASCAR Cup Series debut in the first-ever street course race, at Chicago. Following a run in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Indianapolis Raceway Park in which he placed 19th and another top 10 with Project 91 at the Indianapolis Road Course, he announced a developmental deal with Trackhouse Racing for the 2024 season. He is set to run in all three National Series as well as some other divisions including Late Models.
He proved he has what it takes to compete with the best on Road Courses, but watching his development race-by-race on Ovals will be nothing short of a spectacle. Gisbergen is 34 years old and hopes to be running full-time in the Cup Series by the 2025 season. SVG is a three-time Australian Supercars Champion and is 4th all-time in wins with 81. In his 2022 championship season, he set the record for wins in a season with 21.
Fellow Supercars driver and current series points leader, 26-year-old Brodie Kostecki, also made the trip over for the Indianapolis Road Course race in August and placed 22nd in a Richard Childress Racing car.
His Supercars team Erebus Motorsport has expressed interest in fielding a car for him in select races in 2024 barring schedules lining up. The team would likely run with support from RCR but they see it as a growth opportunity for both their team and driver.
The racing product will only benefit from more talent and seeing how the relationship between the two series grows will be interesting over the coming years with SVG and Kostecki leading the wave.
3. Spire Trackhouse Partnership + Smith and Hocevar Rookie Year
Spire Motorsports is expanding to three cars in 2024 after purchasing Live Fast Motorsports’ No. 78 charter in partnership with Trackhouse Racing. 2022 Truck Series Champion, Zane Smith, will run full-time next season for Spire as Trackhouse wanted to expand its operations to bring him up the the Cup Series.
Smith had previously signed to run in the Cup Series in 2022 with Chip Ganassi Racing before the team was sold to Trackhouse. Smith returned to the Truck Series and moved to Front Row Motorsports where he earned a championship. In 2023 Smith raced in six Cup races with Front Row and Rick Ware Racing. He earned two top 20 finishes including a 10th place finish in the Coke 600 at Charlotte.
Fellow Truck Series driver, 20-year-old Carson Hocevar, will be making his full-time Cup debut as well. He will take over the No. 77 from Ty Dillon whose 2024 plans are yet to be announced. Hocevar made the Championship 4 for the first time this year with Niece Motorsports, however, he has built a reputation as an over-aggressive driver in his time in the Truck Series.
He’ll have to show that he can keep it cleaner with the best but he now gets his shot with Spire. In nine Cup starts this season with Spire and Legacy Motor Club Hocevar placed in the top 20 five times. He had an emergent truck season too earning four wins including the first of his career at Texas.
If watching two drivers on the same team battle for Rookie of the Year isn’t exciting enough, No. 7 driver Corey LaJoie is coming off the best year of his career. LaJoie finished the season 25th in points and finished half of the races in the top 20. He also had 4th-place finishes in the Atlanta Spring Race and at Talladega in the fall.
Spire’s consistent growth over its short lifespan and willingness to bring in young talent seem to have everything pointing up for the organization in 2024.
4. Justin Haley to Rick Ware Racing
Rick Ware Racing has struggled to get out of the bottom three in the standings in its existence as a Cup team. Last season was as turbulent as ever after the teams’ one full-time driver was arrested and suspended indefinitely by NASCAR. This resulted in the team having a rotation of drivers for both cars throughout the season.
In total, RWR had 12 different drivers between its two entries, with four drivers making appearances in both the No. 15 and No. 51.
Riley Herbst and JJ Yeley scored the only two top 10 finishes of the season for the team, both in the No. 15. Yeley’s 11th place finish at Talladega was the best of the season for the No. 51. In total the team only had nine top-20 finishes last season.
It was announced mid-season that Justin Haley would leave Kaulig Racing in the off-season for RWR on a multi-year deal.
Haley is a young racer at just 24 years old and he already has nearly three full Cup seasons under his belt as well as Truck and Xfinity series Champ 4 appearances. In 2022 Haley finished 22nd in the point standings with 22 top-20 finishes.
Before the announcement this year, Haley had 11 top-20 finishes with a career-high five top 10s including a runner-up finish at the Chicago Street Race. He only had two top-20 finishes the rest of the season with a 6th-place finish at Talladega. Haley has excelled at Superspeedways, which have also been RWR’s most fruitful tracks.
The long-term stability for both the team and driver could lead to growth that previously might not have been possible for either. Haley comes from a talent-heavy Kaulig team that promoted Xfinity driver Daniel Hemric back to the Cup Series to replace Haley in the No. 31. Being the featured driver of an organization that is looking to move forward with improved stability could be a perfect storm for some surprise results over the coming seasons.
5. Berry to the 4, Harvick to the Booth, & Busch to Chastain
Most likely considered the biggest shake-up of the offseason, Harvick’s retirement has brought a wave of changes across the sport.
2022 Xfinity Champ 4 driver Josh Berry will fill Harvick’s seat in the No. 4 for Stewart-Haas Racing and run for Rookie of the Year. Berry ran in 10 Cup races in 2023 filling in for the Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 and No. 48, and the Legacy Motor Club No. 42. He earned three top 10 finishes and finished 2nd at Richmond in the spring.
Berry wasn’t able to replicate his playoff run this season and finished 11th in the Xfinity point standings. He had 11 top-5 finishes but failed to find victory lane in 2023. Berry will be hoping his next visit comes as his first Cup win.
He’s had an unconventional road to the Cup Series earning his way through his connections with JR Motorsports driving the team’s Late Models. Berry made the most out of every opportunity he was given including the past two full-time Xfinity seasons and has earned a spot driving for one of NASCAR’s premier teams filling the shoes of an all-time great.
While Harvick will be missed on the race track by many, he’s also needed in the announcer’s booth. Having a veteran racing presence with Next Gen experience on the Fox broadcast will serve the audience hugely with the insight Harvick will bring. He has done great in his appearances on the Fox driver broadcasts, and having him at home through the TV every week could quickly become a staple of the Fox NASCAR experience.
As for Harvick’s staple sponsor Busch Light, it signed a multi-year deal with Trackhouse Racing to sponsor Ross Chastain’s No. 1 Chevrolet. Busch has served as the sponsor for the SHR No. 4 and Harvick since 2016.
Chastain is coming off a win in the season finale at Phoenix, ending the year with two wins, matching his total from 2022. He’ll be looking for his third-straight playoff season with TrackHouse in 2024 as he looks to get back to the Championship 4, and Busch will be on for the ride.
The NASCAR Cup Series season gets rolling on February 4th with the 3rd annual Clash at the Coliseum.
6. Bonus: 2023 Playoff Netflix Docuseries
And if you can’t wait until then, you can at least look forward to the upcoming Netflix Docuseries. It is set to premiere in early 2024 and will showcase the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs and Championship in five 45-minute episodes. It should offer all NASCAR fans and potential new followers a great look at what it takes behind the scenes to compete at the highest level of stock car racing.
