2024 season preview: Wood Brothers Racing

Editor’s Note: Today’s Wood Brothers Racing preview continues NASCAR.com’s countdown of team previews for the 2024 Cup Series season, ranked in reverse order of best finish in last year’s owner standings. Wood Brothers Racing Manufacturer: Ford Engine: Roush-Yates Engines Driver-crew chief pairings: Harrison Burton-Jeremy Bullins Team outlook: As it heads into the third season with driver Harrison Burton, Wood Brothers Racing hopes to improve its performance significantly in 2024. With their alliance team, Team Penske, having won back-to-back series championships and Wood Brothers ranking 31st in the final standings, all eyes will be on Wood Brothers to return to Victory Lane for the first time since 2017.  That moment saw Ryan Blaney, now the defending series champion heading into 2024, secure the team's 99th win. RELATED: Opening championship odds | 2024 schedule Harrison Burton, No. 21 Ford Experience: Two full-time seasons in the Cup Series 2023 stats: 2 top 10s, 25 laps led 2024 championship odds (DraftKings): 600-1 Outlook: Harrison Burton's Cup Series career had an upside-down start, literally, with the 23-year-old ending his first Daytona 500 by flipping through the air before landing back on his wheels. Now, entering his third season as the driver of the No. 21 for Wood Brothers Racing, he'll be looking to take a right-side-up approach to the 2024 campaign. He has certainly shown flashes of success with a total of four top 10s and one top-five finish in his previous two seasons — in addition to a fruitful, four-win Xfinity Series campaign in 2020 — but has not shown much for consistency yet at the Cup level. Stringing together strong results will be the key and the mark of improvement for Burton in the new year. With his Ford-affiliated counterparts at Team Penske each scoring victories -- and the only two championships in the Next Gen era -- in the same time Harrison has been a Cup Series mainstay, many are looking to the Huntersville, North Carolina native to be the next Ford driver to make it to Victory Lane. Perhaps a spot in the Cup Series Playoffs, too, is in order if everything goes according to plan. NASCAR.com 2024 team previews schedule Jan. 15: Legacy Motor Club Jan. 16: Spire Motorsports Jan. 17: Kaulig Racing Jan. 18: Wood Brothers Racing Jan. 22: Rick Ware Racing Jan. 23: Richard Childress Racing Jan. 24: Stewart-Haas Racing Jan. 25: Front Row Motorsports Jan. 26: JTG Daugherty Racing Jan. 29: Trackhouse Racing Jan. 30: RFK Racing Feb. 6: 23XI Racing Feb. 7: Joe Gibbs Racing Feb. 8: Hendrick Motorsports Feb. 9: Team Penske