Three platforms. Endless opportunities. One ladder to the big leagues of stock-car racing.
Previously known as NASCAR Roots, the NASCAR Regional landscape is a proving ground for budding stars. Yet it’s also the home of veteran racers who are addicted to the adrenaline that comes with pushing a race car to its limits.
Young drivers. Seasoned drivers. Stock cars. Modifieds. Short tracks. Dirt tracks. Superspeedways. Road courses. NASCAR Regional has it all.
A midwest-based sanctioning body for stock-car racing, the ARCA Menards Series is among the pillars of the NASCAR Regional platform. It’s known as the primary feeder for NASCAR’s national series.
With good reason, the ARCA Menards Series has a refrain: “We Build Champions.”
Each of the last eight NASCAR Cup Series title winners has competed on the circuits that now make up the ARCA Menards Series. In addition to the national ARCA Menards Series that features 20 races at 19 tracks across the United States, the platform includes the ARCA Menards Series East and the ARCA Menards Series West.
NASCAR stars like Benny Parsons, Chase Briscoe, Ty Gibbs, Chris Buescher, Sheldon Creed, Justin Allgaier, Ty Dillon, Grant Enfinger, Christian Eckes and Nick Sanchez, to name a few, have won ARCA Menards Series (national) championships. Countless others have won races on the platform.
Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Harrison Burton, Justin Haley, Ben Rhodes, Tyler Ankrum, Sam Mayer and Sammy Smith are East Series champions. Hershel McGriff, Kevin Harvick, Brendan Gaughan, Todd Gilliland and Jesse Love are among the notable NASCAR names who have secured West Series titles.
The ARCA Menards Series features remarkable diversity in both its roster of drivers and its offering of race tracks. The series competes at short tracks, intermediate tracks, superspeedways, dirt ovals and road courses all within the frame of a single season.
Hence the series’ ability to showcase the all-around skills of competitors.
Another of the NASCAR Regional pillars is the Whelen Modified Tour. And it’s crucial, as the Modified class is NASCAR’s oldest division.
Won by Red Byron, NASCAR’s first points-paying race in 1948 was a Modified division event held on the beach course in Daytona Beach, Florida. To this day, Modifieds are an intoxicating part of the sport.
The current Modified Tour ran its first season in 1985. Affectionately known as “Ground Pounders,” modern Modifieds continue to wow crowds and provide exhilarating experiences for drivers. As former NASCAR national series driver Joey Coulter said in 2022, “it’s like racing a fighter jet.”
Most of the Modified Tour schedule takes place in the northeast corner of the United States, though the series does also visit Florida, North Carolina and Virginia. In New England, though, Modified racing is king. And the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is the pinnacle of the discipline.
The best in Modified racing have claimed NASCAR championships: Richie Evans, Mike Stefanik, Jerry Cook, Tony Hirschman, Bugs Stevens, Doug Coby and Justin Bonsignore, to name a few. Other Modified Tour champions like Jimmy Spencer and Ryan Preece have successfully transitioned to NASCAR’s national series.
The Local Racing Series, previously known as the Weekly Series, serves as NASCAR’s national championship program for short-track racing.
Each year, nearly 10,000 drivers compete at NASCAR-sanctioned short tracks throughout the United States and Canada. The Local Racing Series crowns champions at track, state/provincial, regional and national levels.
The Local Racing Series includes almost 50 unique tracks that provide the stage for local drivers to gain popularity among the community. These tracks are spread across 25 states and four provinces, with drivers able to gain competition points at any of them. The inclusion of both asphalt and dirt tracks allows for a variety of cars to be raced weekly.
Many competitors use the Local Racing Series as starting points for their careers. The various divisions and levels provide a ladder-climbing system that allows drivers to move higher within the series and compete at a national level.
Jon McKennedy, the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion, is returning to the series for a part-time schedule in 2024.
Competing for his own team, McKennedy is tentatively scheduled to compete in at least five NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour events this season.
“We’re excited to get the ball rolling in our FURY race cars and go chase some trophies,” McKennedy said. “I feel this is a great opportunity for me to go out there and continue to show we can win races. We did have some other opportunities for rides, but felt this was the best route for this season. We have picked some of the higher profile events at my favorite tracks for the 2024 season and feel the competition is going to be stout at all of them.”
McKennedy’s 2024 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule will begin at New Hampshire’s Monadnock Speedway on May 4, followed by events at Massachusetts’ Seekonk Speedway (June 1), New Hampshire Motor Speedway (June 22), Monadnock (July 20) and Connecticut’s Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park (Aug. 14).
McKennedy, a two-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race winner, will make his 100th series start when the Tour returns to Seekonk on June 1.
Fans and drivers alike binged the five-episode series showcasing the intensity of the sport’s 10-race 2023 playoff stretch, and the reviews are in — ‘Full Speed’ delivers.
Some of the stars of the show and Netflix itself were among the first to chime in, sharing some of their favorite clips from the show and directing fans to watch.
Earnhardt Jr., the NASCAR Hall of Famer and one of the series’ executive producers, solicited feedback from fans checking out the show on Day 1. Needless to say, the response was overwhelmingly positive.
@DaleJr just finished ep1. Chills man. This is capturing all the feels. Absolutely incredible job. Thank you #NASCARFullSpeed
For the last 15 years, Adam Hensel has been a traveling racer.
The Atlantic, Iowa, driver typically just picks and chooses what track he wants to go to when he has a free weekend. He’s never raced for points or went for championships, he just went wherever the wind took him that week.
He was doing largely the same thing last summer, but found he was racing at Adams County Speedway more and more, and doing well.
So well that about halfway through the season he and his team realized they were leading the track’s hobby stock division point standings. So, they decided to stay there and see what could happen.
By the end of the season, Hensel had four wins and 16 top-five finishes at the NASCAR Home Track in Corning, Iowa, and a new experience. For the first time in his career he was a track champion.
“We just started out the season as a normal year, racing around,” Hensel said. “I went to a few specials with different sanctions and different tracks and never really had the intentions of running for points or anything to begin with. And it probably got about halfway through the summer and we were doing really good in points and doing really good at that track so we just kind of buckled down and stuck with it, and it worked at the end.
“I’ve never really raced a full season anywhere. I’ve never intentionally raced for points at all. That was something kind of different, something kind of new.”
Racing at just one track made working in the shop a bit easier. Instead of having to change the car to fit certain speedways, he just had to make sure his car was built for Adams County every week.
The racing, though, was much more stressful. Hensel was no longer just racing to race. He was going for wins, and competing against some of the best drivers in the Midwest. Luke Ramsey, who finished second to Hensel, is a former NASCAR national champion.
“Our class down there has a pretty long list of really talented and competitive drivers,” Hensel said. “There’s a pretty large handful of them that have extremely impressive careers, so it was by no means any easier. It was probably actually more stressful because I knew I couldn’t really take it easy at any one point in time.”
Hensel worked hard to keep the same mindset he’s had his entire racing career, but that didn’t make the races any easier.
“A lot of times I just try to treat it as a normal race. Just do what you normally do,” he said. “Show up and race and whatever happens, happens. It’s kind of hard to get the thought out of your mind when you’ve got guys that have won multiple track championships and have hundreds of wins in their career. You can’t really forget about that very easy.”
By the time championship night came around, Hensel was mostly “more excited for the night to be over with and be done with it.” The points came down to the wire, and the final night was just as much of a challenge as the rest of the season.
Adam Hensel during the Adams County Speedway 2023 Awards Banquet. He captured not only the track hobby stock title, but the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division IV national championship. (Photo: CGI Imaging/Adams County Speedway)
He finished second that night, winning the track title by 15 points.
“It was a whole new experience for me,” he said. “I never really ran for points. I really actually haven’t won a lot of races to begin with overall in all the years I’ve raced, so it was kind of overwhelming for a while, actually.
“It made all the years of racing actually kind of seem worth it for once.”
Hensel wasn’t totally new to Adams County this year. He’s raced at the track, which is about 40 minutes from his home, off and on over the years. His uncle also used to race there when Hensel was growing up.
“I kind of grew up around cars and spent a lot of time around the track as a kid,” he said.
Fast forward to 2008, when Hensel was about 24. One of his friends was competing, and Hensel started hanging out at his shop. That friend convinced him to get behind the wheel, and a group of friends all helped each other on their cars.
The sport has always just been a hobby for Hensel. He enjoys traveling and seeing different tracks, and working with friends on the cars.
He hasn’t decided if he’d like to try to defend his Adams County and national title next season. Right now, the team is working on a new motor they just purchased, and putting a new body on the car.
Where all that car will drive in 2024 is still in the air, but if it gets late in the summer and things are going well at Adams County, Hensel may have to give it another try for No. 2
“We’ve kind of talked about it the whole offseason so far, and I’ve always been so indecisive and just kind of raced what I wanted to race,” he said. “I really still haven’t made up my mind whether I want to be racing specifically for a championship again, but we’ll run the summer out and see how it goes, and if I think I’ve got a shot at it we’ll probably buckle down and try and go for it.
“But other than that I kind of just want to go back to having fun and just race whenever I want to race… If it’s stressful and you’re not having fun then there’s not much point in doing it.”
Editor’s Note: Today’s RFK Racing preview continues NASCAR.com’s countdown of team previews for the 2024 Cup Series season.
ROUSH FENWAY KESELOWSKI RACING Manufacturer: Ford Engine: Roush Yates Engines Driver-crew chief pairings: Brad Keselowski – Matt McCall (No. 6), Chris Buescher – Scott Graves (No. 17)
Team outlook: The 2023 season was definitely Chris Buescher’s year, with three wins and a seventh-place standings finish, both easily career highs. While the native Texan looks to build upon last year’s momentum, 2024 could very well be Brad Keselowski’s turn to elevate back to championship contender. The 2012 title winner had a strong 2023 campaign and although he failed to reach Victory Lane, he had seven top fives and 16 top 10s. Keselowski is a win waiting to happen.
Experience: 14 full-time NASCAR Cup Series seasons and total series 521 starts (35 wins, 146 top fives and 249 top 10s) 2023 stats: 0 wins, seven top fives, 16 top 10s, finished eighth in final Cup standings 2024 championship odds (DraftKings): 18-1
Outlook: After a strong comeback year in 2023, including making the playoffs after missing it by quite a margin a year prior, 2024 should be a continuation of Keselowski’s comeback to greater Cup success. This season should include the likelihood of him making it back to Victory Lane, as well, which he hasn’t visited in nearly three years (April 25, 2021 at Talladega).
Just think about that for a minute: the same driver who won 34 races in 13 years from 2011-21 – including the Cup championship in 2012 – hasn’t earned a win in his last 92 starts. If anyone is overdue to bounce back for a win – or more than one win – it’s Kes.
BOLD PREDICTION: Buescher’s three wins last season proved RFK has the power to reach Victory Lane. Keselowski came close to winning himself in 2023 with seven top-five finishes, including runner-up showings at Atlanta in the spring and the late summer race at Daytona. Matt McCall is one of the most underrated crew chiefs in the business and, like Keselowski in his new venture as driver/owner, is waiting for his breakout year. All the ingredients are there for both Keselowski and McCall in 2024, so let’s get bold: Keselowski makes the Round of 8 and if he gets a win in that pivotal penultimate round, he could very well be a favorite in the Championship 4 final.
CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 17 FORD
Experience: Eight full-time NASCAR Cup Series seasons and 293 total series starts in his Cup career, (5 wins, 19 top fives and 55 top 10s) 2023 stats: 3 wins, 9 top fives and 17 top 10s, finished seventh in final Cup standings 2024 championship odds (DraftKings): 20-1
Outlook: Buescher may be a NASCAR Cup veteran with eight full-time seasons under his belt, but he massively exploded onto the scene even more in 2023 with his three wins and nine top fives, both career bests. By comparison, his best season prior to 2023 was 2022, when he had one win, three top fives and 10 top 10s.
Buescher always had the talent, but it appears he finally has the equipment to match. Now in his fifth season with RFK Racing, he has all the tools he needs to win – and he proved it last season. The season outlook looks so good for Buescher that, like the mid-80s pop song from TIMBUK 3, “The future’s so bright, (he’s) gotta wear shades.”
BOLD PREDICTION: What does Buescher do for an encore in 2024? We can easily see him winning multiple races again and have a strong run in the playoffs. Like teammate Keselowski, Buescher should be able to reach the Round of 8 in the playoffs and maybe even make it into the Championship 4. Frankly, while some people may look at RFK as an underdog, it likely will prove it’s much more than that in 2024 and maybe even a Championship 4 lock. Right now, it possesses one of the best 1-2 driver lineup punches in Cup.
The question has been asked before every NASCAR Cup Series season for nearly a decade: Is this finally the year Denny Hamlin wins a NASCAR Cup Series title?
For that stretch and 18 years running in total, the answer has been no. All the wins — 51 total … all the crown-jewel victories — three Daytona 500s, three Southern 500s, a Coca-Cola 600 … all the highlights.
But no championships.
His latest pursuit was captured and documented as part of the latest docuseries to hit Netflix, NASCAR: Full Speed. The five-episode documentary highlights Hamlin among numerous other championship contenders in the hunt for the sport’s ultimate glory. For Hamlin, that meant a candid look at what this journey means to him.
So sits Hamlin’s legacy entering the 2024 NASCAR season: a surefire Hall-of-Famer once his driving career is behind him, set to begin yet another chase for the Bill France Cup in hopes to finally check the ultimate box on an already outstanding resume.
Longtime NASCAR fans know Hamlin has been much closer to championship glory than he was a season ago when he and the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team were ousted from title contention after the Round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway.
Never was he better poised to taste that triumph than in 2010, a career-best eight-win campaign in just his fifth full-time season at one of the pinnacle periods of stock-car racing prowess. With just 36 laps remaining in the year’s penultimate event at Phoenix Raceway, Hamlin held a 63-point advantage over then-four-time champion Jimmie Johnson — in position to finally dethrone the unstoppable No. 48 team while thrusting Hamlin forever into NASCAR lore.
But five laps later, then-crew-chief Mike Ford informed Hamlin he was 12 laps short on fuel, a miscalculation that ultimately necessitated a late pit stop for Hamlin while Johnson was able to remain on the race track. Suddenly, Hamlin’s race-high 190 laps led didn’t matter. He finished 12th while Johnson finished fifth, cutting the deficit to just 15 points heading to the finale.
Todd Warshaw | Getty Images for NASCAR
One week later, Hamlin started 37th at Homestead-Miami Speedway but was quickly charging through the field. A Lap 24 restart quickly flipped his day upside down, however: Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota bounced off another competitor, damaging the car’s right-front fender and sending Hamlin spinning through the grass. Ultimately, the Virginia native couldn’t recover, finishing 14th while Johnson placed second, winning an unprecedented fifth consecutive NASCAR Cup Series championship. Hamlin was left a runner-up in the title standings, still his highest points finish to this day.
Despite the disappointment that afternoon, the overriding feeling was that Hamlin was due for his title soon. Thirteen years and two months later, that’s still the feeling: Denny’s due.
He came close again in 2019, starting on the pole position in the Championship 4 finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway and running second with 60 laps to go as green-flag pit stops began. As part of the stop, the crew applied a piece of tape to the nose of the car to aid the handling — but the tape proved too large and starved the engine of air, causing it to overheat and forcing Hamlin back to pit road. Another opportunity, another disappointment.
Jonathan Ferrey | Getty Images
“He had so many great years where we were thinking, ‘Man, this is the year,’ ” Dale Earnhardt Jr., a NASCAR Hall of Famer and NBC Sports broadcaster, said in NASCAR: Full Speed. “It’s an unfortunate thing, right, to be good enough and not get it. I think Denny, understanding his age, understanding where he is in his life, realizes it’s now or never.”
Since NASCAR transitioned to an elimination-style playoff format in 2014 leaving four drivers to fight for the title in the season finale every season, Hamlin has advanced to the Championship 4 four times. Never has he finished better than third in that span.
“Do I want to win a championship? A thousand percent,” Hamlin said in the docuseries. “But it’s not going to define my career. My career is defined by how many trophies do I have right here in this house? Right now, there’s 50 of them.”
Since that interview, he added another trophy thanks to his playoff win at Bristol Motor Speedway. He’s voiced how content he is racking up wins and is targeting 60 total victories — a figure that would tie him with Kevin Harvick, the 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion, for 10th on the all-time wins list.
But the goal of any professional athlete is the pinnacle accomplishment — a title.
“Denny wants that championship more than he wants oxygen,” ESPN’s Marty Smith said in the documentary.
The most recent setbacks came at Martinsville Speedway both in 2022 and 2023. In 2022, Ross Chastain’s ‘Hail Melon’ wall-ride around Turns 3 and 4 propelled him ahead of Hamlin by a mere four points in the standings, prohibiting Hamlin from advancing to the Championship 4. Last year, it was a combination of events that eliminated Hamlin. A mechanical failure sent him into the wall at Homestead before things eventually ran dry at the Round of 8 finale at Martinsville. Entering the short track 17 points short, Hamlin dominated at one of his home tracks but couldn’t beat Ryan Blaney, who won to advance. Hamlin missed the cut by eight points, and Blaney went on to win the title.
“I can’t draw any conclusions on why, year after year, things out of my control have happened that (have) taken us from in control to out of it,” Hamlin told Netflix after his 2023 elimination. “It’s just been bad luck, honestly. I am the black cat of death. I’m (expletive) cursed.”
Nobody has won more races since the start of the 2019 season than Hamlin, who leads the league with 20 victories in that span over Kyle Larson (18), Chase Elliott (15), Harvick (15) and Martin Truex Jr. (15). Each of them has a championship … except for Hamlin.
Back in 2010, when Hamlin, Johnson and Harvick chased championship glory that sunny day at Homestead, ESPN pit reporter Vince Welch offered this ahead of the green flag:
“For these three championship contenders, the next few hours will feature moments that will define their careers, maybe shape their legacy. Some spend an entire lifetime chasing a championship, and some never satisfy their hunger to win another. This day, this race is what they live for. It will provide a joy — or a heartbreak — that they will never forget.”
Johnson ended his career with a record-tying seven championships. Harvick got his title glory in 2014.
William Byron is a lot like the rest of us — a person in need of some hobbies.
His day job might not be like most of ours, considering we aren’t NASCAR Cup Series drivers competing for the winningest team in NASCAR history and didn’t win a series-high six races in 2023 en route to the Championship 4. That part? That’s all Byron and the No. 24 team.
But when the 26-year-old Hendrick Motorsports star has downtime after racing door-to-door at 195 mph, he loves to build Legos, as revealed on NASCAR: Full Speed, the new documentary available to stream now on Netflix.
“I feel like the muscle movements in my hands is kind of like driving,” Byron said in the documentary. “Once I get in a rhythm with it, it flows pretty naturally.”
Byron credited Erin Blaney, his longtime girlfriend, for breaking him into the building world.
“Erin felt I needed something to get my mind off racing and do something different, but I took it to a new level,” Byron said. “It fits my personality. It’s very analytical.”
Netflix also wasn’t the first television appearance of Byron’s handy work. The Charlotte, North Carolina, native appeared on a 2022 episode of “LEGO Masters” on FOX, offering feedback to contestants as they attempted to build and design race cars out of Lego blocks.
After a career year in 2023, Byron sets his sights on greatness in 2024. His eight wins since the beginning of the 2022 season top the league in that span, ahead of Kyle Larson’s seven and five others with five victories: Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Tyler Reddick.
Byron gets back on track Sunday for the Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum at 8 p.m. ET with live coverage on FOX, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Ryan Blaney has racing in his blood. The son of a former Cup Series driver, Blaney grew up slinging dirt in Ohio with his family, ultimately paving a path into the NASCAR circuit. With a personality to be a podcast host and an on-track pedigree to match it, Blaney went into the 2023 playoffs with one major question — could he deliver on the biggest NASCAR stage when it mattered most? | Blaney through the years, career highlights
Denny Hamlin is one of NASCAR’s most fiery competitors. The Virginia native rose to prominence from local short-track racing to driving for Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs since 2005, and now co-owns 23XI Racing with Basketball Hall of Famer and icon Michael Jordan. Hamlin is still seeking his first NASCAR Cup Series championship. Whether through opinions on his podcast, one-liners in Victory Lane or bulletin-board material issued directly to fans, Hamlin has established himself as one of NASCAR’s most quotable drivers. | Hamlin through the years, milestones
A fresh contender in the NASCAR Cup Series, Ross Chastain has quickly proven he belongs among the best. An eighth-generation watermelon farmer, Chastain’s hard-nosed, on-track aggression has won him numerous races and led to a few thrown fists along the way. Upstart team Trackhouse Racing gave Chastain his best big-league shot yet in 2022 and No. 1 immediately produced, charging all the way to a runner-up finish that season. How far will his potential take him? | Chastain through the years
From simulator racing online to rubbing fenders on the track against the biggest stars in the sport, William Byron had one of the most unique paths to the NASCAR Cup Series. Now, the pressure is on as he carries the famed No. 24 Chevrolet previously piloted by four-time champ and NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon. Can Byron carve his own path and help the iconic number reclaim its spot atop the sport’s peak again? | Byron through the years, career highlights
Bubba Wallace entered the national spotlight after becoming the first Black driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series race since 1963 with a memorable victory in October 2021 at Talladega Superspeedway. As Wallace seasoned himself into a veteran amid notable improvement on the track, the Alabama native kept rolling with his second career win in 2022. The popular driver pilots a ride for 23XI Racing, the team co-owned by NBA legend Michael Jordan — and is also known for his willingness to speak openly on societal injustices and about mental health, navigating those challenges all while chasing a Cup Series championship. | Wallace’s career highlights
From NASCAR icon Dale Earnhardt Jr. to legendary team owner Richard Childress to NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan, Tyler Reddick has piloted a race car for them all. With that comes significant pressure to deliver when it matters most — the playoffs. Will the fun-loving Reddick live up to his famed team owner’s success at the highest level and make the jump to stardom to win his first championship? | Reddick through the years
Dirt to Daytona — literally. Blistering his way through local dirt tracks to the Cup Series, Christopher Bell’s first triumph at NASCAR’s highest level came in the unlikeliest of venues for him — the Daytona road course. His ability to adapt quickly has made him one of the Cup Series’ most clutch drivers. And while plenty of other drivers may take more spotlights or headlines, Bell’s performances on the biggest stage speak for themselves. Can he muster up another dream run to Phoenix? | Bell through the years
Kyle Larson is the modern-day Swiss Army knife across American motorsports. The California native drives anything and everything he possibly can, whether on dirt in a USAC midget-type car, on asphalt in an IndyCar vehicle or on both in the NASCAR Cup Series. Racing legend Mario Andretti noted he sees “a lot of myself” in Larson, the 2021 Cup champion who’s won 23 races while continuing to dominate the dirt sprint car scene as both a driver and series co-owner. One word defines the spirit of Larson: Racer. | Larson through the years, career highlights
Nothing says dedication quite like spending half your life in the Cup Series. From the time he was a teenager, Joey Logano was destined to be a superstar in the sport, and he’s already done so as a two-time Cup champion at only 33 years old. Logano is attempting to join rarified air and become the first three-time Cup champ since Tony Stewart in 2011. | Logano through the years
Other 2023 NASCAR Playoffs drivers
• Chris Buescher,No. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Ford: A champion driver for RFK Racing in the Xfinity Series, Chris Buescher wants to cement his name at NASCAR’s highest level. Buescher was the breakout driver of the summer, winning three times in a five-race stretch. A driver known for his humble grit and determination, Buescher began the 2023 playoffs as a sleeper championship contender. | Buescher through the years
• Brad Keselowski,No. 6 Roush Fenway Keselowski Ford: The 2012 series champion, Brad Keselowski has had a storied career in the Cup Series by being a strategic and aggressive driver. Keselowski does things “his way,” leading to him becoming co-owner of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing before the 2022 season. | Keselowski through the years
• Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota: Since the beginning of his full-time Cup Series foray in 2006, Martin Truex Jr. has become a steady face in the NASCAR circuit. Already in the eternal echelon of being a Cup Series champion, Truex Jr. seeks a second title — all while deciding if he’ll return next season or hang up the racing shoes. | Truex through the years
• Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford: A longtime Cup Series staple since his surge into the circuit more than two decades ago, the 60-time Cup Series winner — and 2014 champion — looks to close out his storied racing career on a high note before transitioning to TV analyst. How will Harvick conclude his final racing chapter? He’s hoping with a title run. | Harvick through the years
• Kyle Busch,No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet: Love him or hate him, cheer him or boo him, everyone has an opinion on this NASCAR Bad Boy. As a two-time Cup Series champion with Joe Gibbs Racing, Kyle “Rowdy” Busch takes his talents to Richard Childress Racing, where the Las Vegas native looks to pilot the No. 8 Chevrolet to yet another title triumph. | Busch through the years
• Michael McDowell, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford: A journeyman driver laying the foundation for success at Front Row Motorsports, Michael McDowell is known for showing up in the mix in crucial moments — just like his win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway earlier in 2023 and a Daytona 500 triumph a few seasons back. He’ll try to use the lessons he learned from a lengthy career to show up in a big way in the playoffs. | McDowell through the years
• Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet: Stenhouse Jr. made his mark on the NASCAR Cup Series when he became 2013 Sunoco Rookie of the Year, following consecutive championships at the NASCAR Xfinity Series level. He’s scored big wins at Daytona and Talladega throughout his career — including the 2023 Daytona 500 — and aims to shake up the playoffs and find the right magic to make a deep run. | Stenhouse through the years
One of NASCAR’s most historic and grueling races — the Southern 500 — will test playoff drivers right out of the gate. Who will ride the wall at “The Lady in Black,” to Victory Lane … and into the Round of 12?
A high-wire, Midwest speedfest at one of the sport’s most volatile and unpredictable tracks in recent years. Denny Hamlin and his Toyota cohorts have been the ones to beat here recently.
An elimination race under the bright lights surrounded by a screaming sea of fans piled high into the Tennessee moonlight at the “Last Great Colosseum” — what more could you ask for?
The heat is on as a new round begins, with four fewer drivers in the hunt. Everything is bigger in Texas — including the postseason stakes, a spot in the Round of 8.
With elimination looming, the 12 drivers left in title contention face the biggest unknowns on NASCAR’s wildest track — the 2.66-mile 200-mph mercurial chess match that is Talladega Superspeedway.
Left, right and everything in between, NASCAR’s only road course in the playoffs in 2023 comes with a twist. Charlotte’s Roval is exactly what it sounds like — part oval, part road course, fully intense. And at the end of the day, we’re down to eight.
It’s time for drivers to roll the dice. Make the right gamble, and you could find yourself locked into the Championship 4 before anyone else. Make a costly error? Well, that might mark the end of your title hopes.
The sport’s top drivers take their talents to South Beach, where the vibes outside the race track are laid back but inside the teal walls of Homestead — until drivers start ripping the fence, at least — the pressure cooker is on.
One last shot to race for the championship, at the oldest track on the circuit — and for NASCAR’s most cherished trophy, the vaunted grandfather clock. For four of the remaining eight drivers vying for the title? Time’s up.
It’s now all on the line in this give-it-everything-you’ve got duel in the desert. The goal? Simple — beat the other three Championship 4 drivers to the finish line and you’re the champ. Easier said than done, but legends never came easy, did they?
* Denotes elimination race, where the four lowest-ranked NASCAR Playoffs drivers are dropped from championship contention following the checkered flag.
Actor, professional wrestler and entrepreneur Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has been named Grand Marshal for the Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 18 (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Johnson will say the most famous words in motorsports ahead of a sold-out “Great American Race,” which marked the earliest sellout of the event in recent history.
“Nothing compares to the intensity and anticipation of that first command of the NASCAR season as we kick off the 66th running of the Daytona 500,and who better to say those four famous words than Dwayne Johnson,” said Frank Kelleher, president of Daytona International Speedway.
“There are very few people who can truly match the energy around the pomp and circumstance of The Great American Race, and The Rock may be the only person who can actually ramp it up even more. We can’t wait to see how he fires up the crowd and the engines for all the fans.”
On-track festivities for the Daytona 500 will kick off Wednesday, Feb. 14 with single-car qualifying (8:15 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Editor’s Note: Today’s Trackhouse Racing preview continues NASCAR.com’s countdown of team previews for the 2024 Cup Series season.
TRACKHOUSE RACING
Manufacturer: Chevrolet Engine: ECR Engines Driver-crew-chief pairings: Ross Chastain-Phil Surgen (No. 1), Daniel Suárez-Matt Swiderski (No. 99)
Team outlook: In only three years of full-time competition, Trackhouse Racing has established itself as one of the most talented – and exciting – teams in the NASCAR Cup Series. Ross Chastain and Daniel Suárez are both race winners, with the former being a bona fide championship contender. The organization is energized to welcome New Zealand’s Shane van Gisbergen to the fold, where the highly-touted three-time Australian Super Cars champion brings raised expectations. Team owner Justin Marks takes great pride in the innovative ways this team operates in NASCAR’s big leagues, and after three full-time seasons of competition, high hopes are now high standards of expectation.
Experience: Five full-time seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series 2023 stats: Ninth in final standings; 2 wins, 10 top fives, 14 top 10s 2024 championship odds: 14-1
Outlook: Now with a solid two years of championship-caliber performance under his belt, Chastain has proven himself to be a legitimate part of the trophy conversation. Trackhouse Racing has answered every call as a high-profile contender, and Chastain has matched that with his performance on track in both years with the company. In so many ways, this partnership is that “great” opportunity for both the team and the driver. Expect it to continue playing out positively. Chastain has shown he can win races and maintain a new disciplined approach, which he worked on last year. Now, it will be a matter of elevating the hard work into that first championship trophy for the team and driver. It would surprise no one if Chastain and Marks were standing under falling confetti on the Phoenix Raceway championship stage this November.
Experience: Seven full-time seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series 2023 stats: 19th in final standings; 0 wins, 3 top fives, 10 top 10s 2024 championship odds: 70-1
Outlook: Suárez is coming off a frustrating season where the result did not meet the expectation. He and the team are hopeful a new look with crew chief Matt Swiderski will re-establish Suárez’s path forward. He won his first NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway in 2022 and had high confidence for 2023, which was simply not met. His 10 top-10 finishes marked the fourth time he eclipsed the double-digit finishes in this category, but his three top fives were half of his 2022 total (six). Trackhouse continues on a rise, however, and many expect Suárez to regain the positive traction he showed in 2022.
BOUNCE-BACK CANDIDATE: With a breakout 2022 season in the books, a new crew chief for 2024 and a team with all the elements in place to raise its championship game next season, expect to see Suárez not only hoist a trophy but give the organization a pair of title contenders come November. The infrastructure is in place, the talent there and the motivation never higher.
