Joe Gibbs Racing announces four-car lineup for 2024 Xfinity Series

Posted on December 13, 2023December 13, 2023 by John Crane

Joe Gibbs Racing unveiled its NASCAR Xfinity Series driver lineup for the 2024 season on Wednesday, with two full-time and six part-time drivers completing the roster.

Sheldon Creed and Chandler Smith will race full-time for the team. Creed will pilot the No. 18 Toyota, while Smith will drive the No. 81 Supra, marking the first time the number has raced for JGR in the Xfinity Series since 2021 at Road America. Sam McAulay will serve as crew chief for Creed, and Jeff Meendering will sit atop the No. 81 pit box in 2024.

John Hunter Nemechek and Aric Almirola highlight the part-time roster, with the pair slated to split time in the No. 20 Toyota. Ryan Truex, Taylor Gray, William Sawalich and Joe Graf Jr. will race in the No. 19. Seth Chavka and Tyler Allen will serve as crew chiefs for the No. 19 and No. 20, respectively.

Creed transitions from Richard Childress Racing, where the 26-year-old spent each of the last two Xfinity seasons as driver of the No. 2 Chevrolet. Creed concluded the 2023 campaign with seven top-five and 15 top-10 finishes to go along with a seventh-place finish in the driver standings. Creed, the 2020 Craftsman Truck Series champion, takes over for Sammy Smith, who will join JR Motorsports next year.

“Honestly, I’m just really excited to be here. JGR has been extremely good in both Xfinity and Cup, not just the last couple years but, you know, for a long time,” Creed said. “Excited to be here and excited to get rolling with my guys.”

Chandler Smith competed with Kaulig Racing during the 2023 season as pilot of the No. 16 Chevrolet, where he amassed one win, eight top fives and 13 top 10s and a ninth-place finish in the final standings. The 2023 campaign was the 21-year-old’s first full-time season in the Xfinity Series.

The move acts as a homecoming of sorts for Smith, who was a part of Toyota Racing Development’s TD2 program from 2018-22.

“Toyota, all the executives, everybody at TRD and Toyota, they were my family. They picked me up when I was 14 years old and gave me opportunities that I wouldn’t have been able to have without them,” Smith said. “So, to be able to come back and be with people that believe in me and put me in the best equipment to go win championships and trophies under their banner, that’s who I want to go to bat for every single weekend.”

The part-time side of the roster additionally sees a shake-up. After announcing in October that he would not return to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2024, Almirola will run a part-time schedule in the No. 20 with Nemechek, who will make the jump to Cup and drive the No. 42 full-time for Legacy Motor Club. Nemechek will race in 10 Xfinity contests, according to a JGR press release.

Brittney Wilbur | NASCAR.com

As a full-time Xfinity Series driver with JGR in 2023, Nemechek finished fourth in the driver standings and compiled seven wins, 17 top fives and 24 top 10s. In 104 Xfinity starts, Almirola holds four victories, with his most recent coming in June at Sonoma Raceway.

Truex and Graf will return as part-time drivers for the No. 19. Joining the duo will be Gray and Sawalich, who both saw action with Tricon Garage in 2023. Sawalich, 17, additionally raced with JGR in the ARCA Menards Series last year, claiming the East Series championship. Per a JGR press release, Sawalich will make his Xfinity debut at Homestead-Miami Speedway following his 18th birthday on Oct. 3 and additionally get starts at Martinsville Speedway and Phoenix Raceway to close the season.

MORE: 2024 Xfinity Series schedule | JGR reveals ARCA lineup

The 2024 Xfinity Series will begin on Feb. 17 at Daytona International Speedway (5 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on December 13, 2023December 13, 2023 by Holly Cain

Editor’s note: This continues the series where we review the top 20 in 2023 NASCAR Cup Series points.

Season in review: Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford
Crew Chief: Rodney Childers
Final 2023 Ranking: 13th
Key stats: 0 wins, six top fives, 14 top 10s, 157 laps led

How 2023 ended: The 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion finished out his certain NASCAR Hall of Fame career with a top-10 finish (seventh) in the Phoenix Raceway finale, leading 37 laps at a venue where he is the all-time winningest driver with nine wins and an amazing 31 top-10 efforts in 42 starts. It is indicative of the 47-year-old’s storied career. And he concluded the competitive part of that with his head held high – qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs for the 14th consecutive season.

Best race: Harvick earned the best finish – runner-up – of his farewell season at the Darlington spring race, finishing a scant 0.781 seconds behind Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron for the win. He led the race twice and was passed by Byron for the trophy with only two laps remaining.

Other season highlights: Twice Harvick put together a strong run of top-10 finishes, including a summer streak of four consecutive from the Loudon one-miler to the Pocono 2.5-miler to the Richmond short track and wide-open Michigan two-miler where Harvick has six career wins, including three consecutively from 2019-2020.

Stat to Know: Harvick’s streak of 14 straight playoff appearances is the longest in NASCAR Cup Series history. He finishes with 60 career NASCAR Cup Series wins, the 2014 title and two NASCAR Xfinity Series championships (2001 and 2006).

Quotable: “It’s been an emotional roller coaster for sure. I think as you look at this last week, this really means a lot to me just because I love driving the race car, I love being around the people more. I love our sport. It’s given our family so much through the years to be thankful for and proud of. I can’t wait to be able to walk in that tunnel with my head up and look around, just look at all the really cool things that are NASCAR racing in every venue that we go to with great fans and people all over the place.’’

Looking ahead: While Harvick’s No. 4 SHR Ford will have a new driver next year in NASCAR Xfinity Series standout Josh Berry, Harvick will still be a consistent part of the sport. He will join the FOX Sports television booth calling the racing action for the first half of the season – the 2007 Daytona 500 winner starting those full-time duties, appropriately enough, with the Feb. 18 season-opening Daytona 500.

Posted on December 12, 2023 by Zack Albert

Legacy Motor Club announced Tuesday that Jason Burdett will join the organization for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series as the crew chief of the No. 84 Toyota for Jimmie Johnson, a seven-time series champion and the team co-owner.

Burdett, 46, moves to the LMC group after nine seasons with JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series. There, he netted 18 victories as a crew chief, working seven seasons with veteran Justin Allgaier and one each with Regan Smith and Brandon Jones.

The shift to Legacy M.C. represents a reunion with Johnson, who joined Hendrick Motorsports in the same year as Burdett — 2001. Burdett replaces Todd Gordon, who served as crew chief for Johnson’s three races last season.

“I have a very long history of working with Jason at Hendrick Motorsports – we spent a lot of time together throughout the years,” Johnson said. “Jason is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met in the sport. He’s solid and he’s created an amazing ‘legacy’ for himself. I’ve always had a great working relationship with him, and I’m just genuinely excited he has joined the Club.”

The team indicated that Johnson will continue to drive on a part-time basis in 2024 but that Burdett will be full-time in helping the team’s offseason transition from Chevrolet to Toyota. Legacy Motor Club also firmed up two key personnel appointments for the No. 84 Camry XSE, tapping Evan Bensch as lead engineer in a move from LMC’s No. 43 team and bringing back Robbie Fairweather as car chief.

Three of the races on Johnson’s Cup Series slate for 2024 have been announced so far, with AdventHealth joining the team as a primary sponsor for springtime events at Texas (April 14), Kansas (May 5) and the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte (May 26).

MORE: AdventHealth signs with LMC

“Jason comes to Legacy M.C. at a great time,” said Joey Cohen, LMC’s vice president of race operations. “Not only is he a perfect fit to lead our 84 team with JJ and their past experiences, but he also will help tremendously in the operational transition to Toyota and greatly assist the crew chiefs on the Nos. 42 and 43 teams. We are excited for Jason to begin his ‘legacy’ and continue his winning ways with our Club. Additionally, Evan and Robbie bring consistency and experience to the Club and they will work great alongside Jason.”

Burdett got his start as a tire specialist with Robert Yates Racing in 1995 after starting his career in motorsports at short tracks in his native New York. He was later a key contributor to the success of Nos. 24 and 48 teams for Jeff Gordon and Johnson during his time at Hendrick Motorsports, celebrating a Cup Series title with Gordon in his first Cup Series season. Save for a crew-chief stint at Michael Waltrip Racing in 2007, Burdett was a fixture for the Hendrick crew before his departure to JRM in 2015.

Posted on December 12, 2023 by Staff Report

NASCAR officials reinstated Cup Series driver Cody Ware on Tuesday.

Ware had been suspended indefinitely by the sanctioning body on April 10 after the 28-year-old (then 27) was arrested by the Iredell County (N.C.) Sheriff’s Office on a felony charge of “assault by strangulation — inflict serious injury” and a misdemeanor charge of “assault on female.” The charges have since been dropped.

Ware made seven Cup Series starts to begin 2023 behind the wheel of the No. 51 for Rick Ware Racing — the Cup Series team owned by his father — before being vacated from the seat and missing the rest of the season. Several drivers filled in for Ware in the No. 51 the rest of the year, including seven from Cup veteran Ryan Newman.

Ware has raced in the Cup Series since 2017. His best finish in 97 career starts is sixth place in August 2022 at Daytona International Speedway.

Posted on December 12, 2023January 23, 2024 by Cara Cooper

In only his second year of racing, Lucas Belbeck already has two championships.

Not bad for a 15-year-old.

After winning the Future Stock division rookie of the year and track title at Canada’s Edmonton International Raceway in 2022, Belbeck returned this summer to win both awards in the track’s PURE Stock division.

Belbeck finished 2023 with four victories to claim the division by 13 points.

“I was extremely surprised how well I was doing,” Belbeck said. “I was expecting low to mid-field the entire season.”

Belbeck started the season in a Pontiac G6 and was racing in the middle of the pack for the first couple of races.

The engine in Belbeck’s car went out early in the season, forcing him to borrow a car from a friend. He ran the new car for the rest of the year while seeing his finishes get better and better.

Belbeck’s first win in 2023 came at the halfway point of Edmonton’s season. From there, he rolled.

“The first night that I got a win [in PURE Stocks], it was just a hard fight to get to first place,” Belbeck said. “I had to stay with the car ahead of me to make it to the end, and just be patient and wait for my chance for them to mess up, and I got into first and led the race.

“Just slowly as the season went on, I started getting better finishes, a couple podiums, and just [found consistency with] fourth, third place finishes. We ended up coming out on top.”

Lucas Belbeck earned his second straight title at Edmonton International Raceway in just his second year of racing at the track. (Photo: Lucas Belbeck)

Racing has come pretty natural for Belbeck, even though it wasn’t a sport he or his family had tried before. Belbeck grew up participating in hockey, lacrosse and swimming, but his friend’s dad would be the one to ask if he would be interested in trying racing, even if it was just for a day.

“We kind of went along with it,” Belbeck said. “It was extremely nerve-wracking. I didn’t know how it was going to go and it felt weird at first because it had never really drove a car much before this, so it was a scary feeling.”

Those apprehensive feelings didn’t last long, as Belbeck said it was quick for him to get comfortable between the wheel.

“First getting in the car it was kind of nerve-wracking, and then it just hits that you have to focus in,” he said. “The adrenaline hits and you don’t think about anything else but the race. It’s a mindset to get into, and it’s just, I don’t know, it’s perfect.”

Belbeck attributed a lot of his success to his mentor and fellow Edmonton champion Mitchell Bushnell, along with his dad, Jeremy, who Belbeck credits for always motivating him.

“They knew I could do better, so they pushed me to those standards,” Belbeck said.

Jeremy also competes in Edmonton’s PURE Stock division, having made his debut in the class this season. Belbeck said there has been a learning curve for both father and son, but the two are learning every week by racing alongside one another.

“It’s been interesting,” Belbeck said. “Perseverance, I definitely learned from [Jeremy]. There’s been a lot of technique because he’s done a lot of things that you can use skills from to bring into racing and he’s taught me a lot of skills. A lot of it is just perseverance and just staying in there.”

With two straight titles at Edmonton International Raceway under his belt, Lucas Belbeck is looking forward to 2024. (Photo: Lucas Belbeck)

There’s competition between the father and son, but they also share a bond as teammates working together, helping each other on the track, while also competing against one another.

The teamwork and spirited battles have raised an important question for Bilbeck: Is getting a win over his dad more fun?

“Yeah, kind of,” Belbeck said with a laugh.

After winning two titles in two years, Belbeck will look to make it three in a row when he moves up to Edmonton’s Thunder Car class in 2024.

When he first started competing, advancing into the Thunder Cars division was always a goal for Bilbeck because of how fond he is of those cars.

But he wasn’t expecting the move for at least five years.

“I’m very excited,” he said. “The rear-wheel drive is going to be interesting.”

The Belbecks are building the car this winter from the ground up. It’s a demanding process, but the young driver enjoys working in the garage just as much as he driving.

There really isn’t an aspect of racing he doesn’t enjoy.

“The other sports, there’s a team there, but in racing it’s you in the car by yourself,” he said. “On a team you’re relying on a lot of other people to be there to help you, and in racing if you mess up it’s on you. You can’t blame anyone but yourself. When you’re out there it’s you and only you.”

Belbeck is ready for the challenge of 2024 and beyond. He’s learned a lot in a short amount of time, and it has translated into tremendous success so far.

“I’ve learned [about] being confident in my own abilities in the car, and then just staying calm when things are starting to go wrong,” he said. “Just hold on and keep going.”

Posted on December 12, 2023December 12, 2023 by Brandon White

Toyota Racing Development is set to build upon a solid foundation within the heart of short-track racing in the southeast.

The 2024 season will see TRD partner with four-time NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series champion Lee Pulliam and his Late Model Stock operation. Joining Lee Pulliam Performance and TRD is driver prospect Isabella Robusto, who will race most of the year in the team’s No. 55 Toyota.

Pulliam never imagined his small shop based in Alton, Virginia would one day receive support from a major manufacturer like Toyota. He is eager to make the most of this partnership by continuing to develop the next generation of competitors that now includes Robusto.

“If a company like Toyota calls you, you’re going to sit down and listen,” Pulliam said. “This is an opportunity I’ve worked hard for during my whole career. To be associated with a manufacturer like that is a tremendous deal that will be a great asset for our company.

“Everybody at TRD are racers at heart, so they want to be successful and do this deal at 110 percent, which is the same thing I want.”

With a resume that includes victories in Late Model Stock crown jewels like the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 and Myrtle Beach 400, Pulliam established himself as one of the best in the discipline during the 2010s.

When Pulliam elected to start scaling back his driving career near the end of the decade, he wanted to pass down everything he knew about proper race craft. He began emphasizing driver development at Lee Pulliam Performance.

One of the more notable alums to come through Pulliam’s shop is Corey Heim. In his lone full-time season with Pulliam on the CARS Tour, Heim earned one victory and a third-place points finish, which laid the foundation for him to become a successful full-time driver with TRD in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

Lee Pulliam’s legacy in Late Model Stocks includes building a program in which young drivers can develop their craft on short tracks. (Photo: Logan Whitton)

Pulliam cherishes being a mentor to drivers like Heim and so many others, adding he takes tremendous pride in seeing his development drivers find success at the top levels.

“Racing is a tough business, and you’re looking for every little edge you can get,” Pulliam said. “I was able to take some of things I learned over the years to speed up the learning process. Corey was naturally talented, but there were things I could help him with that he never really thought about.

“I want to see my drivers be successful not only when they’re in my car, but when they’re in a Truck, Xfinity car or Cup car.”

Pulliam has every reason to believe Robusto can advance through the developmental ladder just like Heim.

Robusto caught the attention of many in the short-track industry with an impressive Pro Late Model performance at Hickory Motor Speedway that saw her lead a race-high 48 laps. While battling for the win, Robusto made hard contact with the inside wall, which subsequently kept her out the rest of the year due to lingering effects from a concussion.

The path back to the driver’s seat has been long and arduous for Robusto, but she is determined to pick up from where she left off at Hickory. She knows leaning on Pulliam for guidance will only expedite her development.

“I’m feeling good and ready to get back into a race car,” Robusto said. “It’s been a long, nine-and-a-half months of sitting on the sidelines, but I think 2024 is going to go really well running with Lee. They ran so well this past year, so I think everything is going to turn out well.”

Pulliam is no stranger to finding success with female drivers. Amber Balcaen took home a checkered flag in one of Pulliam’s cars at Motor Mile Speedway. Julia Landauer claimed a Limited Late Model title for Pulliam at the same facility in 2015.

Having seen Robusto put together several strong runs that include an impressive third in the 2022 South Carolina 400, Pulliam is eager to start working with her and build upon the potential she displayed before her season-ending crash at Hickory.

“It’s always fun when you can take a female racer and whoop the boys,” Pulliam said. “It’s going to be a challenge, because the CARS Tour is about as tough as it gets, but I really feel like she’s up to it.”

Despite being sidelined for most of 2023, Isabella Robusto is ready to compete for wins in her first year with Lee Pulliam Performance. (Photo: Adam Fenwick/NASCAR)

One factor both Pulliam and Robusto believe will hasten their progress together is having short-track veteran Brenden “Butterbean” Queen a part of the program.

Queen built upon an already solid racing career in his first season with Pulliam by tallying four CARS Tour victories and crown jewel wins in the Hampton Heat and Thanksgiving Classic. With so much experience at her disposal with Pulliam and Queen, Robusto is confident she can find consistency right from the start.

Being out of a Late Model Stock for a prolonged period is something Robusto knows will result in a learning curve. Despite this, Robusto trusts everyone at Lee Pulliam Performance to guide her in the right direction so she can make her own history with the organization.

“Just taking everything in and being a sponge between [Lee] and Brenden is going to be important,” Robusto said. “I want to learn everything from their driving style to race craft and add that on to what I’ve already learned. My goal is to work on anything I need to change in the first part of the year so we can get after it for the second half.”

Pulliam believes the combination of Robusto and Queen can be one of the most potent in Late Model Stock racing, but he is also keeping his expectations in check.

Even though Heim found immediate success with his team, Pulliam knows each driver is different when it comes to the development process. He plans to work diligently with Robusto over the winter to ensure she is ready to contend with the best in Late Model Stock competition.

“With any driver, you always want to get that first race under their belt to see what areas we need to improve on,” Pulliam said. “We’d love to compete for wins right out the gate, but we need to see where we land and get better week-by-week. I think we have a talented enough group for us to go to Victory Lane next year.

“We just want to do the best job we can and represent TRD the best we can so we can have a long-term relationship.”

The influence of TRD has provided Pulliam plenty of optimism about the future of his operation. With more resources being poured into his shop, Pulliam looks forward to continuing TRD’s successful reputation at some of the southeast’s most cherished short tracks.

Posted on December 12, 2023December 12, 2023 by Zack Albert

After last year’s blockbuster move that sent Kyle Busch to Richard Childress Racing after a 15-year tenure with team owner Joe Gibbs, this offseason might seem a bit lighter on the transition front for the two-time Cup Series champ. Still, Busch said before the NASCAR Awards in Nashville, there’s plenty of movement afoot.

Busch will return to the No. 8 Chevrolet in 2024 with a year of seasoning in Richard Childress’ system under his belt, a year in which he added three Cup Series wins both to his impressive tally and the long ledger of RCR success. What’s changing this offseason is a departure from his role as a team owner in the Craftsman Truck Series, a development that’s meant moving out of the former Kyle Busch Motorsports shop in Mooresville, North Carolina.

“That’s been our offseason project so far, which has been stressful to say the least,” Busch said, noting that he’s relying on himself, wife Samantha and her parents and one other helper to make the move. That’s meant equipment, vehicles and scores of trophies from Busch’s 229 NASCAR national-series wins.

While that transition has been a crunch all its own, the shift in ownership to Spire Motorsports has unfolded in an overlapping time frame. Busch joked about the rapid-pace nature of the change-over while in Nashville, wondering aloud how long his key-card access to the building might last.

“Dude, the ink hasn’t even dried and the money didn’t even clear in the bank, and the sign out front was changed,” Busch said with a smirk. “So I was like, ‘Damn, guys.’ Like, I’m trying to have meetings in the conference room, and I still own the place, and they’re in there every day and they’re running out of there. I’m like, ‘get the hell out of here. You still got five more days, four more days.’ … It is a little bit weird, for sure, to kind of see all of that changing and the moving of the guard, but you know, it is what it is. It was the right time.”

If there’s another shift that’s altering the status quo, it’s a perceived rise in Busch’s popularity. Chase Elliott was just hours away from winning the NMPA’s Most Popular Driver Award for a sixth consecutive year, but Busch said there was at least colloquial evidence that he was making gains in that department. “I don’t know if I believe that, but I’ll take it,” he said.

The other evidence comes from the unscientific measure of crowd reaction from each week’s driver introductions. Busch says he remembers being the fans’ prime focus of jeers when he was at his most polarizing, but others have drawn the vast share of catcalls in recent seasons. He says he now wonders, “Wait, who was that?” when the boo-birds arise before or after his turn on the pre-race stage, with former teammate Denny Hamlin siphoning away some of the heat.

“When you’re young, you come in and you start beating up on the guys that have been here for a while, people don’t really take well to that,” Busch said. “So you’re not very well-liked, especially doing it the brash way that I did early on, it certainly got some more eyeballs on my name. But you know, as I’ve gotten a little bit older, as I’ve matured a little bit, as I’ve not won as often, people are starting to be like, ‘Hey, man, that guy used to win all the time, but I want him, like I’m gonna pull for him, I want him to win. Let’s see him win some more,’ so it turns the table, for sure.

“I think that that’s pretty awesome. I remember, how many times did Jeff Gordon get booed after a win, right, like in the late ’90s especially? And then his last win that he had at Martinsville, I mean, the crowd went nuts. So it was, times change and the tables turn.”

Popularity aside, Busch’s first year with the Childress organization extended his run of consecutive Cup Series seasons with at least one victory to 19 straight. He crossed that achievement off the list early, winning in the second race of the year at Auto Club Speedway – timing that Busch said was “huge” in taking the pressure off his first RCR campaign.

Wins followed at Talladega Superspeedway and World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, but Busch’s moment in the Cup Series Playoffs was short-cut by elimination in the Round of 12. His win total and 10 top-five finishes marked improvements over the previous year, but more substantial gains were offset by six DNFs and the fewest laps led (241) in his Cup career.

“Well, we started the year really, really good,” Busch said. “Man, if we could have ended the season how we started the season, we would have certainly been something to contend with for the end of the year. I mean, our stats weren’t too far off of the champion’s stats. We had more top fives, we had more top 10s, we just had more DNFs, you know, and the average finish obviously was a couple points worse, but that was from those DNFs. So just need better consistency and taking those finishes of from 12th to 15th and not over-forcing it or over-pushing those runs that we have and spinning out and crashing.”

Posted on December 12, 2023 by Jerry Bonkowski

Editor’s note: This continues a series where we review the top 20 drivers in 2023 NASCAR Cup Series points.

Season in review: Kyle Busch
No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Crew Chief: Randall Burnett
Final 2023 Ranking: 14th
Key stats: 3 wins, 10 top fives, 17 top 10s, 241 laps led

How 2023 ended: Busch made the move to Richard Childress Racing in 2023 after a 15-year tenure with Joe Gibbs Racing. It was somewhat of a career revitalization for Busch, who won three times, his most wins since taking the checkered flag five times in 2019. Unfortunately, Busch failed to advance past the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs and finished 14th overall, the second-lowest finish of his Cup career.

Best race: While his wins at Fontana and Talladega were noteworthy, none of his three victories was more dominating than his triumph at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. Busch led half of the 243-lap event with a season-best 121 laps at the front of the pack.

Other season highlights: Busch started the season in strong form, winning three of the first 15 races (Fontana, Talladega-1 and Gateway). Unfortunately, he failed to reach Victory Lane again after that. But he still managed to record six of his 10 top-five finishes following the win at Gateway. Additionally, Busch has won at least one race in each of his 19 full-time seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Stat to Know: Busch led the fewest laps in a season (241) in his Cup career in 2023. … His 25 finishes on the lead lap were the fewest for him since 2015 (even though he wound up winning his first of two Cup championships that season).

Quotable: “The thing you want to be able to do is to be well-liked when you retire. I know right now I’m not close to retiring and I’m not close to being liked.”

Looking ahead: Busch and crew chief Randall Burnett formed a strong 1-2 punch in their first season of working together. They can only get stronger together in their second campaign in 2024. We can easily see Busch make it to the Round of 8, if not all the way to the Championship 4, with a decent chance at earning his third career Cup title.

Posted on December 11, 2023 by Press Release

Driving the No. 8, John-Michael Shenette will chase the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Rookie of the Year honors in 2024.

When the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour begins a 16-race schedule in February at New Smyrna Speedway in Florida, Shenette plans to be in attendance. It will be the first race in his quest to compete in a majority of the races on the schedule to chase the prestigious award.

Formerly based in Thompson, Connecticut, Shenette is the CEO of Eighty-Two Services, a General Contractor located in Concord, North Carolina. The team, Eighty-Two Autosport, will also contest additional SMART Modified Tour and Open Modified events when available in 2024.

Shenette made his debut on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Langley Speedway in 2023 and finished 12th. He also competed in events at North-Wilkesboro Speedway and Martinsville Speedway prior to the end of the season.

“We’re excited for 2024,” John-Michael Shenette said. “Last year was about putting a car on the track. We struggled with a mechanical issue that plagued us at all three events and prevented us from logging laps. All-in-all, it was a good year – we were able to build a great group, add a second car and square away all the bits and pieces that it takes to run. The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is the best of the best in modified racing, if not NASCAR as a whole. Our team is ready for the challenge. Chasing the prestigious Rookie of the Year award is on our bucket list, but we’re also looking for consistency and to chase our first career win in Modified in 2024.”

Shenette was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, and started racing at 7-years-old at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park’s “Little T” track in Connecticut. He’s raced on and off his entire life – running in the Pro Stocks, Thompson Modifieds, PASS Super Late Models, ARTS Trucks, Karts and now Tour-Type Modifieds 30 years later.

Shenette and his NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour team, led by crew chief Scott Morin and car chief Stephen Robinson, will open the 2024 season at New Smyrna Speedway on Saturday, February 10, as NASCAR opens their 76th season of racing. For more information on the team, fans are encouraged to follow the team on Facebook on their new page, Eighty-Two Autosport, for the latest news and information, including race day updates.

Posted on December 11, 2023 by Zack Albert

Michael McDowell was frank in assessing his 2023 season from the main stage at the NASCAR Awards last month in Nashville, taking time to also reflect on finding his place as a Cup Series regular – either full- or part-time – for the last 16 seasons.

“It’s great to have people understand just how hard it is to stay in this sport, and no doubt, it’s been a grind for me,” McDowell said. “So it’s taken me a long time not to suck, and so it’s been fun to not suck.”

That deadpan line drew laughter from his peers in the crowd at the Music City Center, but McDowell has enjoyed building on the strides made by his Front Row Motorsports No. 34 team all the same. The 38-year-old veteran posted comparable stats to his 2022 season, and though his number of top-10 finishes was lower (eight in 2023 vs. 12 last year), that figure was offset by more opportunities to contend for victories.

McDowell pounced on that chance when it came in August, holding off two eager drivers in Chase Elliott and Daniel Suárez to convert a dominant win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. That victory marked the next step of Front Row’s progression with its road-course program, but also vaulted McDowell back into the Cup Series Playoffs for the second time in three seasons.

“When we went back and really evaluated Sonoma, we felt like we were close to having the car to beat there and just needed to clean up a few things and make a few things better,” McDowell said, referencing a seventh-place result at the California road circuit in June. “And so it was a kind of a progression of we went from a fifth-place car to probably a second- or third-place car to having a race-winning car at Indy. And you don’t get that opportunity very often, or at least I haven’t.

“So to execute everything that you need to execute to actually win a race, because it’s not just about having the fastest car, right, you’ve got to do everything — strategy, pit stops, no penalties, cautions can’t fall at the wrong time or in between a pit cycle or something like that – so to have it go our way and have our team and our group execute was a really cool moment.”

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McDowell’s postseason appearance, however, was a short-lived one with elimination arriving early in the Round of 16. A crash in the playoff opener at Darlington and more contact the next week in Kansas put the No. 34 bunch at a deficit, but the team’s performance at the round-ending Bristol Motor Speedway night race provided a glimmer of hope.

McDowell qualified fourth and competed among the top five for the bulk of the 500-lapper before ultimately placing sixth – a career-best Bristol finish and an effort that he says made a statement about the team’s versatility.

“We legitimately put ourselves in position to win at a short track,” McDowell said. “So to me, that was probably one of the bigger accomplishments from an overall standpoint, and it was just a confidence booster to everybody in the organization that it doesn’t have to be a road course and it doesn’t have to be a superspeedway. We’ve been competitive at a lot of places, and we can do it at a high level.”

That spirit-lifter comes with the added boost of continuity for the team in 2024. McDowell and teammate Todd Gilliland re-signed with FRM just four days before the Indy victory, and McDowell says the core of his No. 34 group will return this season.

Those extensions include a welcoming-back for crew chief Travis Peterson, who will be in place for just his second year atop the pit box at the Cup Series level. That development is also a welcome sight for McDowell, who worked with his third crew chief in three seasons in 2023, with Peterson succeeding Blake Harris (2022) and Drew Blickensderfer (2019-21).

“It’s hard to build chemistry, and it’s hard to do what we did this year with all new people,” McDowell said, “and I’m thankful to say that we kept everybody on our program, minus one, and so that’s huge for us. We’ll go into the beginning of next year ready to do battle rather than trying to figure out each other’s names and how people work and where their strengths are, where their weaknesses are, what roles are best — just all those things. We’re going to be in a really good spot starting next year, and so I’m super-thankful for that. That’s a big part of, I think, what will make us successful next year.”