A New Year's Goal for Every NASCAR Cup Team

 

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A New Year's Goal for Every NASCAR Cup Team

Justin Seger

A New Year brings in new opportunities, second chances, and fresh starts.  While individuals might have their own list of New Year's resolutions for 2024, NASCAR Cup teams prepare for the Daytona 500 in February.  The 500 marks NASCAR's 76th season and each team will have their own set of goals heading into the season.  In this article, I am going to give my thoughts on what goals each NASCAR Cup Series team should have.

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23XI Racing: Deep Playoff Runs

23XI Racing had a breakout year in 2023.  The team saw both of their drivers make it to the NASCAR Playoffs for the first time in the team's short tenure.  In 2024, both Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick should focus on having deep playoff runs.  The team has the speed and the drivers have the talent to get into the Round of 8.  If all goes their way, they could even see a driver take it a step further into the playoffs.

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Front Row Motorsports: Multiple Wins

Front Row Motorsports by most measures had a banner year in 2023.  They had their lead driver of Michael McDowell win his way into the playoffs at the Indy Road Course.  A less touted accomplishment was 2nd year driver, Todd Gilliland, taking a step forward and doubling his number of Top 10 finishes from the previous year.  If ever there was a year for Front Row Motorsports to take a jump and have multiple wins in a season, 2024 is it.  For a stage, it appeared that 2023 would be that year as McDowell looked dominant at Watkins Glen.  With as many Road Courses and Superspeedways on the schedule, Front Row Motorsports could see more than one checkered flag in 2024.

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Hendrick Motorsports: Return to Dominance

Hendrick Motorsports is one of the few teams in the garage that can almost always expect to have a championship level season from at least one of their drivers.  Last season, it was William Byron who led the way earning a season high six wins.  His teammate, Kyle Larson, also joined Byron in the Championship Four in Phoenix.  However, two HMS drivers failed to make the postseason: Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman.  Both drivers missed races due to injury in 2023, which attributed to both of their seasons.  However, in 2024, Hendrick Motorsports needs to get all of their drivers back into the Playoffs and showcase their previous dominance.

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Joe Gibbs Racing: Recreate 2019

Joe Gibbs Racing is in a unique scenario where half of their driver lineup consists of veteran drivers and future Hall of Famers.  The other half consists of two extremely talented young up-and-comers.  All four drivers have the potential to compete for wins and potentially a championship.  Five years ago, Joe Gibbs Racing became the only Cup team to have three Championship four contenders.  It is time to prove that they can relive that 2019 season.  Hamlin and Truex were just short of the Championship Four in 2023.  Christopher Bell has made it to Phoenix for the past two seasons now.  Ty Gibbs is a talented driver looking for a breakout season.  I think they have the talent on the roster to do what no other Cup team has done.

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JTG Daugherty Racing: Playoff Berth (One Way or Another)

JTG Daugherty Racing kicked off 2023 with an amazing victory in the Daytona 500.  That win meant that the team would be locked into the 2023 Playoffs.  However, as the season progressed, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. appeared to be in contention for the playoffs even without the win.  This proves that as great as wins are, they may not be the only way into the playoffs for smaller teams like this.  The #47 team needs to capitalize on that and make a run for the playoffs in 2024, no matter how they get in.

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Kaulig Racing: Trophy Hunt

Kaulig Racing truly feels like a wild card team heading into 2024.  Neither of their full time drivers from 2023 are returning to full time Cup competition for the team in 2024.  Replacing the leaving Justin Haley is Xfinity Series Champion, Daniel Hemric.  This is not Hemric's first full time season in the Cup series as he has a season with Richard Childress under his belt.  However, Hemric still has something to prove in his return to Cup.  Meanwhile, AJ Allmendinger will return to the Xfinity Series full time in 2024.  Allmendinger will still be around in certain Cup starts though, making him one of their best bets to get some wins in the Cup series in 2024.  Allmendinger has gotten Kaulig a Cup win in two of the last three seasons.

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Legacy Motor Club: Join the Toyota Success

Legacy Motor Club has a few new changes coming to their 2024 season.  Noah Gragson will no longer pilot the #42, being replaced by John Hunter Nemechek.  However, the biggest change for LMC this offseason is their move from Chevrolet to Toyota.  This should prove to be a positive change for the team.  Previous teams that have joined the Toyota fold have typically seen great success in their tenure.  Toyota does not have as many teams as Chevrolet, which should translate to a bigger piece of the pie success wise for Legacy Motor Club.  In 2024, the team needs to capitalize on this new partnership and hopefully use it to find victory lane.

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RFK Racing: Keep the Momentum Going

2023 was quite the rebound year for RFK.  After what was an abysmal 2022 season, the team managed to rebound in 2023 having both of their cars finish in the Top 8 in points.  Chris Buescher had a career year earning three wins and tripled his previous career high Top 5's with nine.  While owner/driver, Brad Keselowski, did not find victory lane; he competed for many throughout the season.  In 2024, RFK needs to use this momentum to keep moving forward.  With a rebound like 2023, it may not be long until we see them in the championship hunt.

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Richard Childress Racing: Find Consistency

Richard Childress Racing brought in 2-time champion, Kyle Busch, in 2023.  This translated to immediate success after nearly winning the Daytona 500 and picking up his first win of 2023 a week later.  However, RCR as a whole was very up and down.  They had great moments.  They had horrible moments.  Using Kyle Busch as an example, he earned three wins, which was his best since 2019.  However, he also had only 25 lead lap finishes which was the worst since 2015 (a season where he only competed in 25 races).  Austin Dillon had times where he shined, but ultimately he finished 29th in the final standings.  In 2024, RCR needs to find the middle ground.  Preferably, they could fix the problem areas without having to give up the multiple wins.

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Rick Ware Racing: Get off the Bottom

Rick Ware Racing is an underdog team at its finest.  In 2023, the team faced a lot of struggles with drivers.  Many of these were not of the team's doing.  Cody Ware was suspended for nearly the entire season due to personal issues off the track.  The team used drivers like J.J. Yeley, Todd Gilliland (when Zane Smith was in the #38), and even Ryan Newman.  This caused their two chartered entries to finish 34th and 35th in the final owners standings.  It was announced in July that Justin Haley would be moving from Kaulig Racing over to Rick Ware Racing on a multi-year deal.  This announcement shocked many, but this deal also includes an alliance with RFK Racing.  In 2024, Rick Ware needs to use these deals to their advantage and get out of the bottom three in the owners standings.

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Spire Motorsports: Breakout Year

Perhaps the busiest team in the silly season was Spire Motorsports.  From purchasing Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Truck Series to buying a third charter in the Cup series, the team has been busy.  With that, the landscape will look very different in 2024.  One thing that remains the same is Corey LaJoie driving the #7.  He will be joined by rookies Zane Smith and Carson Hocevar.  Both drivers got some seat time in 2023.  This very well could be a breakout season for Spire, as they have the talent pool in their possession to make something happen in 2024.

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Stewart-Haas Racing: Define the "New Era"

Stewart-Haas Racing looks entirely different than it did just five years ago.  All of their former veteran drivers have left the stable to the point where now all of their drivers have less than five full time seasons in the Cup series.  Stewart-Haas in 2023 had arguably their worst season on record, going winless for he first time in team history.  In 2024, it seems that SHR needs to define what this new era will bring to their team.  Chase Briscoe proved in 2022 that he could be a threat for the playoffs.  Josh Berry and Noah Gragson both have success in the NASCAR Xfinity series.  And Ryan Preece is the most experienced of the fold now.  In 2024, SHR needs to figure out what this means for their future and how will it translate to their success.

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Team Penske: Multiple Contenders

It's hard to ask for much more than what Team Penske has accomplished the last two seasons.  Being able to win the Championship in back-to-back years is something incredibly special.  Ryan Blaney managed to get it done this season after a winless season in 2022.  Meanwhile, Joey Logano, 2022's champion, struggled in the playoffs in 2023.  If there is anything Team Penske can ask for in 2024, it is to have multiple championship contending drivers rather than one.  They have done this before back in 2020, having two drivers advance to the Championship Four.  I'm sure the team would love to once again have multiple entries battling for a title in Phoenix in 2024.

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Trackhouse Racing: More Watermelon and Pinata Smashes

Trackhouse Racing took a slight step backwards in 2023 compared to their previous campaign.  Daniel Suarez failed to make it to the playoffs and Ross Chastain was eliminated in the Round of 12.  However, there were some positives to look at.  Most notably, Ross Chastain won two races including becoming the first non playoff driver to win the Championship finale in Phoenix.  This goal for 2024 might be a bit simple, but what Trackhouse should be focused on is getting back to victory lane more often.  Being able to take that step could really elevate their program in 2024 and beyond.

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Wood Brothers Racing: Take a Step Forward

For the final team on this list, we come to the Wood Brothers.  They are one of the oldest teams in the sport, spanning all the way back to NASCAR's inception.  However, in recent years they have taken some steps back from being the playoff contenders they were a few years ago.  In his third season, Harrison Burton needs to show some improvement.  Nothing majorly extensive should be expected of them.  But just something that indicates that the team is moving forward.

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Ultimately, each team in the NASCAR Cup Series has their own list of goals and accomplishments that they would like to get done in 2024.  However, this is time where it is fun for us fans and writers to speculate what might be or should be on the Goal list for each of these teams.  How many of these teams accomplish those goals? We will have to see when the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season gets underway in Daytona.