The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season was one that will be remembered forever. Close finishes, wild finishes, and new faces on the horizon emerged. Let’s take a deep dive into what happened from races 1-26.
Denny Hamlin, the driver of the #11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, won the opening exhibition race of the season at the LA Coliseum. He went on to win races at Bristol in March as well as Richmond and Dover in April. I was in attendance for the last of his three regular season wins. However, Hamlin’s team was penalized in August after reporting that they disassembled and rebuilt the engine during his win in Bristol, resulting in a $100,000 crew chief fine and a deduction of 75 driver points + 10 playoff points.
William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports’ #24 Chevrolet won his first Daytona 500 in February following a last-lap caution. The Charlotte, NC native also won at Circuit of the Americas in March, and Martinsville two weeks later in a ruby red 40th anniversary car.
The Atlanta race on February 25 saw a three-wide photo finish between Daniel Suarez, Kyle Busch, and Ryan Blaney. Suarez barely crossed the line first by .003 seconds over defending series champion Blaney, in one of the closest finishes in series history. It was the Mexican’s first win since June 2022 at Sonoma, and the second of his career.
Kyle Larson, Byron’s teammate, continued his dominance at Las Vegas by taking the checkered flag there in March. Additional wins came at Sonoma in June and Indianapolis in July following another last-lap caution. And who could forget about Kansas in May? He edged out Chris Buescher in the new closest finish of all time: .001 seconds. This beat the 2003 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at .002. Larson was looking to become the first driver to compete in the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day since Kurt Busch in 2014, but rain at both venues foiled his plans.
Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing was the master of weather. He won a hot Phoenix race in March, as well as the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 and the rain-affected New Hampshire race in June. Bell also won the Xfinity Series race the day prior in overtime.
Chase Elliott, another Hendrick Motorsports driver, snapped a winless streak dating back to the fall of 2022 by winning at Texas in April. He missed a handful of races to start in 2023 after breaking his leg in a snowboarding accident and went on to have a winless campaign that year.
23XI’s Tyler Reddick wheeled his #45 Toyota to victory lane in a chaotic April Talladega race. On the final lap, Michael McDowell lost control of his car, causing a large accident. Corey LaJoie’s car ended up flipping across the finish line in the aftermath. Legacy Motor Club’s Erik Jones suffered a back injury earlier in the contest, forcing him to miss two races. Reddick also went on to win at Michigan in August, following a postponement due to rain and another flip from LaJoie.
Another winless streak was snapped at the Darlington race in May, as Brad Keselowski won his first race since becoming part-owner of RFK Racing by taking advantage of teammate Chris Buescher’s altercation with Reddick. Keselowski’s last win prior to that was at Talladega in the spring of 2021 with Penske.
Two-time series champion Joey Logano won the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro by dominating and took home the $1 million prize. The race’s most memorable moment, however, is a fight post-race between Busch and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. Stenhouse received a hefty fine, and his father was suspended indefinitely. Logano also won the race at Nashville in June on fuel mileage to punch his ticket to the playoffs, in an overtime-filled thriller.
2022 Daytona 500 champion Austin Cindric brought the #2 Penske Ford back to victory lane for the first time since that special day at Gateway. Teammate Blaney ran out of fuel on the final lap, allowing Cindric to catch up and pull away. It was Cindric’s second career win.
Blaney rebounded by winning the inaugural Cup Series event at Iowa two weeks later, and won at Pocono in July, too (The second of two Cup Series races with me in attendance).
Hendrick Motorsports’ fourth and final driver secured their playoff bid with a win at the second Chicago Street Race event. Alex Bowman won his first race in two years in rainy conditions, holding off a hard-charging Reddick. The race was shortened from 75 laps to 58 due to time constraints for the second year running.
Saying the summer Richmond race in August was crazy would be an understatement. Austin Dillon won for the first time since Daytona in August 2022 but in another case of weird circumstances. He was leading the race on pace with two laps to go before a wreck ensued an overtime restart. After being beaten by Joey Logano on a restart, Dillon decided to give it his all by spinning out Logano in the race’s final turn. Then, he came back down and hooked Hamlin into the outside wall. Following the controversy, NASCAR stripped Dillon’s playoff eligibility.
The summer Daytona race was arguably the most chaotic one all season, with large accidents and drama all around. McDowell caught quality air time in a big wreck on lap 152, and Josh Berry went for a tumble on lap 159. On an overtime restart, Harrison Burton did the unthinkable and powered past Busch with the help of part-timer Parker Retzlaff on the backstretch of the last lap. Burton held on to win the 100th race for the Wood Brothers, and his first career win in the Cup Series. He would be released from the team at season’s end in favor of Berry.
The regular season finale at Darlington also had Kyle Busch at the center of attention, but once again, the two-time series champ came up short too, you guessed it, another snapped the winless streak. Chase Briscoe, who would move to Joe Gibbs Racing for 2025, scored the final win and playoff berth for Stewart-Haas Racing by holding off the hard-charging Busch on old tires.
PLAYOFF GRID: 1. #5 Kyle Larson (4 wins), 2. #20 Christopher Bell (3 wins), 3. #45 Tyler Reddick (2 wins), 4. #24 William Byron (3 wins), 5. #12 Ryan Blaney (2 wins), 6. #11 Denny Hamlin (3 wins), 7. #9 Chase Elliott (1 win), 8. #6 Brad Keselowski (1 win), 9. #22 Joey Logano (1 win), 10. #2 Austin Cindric (1 win), 11. #99 Daniel Suarez (1 win), 12. #21 Harrison Burton (1 win), 13. #14 Chase Briscoe (1 win), 14. #48 Alex Bowman (1 win), 15. #54 Ty Gibbs, 16. #19 Martin Truex, Jr.
ELIMINATED: 17. #17 Chris Buescher, 18. #23 Bubba Wallace, 19. #1 Ross Chastain, 20. #8 Kyle Busch
