CONCORD, N.C. (Jan. 31, 2024) – RFK Racing announced Wednesday that Siemens Digital Industries Software, a longtime partner of RFK Racing, has joined the RFK TeK Alliance and will continue to assist the team in accelerating its development capabilities with cutting edge technologies and continue its proven success both at and away from the track.
“Siemens is thrilled to be joining the RFK TeK Alliance and expanding our long-standing partnership with Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing. Joining the RFK TeK Alliance adds our technologies and expertise to the group RFK has assembled to help them succeed and help build a more sustainable future for motorsport,” said David Taylor, Vice President, Industry Strategy and Marketing at Siemens Digital Industries Software. “It’s another great example of how the motorsport industry, like many others, is adopting Siemens Xcelerator to aid its digital transformation and use digital twin technology to gain competitive advantage on the racetrack.”
RFK uses the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio of industry software for product engineering, digital simulation and product lifecycle management (PLM) to help them design, test and manufacture faster. Siemens’ software products are used to create digital twin models of numerous parts and systems on the race cars, and in some scenarios, simulations are run to help optimize geometry (making parts lighter, stronger, etc.).
Siemens’ NX™ software is used for vehicle design, engineering and virtual simulation capabilities from the Simenter™ portfolio is to test and optimize vehicles at the accelerated rate that motorsport teams demand. Siemens’ Teamcenter® software for Product Lifecycle Management plays a vital role for RFK Racing in managing the parts it creates. It allows the team to manage its product lifecycle data and processes and acts as the interface between engineering, purchasing, quality control and aids sharing and collaboration of engineering models amongst team members.
About RFK Racing RFK Racing, entering its 37th season in 2024, features an ownership lineup pairing one of the sport’s most iconic names, Jack Roush, along with NASCAR Champion, Brad Keselowski, and Fenway Sports Group owner John Henry. Roush initially founded the team in 1988 and it has since become one of the most successful racing operations in the world, propelling him to be the first NASCAR owner to amass three hundred wins and capturing eight championships, including back-to-back NASCAR Cup titles in 2003 and 2004. Keselowski, a former owner in the NASCAR Truck Series, is the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series Champion. In 2007, Roush partnered with Henry, who also owns Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox, English Premier League’s Liverpool F.C., and the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins, to form Roush Fenway Racing. Off the track, RFK is a leader and proven winner in NASCAR marketing solutions, having produced multiple award-winning social media, digital content and experiential marketing campaigns. Visit rfkracing.com, and follow the team on all social platforms @rfkracing.
With Kevin Harvick set to join the FOX Sports’ NASCAR broadcast team for the 2024 season following his retirement from full-time Cup Series competition, Denny Hamlin enters this year’s Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum weekend with the most starts in the Clash as an active Cup competitor at 18, all occurring in consecutive years.
Hamlin and former teammate Kyle Busch, who has made 17 starts in the Clash, will also enter this weekend with potential milestone starts in the Clash set to occur. By earning a spot and competing in the main event at The Coliseum, Hamlin will tie Harvick, Ken Schrader and Rusty Wallace for having the fourth-most starts in the Clash at 19 while Busch will tie brother Kurt, Jimmie Johnson and Terry Labonte for eighth place in the Clash’s all-time starts list at 18.
Hamlin’s debut in the Clash occurred during the 2006 season at Daytona International Speedway. By then, the Chesterfield, Virginia, native had made his first seven career starts in the Cup Series in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 11 FedEx entry in the second half of the 2005 season, where he recorded three top-10 results and notched his first career pole position at Phoenix Raceway in November, the latter of which earned him a spot into the 2006 Clash.
During his first Clash start, Hamlin pulled the upset by leading three times for 16 laps and fending off a bevy of Cup stars amid a two-lap shootout to win the event and become the first Rookie-of-the-Year candidate to win the Clash. The Clash victory would serve as a pivotal moment for Hamlin, who would proceed to win his first two Cup points-paying victories by sweeping both Pocono Raceway events, qualifying for the Playoffs, settling in third place in the 2006 final driver’s standings and capturing the Rookie-of-the-Year title.
Following the 2006 season, Hamlin finished no higher than ninth place during his next three starts at The Clash as he would be involved in two final lap accidents during the three years. Then after finishing in fifth place during the 2010 Clash event, Hamlin was in a prime position to win the 2011 Clash as he pulled a slingshot move on drafting partner Ryan Newman entering the frontstretch on the final lap and came across the finish line dead even with Kurt Busch. With Hamlin overtaking Newman’s No. 39 Wix Filters Chevrolet by racing below the double yellow line boundary zone, however, he was relegated to 12th place, the final competitor scored on the lead lap, as Busch would be awarded the victory.
Three years later, Hamlin achieved his second career Clash victory after overtaking teammate Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski amid a three-wide pass for the lead with two laps remaining before steering his No. 11 FedEx Toyota to victory in an event where he led a race-high 27 laps and where only eight of 18 starters finished the event. Another two years later, the Virginia veteran would fend off a late challenge from former teammate Joey Logano amid an overtime shootout to claim his third Clash victory after retaining the lead before a multi-car wreck on the final lap that concluded the event under caution. Ironically, Hamlin, who led a race-high 39 laps, rallied from being involved in an early incident with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. During the 2016 season, he would proceed to win the 58th running of the Daytona 500 and achieve his first Great American Race victory after edging Martin Truex Jr. across the finish line by 0.010 seconds, which stands as the closet margin of victory in a 500 event.
Following the 2016 Clash victory, Hamlin would finish no higher than sixth three times in the next five Clash events that continued to occur at Daytona. Since the Clash’s move to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 2022, he has finished no higher than ninth, which occurred during the previous season’s event.
Through 18 previous starts at The Clash, Hamlin has racked up a total of three victories, five top-five results, 10 top-10 results, 201 laps led and an average-finishing result of 9.89.
Ironically, Kyle Busch’s first start in the Clash also occurred in 2006, a year after he won his first two Cup career victories, claimed his first pole position at Auto Club Speedway and achieved the 2005 Rookie-of-the-Year title. Driving the No. 5 CARQUEST Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, Busch ended up in 15th place despite leading four laps. The following season, the Las Vegas native led a race-high 39 laps and was leading with eight laps remaining until he was shoved out of both the lead and draft by Tony Stewart. Stewart would proceed to win while Busch, who dodged a final lap wreck, managed to finish seventh.
After not being eligible to compete in the 2008 Clash due to not securing a pole position in 2007, Busch returned to the featured event in 2009. By then, he was campaigning in his second season piloting the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing and was coming off a season where he had notched 10 victories and finished in 10th place in the final standings. Ultimately, Busch would finish in 10th place after being involved in a final lap wreck and would finish fourth and 16th, respectively, during his next two Clash starts (2010-11).
Then during the 2012 Clash, Busch achieved the impossible by rallying from two near spins amid a shower of sparks to draft Stewart to the lead on the final lap and pull a successful slingshot move on Stewart to win his first career Clash event by 0.013 seconds. By then, Busch recorded the fifth Clash career victory for Joe Gibbs Racing and the first for the Toyota nameplate. As noted earlier, Busch’s victory occurred after he slipped sideways twice on different occasions, but managed to straighten his car amid a shower of sparks to finish and ultimately, win the race.
The first incident occurred with 28 laps remaining after Busch, who was carving his way to the front, attempted to turn left and move his No. 18 M&M’s Toyota in front of Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet amid the draft in Turn 1 when he made contact with Johnson and veered sideways twice through the superspeedway’s banked apron before managing to proceed without completely spinning sideways as the field scattered to avoid him. Then with two laps remaining, Busch was running in the runner-up spot behind Stewart and had Jeff Gordon drafting him through Turns 3 and 4 when Busch veered sideways off of Gordon’s No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet and triggered a multi-car wreck.
As a result, Gordon was turned across the outside wall and sent on his side before he slid across the track and barrel-rolled three times entering the frontstretch before coming to rest on his roof. Amid the carnage, Busch veered sideways three times across the apron in a shower of sparks before he fully spun below the track entering the frontstretch and managed to keep his car intact before he proceeded and eventually navigated his way to victory.
During his next eight starts in the Clash, Busch notched two top-three results and four top-10 finishes in the Clash, with his best result being a runner-up result in 2017 after edging Alex Bowman and Danica Patrick in a three-wide photo finish. Then in 2021, when the Clash occurred on the Daytona road-course layout for the first time, Busch capitalized on a final lap incident involving Ryan Blaney and reigning Cup Series champion Chase Elliott to storm to his second Clash career victory.
Busch’s 2021 Clash victory would serve as the final time where the exhibition event occurred at Daytona International Speedway. For the previous two seasons, where the Clash occurred at The Coliseum, Busch has finished in the top three during both events. He finished in the runner-up spot behind Logano despite leading a race-high 64 laps and ended up in third place during the 2023 Clash in his first event driving the No. 8 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing.
Through 18 previous starts at The Clash, Busch has achieved two victories, seven top-five results, 12 top-10 results, 131 laps led and an average-finishing result of 7.71.
Photo by David Myers for SpeedwayMedia.com.
Currently, Hamlin and Kyle Busch are the top two active Cup Series competitors with the most starts in the Clash at 18 and 17, respectively, followed by Joey Logano (15), Martin Truex Jr. (12), Austin Dillon and Brad Keselowski (nine) and Kyle Larson (eight), as they attempt to race their way into the main event to extend their current starts streak in The Clash and contend for more victories.
Hamlin’s three Clash victories place him in a four-way tie with Dale Jarrett, Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick for the second-most wins in The Clash while Dale Earnhardt holds the record for most Clash wins at six. Meanwhile, Busch is tied with Neil Bonnett, Ken Schrader, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano for the third-most Clash victories at two.
The starting lineup for the 2024 Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum will be determined through four Heat Race qualifying events that will set the majority of the grid and occur on Saturday, February 3, beginning at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1 followed by a 75-lap Last Chance Qualifying Race that will occur on Sunday, February 4, at 6:30 p.m. on FOX. Afterward, 23 competitors from a field of 40 will make the main event, The Clash, which will occur on Sunday and air at 8 p.m. ET on FOX.
TEMPERANCE, Mich. (January 31, 2024) – A bevy of championship contenders and high-profile part-time drivers highlight a growing preliminary entry list for the ARCA Menards Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway.
Andres Perez, who finished second in the run for the 2023 season championship behind Jesse Love, has filed an entry along with his Rev Racing teammate Lavar Scott. They are joined by a trio of championship contenders out of the Venturini Motorsports stable, Kris Wright, Amber Balcaen, and Toni Breidinger. Christian Rose, driver of the AM Racing entry, has filed an entry, as has Bounty Rookie Challenge contender Caleb Costner. Michael Maples, another Bounty Rookie contender for 2024, has filed his entry to drive for 1995 ARCA Menards Series champion Andy Hillenburg’s Fast Track High Performance Racing team.
Independent drivers Brad Smith and Alex Clubb, who are also expected to compete in each of the series’ 20 races, have also filed their entries.
The preliminary entry list for the Daytona ARCA 200 also includes several other big names, including Andy Jankowiak, who won last weekend’s Gambler Classic TQ Midget indoor race in Atlantic City, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular Tanner Gray, who will be driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, and Venturini Motorsports teammates Jake Finch and Gus Dean.
Defending Daytona ARCA 200 winner Greg Van Alst has filed two entries, one for himself and the other for fellow Indiana resident Isaac Johnson. NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour regular and NASCAR Xfinity Series team co-owner Patrick Emerling is entered with a self-owned team, and last year’s fifth-place finisher Mandy Chick has also filed her entry.
Shane Van Gisbergen, the Australian V-8 Supercar champion and winner of the inaugural NASCAR street race in Chicago, has also filed an entry. Van Gisbergen will do double duty on raceday as he’s also expected to compete in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race after the conclusion of the ARCA race.
A total of 47 entries have already been received with the possibility of several more being filed before the deadline. The complete official entry list is expected to be released as early as next week.
The first official on-track activity of the 2024 season is scheduled for Thursday, February 15 when the teams take to the track for a 50-minute practice session. The 40-car starting lineup will be set in General Tire Pole Qualifying on Friday, February 16, with the 80-lap/200-mile season-opener to follow on Saturday, February 17. The race will be televised live on FS1 starting at 1:30 pm ET; it will also be broadcast on select affiliates of the MRN Radio nationwide.
Live timing & scoring data will be available for all on-track activities at ARCARacing.com; follow @ARCA_Racing on X (formerly Twitter) for up-to-the-minute updates.
About ARCA
The Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA), founded in 1953 by John and Mildred Marcum in Toledo, Ohio, and acquired by NASCAR in April 2018, is the leading grassroots stock car sanctioning body in the United States. Bridging the gap between NASCAR’s top three national touring series and weekly racing all across the country, the organization administers more than 100 events annually, including the ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series East, ARCA Menards Series West, plus weekly racing at Toledo and Flat Rock Speedways. For more information about ARCA visit www.arcaracing.com, or follow ARCA on Facebook (@ARCARacing) and Twitter (@ARCA_Racing).
HAMPTON, Ga. (Jan. 31, 2024) – Coca-Cola Racing Family driver Chase Elliott and Atlanta Motor Speedway are starting race month in Atlanta with a massive fan event at the World of Coca-Cola.
Before NASCAR’s stars hit the high banks at AMS during the Ambetter Health 400 weekend Feb. 23-25, fans will be able to quench their thirst for racing fun during the speedway’s race month kick-off at the World of Coca-Cola on Wednesday, Feb. 7. The event, hosted by the World of Coca-Cola in downtown Atlanta, will be free to the public.
Attendees will enjoy a variety of family-friendly activities and entertainment from Coca-Cola and AMS. Racing simulators, tailgate games, and photo opportunities with the Ambetter Health 400 trophy and pace car that racing enthusiasts will love are just a few of the attractions that will be available free of charge during the event.
The highlight of the day’s events will be a fan Q&A with NASCAR champion and Georgia native Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports. NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver will field questions from fans just 18 days before he chases a second victory at his home track.
The race month kickoff event will begin at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 7, and continue until 2 p.m. During this time, guests will be invited to enjoy the event’s activities on the greenspace at the World of Coca-Cola.
Tickets and camping accommodations for the Feb. 23-25 Ambetter Health 400 weekend are available now, including the Chase Elliott Ticket Package. For $75 this bundle includes a grandstand ticket to the Ambetter Health 400 on Sunday, Feb. 25; an exclusive fan Q&A with Elliott on race weekend; and a donation in your name to the Chase Elliott Foundation. Fans can learn more at www.AtlantaMotorSpeedway.com.
About the Ambetter Health 400 weekend:
Atlanta’s spring NASCAR weekend is headlined by the Ambetter Health 400 on Sunday, Feb. 25, 2024, with intense, superspeedway pack racing and high stakes with a spot in the NASCAR playoffs on the line.
The race weekend also features the tenth year of Atlanta’s same-day NASCAR doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. The thrills of the Fr8 208 and RAPTOR King of Tough 250 both happen in one action-packed day that race fans look forward to every year.
More information on the Feb. 23-25, 2024, Ambetter Health 400 weekend and ticket availability can be found online at AtlantaMotorSpeedway.com.
Follow Atlanta Motor Speedway:
Keep track of all of Atlanta Motor Speedway’s events by following on Twitter, Instagram, and become a Facebook fan. Keep up with all the latest news and information with the Atlanta Motor Speedway mobile app.
Mayer to drive No. 1 Carolina Carports Chevy at Daytona, Texas and Bristol
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Jan. 31, 2024) – Carolina Carports, an industry innovator in the manufacturing and installation of quality residential and commercial steel buildings, will join JR Motorsports as a primary partner for Sam Mayer and the No. 1 team in three NASCAR Xfinity Series events in 2024.
Mayer will drive the No. 1 Carolina Carports Chevrolet in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway (Feb. 17), Texas Motor Speedway (April 13) and Bristol Motor Speedway (Sept. 20). The brand will be featured as an associate partner in the remaining 30 races.
Headquartered in Dobson, N.C., Carolina Carports’ customer-first and quality-commitment approach has made them a leader in the steel-buildings industry. Family-owned and operated since 1997, Carolina Carports offers a wide selection of steel buildings, metal carports, garages and barns for personal or commercial use, all of which include American manufacturing, installation and customer support. The company’s footprint has expanded to seven divisions covering North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Missouri, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Indiana.
“Carolina Carports is a family business much like our own,” said JR Motorsports CEO Kelley Earnhardt Miller. “Meeting Adela (Herrera) and her team, it’s clear she has built her company on quality and excellence, and that makes Carolina Carports a great fit for Sam and the No. 1 team.”
Mayer, a 20-year-old native of Franklin, Wis., enters 2024 on the heels of a career-best season with four wins and a third-place finish in the NXS championship.
“Carolina Carport is pleased to announce our new partnership with the JRM team,” said Herrera, Carolina Carports owner and CEO. “With over 25 years leading in the metal building industry, we’ve consistently provided top-quality materials throughout our seven division locations. Teaming up with one of the great names in racing is a testament to our commitment to excellence. We look forward to the positive impact this partnership will bring to both industries.”
Broadcast coverage for the United Rentals 300 at Daytona begins at 5 p.m. ET on Saturday, Feb. 17, on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
ABOUT CAROLINA CARPORTS: Carolina Carports, Inc. was founded in 1997. Our primary focus is to provide the highest quality residential and commercial metal structures at the most economical price to our customers. We use the latest in technology, machinery and engineering to ensure that each unit is above industry standards. Our commitment to each customer experience from start to finish is a driving force behind the growth of CCI. With 7 divisions strategically located throughout the United States, CCI has become the single largest metal building manufacturer in the nation. We appreciate each of our dealers, employees, contractors and customers who are part of the CCI family. To start your next building project, contact us at 800-670-4262.
ABOUT JR MOTORSPORTS:
JR Motorsports is the racing operation co-owned by NASCAR Hall of Fame member and 15-time Most Popular Driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kelley Earnhardt Miller and NASCAR Hall of Famer Rick Hendrick. Now in its 23rd year of overall competition, JR Motorsports competes in multiple divisions, including the NASCAR Xfinity Series where it currently fields four full-time teams and earned championships in 2014, 2017 and 2018. The company also owns seven titles in regional Late Model divisions with consecutive championships in 2022-23 and a prized national title in 2020. To learn more about the organization, its drivers and its sponsorship opportunities, visit www.jrmracing.com.
Martin Truex Jr. Clash at the Coliseum Advance No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry TRD for Joe Gibbs Racing
Event Overview ● Event: Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum ● Time/Date: 6 p.m. EST on Sunday, Feb. 4 ● Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum ● Layout: Quarter-mile oval ● Format: 150-lap Feature with a 23-car field set by Heats and Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) ● TV/Radio: FOX / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Notes of Interest
● Entering his sixth season under the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) banner, Truex has become quite the short-track ace during his first five seasons with JGR’s No. 19 team. Prior to his time with JGR, Truex had never won on a short track. However, since joining JGR, he’s brought home six of his 12 total victories on short tracks, which includes three wins each on the Virginia shorts tracks – Richmond Raceway and Martinsville Speedway. In fact, nine of Truex’s wins since joining JGR at the start of 2019 have been on tracks 1.33 miles in length or shorter, which bodes well for the New Jersey native at this weekend’s race on the quarter-mile oval at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
● Truex and the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry team for JGR set the tone right out of the gate for last season by winning 150-lap feature in the non-points Clash at the Coliseum on Feb. 5. Truex won his heat race, then went on to lead the final 25 laps of the feature en route to a victory that gave the team plenty of momentum. Truex went on to win three regular-season races and brought home the regular-season championship.
● Truex will participate in the Clash for the 13th time in his career this weekend, and does so as the defending winner of the non-points event. His next-best Clash finish of second came in the 2015 edition at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, the traditional home for the non-points event before the inaugural race at the Coliseum in 2022. Truex started 23rd and brought home a 15th-place finish during the inaugural Coliseum race before bringing home the trophy in 2023.
● In 2023, Truex scored three points-paying wins, nine top-five finishes, 17 top-10s and led 899 total laps in a bounce-back season from 2022, when he was winless and led just 572 laps.
● History was made on Feb. 6, 2022, when the NASCAR Cup Series competed for the first time at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum was a bold way to unofficially kick off the start of the NASCAR season. On a temporary paved oval at a quarter-mile in length on top of what is typically the running track around the football field the Trojans of the University of Southern California call home, NASCAR thundered into America’s second-largest media market. The location was strategic, as was the event’s timing – held on the off-weekend between the NFL division championship games and the almighty Super Bowl. For all the unknowns beforehand, the event proved to be an absolute success. The buzz was palpable throughout the weekend as more than 70 percent of ticket buyers were first-time NASCAR attendees. When NASCAR returned to the Coliseum for the 2023 Clash, the event continued to stand out, drawing 3.65 million viewers on FOX while going head to head with the GRAMMYs on CBS. The race earned a total of 540 million tuning minutes, an 8 percent uptick from the 2022 Clash, which scored 501 million tuning minutes. It’s why NASCAR is back at the Coliseum for a third go-round this weekend.
● While NASCAR certainly made history when it began racing at the L.A. Coliseum, it’s appropriate to say auto racing history was remade. As World War II wound down, racing open-wheel Midget cars around the Coliseum cranked up. Beginning in 1945, the United Racing Association (URA) ran on a quarter-mile track that was paved right over top of the athletic track. Racing continued through 1948, but under the auspices of the Automobile Association of America (AAA). But with more permanent racetracks populating Southern California, racing at the Coliseum fell by the wayside. That is until 1979, when Mickey Thompson packaged off-road racing into his innovative stadium series, with the Coliseum serving as his first event of many. Broadcast on ESPN and TNN, it was where an up-and-coming off-road racer with NASCAR ambitions first started making a name for himself. You might’ve heard of him – seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and recent NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Jimmie Johnson.
● NASCAR kicks of its 76th season in 2024 and, for many of the previous years, the sanctioning body began its annual campaign at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. Starting the year in California isn’t a break from tradition, necessarily. In fact, you could argue it’s a return to a previous tradition. The 2022 Clash at The Coliseum marked the first time since 1981 that NASCAR didn’t start its season at Daytona. But starting the year off in California was not new. In 1965 and again from 1970 to 1981, the NASCAR Cup Series’ season-opening race took place at Riverside International Raceway, a road course approximately 50 miles east of Los Angeles. Riverside is long gone, the site now home to the Moreno Valley Mall, but the L.A. Coliseum was at 311 Figueroa Street 34 years before Riverside opened its doors in 1957 and it’s still there today. It’s a juxtaposition of old and new, a microcosm of NASCAR’s brave new world.
● In true L.A. fashion, almost any NASCAR Cup Series team can show up at the Coliseum, but not everyone is getting past the velvet ropes to participate in the 150-lap main event. Because the track at the L.A. Coliseum is only a quarter-mile in length – the shortest track the NASCAR Cup Series will compete on in 2023 – only 23 cars can compete in the feature. Getting to the main event is much more arduous than walking the red carpet and slipping the bouncer a $100 bill. Here’s how it works…
● On Saturday, NASCAR Cup Series competitors will take to the track for a dual practice/qualifying session that determines the starting order for four, 25-lap heat races consisting of 10 cars each. Below is a breakdown on how Saturday’s heat races will be filled out:
The field will be split into three practice groups, with each group receiving three sessions. The fastest lap time from each competitor’s final practice session will determine the starting lineup for the four heat races. The top-four overall lap times in final practice will earn the pole for each heat race, while the fifth- through eighth-fastest lap times will make up the other half of the front row for each heat. The complete field for each heat race will be filled using this methodology: Heat one will be made up of cars listed in overall positions one, five, nine, 13, 17, 21, 25, 29, 33, 37 on the final practice timesheet. The top-five finishers (20 total cars) from each heat race automatically advance to the Clash, with the winner of heat one winning the pole and the winner of heat two earning the outside pole. The winners of heats three and four will fill out the second row, with the remaining order being determined in the same manner. The remaining finishing positions from each heat that did not advance will continue to Sunday’s 75-lap Last Chance Qualifying (LCQ) race. Below is a breakdown on how the LCQ will be filled out: The starting order will be determined based on finishing positions in the heat races. The sixth-place finisher from heat one will be on the pole for the LCQ race. The sixth-place finisher from heat two will be on the outside pole. This pattern will continue to fill out the remaining LCQ field. The top-two finishers from the LCQ race will advance to the Clash, filling out positions 21 and 22. The 23rd and final spot in the Clash will be reserved for the driver who finished the highest in the 2023 championship standings who does not transfer on finishing position in their heat race or in their LCQ race. All other drivers will be eliminated from competition for the remainder of the event weekend. Martin Truex Jr., Driver of the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry TRD
How important was winning the Clash last year to start the season in a positive direction for the No. 19 team?
“I think it was definitely a huge part. It builds confidence and particularly in the decision-making process. We went to the Clash in 2022 and we were absolutely awful. It was like, ‘OK, we need to change everything around.’ To have the guys come with a new setup and be as good as we were all weekend long, it was a huge boost to start the year. You always want to start the season strong, exhibition race or not. You want to go out there and win and get your confidence going. That just kicked things off for us and we knew we were back. We knew we could do it but, until you actually do it, you always have that question in the back of your mind. That weekend answered the question that we could still win races. It really set off our season on a good note, and we looked forward to the weekly grind after that because we knew we had something to run up front and compete for wins each and every week with our Bass Pro Shops Camry XSE.”
With the short, tight, quarter-mile track, what does your car have to do and what does it take to succeed at the Coliseum from a mechanical standpoint?
“It’s really difficult to make your car do everything you want it to do. You have to stop and you have to turn and you have to have drive-off the corner. It sounds easy, but the place is so small and so flat and these cars don’t want anything to do with a small, flat track. You have to keep the left-front brake from locking up, that’s a big key. As every short track, you have to get the car rotated and you have to get the power down. It’s very difficult to do there, no doubt.
With the struggles of 2022, was it reinvigorating to get back on track in 2023 with three wins and also adding the non-points Clash win, as well?
“That’s what we set out to do when the year started and it’s nice when a plan comes together. We had a great regular season and got back to victory lane a few times, and we were really consistent during the regular season and led a lot of laps. We just got to what we are used to doing – running up front and leading laps and putting ourselves in that conversation each weekend and have a shot to win a bunch of races. We let some get away and finished the deal on some, and the playoffs didn’t go as well as we had hoped. Hopefully this year we can come out and clean some things up and step up a notch farther.”
The Clash at the Coliseum is now in its third year. How has the event evolved?
“It’s been a fun event over the past few years – that event, with it kicking off the season and going somewhere new and doing something different. We don’t need to do it at Daytona, and I think taking the Clash to a new area and a different part of the country was a good thing. I think moving it around and keep doing it somewhere different would be cool, much like they’ve done with the race in L.A. Now that they’ve unlocked that way of doing things, to put a track into a stadium, now they know they can build a track anywhere and pretty quickly. Gives you options for the future, for sure.”
Are you excited for the Clash since you are the defending race-winner, and do you like some of the changes NASCAR made to the format?
“I am looking forward to defending the Clash victory and excited to get out there and see if we can do it again. I like the new format with not having to qualify and going off practice times because, last year, we were really fast in practice – I think fastest overall. And then in qualifying, we had to go out after one of those long commercial breaks and the track cooled off and we qualified bad and had to start in a bad spot for our heat race. But, overall, what we learned last year should really be helpful and hopefully we can find a little bit more from there and go back it up this year with our Bass Pro Shops Camry XSE.”
Cheerios™, Old El Paso™, Totino’s™ Pizza Rolls and Box Tops for Education™ will cover Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s Camaro for several key selling periods during the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Season.
LOS ANGELES (January 31, 2024) — Ricky Stenhouse Jr., reigning 2023 DAYTONA 500 CHAMPION, is gearing up for an action-packed NASCAR Cup Series season. Kroger Racing (consumer packaged goods) partners are also revving up for a dynamic presence both on and off the track, online and in-store during racing-inspired division events aimed at reaching millions of dedicated fans. Today, several brands from General Mills announced their partnership with one of the most recognizable programs in the sport.
“We are thrilled for our brands to partner with Kroger Racing on covering the esteemed Ricky Stenhouse Jr. during this year’s NASCAR Cup Series Season,” said Josh Yates, Business Unit Director, Cheerios. “This is sure to be another action-packed season, and our General Mills brands will be cheering on Ricky and team!”
First up, to celebrate the role that Cheerios can play in supporting Americans who want to live a heart-healthy lifestyle, Cheerios has announced the return of special-edition Happy Heart Shapes as they co-sponsor the No. 47 Camaro during The Clash at The LA Coliseum on February 4th live on FOX.
The buzz right now is that Happy Heart Shapes are back at retailers nationwide, and this year Cheerios is launching special-edition boxes featuring names of those who inspire you to make heart-healthy choices. Consumers can also order personalized yellow boxes online featuring any name (within 18 characters) at Cheerios.com*. Stenhouse Jr. is helping deliver the brand’s heartfelt message to take care of your heart for the ones you love the most this February during American Heart Month.
Then midseason during back-to-school timing, General Mills Box Tops for Education is the central focus in helping teachers, students and schools get the supplies they need to succeed. Brand loyal NASCAR fans can make a difference by using the Box Tops app to scan your store receipts including Box Tops participating products. Your eligible and enrolled school will earn cash with every Box Tops product you buy when you scan your receipt within 14 days of purchase.
Look for the No. 47 brought to you by Box Tops for Education on track at Richmond Raceway on Sunday August 11th on USA Network at 6 PM ET as we promote and champion the program with General Mills.
Next up, whether you are getting ready for a big game or a big race, the possibilities are endless with Old El Paso™ that will co-sponsor the No. 47 Camaro at Watkins Glen International on Sunday, September 15 at 3 PM ET on USA Network. We’ll be sharing some of our crowd-favorite recipes before the green flag.
Then Totino’s™ Pizza Rolls co-sponsors Stenhouse Jr.’s Camaro will satisfy your race day hunger during the Bank of America Roval 400 on Sunday, October 13th at 2 PM ET, which is a cutoff race in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs airing on NBC. So, get ready for a season with a lot of heart as Stenhouse Jr. prepares for The Clash followed by defending his turf at Daytona International Speedway with General Mills cheering the team on all season long.
“We’re looking forward to getting on track in Los Angeles with Honey Nut Cheerios,” said Stenhouse Jr, who also has Food4Less and Ralphs on board with City of Hope. “Then we can’t wait to get back to Daytona. My team is confident, and we’ve learned some things to make us better this season.”
Tune in to The Clash at the LA Coliseum on Sunday February 4th at 8 PM ET live on FOX, MRN and SIRIUSXM NASCAR Radio.
About General Mills
General Mills makes food the world loves. The company is guided by its Accelerate strategy to drive shareholder value by boldly building its brands, relentlessly innovating, unleashing its scale and standing for good. Its portfolio of beloved brands includes household names such as Cheerios, Nature Valley, Blue Buffalo, Häagen-Dazs, Old El Paso, Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Totino’s, Annie’s, Wanchai Ferry, Yoki and more. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, General Mills generated fiscal 2023 net sales of U.S. $20.1 billion. In addition, the company’s share of non-consolidated joint venture net sales totaled U.S. $1.0 billion.
*Personalized box via Cheerios.com is $20, add an acrylic case for +20, free shipping. Available while supplies last.
CONCORD, N.C. (Jan. 31, 2024) – FARO®, the global leader in 3D measurement, imaging and realization solutions has joined eight-time NASCAR champions RFK Racing as part of the RFK TeK Alliance to create the FARO technology center. The Center will feature FARO’s best in class 3D metrology hardware and software to support all of RFK’s competitive efforts.
With the introduction of the NASCAR Next Gen car, metrology has resulted in a more advanced, competitive environment across the NASCAR industry. As a result, each part demands to be inspected at a higher level of accuracy and precision, which will drive the most detailed analysis of parts to date. This understanding of parts will lead to improved performance, and strict adherence to NASCAR regulations, an emphasis now more than ever. Beyond that, the enhancement of part measurements feeds other critical processes within RFK, such as multi-body vehicle simulation, PLM history, and optimization of completed vehicle assemblies per race track.
“In this day and age of NASCAR, the finest level of details in every facet makes the difference in our team’s ability to compete for and win races and championships,” said Kevin Kidd, Director of Software and Analytics for RFK Racing. “The creation of the FARO technology center will provide our team access to world-class tools and software to build the top level of cars in the sport, and drive efficiencies within the organization. Our partnership with FARO is a perfect fit to allow our company to excel as the premier ‘Tech’ team in the sport.”
RFK will use various equipment within the FARO technology center, including the FARO Quantum S Max FaroArm®, Vantage E6 Max Laser Tracker, CAM2® Software, and RevEng™ Software.
The Quantum S Max FaroArm, along with its lineup of Laser Line Probes (LLPs), will enable RFK to perform precision inspections and generate 3D scans for individual parts and fully-assembled vehicle bodies. The Vantage E6 Max Laser Tracker will be used for overall quality control of larger parts, including chassis, large body panels and floor components, and will be the primary tool used in vehicle setup prior to events. Pairing the two hardware’s capabilities also enables the team to use multiple Quantum Max FaroArms for quality inspections in record time when necessary.
CAM2 Software serves as the backbone for these products. RFK will now reap the benefit of all measurement and inspection data residing in one software stack. The ease of use within this software will allow RFK’s quality inspection engineers to gain more insight at a more rapid pace than ever before. RevEng Software’s ability to transition 3D scans into CAD models in record time will enable RFK to quickly reverse engineer needed parts.
RFK’s next step in the process with FARO includes a variety of exciting products that are in the pipeline, including capabilities the team currently doesn’t utilize, all of which will affect and determine RFK’s success in the future.
“We are thrilled to partner with RFK in their quest for racing excellence,” commented Jeff Sexton, Senior Vice President of Global Sales for FARO. “Our innovation and metrology mastery aligns well with the RFK vision. We look forward to creating a symbiotic alliance where every measurement counts, and every fraction of a second matters on the track. We will work together to achieve success on and off the track.”
About FARO For 40 years, FARO has provided industry-leading technology solutions that enable customers to measure their world, and then use that data to make smarter decisions faster. FARO continues to be a pioneer in bridging the digital and physical worlds through data-driven reliable accuracy, precision, and immediacy. For more information, visit www.faro.com.
About RFK Racing RFK Racing, entering its 37th season in 2024, features an ownership lineup pairing one of the sport’s most iconic names, Jack Roush, along with NASCAR Champion, Brad Keselowski, and Fenway Sports Group owner John Henry. Roush initially founded the team in 1988 and it has since become one of the most successful racing operations in the world, propelling him to be the first NASCAR owner to amass three hundred wins and capturing eight championships, including back-to-back NASCAR Cup titles in 2003 and 2004. Keselowski, a former owner in the NASCAR Truck Series, is the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series Champion. In 2007, Roush partnered with Henry, who also owns Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox, English Premier League’s Liverpool F.C., and the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins, to form Roush Fenway Racing. Off the track, RFK is a leader and proven winner in NASCAR marketing solutions, having produced multiple award-winning social media, digital content and experiential marketing campaigns. Visit rfkracing.com, and follow the team on all social platforms @rfkracing.
This Week in Motorsports: January 29 – February 4, 2024
· NCS: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum – February 4
PLANO, Texas (January 31, 2024) – NASCAR kicks off its new season with its annual exhibition race, the Clash, which is being held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the third consecutive year.
NASCAR National Series – NCS
Debut of the new Toyota Camry XSE… The Clash will mark the official debut of the Toyota Camry XSE NASCAR Cup Series car, while the race will be paced by the new production Toyota Camry XSE. For the first time since 2011, there will be eight Toyota Camrys in the NASCAR Cup Series this season.
Truex looks for a repeat… Martin Truex Jr. began last season in strong fashion as he claimed his first Clash at the Coliseum win – leading the final 25 laps on his way to the season-opening victory. Truex, last season’s regular season champion, has qualified for the main event in both seasons – finishing 15th in 2022.
Wallace aiming for redemption… Bubba Wallace looked likely headed for a strong finish in last year’s running of the Clash, leading 40 laps at the midpoint of the race before getting caught up in an on-track incident. Wallace looks for a strong finish to kick off his year this weekend.
Reddick returns to site of first Toyota run… Tyler Reddick begins his sophomore season with Team Toyota this weekend as he starts his second year at 23XI Racing. Reddick has been impressive in both Clash races at the Coliseum – he led 51 laps in 2022 before experiencing a mechanical issue and followed that up with a sixth place finish last season.
LEGACY MOTOR CLUB’s Toyota debut… LEGACY MOTOR CLUB will make its official Toyota debut this weekend with Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek behind the wheel of Toyota Camry XSE entries. Jones has made the main event both seasons, including a top-five finish in 2022. He also scored a Clash victory in 2020 when the event was held at the Daytona International Speedway.
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 65 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.
Toyota directly employs more than 63,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 45 million cars and trucks at our 13 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 14th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, Toyota currently offers 26 electrified options.
In 75 years of NASCAR competition, a total of 204 competitors have achieved at least one victory in the sport’s premier series: the Cup Series.
The commencement of the list of Cup Series winners dates back to June 19, 1949, when Jim Roper, a native of Halstead, Kansas, won NASCAR’s first-ever event at Charlotte Speedway after initial winner Glenn Dunaway was disqualified due to illegal springs being detected in his race-winning car during the post-race inspection process.
The most recent occurrence of a first-time Cup Series winner was during NASCAR’s inaugural event on the Streets of Chicago this past July when Shane van Gisbergen, a three-time Supercars champion from Auckland, New Zealand, won in his series debut while driving Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91 entry. In winning at Chicago, van Gisbergen became the seventh different competitor to win in a Cup Series debut, a feat that includes Roper, Jack White, Harold Kite, Leon Sales, Marvin Burke and Johnny Rutherford.
Over the last decade (2014-23), 22 competitors won for the first time in the Cup Series, minus the 2015 season that featured no first-time winners. The list of 22 first-time winners between the 2014-23 seasons is more than the list between the 1974-83 seasons (14), the 1984-93 seasons (15) and the 2004-13 seasons (17), but the same as between the 1994-2003 seasons combined. Currently, the season that holds the all-time record of occurrences of first-time Cup winners is 1950, which featured 12 first-timers, including the season’s eventual champion Bill Rexford.
During the last decade (2014-23), a Cup Series season featured on average two first-time winners, minus the 2017 and 2021 seasons that featured three. Another season within the last decade that did not feature two first-time winners is 2022. Instead, it was a season that featured five first-timers (Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, Tyler Reddick and Daniel Suarez) stapling their names among NASCAR’s elite, from the past to the present and future, as winners in NASCAR’s premier series. The previous season with the most first-time winners was back in 2011, which also featured five first-time winners (Marcos Ambrose, Trevor Bayne, Paul Menard, David Ragan and Regan Smith).
To date, the 2011 and 2022 seasons along with the 2001 and 2002 seasons hold the record with the most first-time winners in the modern era of NASCAR at five each. Between 2001 and 2002, the following names that include Johnny Benson Jr., Kurt Busch, Ricky Craven, Robby Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman, Elliott Sadler and Michael Waltrip each scored their first Cup career victory.
Additional names that have won in the Cup Series for the first time from 2003 to 2023 include AJ Allmendinger, Aric Almirola, Christopher Bell, Greg Biffle, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Chris Buescher, William Byron, Cole Custer, Austin Dillon, Carl Edwards, Chase Elliott, Justin Haley, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Erik Jones, Kasey Kahne, Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski, Michael McDowell, Casey Mears, Juan Pablo Montoya, David Reutimann, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Martin Truex Jr., Brian Vickers and Bubba Wallace.
From the list of 49 first-time winners between 2001 to 2023, 37 would proceed to win multiple Cup events. In addition, 10 would become Cup Series champions and 12 would become Daytona 500 champions.
With the 2024 season set to present a new season of Cup Series competition, beginning this upcoming weekend for the third annual running of the Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, it also presents an array of opportunities for a bevy of competitors, new and familiar, to elevate their names and achieve the title of race winner in NASCAR’s premier series.
The competitor who leads the group of potential first-time Cup Series winners entering the 2024 season is Ty Gibbs. The 21-year-old Gibbs, who is the grandson of NASCAR championship-winning team owner and Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs from Charlotte, North Carolina, is coming off his first full-time campaign in the Cup Series, where he achieved the 2023 Rookie-of-the-Year title on the strength of four top-five results, 10 top-10 results, 112 laps led, an average-finishing result of 18.4 and an 18th-place finish in the final standings.
A former champion of both the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the ARCA Menards Series divisions, Gibbs’ highest finish in the Cup Series is fourth place, which occurred at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course last October. He also displayed a strong performance at Bristol Motor Speedway last September, where he led 102 laps before finishing fifth. Having completed his first full-time Cup season, new goals await for Gibbs and the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry XSE team in the form of achieving a first Cup victory, making the Playoffs and continuing to make the presence of running towards the front known frequently.
Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.
Another name that stands out as a potential first-time winner is Josh Berry. The 33-year-old Berry from Hendersonville, Tennessee, graduates to the Cup Series to drive the No. 4 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing as he replaces the 2014 Cup champion Kevin Harvick, who retired at the 2023 season’s conclusion. Berry, a former champion of the CARS Late Model Stock Tour is the all-time wins leader in the series and spent the bulk of his career competing in late models and earning his way toward the top level of stock car competition.
He spent the previous three seasons as an Xfinity Series competitor for JR Motorsports, where he made the Playoffs during the last two seasons, made the Championship 4 round in 2022, and notched five series victories. He has also made 10 career starts in the Cup Series, with his first two occurring with Spire Motorsports in 2021.
This past season, he made 10 Cup starts as an interim competitor between Hendrick Motorsports and Legacy Motor Club, where he filled in for top names that included Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman and Noah Gragson. During the short stint, he piloted Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 48 Chevrolet to a non-points victory in the NASCAR All-Star Race Open at North Wilkesboro Speedway that allowed him to compete in his first All-Star Race in May. He also piloted the No. 9 Chevrolet to a career-best runner-up finish behind teammate Kyle Larson at Richmond Raceway in April. With a new opportunity in the form of a new seat in a new team earned for him in 2024, the next goal for Berry is to earn a first Cup career victory.
Next is Harrison Burton, who returns to pilot the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse for a third consecutive Cup season. A 23-year-old, second-generation racer from Huntersville, North Carolina, Burton, who is also the 2017 ARCA Menards Series East champion and a four-time Xfinity Series race winner, is coming off two consecutive seasons in the Cup Series. During those two seasons, he has tallied only a total of four top-10 results, 60 laps led, average-finishing results outside the top-20 mark and final points results below the top-25 mark. His best on-track result was a third-place finish at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in July 2022.
Amid the on-track difficulties, Burton remains optimistic about turning the tide and regaining his competitiveness from his early racing career that would enable him to join his father Jeff, and Uncle Ward, as Cup Series winners. Should Burton accomplish his goal of winning in 2024, he would also strike gold in recording the elusive 100th Cup career win for Wood Brothers Racing, a goal that has eluded the organization since 2017.
After relinquishing his full-time seat at Front Row Motorsports for select events but managing to compete the entire 36-race schedule with select starts with Rick Ware Racing last season, Todd Gilliland reclaims his seat in FRM’s No. 38 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for the entire 2024 season. Like Burton, the 23-year-old, second-generation Gilliland from Sherrills Ford, North Carolina, is also a two-time ARCA Menards Series West champion and a three-time Craftsman Truck Series race winner. is coming off two full-time Cup seasons, where he has only achieved a single top-five result, six top-10 results, 11 laps led, average-finishing results outside the top-20 mark and two consecutive 28th-place finishes in the final standings, with his best result being a fourth-place finish at Indianapolis in July 2022.
Compared to his rookie season in 2022, Gilliland steadily improved his stats to notch 11 top-15 results this past season, which is seven more than the 2022 season, and he tallied a total of 554 points at this season’s conclusion, which is 23 points extra than the previous season. With Front Row Motorsports slowly becoming competitive on a weekly basis and coming off a dominant victory at Indianapolis with teammate Michael McDowell that enabled them to contend in the first round of the 2023 Cup Playoffs, the next step for Gilliland remains to gain more consistency that would enable him to contend for victories with FRM and become the first member of the Gilliland racing family to win in the Cup Series.
Photo by Chad Wells for SpeedwayMedia.com.
Coming off his strongest Cup Series season to date, Corey LaJoie enters the 2024 season with an aim to continue to elevate both himself and Spire Motorsports from the midfield to the front on a consistent basis that would enable both to motor their way to Victory Lane. The 32-year-old, third-generation LaJoie from Kannapolis, North Carolina, is coming off his fifth full-time season in NASCAR’s premier series, second piloting the No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Spire Motorsports, where he recorded career-high stats in top fives (two), top 10s (three) and laps led (66) as he also notched a career-best average-finishing result of 20.8 on the strength of 18 top-20 results and a career-best 25th place in the final standings. Throughout the season, he scored a career-best fourth-place finish twice, the first at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March and the second at Talladega Superspeedway in October, and made a single start in Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 9 entry in place of the suspended Chase Elliott at World Wide Technology Raceway in June, where he finished 21st.
LaJoie’s closet opportunity to win a first Cup event still dates back to July 2022 at Atlanta, where he led 19 laps and was leading during a three-lap shootout until he was overtaken by Elliott during the final lap and wrecked on the final lap while trying to overtake Elliott through the first turn as he plummeted to 21st place in the final running order. Compared to the 2022 season, where he ended up with eight DNFs throughout the 36-race schedule, LaJoie was the only competitor to sustain no DNFs throughout the 2023 campaign, which marks a drastic level of improvement amid a rocky start to his career as the driver strives to march closer to the front and contend for the first Cup victory regularly beyond superspeedway venues.
Coming off a difficult first-time campaign with Stewart-Haas Racing, Ryan Preece aims to turn the tide amid the on-track struggles directed to SHR and Preece’s No. 41 Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry entering the 2024 Cup season. The 33-year-old Preece from Berlin, Connecticut, who is the 2013 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion and a race winner across the Truck and Xfinity Series divisions, made his return to full-time Cup competition after previously competing in the series from 2019 to 2021 with JTG-Daugherty Racing.
Amid five DNFs throughout the 2023 season, including a harrowing barrel-roll accident at Daytona in August while contending for a Playoff berth, Preece managed to pilot SHR’s No. 41 entry to 12 top-15 results and 19 top-20 results throughout the 36-race campaign before settling in 23rd place in the final standings. With Richmond Raceway in late July providing his best run of the season in fifth place, he notched his first pole at Martinsville Speedway in April in an event where he led the first 135 laps before he was penalized early for speeding on pit road and rallying up to 15th place. He also displayed a strong performance during last year’s Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum, where he led a race-high 43 laps before fading to seventh place. After concluding the 2023 season with a steady gain in the form of five top-15 results in the final eight-scheduled events, the next step for Preece involves steadily gaining consistency within the top-10 mark that would enable him to contend and add a Cup Series victory next to his accomplished modified tour resume.
Within this year’s list of potential first-time Cup Series winners, the series will also feature two future stars who have been elevated from Truck Series competition to full-time Cup Series rookies in 2024.
The first is Zane Smith, the 2022 Truck Series champion who won nine series races, including twice at Daytona, in four seasons (92 starts) and made 12 career starts in the Xfinity Series. The 24-year-old Smith from Huntington Beach, California, will pilot the No. 71 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Spire Motorsports in collaboration with Trackhouse Racing, a team which Smith is under contract with on a multi-year basis. While Smith enters the Cup Series as a first-time full-time competitor, he does so with limited Cup starts noted on his resume as he made his series’ debut at World Wide Technology Raceway as an interim competitor for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing in 2022 before making eight starts between Front Row Motorsports and Rick Ware Racing this past season. His best result in the Cup circuit is a 10th-place run at Charlotte Motor Speedway during the Coca-Cola 600 in May followed by a 13th-place finish during the 65th running of the Daytona 500 in February. Having made his name known within the top ranks of NASCAR based on his Truck Series performance and championship, the next step for Smith will involve elevating himself amongst NASCAR’s elite as he contends for both his first series victory and the Rookie-of-the-Year title.
Photo by Kirk Schroll for SpeedwayMedia.com.
Another Cup Series rookie contender who has been elevated from the Truck Series is Carson Hocevar, a 21-year-old native from Portage, Michigan, who comes with three full-time seasons of Truck competition and a total of five Xfinity starts within his resume. A former winner of the Winchester 400, Hocevar is coming off a career year to date, where he notched his first four career victories in the Truck Series and transferred to the Championship 4 round before ending up in third place in the final standings while competing for Niece Motorsports. Amid his full-time Truck campaign, Hocevar made his first nine career starts in NASCAR’s premier series in 2023, with his first occurring at World Wide Technology Raceway in June. He then competed in eight of the final 10 races for Legacy Motor Club, where he achieved a season-best 11th-place result at Bristol in September. Driving the No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Spire Motorsports for the 2024 season, Hocevar aims to implement the select Cup starts gained throughout the 2023 season along with his early Truck Series success to gain consistency in NASCAR’s premier series that would enable him to contend for both a first Cup victory and this year’s Rookie-of-the-Year title.
This year’s growing list of potential first-time winners also features a host of names who re-enter the series and aim for redemption by being consistently competitive against NASCAR’s elite. One of the names from this category is Noah Gragson, a competitor who was deemed a prominent star at the start of the 2023 season before his career was placed on a hiatus amid an off-track action that nearly derailed his path to becoming a future Cup Series winner and champion. After graduating to the Cup level with a full-time ride at Legacy Motor Club this past season, the 25-year-old Gragson from Las Vegas, Nevada, competed in 21 events, where he recorded an average-finishing result of 28.2 and a season-best 12th-place finish at Atlanta in March, before being suspended indefinitely from both Legacy Motor Club and NASCAR for violating the sport’s member conduct policy and liking an offensive meme on social media in early August.
A month later, Gragson was reinstated by NASCAR after completing the sport’s diversity and inclusion program. Another three months later, the opportunity for him to return to the Cup level arrived when he was selected as the driver of the No. 10 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing on a multiyear basis, beginning in 2024, as he replaced veteran Aric Almirola, who scaled back to competing on a part-time basis in the Xfinity Series.
Before his suspension, Gragson had already developed a name for himself within the NASCAR ranks, having achieved victories across both the ARCA Menards Series East and West divisions along with the Truck and Xfinity circuits. His best results in championship standings are a pair of runner-up finishes, the first occurring during the 2018 Truck season and the second occurring during the 2022 Xfinity season. The Las Vegas native also campaigned in half of the Cup events throughout the 2022 season between Beard Motorsports, Kaulig Racing and Hendrick Motorsports, where he notched a strong fifth-place run at Daytona while driving the No. 62 Beard entry. With his past success, Gragson strives to make the most of a second opportunity and transform a hard-working, off-season period into success with a championship-winning organization.
Another competitor who returns to full-time Cup Series competition for a second opportunity amid a five-year absence is Daniel Hemric. The 33-year-old Hemric from Kannapolis, North Carolina, who also won the 2010 Legends Million, made his first two Cup career starts in 2018 with Richard Childress Racing before achieving a full-time Cup ride in RCR’s No. 8 entry in 2019. Despite claiming the rookie title, Hemric, who only notched one pole, two top-10 results with an average-finish result of 22.5, was replaced by Tyler Reddick before the 2020 season.
Since the 2020 season, the North Carolina native scaled back down to the Xfinity Series, a series in which he made two Championship 4 appearances in 2017 and 2018, where he started as a part-time competitor for JR Motorsports before returning as a full-time competitor in 2021 with Joe Gibbs Racing. During his series’ return, Hemric achieved a breakthrough moment by achieving both his first Xfinity victory and championship during the 2021 finale at Phoenix. He also recorded a pole, 31 top-five results, 65 top-10 results and nearly 800 laps led while also achieving three Playoff appearances.
With Hemric coming off two full-time Xfinity seasons with Kaulig Racing, where he made the Playoffs and ended up in the top 10 in the final standings during both seasons, an opportunity to return to Cup competition for this season was announced last August as he replaces the departing Justin Haley in Kaulig’s No. 31 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry. With his new Cup ride, the next step for Hemric involves striving to both keep his name in the series and continue to have the final word against his doubters for years to come.
Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images.
Like Hemric, John Hunter Nemechek experienced a similar path in having a first full-time Cup season marred with on-track challenges that resulted in him scaling back down in NASCAR’s divisional ranks and working his way back up to the top to obtain another opportunity to compete against NASCAR’s elite.
A 26-year-old, second-generation racer from Mooresville, North Carolina, Nemechek’s inaugural presence in the Cup Series occurred in the final three events of the 2019 season, where he replaced Matt Tifft to drive for Front Row Motorsports before becoming a full-time FRM competitor in 2020.
After only obtaining three top-10 results and finishing 27th in the final standings with an average-finishing result of 22.4, Nemechek made the big decision to scale back down to the Truck Series and join forces with Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2021 with a goal to win races and regain his competitiveness. Having previously achieved six Truck Series victories and two Playoff appearances in 2016 and 2017, Nemechek quickly regained his competitive form as he notched six victories between 2021 and 2022 with KBM, won the 2021 Truck Series Regular Season championship, clinched a Playoff berth during both seasons and the Championship 4 round in 2021, where he ended up in third place in the final standings.
This past season, Nemechek, who competed for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series, nabbed seven victories and made it to the Championship 4 round, where he contended for the series’ title until a final lap incident during an overtime shootout resulted with the North Carolina native settling in fourth place in the final standings. Nonetheless, this past season marked Nemechek’s strongest in the Xfinity circuit as he ended up with an average-finishing result of 9.5 and finished in the top 10 in all but nine of the 33-race schedule. Now set to pilot the No. 42 Toyota Camry XSE for Legacy Motor Club for the 2024 Cup season amid a rejuvenated, three-year climb back to the top, Nemechek next strives to both etch a new legacy towards his racing family and a new chapter to his racing career in the form of winning in the Cup Series.
Lastly, this year’s list of potential first-time Cup winners features a host of names who will campaign in NASCAR’s premier series on a part-time basis, but remain on the radar for any element of potential on-track surprises. The first name within this category is Anthony Alfredo, who is currently scheduled to make two Cup starts in the No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry for Beard Motorsports, which includes this year’s 66th running of the Daytona 500. The 24-year-old Alfredo from Ridgefield, Connecticut, makes a limited return to the Cup circuit after campaigning in two events with Live Fast Motorsports this past season.
Previously, he competed on a full-time Cup basis with Front Row Motorsports in 2021, where he recorded a single top-10 result, a total of five top-20 results and a 30th-place result in the final standings. To date, he has also made a total of 85 starts in the Xfinity Series and 13 in the Truck Series. Despite having his overall average-finishing result in the Cup circuit hovering outside of the top-25 mark, the Connecticut native’s previous successes of strong runs on superspeedway venues across NASCAR’s top three national touring series along with Beard Motorsports’ grit in vying for spots on superspeedway venues, including the Daytona 500, gives Alfredo a strong sense of optimism to place himself in a potential spot of vying for a victory in the Great American Race. Aside from his part-time Cup campaign, Alfredo is set to compete on a full-time basis in this year’s Xfinity season with Our Motorsports.
After making select premier series starts in three of the previous four seasons, Kaz Grala will campaign in an expanded Cup slate of 26 races, 25 in the No. 15 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Rick Ware Racing and one in the No. 36 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang Dark Horse throughout Daytona Speedweeks as he attempts to qualify for this year’s 66th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.
The 25-year-old Grala from Boston, Massachusetts, notches Cup Series rides for the majority of the 2024 season after competing in this past season’s Xfinity Series circuit with Sam Hunt Racing, where he ended up in 17th place in the final driver’s standings on the strength of nine top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 19.1. In total, Grala has 77 Xfinity career starts and 51 Truck Series starts within his racing resume, with a single victory occurring during the Truck opener at Daytona in 2017.
Meanwhile, the Boston native has only made seven Cup career starts, with his first occurring during the series’ inaugural event at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course in 2020, where he achieved an impressive seventh-place result as a fill-in competitor for Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet team after Dillon was absent following a positive COVID-19 test. His other Cup starts include three with Kaulig Racing in 2021 and three with The Money Team Racing in 2022, where he competed in the Daytona 500 during both seasons and notched a career-best sixth-place finish at Talladega in 2021.
Amid his limited Cup starts, the newly formed alliance for Rick Ware Racing with Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, a championship-winning organization that achieved three victories and placed both owner Brad Keselowski and veteran Chris Buescher into the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs, gives both the team and driver a sense of optimism and excitement approaching the new season, with Grala striving to claw his way to the top amongst NASCAR’s elite. Grala’s 2024 campaign with Rick Ware Racing commences with this weekend’s Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum followed by Atlanta Motor Speedway in late February. The rest of his schedule with RWR remains to be determined.
Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.
More than two months after scoring a full-time seat in Kaulig Racing’s No. 11 entry for this year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series season, Josh Williams has scored again by notching a part-time Cup Series ride in Kaulig’s No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry, beginning this upcoming weekend at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the Busch Light Clash. The 30-year-old Williams from Port Charlotte, Florida, leaps into the spotlight amongst NASCAR’s elite with only three previous Cup starts listed in his extensive racing resume that includes 186 career starts in the Xfinity circuit, two in the Truck Series and 102 in the ARCA Menards Series.
Within his three Cup career starts, all occurring with Live Fast Motorsports in 2022, the Floridian managed to finish on average 10 spots better than where he started, with his best results being a pair of 25th-place runs at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. Having full confidence in the team’s model and management amid the intensity to boost his performance, Williams strives to capitalize on the biggest opportunity of his racing career by being both consistent and competitive on the track that would enable him to contend for an Xfinity Series championship and potentially become a future Cup Series star. Following The Clash, Williams will make his first points-paying start of the season at Atlanta Motor Speedway in late February while the rest of his schedule remains to be determined. He will have race-winning crew chief Travis Mack as his crew chief and share the No. 16 ride with veteran AJ Allmendinger while the rest of the entry’s driver lineup also remains to be determined.
The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season is set to commence this Sunday, February 4, with the third annual running of the Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum that will air at 8 p.m. ET on FOX. Afterward, the 66th running of the Daytona 500 will follow suit on February 18, which will serve as the first points-paying event on the schedule and provide one of 36 opportunities for any competitors listed above to achieve a first-time win in NASCAR’s premier series. The 2024 Daytona 500’s broadcast time is set to air at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
