The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series was the 76th season for NASCAR professional stock car racing in the United States and the 53rd season for the modern-era Cup Series. The pre-season started with the Busch Light Clash on February 3 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Clash would then be followed by the Bluegreen Vacations Duel qualifying races on February 15. The season would then officially kick off with the 66th running of the Daytona 500 (the first points race of the season) on February 19, both at Daytona International Speedway. The season ended with the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway on November 10.
This was the first season without 2014 champion Kevin Harvick since 2000, as he retired after the 2023 season and joined the NASCAR on Fox broadcast booth in 2024, and the first season since 2011 without Aric Almirola, who stepped away from racing full-time after the 2023 season. In addition, this was the last season for NASCAR's 2015 TV rights deal. This was the last season for Tony Stewart's ownership of Stewart-Haas Racing, as the team announced that they would be shutting down operations at season's end. Gene Haas will fully own the team, with the team being operated by current team president Joe Custer. The team will have one charter and run under the name Haas Factory Team in 2025. This was also the final season for 2017 champion Martin Truex Jr., as he announced his retirement from full-time racing on June 14. In addition, this was the final season for GEICO as a premier partner of the Cup Series. This was also the first winless season of the 2015 and 2019 champion Kyle Busch in his full-time career.
Ryan Blaney of Team Penske entered the season as the defending 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion. Following the 2024 Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing clinched the regular season championship. At season's end, Joey Logano won his third championship.
Teams and drivers Chartered teams Manufacturer Team Driver Crew chief Chevrolet Hendrick Motorsports 5 Kyle Larson Cliff Daniels Justin Allgaier Justin Allgaier ran the Coca-Cola 600 in place of Kyle Larson, who ran the Indianapolis 500 the same day. Larson was originally supposed to get in the car, but the race was called before he officially took over. 9 Chase Elliott Alan Gustafson 24 William Byron Rudy Fugle 48 Alex Bowman Blake Harris JTG Daugherty Racing 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Mike Kelley Kaulig Racing 16 A. J. Allmendinger Travis Mack Andrew Dickeson Darian Grubb Josh Williams Derek Kraus Shane van Gisbergen Ty Dillon 31 Daniel Hemric Trent Owens Richard Childress Racing 3 Austin Dillon Keith Rodden Justin Alexander Joel Keller 8 Kyle Busch Randall Burnett Spire Motorsports 7 Corey LaJoie Ryan Sparks Justin Haley 71 Zane Smith (R) Stephen Doran 77 Carson Hocevar (R) Luke Lambert Trackhouse Racing 1 Ross Chastain Phil Surgen Darian Grubb 99 Daniel Suárez Matt Swiderski Ford Front Row Motorsports 34 Michael McDowell Travis Peterson 38 Todd Gilliland Ryan Bergenty RFK Racing 6 Brad Keselowski Matt McCall 17 Chris Buescher Scott Graves Rick Ware Racing 15 Riley Herbst Billy Plourde Kaz Grala (R) Cody Ware 51 Justin Haley Chris Lawson Corey LaJoie Stewart–Haas Racing 4 Josh Berry (R) Rodney Childers 10 Noah Gragson Drew Blickensderfer 14 Chase Briscoe Richard Boswell 41 Ryan Preece Chad Johnston Team Penske 2 Austin Cindric Brian Wilson 12 Ryan Blaney Jonathan Hassler Tony Palmer 22 Joey Logano Paul Wolfe Wood Brothers Racing 21 Harrison Burton Jeremy Bullins Grant Hutchens Toyota 23XI Racing 23 Bubba Wallace Bootie Barker Eric Phillips 45 Tyler Reddick Billy Scott Joe Gibbs Racing 11 Denny Hamlin Chris Gabehart 19 Martin Truex Jr. James Small 20 Christopher Bell Adam Stevens Chris Sherwood Christopher Bell has car chief Chris Sherwood listed as his crew chief for a few weeks after Adam Stevens suffered a double knee injury during his vacation in late-July 2024. 54 Ty Gibbs Chris Gayle Legacy Motor Club 42 John Hunter Nemechek Ben Beshore Brian Campe 43 Erik Jones Dave Elenz Joey Cohen Ben Beshore Corey Heim
Non-chartered teams Limited schedule Manufacturer Team Driver Crew chief Races Chevrolet Beard Motorsports 62 Anthony Alfredo Darren Shaw Parker Retzlaff Kaulig Racing 13 A. J. Allmendinger Eddie Pardue Andrew Dickeson Travis Mack Shane van Gisbergen Live Fast Motorsports 78 B. J. McLeod David Ingram NY Racing Team 44 J. J. Yeley Jay Guy Bryan Berry Joey Gase Richard Childress Racing 33 Austin HillKeith Rodden Will Brown Ty Dillon Team AmeriVet 50 Ty Dillon Darren Shaw Mike Hillman Jr. Jeb Burton Ford Front Row Motorsports 36 Kaz Grala (R) Seth Barbour MBM Motorsports 66 Timmy Hill Carl Long David Starr B. J. McLeod Chad Finchum Josh Bilicki Parker Retzlaff RFK Racing 60 David Ragan Derrick Finley Cameron Waters Joey Hand Toyota 23XI Racing 50 Kamui Kobayashi Julian Pena Dave Rogers Corey Heim Juan Pablo Montoya Legacy Motor Club 84 Jimmie Johnson Jason Burdett Gene Wachtel Notes
Notable changes Teams Spire Motorsports purchased Live Fast Motorsports' charter for approximately 40 million. Spire would field a third full-time team in partnership with Trackhouse Racing, who signed 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Zane Smith. LFM would continue to operate as a part-time open team in 2024. Front Row Motorsports switched its technical alliance from RFK Racing to Team Penske. In 2023, it was announced that The Money Team Racing would run five to eight races in 2024. They reportedly planned to participate in the 2024 Daytona 500, but did not attempt the race. The team would undergo an ownership change, being renamed to Team AmeriVet, with the Coca-Cola 600 being the first race the team attempted after the changes.
Manufacturers Legacy Motor Club switched from Chevrolet to Toyota. Ford Performance switched to the 2024 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for the 2024 season, replacing the sixth generation Mustang. Toyota Racing Development switched to the XV80 body style for the Toyota Camry in 2024, replacing the XV70.
Rule changes Cup Series cars would run a new aero package at all road courses and tracks measuring one mile or shorter (except Bristol Motor Speedway and Dover Motor Speedway). The package would consist of a three-inch spoiler, a simplified diffuser and diffuser strakes, the 2023-spec short track/road course splitter stuffers, and no engine panel strakes. All road/street courses in 2024 would have stage-break cautions. Following Corey LaJoie's flip at Michigan, NASCAR mandated a Right Side Rear Window Air Deflector to be used the following week during Daytona.
Schedule The 2024 schedule was released on October 4, 2023 and consists of 31 oval races, 4 road course races, one street track race, and 4 non-championship races to be held on ovals.
Bolded races indicate an event generally known as a Crown Jewel race.
Oval track Road course Street course
No Race name Track Location DateTime (ET)TVRadioRegular Season Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, California February 38pmFS1MRN Bluegreen Vacations Duel Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida February 157pm 1 Daytona 500 February 194pmFox 2 Ambetter Health 400 Atlanta Motor Speedway Hampton, Georgia February 253pmPRN 3 Pennzoil 400 Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas, Nevada March 33:30pm 4 Shriners Children's 500 Phoenix Raceway Avondale, Arizona March 10MRN 5 Food City 500 Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol, Tennessee March 17PRN 6 EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix Circuit of the Americas Austin, Texas March 24 7 Toyota Owners 400 Richmond Raceway Richmond, Virginia March 317pmMRN 8 Cook Out 400 Martinsville Speedway Ridgeway, Virginia April 73pmFS1 9 Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 Texas Motor Speedway Fort Worth, Texas April 143:30pmPRN 10 GEICO 500 Talladega Superspeedway Lincoln, Alabama April 213pmFoxMRN 11 Würth 400 Dover Motor Speedway Dover, Delaware April 282pmFS1PRN 12 AdventHealth 400 Kansas Speedway Kansas City, Kansas May 53pmMRN 13 Goodyear 400 Darlington Raceway Darlington, South Carolina May 12 NASCAR All Star Open North Wilkesboro Speedway North Wilkesboro, North Carolina May 196pm NASCAR All-Star Race8:30pm 14 Coca-Cola 600 Charlotte Motor Speedway Concord, North Carolina May 266pmFoxPRN 15 Enjoy Illinois 300 World Wide Technology Raceway Madison, Illinois June 23:30pmFS1MRN 16 Toyota/Save Mart 350 Sonoma Raceway Sonoma, California June 9FoxPRN 17 Iowa Corn 350 Iowa Speedway Newton, Iowa June 167pmUSAMRN 18 USA Today 301 New Hampshire Motor Speedway Loudon, New Hampshire June 232:30pmPRN 19 Ally 400 Nashville Superspeedway Lebanon, Tennessee June 303:30pmNBC 20 Grant Park 165 Chicago Street Course Chicago, Illinois July 74:30pmMRN 21 The Great American Getaway 400 Pocono Raceway Long Pond, Pennsylvania July 142:30pmUSA 22 Brickyard 400 Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana July 21NBCIMS 23 Cook Out 400 Richmond Raceway Richmond, Virginia August 116:30pmUSAMRN 24 FireKeepers Casino 400 Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan August 18–1911am 25 Coke Zero Sugar 400 Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida August 247:30pmNBC 26 Cook Out Southern 500 Darlington Raceway Darlington, South Carolina September 16pmUSA NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 16 27 Quaker State 400 Atlanta Motor Speedway Hampton, GeorgiaSeptember 83pmUSAPRN 28 Go Bowling at The Glen Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen, New York September 15MRN 29 Bass Pro Shops Night Race Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol, Tennessee September 217:30pmPRN Round of 12 30 Hollywood Casino 400 Kansas Speedway Kansas City, Kansas September 293pmUSAMRN 31 YellaWood 500 Talladega Superspeedway Lincoln, Alabama October 62pmNBC 32 Bank of America Roval 400 Charlotte Motor Speedway (Roval) Concord, North Carolina October 13PRN Round of 8 33 South Point 400 Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas, Nevada October 20 2:30pmNBCPRN 34 Straight Talk Wireless 400 Homestead–Miami Speedway Homestead, Florida October 27MRN 35 Xfinity 500 Martinsville Speedway Ridgeway, Virginia November 32pm Championship 4 36 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race Phoenix Raceway Avondale, Arizona November 103pmNBCMRN
Confirmed schedule changes Auto Club Speedway was not featured on the schedule for the first time since 2021. Bristol Motor Speedway brought back the concete spring race would return, having taken place on dirt the prior three seasons. In the same press release Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced that the Cup Series would return to the oval layout in 2024, in time to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Brickyard 400. Iowa Speedway was added to the schedule following the removal of Auto Club. The Cup Series took a two-week hiatus between the Brickyard 400 and the Cook Out 400, as NBC covered the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Season summary Regular season Exhibition: Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum
The Busch Clash was moved from Sunday, February 4 to Saturday, February 3 in advance of the February 2024 California atmospheric rivers. This resulted in the cancellation of scheduled heat races, as the event was condensed into a one-day practice, qualifying, and race event. Denny Hamlin took the pole for the 23-car field, with notable drivers such as Daniel Suárez, Austin Dillon, Austin Cindric, and Christopher Bell failing to qualify for the 150-lap event. Hamlin led most of the first 50 laps before yielding the lead to Ty Gibbs on lap 50. Gibbs led 84 of the next 91 laps, as Justin Haley, Chase Elliott, and Todd Gilliland all failed to finish due to mechanical issues. Hamlin reclaimed the lead on a restart with ten laps remaining as Gibbs fell back through the field. Gibbs spun with two laps remaining, ultimately finishing 18th. Hamlin held off on the final restart to win.
Daytona Speedweeks
In Daytona 500 qualifying, Joey Logano of Team Penske won the pole and was joined on the front row by Michael McDowell of Front Row Motorsports.