Carson Hocevar Immediately Competitive with Cup Veterans on Intermediates

In his first full-time race on a standard NASCAR Cup Series track, Carson Hocevar qualified 14th and will be the highest-starting Spire Motorsports driver in Sunday's race, although Corey LaJoie technically outqualified him but will be starting worse because he was in a more competitive group in the first round of qualifying. The 21-year-old wunderkind... Read More

Noah Gragson's Subpar Intermediate Speed Should Cost Him at Las Vegas

Noah Gragson is a big question mark in 2024, especially on intermediates like this weekend's race at Las Vegas. Although Gragson shockingly had the second-fastest lap and fifth-fastest average speed in practice, he only qualified 30th. On intermediate tracks in 2023, Gragson posted an abysmal speed percentile of 17.90 and they were Gragson's worst track... Read More

Austin Dillon Too Slow on Intermediates to Seriously Contend

Austin Dillon surprisingly outqualified his teammate Kyle Busch for this weekend's Las Vegas NASCAR Cup Series race, but don't expect him to seriously contend in the race. In 2024 thus far, Kyle Busch has an average speed percentile of 87.90, which ranks 5th in the Cup Series, while Dillon at 9.38 is last among full-timers.... Read More

Ross Chastain Outshone by Teammate, But Still Made Solid Recovery

Ross Chastain had a fairly quiet run at Atlanta on Sundary evening in a race where his teammate, Daniel Suárez, stole the headlines by winning in the closest three-way finish in NASCAR history. Chastain failed to lead any laps after his Daytona near-miss, ranked only 14th in driver rating, and had below-average speed. He did... Read More

Electrifying Ford Speed Carries Harrison Burton to One of His Best Runs

Harrison Burton had one of the best runs of his NASCAR Cup Series career at Atlanta on Sunday. He significantly benefited from Ford's dominant straight-line speed. Although Burton was outrun by all three of his de facto Penske teammates, who all led over 25 laps and earned the top three driver ratings in the race,... Read More

John Hunter Nemechek's Weak Drafting Record Makes Him a Longshot

Although John Hunter Nemechek just finished seventh in the Daytona 500 last week, he ran considerably worse and was one of the luckiest drivers in the race, primarily because he missed the Big One. Nemechek is not particularly strong on drafting tracks as he failed to win at both Daytona and Talladega in the Xfinity... Read More

Michael McDowell Scores First Career Pole at Atlanta

Michael McDowell won his first pole position in the NASCAR Cup Series at Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend. His first pole came in his 467th start, breaking J.D. McDuffie's record from 1978 by 63 races. Front Row Motorsports has received significantly more support from Ford in 2024, as they have been promoted to Tier One... Read More

Daniel Hemric Likely Needs a Chaotic Race to Contend

Perhaps surprisingly, Daniel Hemric set the fastest lap in the Daytona 500 last week in his No. 31 Chevrolet even though the Fords were faster in qualifying and the Toyotas were generally faster in the race. There was a short period early in Stage 3 when he pushed his teammate A.J. Allmendinger to the front,... Read More

Kyle Busch's Improved Drafting Ability Makes Him a Favorite at Atlanta

Kyle Busch probably had one of the best cars in the Daytona 500 last week even though he failed to win. He made a race-high five passes for the lead in that race, had the best driver rating, and drove through the field twice before fading to 12th at the end, largely because his team... Read More

Alex Bowman Too Weak a Duelist to Win at Atlanta

Although Alex Bowman's streak of six consecutive Daytona 500 front row starts ended this year, he did post his best Daytona finish of second last week, falling just short of passing his teammate, William Byron, for the win before the caution on the last lap ended the race. His race did not come without controversy,... Read More

Erik Jones Shows Speed At Daytona Despite Disappointing Run

Although Erik Jones entered the Daytona 500 as one of the pre-race sleepers to win, he surprisingly had a lackluster race with an average running position of 18th and failed to lead despite contending in the Duel race at Daytona on Thursday night. He and the other Toyotas were very fast, as Jones ranked second... Read More

Ross Chastain's Hail Mary Attempt Falls Short

After finishing the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season by winning the season finale at Phoenix, Ross Chastain came close to making it two wins in a row, as he was in position to win the Daytona 500 in its final stages. Despite rarely factoring in the first three-quarters of the race because he and the... Read More

Brad Keselowski's Fate Depends on Ford's Race Speed

Brad Keselowski is generally regarded as one of the best drafters in the NASCAR Cup Series and that has not changed since the NextGen car was introduced. He led the most laps in last year's Daytona 500, finished second to his onetime teammate Joey Logano at Atlanta, and pushed his current teammate, Chris Buescher, to... Read More

Kaz Grala Lacks Consistency to Seriously Contend at Daytona

After failing to post a time in qualifying due to a shifter issue, Kaz Grala had to advance to the Daytona 500 via his Duel race on Thursday night. He was rather lucky to do so because B.J. McLeod, the driver he was competing against, was faster and outran him for most of the event... Read More

Noah Gragson Going to Backup Car for Daytona 500

Noah Gragson makes his full-time debut as a driver for Stewart-Haas Racing in the season-opening Daytona 500, but neither he nor the SHR cars in general have shown much speed in either practice or qualifying this weekend. Gragson qualified 16th behind most other Fords and crashed in his Duel race. Gragson's return to the NASCAR... Read More

Austin Cindric Looks Better, But Other Fords More Likely to Win

After a wildly disappointing 2023, Austin Cindric started off 2024 with a strong 4th-place qualifying run for the Daytona Duel races and backed it up by following Christopher Bell for a second-place in the Duel race. While the previous generation of Fords dominated the drafting tracks the past couple of years, and the new Mustang... Read More

Kyle Busch Unlikely to End Daytona 500 Winless Drought

Kyle Busch once again seeks his first Daytona 500 win in his 19th career start and seems to be well overdue for his first win in the Great American Race. He ranks 11th all-time and first amongst non-winners with 330 laps led in the Daytona 500 specifically, only one lap led behind A.J. Foyt. In... Read More

Christopher Bell's Duel Win and Toyota's Speed Bodes Well for Daytona 500

Christopher Bell starts fourth in the Daytona 500 after winning the second Duel race thanks to passing his teammate, Denny Hamlin, on the last lap. Despite having never won a points-paying race on a drafting track before, Bell enters as one of the pre-race favorites. In addition to his Duel win and his resulting good... Read More

Realistic Expectations For Shane van Gisbergen In 2024

After Shane van Gisbergen won at the Chicago Street Course in 2023, becoming the first driver to win his NASCAR Cup Series debut since Johnny Rutherford in 1963, expectations were sky-high for the three-time Supercars champion. He committed to a full-time switch to NASCAR for 2024, the same switch made by two-time Supercars champion Marcos... Read More

Zane Smith Likely To Be Overshadowed By Other Rookies

Zane Smith will drive the No. 71 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports as a NASCAR Cup Series rookie. His team is a satellite of Trackhouse Racing. It's unclear whether Smith's car will be closer to the Trackhouse cars or the other Spire cars in speed. Chevy has invested much more into Spire recently and the team... Read More

Noah Gragson Likely To Struggle In 2024

After Noah Gragson was fired by Legacy Motor Club and suspended by NASCAR for liking an offensive Twitter meme, Stewart-Haas Racing gave him a second chance and named him as Aric Almirola's replacement in the No. 10 Ford for 2024. Even before his firing, Gragson's 2023 was very uninspiring, as he led only two laps... Read More

Austin Cindric Should Benefit From Increased Ford Speed

Austin Cindric was one of NASCAR's biggest disappointments in 2023, as he followed up a Daytona 500 win and playoff bid as a rookie with only a single top-five and a dismal 24th-place points finish in a year his teammate Ryan Blaney won the title. While Cindric is average, at best, he should perform better... Read More

Harrison Burton's Mediocrity Will Probably Continue In 2024

Harrison Burton has had a lackluster start to his NASCAR Cup Series career thus far, but at age 23, he's still young enough that he could unexpectedly make a sudden improvement at any point, although that still seems unlikely. The driver who technically drives for the Wood Brothers but drives for what amounts to a... Read More

Ryan Blaney's Season Likely Hinges On New Ford Mustang's Speed

Ryan Blaney delivered Team Penske its second consecutive NASCAR Cup Series championship at the Phoenix championship race in 2023, but that means very little when it comes to projecting his 2024 performance. Ford is debuting its new Mustang Dark Horse for 2024 and this chassis appears to be sleeker and more aerodynamic than the previous... Read More

Chris Buescher Had Pit Stop Issues On Sunday

Few people seriously considered the eliminated playoff drivers as contenders for yesterday's event, but the eliminated drivers had other ideas. Not only did Ross Chastain rebuild his reputation with a dominant win outdueling the playoff contenders, but Chris Buescher significantly contended too. Buescher probably had winning speed as he passed Chastain for the lead in... Read More

Kyle Larson Lost The Championship Because Of Passing Inability

Although Kyle Larson went into the NASCAR Cup Series finale at Phoenix as the championship favorite, he didn't really have the speed to match eventual champion Ryan Blaney or his teammate William Byron for most of the event. All three drivers were extremely close in speed throughout the event with Byron ranking third, Blaney ranking... Read More

Justin Haley Too Slow At Phoenix To Seriously Contend

Justin Haley has been remarkably consistent at Phoenix in his NASCAR Cup Series career. Unfortunately, that consistency has been on a very low level as he started outside the top 25 in all five of his previous starts. In four races, he finished between 24th and 27th. The lone exception was a 17th in March... Read More

Kyle Larson Enters Phoenix As Championship Favorite

Oddsmakers favor Kyle Larson to win the NASCAR Cup Series championship at Phoenix Sunday and it's not hard to see why. The driver who won the first race of the Round of 8 went on to win the championship four of the last seven years, including the last two. Larson triumphed here in 2021, so... Read More

Ryan Preece Might Benefit from Stewart-Haas's Added Emphasis on Phoenix

Although Ryan Preece has been average in the NASCAR Cup Series this year except on short tracks, many pundits consider Phoenix Raceway a springboard for Preece to potentially contend on Sunday. While he never led a lap at the track, Preece did get his best Phoenix finish with a 12th in the March event. Now,... Read More

Erik Jones Likely To Deliver Best Underdog Performance

Erik Jones suffered a good deal as Legacy Motor Club prepared to switch to Toyota from Chevrolet. Despite this, he vastly outperformed all his teammates including Noah Gragson, Carson Hocevar, and John Hunter Nemechek. All those drivers either announced or likely will have full-time NASCAR Cup rides next season. Additionally, he had a streak of... Read More