Proof That 2024 NASCAR SEASON Opener Is Exactly What You Are Looking For- Part 1

Get ready for the adrenaline-pumping ride of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season! With the non-competition Los Angeles Clash of the Colosseum in our rearview mirror, the Stock Car auto racing world is gearing up for the iconic Daytona 500 – the thrilling opening act that kicks off NASCAR’s competition season each year.

For those unfamiliar with the Daytona 500, it’s hailed as the Great American Race; a 500-mile spectacle hosted at Daytona International Speedway every year since 1959. Originally in the early 1950s, this was a 200-mile race hosted on the Daytona Beach Road Course – which wasn’t an official track. Rather, half of each lap was raced on the Daytona Highway, and the other half on the sands of Daytona Beach itself. In 1959 when Daytona International Speedway was completed, the race found a new home and was extended by an additional 300 miles.

With an impressive capacity of 167,500 seats, Daytona International Speedway stands as the second-largest sports venue in the United States. To put this into perspective, the largest NFL stadium, the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey (home of the New York Giants and New York Jets), accommodates only 82,500 seats.

Every year, numerous publications extensively cover the NASCAR season, emphasizing drivers, teams, drama, wins, crashes, and the championship standings. However, my goal is to offer a different viewpoint by centering on the performance of the vehicles themselves. This season, I’ll be following the vehicle manufacturers and picking various teams and drivers associated with each to follow throughout the season. While I’ll be remotely tracking most of the season’s action, I plan to attend a handful of races in person as well.

Through the sport’s history, there have been over a dozen different vehicle manufacturers to partner with NASCAR and represent their vehicles on the track. The number of competing manufacturers has been dwindling over the years as various companies shift their focus away from racing, or stop existing altogether. In 2012, NASCAR witnessed the departure of Dodge, a longstanding competitor, while Toyota entered the scene as a new participating manufacturer. Since then, NASCAR has been solely represented by Chevrolet, Ford, and Toyota.

Chevrolet is often touted as the winningest manufacturer in NASCAR. Although this is a fact, it’s not a fair representation of the current state of the sport. After all, Chevy has been involved with NASCAR since the late 1940s while manufacturers like Toyota have less than 15 years under their belt. The fact of the matter is, Toyota has been doing some heavy lifting since they joined NASCAR, and Ford has been upping their game as well. 

Manufacturers keep tabs on the race winners throughout each season. When the season concludes, they tally the numbers and crown a winning manufacturer based on which one had the highest number of victorious cars. Since 2012, Chevy has been the winningest manufacturer for five seasons. Ford and Toyota are both tied, having been the winningest manufacturer for three seasons each in the same time frame. However, this statistic is biased, given that Chevy boasts over twice the number of teams and drivers compared to Toyota. In this regard, it’s not a level playing field. Based on the number of drivers that represent each brand, it seems that Toyota may actually be the best competitor in the sport right now. With a consistent pattern of fewer drivers and teams representing Ford compared to Chevrolet, I would argue that Ford is holding the second position in the sport. While the prevailing opinion may differ, I’m asserting that Chevy is lagging behind its competitors in the sport, evident in the ratio of representing teams and drivers relative to its competitors.

The tides are shifting for the sport as the manufacturers face significant changes in the types of vehicles they offer to fit the consumer market. While Ford and Toyota are both offering brand new 7th Gen vehicles for the 2024 NASCAR season, Chevy is still using the same 6th Gen Camaro ZL1 1LE they’ve been running in the sport for the past 3 years. Chevy’s future in the sport is uncertain as the Camaro ceases production this year. As of yet, Chevrolet hasn’t announced a replacement vehicle for the sport, or whether or not they plan to continue participating. Uncertain futures aside, let’s look at which drivers and teams are representing which manufacturers on the track this season.

Now that we’ve established who’s who, I’m going to pick a favorite team and a favorite driver representing each brand. I’ll follow these drivers and teams through the season, despite how they place in each race. 

For Chevy, I’ll be following Trackhouse Racing. They’ve shown focus and persistence over the past few seasons, steadily rising through the ranks of NASCAR teams. They have yet to score a championship, but I think they’re in a great position to change that. As for my Driver pick for Chevy, I’m going with the number 24 of William Byron from Team Hendrick. Last season he really showed his skills in many different environments. I think he’s Chevy’s best chance for a championship this year. 

Next up, I’ll make a Team pick for Toyota. Though I’m sure Joe Gibbs Racing will place highly since they’re a well established team, I’ll be rooting for Legacy Motor Club. This team is one of the newest groups on the grid, but their roots tie back to a couple of the biggest names in the sport – Jimmie Johnson and Richard Petty. Though Legacy MC went off the rails a bit last season, I think they’ll be back with a vengeance in the 2024 season. As for my Driver pick, I’m going with the rookie Tyler Reddick from 23XI Racing. He’s quickly worked his way to the top of my roster, displaying big moves and a racing precision that remind me of Jeff Gordon‘s rookie years. He performed well last season, and I think he’s ready to show the other drivers what he’s all about. 

Last but not least, my Team pick for Ford is RFK Racing. This team was founded over 50 years ago by the famous Jack Roush, and they’ve had over 400 wins since then. This team has solid talent, and I expect they’ll have a strong season. My top Ford Driver this year is Ryan Preece from Stewart-Haas Racing. His tenacity on the track last year impressed me, and with the new Dark Horse under him this season, I think he’s got a solid shot at a championship. 

Now that I’ve established my personal picks for this season, I’m going to pick an overall manufacturer that I think has a shot of winning the most races this year. While we’ve already talked about Toyota doing well in NASCAR, they are not my overall pick this year. If you’ve been following my recent articles, you may know I have a bit of a bias towards Ford this season. I think the company’s emphasis on performance and new technologies will carry them far in the years to come. Ford Performance’s focus on their newest platform is something we haven’t seen from any other American manufacturers in the past few years. With this bias in mind, they are my prediction for the winningest manufacturer this year. 

So what are your predictions? With a whole week until the Daytona 500, I’d encourage you to make your picks. Next week I’ll be recapping the Daytona 500 and how my predictions did. I’ll also be diving into a deeper look into the vehicle that each manufacturer is bringing to the table for this season and how they’ve been performing so far. 

If you’d like to stay up to date on the manufacturer’s roles in NASCAR this year, keep tabs on my profile. I’ll be covering NASCAR this season with weekly articles.