With the official start of 2024 season just over a month away, let’s take a look at the driver and team changes across the NASCAR Cup Series grid.
While top teams such as Team Penske, Hendrick Motorsports, and Joe Gibbs Racing remain unchanged, there’s still plenty to talk about throughout the 2024 field.
Stewart-Haas Racing replaces outgoing veterans
The entire organization went winless in 2023 and at season’s end, SHR lost tis two most experienced drivers.
2014 Cup champion Kevin Harvick is stepping out of the driver’s seat and into the booth this year.
Aric Almirola will now compete part-time with Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
The team already has two young drivers in Chase Briscoe and Josh Berry, but have added two more for 2024.
Josh Berry joins the lineup, replacing Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 Ford Mustang.
Berry has just 12 Cup starts, including a stint last year where he subbed for an injured Chase Elliott in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
He finished as high as second at Richmond Raceway. His career includes five Xfinity wins, and tremendous success in Late Model cars.
Almirola’s No. 10 Ford Mustang will be taken over by Noah Gragson, who struggled through a tumultuous 2023 season at Legacy Motor Club.
His rookie campaign ended abruptly when he was suspended after liking a meme that mocked the murder of George Floyd.
Since then, Gragson has successfully completed sensitivity training and will return in 2024, now with SHR.
A championship runner-up in the Truck Series in 2018 and the Xfinity Series in 2022, Gragson has 15 wins between the lower two divisions.
Although he has yet to complete a full season at the Cup level, he has 39 total starts with a best finish of fifth.