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This is the time of the year when NASCAR teams identify weaknesses and then work feverishly to address them, especially imperative with the start of the 2024 season mere weeks away.
With the calendar flipped to 2024, we’re putting a spotlight on a resolution for various drivers and teams in the Cup Series. Here is one thing they can do to help them have a successful 2024 season.
23XI Racing
Stay the course. 23XI has done a great job making incremental progress each season, all while exercising patience in knowing they wouldn’t become world-beaters overnight. And as the team reaches a point now where challenging for the championship is a viable goal, it’s important to maintain that patience and not panic if 2024 doesn’t unfold as expected. The team has a solid foundation in place featuring two young, talented drivers in Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace, a high-profile ownership group that’s willing to spend money, and a bevy of smart people in key decision-making roles. If 23XI stays the course, success will eventually come.
Win more during the regular season. How Bell has risen in the playoffs over the past two years is admirable, especially with two of his three playoff wins coming in “must-win” situations. This speaks to the kind of ability the 29-year-old possesses and why Joe Gibbs Racing views him as foundational. That same talent and moxie is also why Bell should win more during the regular season, something he’s done just three times in four years. Many thought that breakout would occur last year, only for Bell and the No. 20 JGR team to regress after winning at Bristol dirt in the spring. He’s poised for a monster regular season that turns heads and causes folks to take notice.
Ryan Blaney
Follow up his championship by winning three-plus races and at least advancing to the semifinal round. No driver has won consecutive titles since Jimmie Johnson in 2009-10, so expecting Blaney to accomplish the feat is unrealistic. What is realistic, however, is him winning multiple races — something he’s done just twice in his eight-
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Find the form he had during the early portion of the 2023 season. It’s easy to forget, but Bowman sat atop the series standings for three weeks in the spring and had the best average finish before a back injury sidelined him for three races. Upon returning from injury, he wasn’t the same driver, nor did the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team have the same speed, leading Bowman to have a rather quiet remainder of the season. The onus falls on him to recapture the form that won him seven races in four years and made him someone you could pencil into a playoff spot.
Chris Buescher
Follow up his breakthrough 2023 campaign with another multi-win season. What can Buescher do for an encore after a career-best three-win season that included him advancing to the Round of 8? Do it again to firmly establish himself as someone who can win any given week.
Harrison Burton
Show that Wood Brothers Racing was justified in bringing him back for a third season. By any measure, Burton’s first two years fell short of expectations, prompting some surprise within the garage that the Wood Brothers retained him. Burton can prove his critics wrong with consistent solid finishes and a points ranking closer to 20th rather than the 31st and 27th spots he occupied in his first two seasons, respectively.
