What Are the Expectations for Spire?

Spire Motorsports expanded its NASCAR operations for 2024. What do you expect from the organization this year?

Phil Allaway: It will be fairly successful in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Having Rajah Caruth in the fold, along with Hendrick Motorsports support, should help. In the NASCAR Cup Series, things will be relatively similar to 2023, but the X-factor is the relationship between Spire and Trackhouse Racing. What will that ultimately entail for the operation? Is it just going to benefit Zane Smith, or will the rest of the team profit as well? Carson Hocevar is a better driver than the collection of teammates that Corey LaJoie had last year and will likely be able to contribute more to the team’s overall effort. The No. 77 will be better this year, but LaJoie and the No. 7 team may be only incrementally better.

Josh Calloni: It’s hard to tell. The Cup operation has a lot of growing to do, and even with the money it spent, the highly competitive nature of the series makes it hard to gauge where it’ll stand in 2024. It has a talented group of drivers, but the equipment will tell the story of its season. As for its Truck team, there should be a lot of optimism. It has expanded rapidly in that series, having three full-time trucks, but anything less than at least one playoff appearance from that team should be considered a letdown.

Andrew Stoddard: With three full-time Cup rides as well as expanded operations in the lower series and a new race shop, Spire has certainly made a big investment towards becoming more competitive. Perhaps it was too much too soon. Has Spire spread itself too thin? Time will tell, but for now, I predict marginal improvement from Spire in 2024, with LaJoie being on the fringes of making the playoffs on points or a superspeedway win.

Luken Glover: There certainly has to be caution in setting expectations, but I’m very optimistic about the present and future of Spire. Since July 2023, Spire has landed Gainbridge’s sponsorship. Additionally, it signed potential stars Smith and Hocevar and bought Kyle Busch Motorsports. This team has made it clear it doesn’t plan on settling for mid-pack, rather competing for wins and championships. This season, I would not be shocked to see LaJoie pull off an upset win or at least compete inside the top 20 in points. Smith and Hocevar need to run as many laps as possible, but it is reasonable to see them both competing inside the top 25 in points and potentially…