1. This NASCAR Cup Series Season Was One of the Best of All-Time — But Also One of the Worst
Boy, 2024 had it all, didn’t it?
We started with a three-wide photo finish in the second race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where Daniel Suarez eked out his second career victory to make the playoffs. That was outdone a couple of months later at Kansas Speedway, when Kyle Larson and Chris Buescher gave NASCAR its closest finish in Cup Series history, with Larson getting the nod over Buescher.
Speaking of Larson, he also attempted the Indianapolis 500/Coca-Cola 600 double, which brought more eyes to the sport. The spring Bristol Motor Speedway race was probably one of the most entertaining races in recent memory. Option tires were introduced. Hendrick Motorsports scored a 1-2-3 in its 40th-anniversary race at Martinsville Speedway.
We had surprise winners such as Harrison Burton, Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Stenhouse gave us a great post-race fight with Kyle Busch at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Michael McDowell won a whopping six poles. Brad Keselowski finally got to victory lane as a team owner. Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott finally returned to victory lane for the first time since 2022. The Brickyard 400 returned. Wood Brothers Racing finally scored win No. 100 after seven years of trying and so many more things that I probably missed.
But with that came some of the worst moments in recent NASCAR history. A Daytona 500 with a questionable final caution and subsequent winner. A jumped restart by Denny Hamlin at Richmond Raceway arguably set the tone for officiating the rest of the season. A Nashville Superspeedway farce that resulted in Joey Logano winning the race in five overtimes, in which he was 14th with two laps to go in regulation.
The Coca-Cola 600 was delayed for two hours due to rain and then called when the track was nearly dry. A plethora of flips called the safety of the Next Gen back into question. Speaking of Next Gen safety, Erik Jones’ Talladega Superspeedway crash sidelined him for two weeks and allowed Corey Heim to make his first two career Cup starts.
Way too many media appearances from Elton Sawyer to explain the reasoning for certain calls made, such as rain tires used in oddly-specific situations or the multi-team race manipulation from Martinsville. The Brickyard 400 ended under caution after NASCAR neglected a wrecked Ryan Preece for half a lap. A Bowman penalty in the…
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