2024 NAMRA Cup Series season

The **2024 NAMRA Cup Series season** is the 74th season of premier-level stock car racing, sanctioned by the North American Motor Racing Association, (NAMRA). The premier event of the season is the 63rd annual Daytona 500.

The 2024 season will be the first season since the competition's inception that there will not be a defending champion, after the 2022 swine flu pandemic caused most motor racing seasons to be called mid-way through, or cancelled completely, and the 2023 season was cancelled due to a strike between drivers, teams, and the series organizer.

## Background

The 2024 season will be the first following a combination of events dating back to 2022. The 2022 H1N1 global pandemic cut the 2022 season short, preventing a champion from being crowned,. In July 2022, the teams of the NAMRA stock car ladder began a holdout on negotiations of the collective bargaining agreement, a holdout that inspired the start of the U.S. Grassroots Driver's Union strike in August 2022. The combination of the two situations led to the total cancellation of the 2023 stock car calendar season, which subsequently allowed the Champ Car World Series to gain critical ground in the racing market share in North America.

### Driver's Union Accomplishments

The Driver's Strike achieved several major victories, with NAMRA making concessions to end the strike before the 2024 season. Drivers are now guaranteed to make more money per race across the ladder. The minimum a driver can make per-race in the NAMRA Cup Series beginning in 2024 is US$35,000, while drivers of the NAMRA Grand National Series will be guaranteed a minimum of $20,000 per race and drivers of the NAMRA Truck Series will make a minimum of $15,000 per race.

Another concession made by NAMRA was shortening race distances outside of what have been designated as "Crown Jewel" events. Prior to 2024, over half of the 36 race season was composed of 500 mile races. Beginning with 2024, only 7 races are permitted to be longer than 400 miles. Additionally, short ovals (1.25 miles and shorter) are to be capped to 315 miles or shorter, and road courses cannot exceed 200 miles in race length.

### New Collective Bargaining Agreement

In November 2023, the U.S. Race Team Alliance agreed to a brand new CBA, outlining how much revenue teams gain from deals such as television contracts, series sponsorships, among other categories. The new CBA also has placed new limits on race field sizes, with Cup Series races limited to 40 car fields, while the Grand National Series limited to 36 car fields, and the Truck Series limited to 32 car fields. The USRTA also ensured that none of the top three series in the stock car ladder will be permitted to run races on dirt ovals, with the teams refusing to take on the extra costs to prepare cars for a single race in the year.

### Seventh Generation Equipment

Also debuting for the 2024 season is the new seventh generation stock cars. The new stock car/touring car platform is a shared platform by the NAMRA Cup Series, Hisense Supercars Championship, NAMRA Canadian Touring Car Championship, and the FICA Stock Car Tour. The new generation car features redefined aerodynamics and new technologies, while aiming to control costs and appeal to more original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The seventh generation stock car debuted in the 2023 Hisense Supercars Championship, with the NAMRA Cup Series, NAMRA Canadian Touring Car Championship, and FICA Stock Car Tour launching their use of the platform in 2024.

The "new-gen" stock car platform introduces a 670 brake horsepower powertrain, a reduction of 130 brake horsepower from the sixth generation. The seventh generation platform is also lighter by 125 pounds, and will feature the return of a rear wing, something not seen since the 2009 season.

### New Car Makers Entering the Series

Toyota and Ford will mark the only two brands remaining entering the 2024 season. General Motors, after the 2022 season, elected to insert their Buick brand into their stock car operations. Chevrolet, which had been represented in the Cup Series for decades, was shifted to represent GM in open wheel competitions, while Cadillac and Corvette represent GM in sports car competitions.

Joining Buick, Ford, and Toyota will be the returning Dodge marque, bringing back the Challenger SRT8, and Honda will debut using the Civic Si. All five manufacturers were guaranteed to meet the minimum supply requirements, with at least four cars representing each automaker.

## Teams and Drivers

The following list of drivers have been announced to take part in at least one race of the 2024 season. Cup Series rookies have been denoted by the **(R)** beside their names.

### Team Changes

* Evangeline Porter will run a limited schedule for the 2024 season, running the Daytona 500, as well as the Globe 600 in May. Porter will be one of several drivers attempting "Double Duty" racing in both the Indianapolis 500, and Globe 600 on the same day.
* Keisha Fox will join the NAMRA Cup Series after four years in the Champ Car World Series. She will race full time for Arrowhead Racing, piloting the #62 Toyota.
* Three-time series champion Wyatt Jones will return to run a partial calendar, adding races to go alongside his full-time Champ Car World Series campaign for Ludwick Motorsports.

## 2024 Calendar

The 2024 NAMRA Cup Series calendar was released on December 24th, 2023, following months of negotiations between teams, drivers, and various track owners.