Entry List

The official 2024 USA Today 301 NASCAR CUP Series entry list features top NASCAR drivers set to compete at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, highlighting the full lineup of race participants and teams.

USA Today 301

Sunday, June 23rd, 2024

New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, NH

  • 14 Ford
  • 8 Toyota
  • 14 Chevrolet

  • Thursday, June 20th, 2024
  • NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain
New Hampshire could be a key race for those with Playoff aspirations

With nine races remaining to set the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff field, each of the upcoming summertime events represents a crucial opportunity for drivers still trying to secure that championship opportunity.

A pair of two-time NASCAR Cup Series champions in Team Penske’s Joey Logano and Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch are among an accomplished group still needing to guarantee their chance to race for a championship. A victory in Sunday’s USA Today 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) is the surest way to do that.

The New Hampshire “Magic Mile” has historically been a sort of winner’s circle wild card with an uncharacteristically high 19 percent of its race winners starting outside the top-20 on the grid. Six of the last 11 race winners started outside the top-10 and 2021 winner Aric Almirola rolled off 22nd.

There are six former race winners in Sunday’s field – including Busch, who is a three-time winner and Logano, who is a two-time New Hampshire champ. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin is tied with Busch for most wins (three) among active drivers. Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Brad Keselowski has a pair of trophies. And Christopher Bell and defending race winner Martin Truex Jr. have a win at the Magic Mile too.

Logano, whose two Team Penske teammates Austin Cindric and Ryan Blaney have earned Playoff positions with wins already this season, is still racing for his first trophy. Surprisingly, Logano has had only a pair of top-five finishes through the opening 17 races – but his best showing – runner-up – came at the Richmond, Va. short track. He won at New Hampshire in 2009 and 2014.

Busch has similar 2024 statistics to Logano with only two top-five finishes. His best race of the season was a third place at the Atlanta 1.5-miler. It’s been six races since his last top 10 – eighth-place at Kansas. He’s had a frustrating stretch of races recently, with two 35th place finishes in the last three weeks (at Gateway and Iowa). He is the only active driver to win at New Hampshire from pole position (2017).

Logano and Busch are ranked 17th and 18th, respectively in the Playoff standings – with the Top-16 drivers advancing to the 10-race season championship competition.

As with that pair, Truex is still racing for his first trophy of the season. The 43-year-old New Jersey native would love nothing more than to hoist the winner’s lobster in back-to-back races considering his big news this week that he will retire from fulltime competition at the end of this season. Although the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champ is ranked highest (11th) in the Playoff standings among that titled-trio still racing for a 2024 win, he would prefer to secure the Playoff position with a trophy instead of points-racing.

A victory this week would make Truex only the fifth driver to earn consecutive wins at New Hampshire. His 1,170 laps led at the track is most among active drivers and he’s one of only four drivers in history to have led at least 1,000 miles at the 1.058-mile track. He’s earned 15 top-10 finishes in 30 starts and his 11.3 average finish is third best in the current field.

“It’s a tough place and it’s not gotten any easier since then,” said Truex, driver of the No. 19 JGR Toyota. “The older it gets, the harder it gets. Last year, we saw the track be very different than it’s ever been before. …

“It’s a very technical track and it’s gotten bumpy over the years as well,” Truex added. “It’s flat, has a fast entry and not a lot of grip. New Hampshire is a real challenge but it’s a lot of fun when you get it right. I know all our guys will be ready.”

Truex’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Hamlin will certainly be in this highly-motivated mix as well. All three of his wins this season have come on tracks one-mile or shorter and his 11 top-five and 19 top-10 finishes in 30 New Hampshire starts are both tops among all active drivers. Busch also has 11 top-five efforts.

  • Sunday, June 23rd, 2024
  • NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain
Christopher Bell sweeps NASCAR weekend at New Hampshire

Christopher Bell continued his dominance at New Hampshire Motor Speedway claiming a sweep of the NASCAR race weekend, but the Joe Gibbs Racing driver really had to earn that “broom” in Sunday’s weather-challenged USA Today 301.

The 29-year-old Oklahoman beat Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe to the finish line by 1.104-second in overtime in a race that lasted six hours including a two-hour-plus rain delay and ultimately ended with the field on damp surface tires; only the second time in NASCAR history a points-paying race used the newly-developed tires.

Bell’s No. 20 JGR Toyota led a race best 149 of the 305 laps Sunday, a day after he won the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the 1.058-mile New England oval. He is now one of four drivers to have three NASCAR Cup Series wins on the season. It was his ninth career series win.

Bell was so excited with the victory he even promised he would “pick that sucker up” referring with a smile to the traditional lobster given to race winners in Victory Lane, something he previously was reticent to do.

“It was literally the tale of two different events,”’ Bell smiled when asked about the race.

“You never know how this thing is going to shake out whenever you change so many things like that and have adverse conditions,” said a beaming Bell, who now has seven wins in 11 national series starts at the New Hampshire track – collecting his fourth NASCAR Xfinity Series win on Saturday.

“I personally love adverse conditions because you’re always trying to think outside the box,” he continued. “When we went back out [on wet weather tires after the red flag delay] I was feeling around and it felt like the normal Loudon groove was really really slippery so I tried to just run down or up, but [crew chief] Adam [Lambert] really put the tune on this thing and it was running good.

“This is really cool.”

It was certainly new territory for the series and the sport. In years past, perhaps the race would just have been called with the rain showers came through with enough laps in the book that had already made it a legal points event.

But with the recent development of wet weather tires, NASCAR instead opted to wait out the showers and give the rain tires a try on a damp track. NASCAR officials said they would have absolutely had to just call the race early had it not been for the new tires.

“We’d have been done with 82 laps to go and instead it gave us a chance to go back to green,” NASCAR’s Senior Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer told reporters after the race. “Kudos to our drivers, our owners and especially [NASCAR CEO] Jim France for his vision.”

Certainly, those final 86 laps of competition – which included the overtime stretch – with cars on the wet weather tires changed up the competition in multiple ways. Drivers who had been out of the mix previously – like Briscoe and his SHR teammate, third place finisher Josh Berry – worked their way forward quickly and kept Bell honest.

Others, such as Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, who had been third when the race was red-flagged struggled a bit more on the wet weather tires. Hamlin finished 24th.

Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, who was runner-up when the red flag flew, instead finished 25th after a collision with Michael McDowell racing for second place in the closing laps of regulation. McDowell was able to continue and finished 15th.

Briscoe smiled and said, “Two hours ago we couldn’t even run 25th and the rain saved us. Awesome recovery. This is one of my worst race tracks so to run second is kind of surprising, to be honest.

“The rain kind of saved us because if it wasn’t rain, we would have probably run maybe 24th but had a couple good restarts.”

Hendrick Motorsports’ Larson finished fourth followed by Roush Fenway Keselowski’s Chris Buescher – another driver who dramatically moved up in the field following the red flag.

23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, who was leading the race when the red flag came out, finished sixth, followed by JGR Daugherty Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Legacy Motor Club’s John Hunter Nemechek, JGR’s Martin Truex Jr. and Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain – notable comebacks for Truex and Chastain who were both involved in earlier caution periods.

The finish for Larson now brings him into a tie with Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott on top of the standings with Hamlin in third place, 40 points back. Elliott, was involved in an accident just before the red flag and finished 18th.

With eight races remaining to set the 16-driver NASCAR Cup Series Playoff field, there was substantial movement in the bottom half of the standings with drivers currently in Playoff position based on points not having scored a win yet.

Team Penske’s Joey Logano, who finished 32nd Sunday, moved into the final Playoff points position and 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace dropped out of points eligibility after an accident with 35 laps left in regulation eliminated him from the race. He finished 34th out of the 36 cars and is now 17th in the Playoff standings, one position below the cutoff.

  • Drivers Entered: 36
  • Laps Scheduled: 301
  • Laps Actual: 305 - NASCAR OVERTIME!
  • Margin of Victory: 01.104 Seconds
  • Time of Race: 3 Hours 48 Minutes 14 Seconds
  • Average Speed: 84.832
  • Cautions: 14 for 85 laps
  • Lead Changes: 6
  • Green Flag Passes: 2,966 (13.5 passes per green flag lap)

  • USA TODAY 301
  • Race Winner: Christopher Bell
  • Age: 29
  • Team : No 20 - Rheem Toyota
  • Owner: Joe Gibbs
  • Crew Chief: Adam Stevens
  • Christopher Bell won the USA TODAY 301, his ninth victory in 162 Cup Series races
  • This is his third victory and 11th top-10 finish in 2024
  • This is his second victory and third top-10 finish in five races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
  • Chase Briscoe (second) posted his second top-10 finish in four races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway It is his sixth top-10 finish in 2024
  • Josh Berry (third) posted his first top-10 finish in one races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
  • Josh Berry (third) was the highest finishing rookie
The NASCAR Garage 56 car during the Rolex 24
Daytona Beach, Florida - January 29, 2023 : The NASCAR Garage 56 car is seen on display during the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway.
James GilbertGetty Images
ENTRY
#
DRIVER
HOMETOWN
DOB
AGE
MAKE
SPONSOR
TEAM
CREW CHIEF

1
6
Auburn Hills, MI
Feb 12, 1984
40
Ford
BuildSubmarines.com
2
11
Chesterfield, VA
Nov 18, 1980
43
Toyota
Yahoo!
3
22
Middleton, CT
May 24, 1990
34
Ford
Hunt Brothers Pizza
4
8
Las Vegas, NV
May 02, 1985
39
Chevrolet
FICO
5
19
Mayetta, NJ
Jun 29, 1980
43
Toyota
Reser's Fine Foods
6
34
Phoenix, AZ
Dec 21, 1984
39
Ford
Long John Silver's
7
3
Lewisville, NC
Apr 27, 1990
34
Chevrolet
Bass Pro Shops
8
47
Olive Branch, MS
Oct 02, 1987
36
Chevrolet
Kroger/Kleenex 100 Years
9
5
Sacremento, CA
Jul 31, 1992
31
Chevrolet
HendrickCars.com
10
48
Tuscon, AZ
Apr 25, 1993
31
Chevrolet
Ally
11
12
High Point, NC
Dec 31, 1993
30
Ford
Menards\Dutch Boy
12
7
Kannapolis, NC
Sep 25, 1991
32
Chevrolet
Schluter Systems
13
16
Lewisville, NC
Feb 27, 1992
32
Chevrolet
Car Bravo
14
9
Dawsonville, GA
Nov 28, 1995
28
Chevrolet
NAPA Auto Parts
15
17
Prosper, TX
Oct 29, 1992
31
Ford
Fastenal
16
43
Byron, MI
May 30, 1996
28
Toyota
Dollar Tree
17
41
Berlin, CT
Oct 25, 1990
33
Ford
Mohawk Northeast
18
99
Monterrey, Mexico
Jan 07, 1992
32
Chevrolet
Choice Privileges
19
1
Alva, FL
Dec 04, 1992
31
Chevrolet
Kubota
20
23
Mobile, AL
Oct 08, 1993
30
Toyota
DraftKings
21
31
Kannapolis, NC
Jan 27, 1991
33
Chevrolet
Poppy Bank
22
24
Charlotte, NC
Nov 29, 1997
26
Chevrolet
Valvoline
23
45
Corning, CA
Jan 11, 1996
28
Toyota
SiriusXM
24
51
Winamac, IN
Apr 28, 1999
25
Ford
Fraternal Order of Eagles
25
42
Mooresville, NC
Jun 11, 1997
27
Toyota
Family Dollar
26
20
Norman, OK
Dec 16, 1994
29
Toyota
Rheem
27
15
Boston, MA
Dec 29, 1998
25
Ford
MEAT N' BONE
28
2
Columbus, OH
Sep 02, 1998
25
Ford
Autotrader
29
14
Mitchell, IN
Dec 15, 1994
29
Ford
Zep
30
21
Huntersville, NC
Oct 09, 2000
23
Ford
Motorcraft\Quick Lane
31
10
Las Vegas, NV
Jul 15, 1998
25
Ford
Overstock.com
32
71
Huntington Beach, CA
Jun 09, 1999
25
Chevrolet
Focused Health
33
4
Hendersonville, TN
Oct 22, 1990
33
Ford
Miner DOCKS, DOORS, AND MORE.
34
54
Charlotte, NC
Oct 04, 2002
21
Toyota
Monster Energy
35
38
Sherrills Ford, NC
May 15, 2000
24
Ford
Grillo's Pickles
36
77
Portage, MI
Jan 28, 2003
21
Chevrolet
Delaware Life