How changes before 2025 season are paying off halfway through the year
With the NASCAR Cup Series hitting the halfway point in the 36-race schedule this past weekend at Atlanta, here is a look at the results of those changes so far.
23XI Racing
Charles Denike joined the organization to be Bubba Wallace's crew chief, taking the role over from Bootie Barker.
'I truly believe he's going to be a game-changer for 23XI,' team owner Denny Hamlin said early in the season.
One of the focuses with Wallace was to have a better start to the season. He did. Wallace was seventh in the points after six races this season (last year Wallace was 18th in points after six races).
Dustin Long,
Wallace got off to quick start by often scoring stage points. His 61 stage points in the first six races ranked third in the series and were the most he had scored so early in the year.
Four accidents in the last eight races have dropped Wallace to the final playoff spot. He holds that position by 23 points with eight races left in the regular season.
Front Row Motorsports
Zane Smith and Noah Gragson joined the organization in the offseason, while Todd Gilliland was reunited with Chris Lawson, his former Truck crew chief.
Gilliland is 28th in points this season. He was 20th last year at this time. He has six top-15 finishes this year compared to seven at this time last year.
Gragson is 33rd in points this season. He was 25th at this time a year ago for Stewart-Haas Racing.
Smith has made a big jump.
Last year he was under contract to Trackhouse Racing but since there wasn't room for him there, he ran for Spire Motorsports. He was 34th in points at the halfway point last year.
Coming off last weekend's seventh-place finish at Atlanta — his second top 10 in the last four races — Smith is 25th in the standings. His best finish in the first half of last year was 13th. Smith has had six finishes better than that this year.
Haas Factory Team
Stewart-Haas Racing, a four-car operation, shut down after last season and Haas Factory Team emerged.
Haas Factory Team runs one car in Cup with Cole Custer, who returned to Cup after spending the previous two seasons in the Xfinity Series. Custer won the 2023 Xfinity title and finished second in the points last year.
Custer has been paired with first-year Cup crew chief Aaron Kramer.
Joe Gibbs Racing
This organization saw four major changes heading into this season.
Last year was Martin Truex Jr.'s final full-time season of racing. Joe Gibbs Racing hired Chase Briscoe to drive the No. 19 car with crew chief James Small.
Briscoe won at Pocono to give the No. 19 team its first victory since July 2023 at New Hampshire. Briscoe's victory snapped a 68-race winless drought for the team. Briscoe also claimed the pole for the Daytona 500 and the Coca-Cola 600. He has four poles this season.
In another key move, Joe Gibbs Racing moved Chris Gabehart — who had won 22 Cup races with Denny Hamlin from 2019-24 — to competition director.
That started a string of events. Chris Gayle moved from his role as Ty Gibbs' crew chief to become Hamlin's crew chief.
Tyler Allen, who won eight of 33 Xfinity races in 2024 while working with six different drivers, moved up to Cup to be Gibbs' crew chief this season.
Gayle has helped Hamlin win three races. Hamlin has 19 playoff points — the same amount he had at this time last year.
Gibbs was 11th in points halfway through last year. He is 24th in points this season. Gibbs is the only JGR driver yet to claim a playoff spot this season.
Gabehart was on Gibbs' pit box last weekend at Atlanta, serving as the race strategist. He was on the radio with Gibbs and orchestrated strategy with Allen in an effort to help get Gibbs into the playoffs.
Kaulig Racing
Ty Dillon, who ran five races with the team last year, joined Kaulig Racing full-time this season. He took over the ride Daniel Hemric had last year. Hemric was 31st in points at the halfway mark last year. Dillon is 31st. Dillon has scored 34 more points than Hemric had at this time last year.
Trent Owens, who had been Hemric's crew chief, was moved to Allmendinger's team this season with Allmendinger returning to Cup full-time.
Allmendinger had three top-10 finishes in six starts at this time last year. He has four top-10 finishes in 18 starts this year, including a season-best fourth-place finish in the Coca-Cola 600.
The last time Allmendinger ran the full series was 2023. He was 19th in points at the halfway mark. He is 17th in points this season.
Legacy Motor Club
The team brought in crew chief Travis Mack from Kaulig Racing to be paired with John Hunter Nemechek.
Nemechek has scored six top-10 finishes this season — his most in a Cup season. His passer ranking after the first 13 races was 29th but has improved to 16th in the last five races.
He was 27th in points last year at the halfway point and is 23rd this year. Nemechek is 10 points from 20th in the points. He is 20 points from 18th in the standings.
'I think Travis and I gelled really well from the very beginning, hold each other accountable when it comes to situations,' Nemechek said. 'We spent quite a bit of time during the offseason communicating, looking at different races, talking about past races, simulation time, kind of just getting to know each other.'
Richard Childress Racing
After spending the past two years as Chase Briscoe's crew chief at the now-defunct Stewart-Haas Racing, Richard Boswell joined RCR to be Austin Dillon's crew chief.
Dillon ranked 32nd in points at this time last year. He is 26th in points this season.
Dillon's average finish this year is 20.1 — up five spots from last year.
Rick Ware Racing
After running select races last year, Cody Ware is running the full schedule for the team. Ware is coming off a season-best 13th-place finish at Atlanta.
Justin Haley was the team's full-time driver last year before he moved to Spire Motorsports in a swap with seven races left that brought Corey LaJoie to RWR. LaJoie has run a limited schedule for the team this year.
RFK Racing
The organization expanded to three teams, adding the No. 60 car for Ryan Preece and pairing him with crew chief Derrick Finley.
Preece is the first driver outside a playoff spot, 23 points below the cutline. He already has a career-high seven top-10 finishes this season, including four in the last seven races.
'Last year, we put that team together and ran a partial schedule with Derrick Finley and we had a handful of different drivers and matured a lot of that team and a partial schedule, whether it be pit crew as well, and that team has fired off with putting Ryan in as the driver full-time and shown a lot of strength,' team owner Brad Keselowski said last weekend at Atlanta.
Spire Motorsports
This team had a few moves last season. With Stewart-Haas Racing closing, Rodney Childers moved from there to be Justin Haley's crew chief.
That partnership lasted nine races before the two sides parted ways and Ryan Sparks, who had served as Haley's crew chief for the final seven races of last season, returned.
Michael McDowell and crew chief Travis Peterson left Front Row Motorsports to join Spire. A year ago, McDowell was 22nd in the points. His average finish this year is 19.1. Last year at this time it was 20.9.
Trackhouse Racing
The organization expanded to three teams this year, adding Shane van Gisbergen to the Cup lineup and pairing him with crew chief Stephen Doran.
While the Cup rookie continues to learn the ovals, van Gisbergen has been strong — as expected — on the road courses. He won at Mexico to claim a playoff spot and was sixth at Circuit of the Americas.
Wood Brothers Racing
Josh Berry joined the team after Stewart-Haas Racing closed last year. He replaced Harrison Burton. Crew chief Miles Stanley joined the team.
The pairing worked. Berry won at Las Vegas in his fifth race of the season with the team, putting the Wood Brothers back in the playoffs after making it last year through Burton's victory at Daytona in August.
Berry has three top-10 finishes, which is one short of his career-best in Cup. He's led 169 laps, his most in a season. Berry is 19th in points. That's where he was a year ago. He has 363 points this season — six more than he had at this time last year.
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