It’s that time of the year of again.
The close of the 2024 calendar year is on the horizon, and with it must come the reflection of a year’s worth of NASCAR Cup Series awards and accolades to be given out.
From Daytona International Speedway to the Chicago street course, there are plenty of sites where 2024 greatness must be commended. No Nashville-based awards show required.
So put on your best suits, straighten that bowtie and pour the champagne. It’s time for the 2024 Frontstretch NASCAR Cup Series awards.
Dale Earnhardt Driver of the Year Award
This year was perhaps one of the most competitive in recent memory with many drivers seemingly deserving of a tip of the hat.
However, there is one driver that seemed to stand out almost the entire year, thanks to his escapades on and off a NASCAR track. He even earned the most Cup victories in 2024. That driver, of course, is Kyle Larson.
It didn’t matter if you were a fan of NASCAR or any other form of motorsports in general during the month of May, you likely heard Larson’s name in the news headlines more than once and for more than one reason. Only three weeks after winning in the closest finish in Cup Series history at Kansas Speedway, Larson’s entry into this year’s Indianapolis 500 was perhaps one of the most highly anticipated starts in all of racing ever since its announcement in 2022. Despite his failure to finish all 1,100 miles thanks to weather delays, it was still one of the biggest stories of the year.
When he finally returned to Indianapolis for the Brickyard 400 later in July, he won in the same paint scheme he was to run during his double-duty at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May. Additionally, that win was one of six that he earned during the course of the Cup season – the most out of the rest of the field.
What a smoke show from @KyleLarsonRacin! 💨 pic.twitter.com/o8V3zPushM
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 21, 2024
It wasn’t another championship year for Young Money, but Larson’s continued dominance and multi-racing series adventures highlight why is he is considered one of the best racers in the modern world.
Martin Truex Jr. Most Improved Driver Award
While its closure is one of the biggest stories in 2024, Stewart-Haas Racing didn’t go down without a fight with SHR earning its last-ever Cup Series winner in its existence with Chase Briscoe.
The Hoosier native didn’t have much to show for in 2023. Only four top fives, eight top 10s and a crushing 120-point penalty induced by NASCAR in the middle of the season garnered him an abysmal 30th-place result in the season standings. In 2024, Kevin Harvick retired, and Briscoe became the elder statesman of SHR and inherited all the pressure that comes with it.
Yet he did not disappoint.
Briscoe improved his season average finish by two positions by the end of the year, but most importantly, he finished 14th in the overall standings. It was a result that never would have happened if it weren’t for what was a stunning walk-off underdog win in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
CHASE BRISCOE HOLDS OFF KYLE BUSCH AND RACES HIS WAY INTO THE PLAYOFFS! pic.twitter.com/AVst4Z4EFa
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) September 2, 2024
Briscoe went on to survive into the Round of 12 as well, giving SHR one last attempt at a championship run before its closure.
Tim Richmond Comeback of the Year Award
Speaking of SHR.
Noah Gragson spent half of his season in 2023 at home after his departure from Legacy Motor Club. For a time, there was wonder if Gragson was going to return to Cup Series competition again in 2024 with dwindling numbers of Cup Series seats to fill remaining. Even if he were to return, many also wondered if his results would be any better. After all, the races he did run in 2023 were met with abysmal finishes with his highest result of his 22 starts being 12th, and only four of those results were on the lead lap.
However, after Gragson filled the seat of the No. 10 Ford left vacant by the semi-retired Aric Almirola, he immediately began improving where he left off mid-2023.
After not earning any top 10s in his half-season last year, the Las Vegas native immediately began the year earning his second career top 10 at the Daytona 500.
By the end of the season, he had gathered one top five and seven top-10 results. It improved his overall average finish by a whopping 8.6 positions over his tenure at in the No. 42 at LMC.
It was comeback that may have saved what was a damaged career with expectations being higher when he begins his tenure with Front Row Motorsports in 2025.
Trevor Bayne Biggest Upset Award
Trevor Bayne, as the award name suggests, is credited with winning one of the biggest underdog victories in NASCAR history after winning the 2011 Daytona 500 with the legendary Wood Brothers Racing, a team whose name has existed almost as long as NASCAR itself.
With that said, it’s perhaps fitting that this year’s Biggest Upset Award goes to a similarly earned Wood Brothers victory at Daytona. This time, however, it’s credited to second-generation racer Harrison Burton.
“Jeff, your little boy has DONE IT!” – Leigh Diffey
Relive Harrison Burton’s pass for his first NASCAR Cup Series win, which comes at Daytona. pic.twitter.com/RbBikqFRm4
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) August 25, 2024
Burton’s victory and consequential playoff berth revitalized the Wood Brothers’ season. With one lap to go at Daytona in August, Burton was seated in the 30s in the points standings. When the checkered flag fell, he was guaranteed at least a 16th-place result in the points, which is where he ended his season. It is the Wood Brothers’ best points result since 2020.
Additionally, it revitalized Burton’s waning career, as weeks earlier it was announced the 23-year-old would not return to Cup Series racing with WBR in 2025. With an uncertain future ahead of him, Burton earned the victory when he needed it most and later landed a full-time ride in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Jimmie Johnson Most Dominant Race Award
There are strong performances like the one Christopher Bell had at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, then there’s good, old-fashioned ass-whoopings.
At Bristol Motor Speedway in the September night race, Larson put on a good, old-fashioned ass-whooping.
Kyle Larson with one of the biggest asskickings in recent memory wins the Night Race at Bristol. #NASCAR
— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) September 22, 2024
Larson’s performance during this year’s classic short track race made it perhaps one of the dullest entries in the event’s history. If it weren’t for the stories produced by the ongoing playoff battle for the Round of 12 cutline, NBC broadcasters would likely have had trouble finding a worthy narrative to deliver during the 500-lap event.
But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a beatdown unworthy of its own story, either.
On top of winning both stages one and two, Larson led 462 of the 500 laps run at the Last Great Colosseum, which is not only the most laps ever led in the history of the Bristol night race, but it’s the most laps led in a Cup Series event since Kyle Petty led all 492 laps at Rockingham Speedway in 1992.
Kyle Larson broke Dale Earnhardt’s record at the Bristol night race 🥹#NASCAR #CupSeries pic.twitter.com/1kpfEcFmY9
— Sportskeeda NASCAR (@NASCARatSK) September 22, 2024
In other words? It wasn’t only the most dominating performance of the year, but arguably the most dominating in the last 32 years.
Pending this award’s title change to “Kyle Larson Most Dominant Race Award.”
Tony Stewart Best Soundbite Award
When you think of some of the greatest racing quotes, you’ll likely find that many of them come from those that are frustrated and perhaps those that are full of wisdom.
But what about those that are downright goofy?
With the constant conversation of how many of today’s NASCAR drivers don’t speak their minds as much as they used to, many were likely delightfully taken aback when Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman, who has displayed his dry sense of humor in interviews in the past, shared his plans for celebrations after winning at the Chicago street course.
“We’re going to drink so much damn bourbon tonight,” Bowman said on the street course frontstretch. “It’s going to be a bad deal. I’m probably going to wake up naked on the bathroom floor again. That’s just part of this deal sometimes.”
How did the bourbon taste, @Alex_Bowman? pic.twitter.com/GgymSh63kn
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 2, 2024
While drivers often do give their best quotes post-race, and many of them are often after a victory, Bowman’s occurred from a camp that has played things safe when it comes to quotes to the media in recent years. You’ll likely never hear Hendrick Motorsports teammates Larson or Chase Elliott talk about waking up naked on a bathroom floor.
They certainly wouldn’t post a photo of the morning after, either.
It made Bowman’s sound off a bit more refreshing than other celebratory quotes. In fact, it was so popular, that Bowman’s team even created a t-shirt around it.
And yes, it sold out.
“We’re gonna drink so much damn bourbon tonight…”
𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐆𝐎 𝐖𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐄𝐄 now available for order!
🥃 —> https://t.co/xrA2sJx1or pic.twitter.com/Y7W6IkpTFp
— Alex Bowman Racing (@ABR_teams) July 10, 2024
1992 Hooters 500 Best Race Award
My, how far Kansas has come.
If anyone had said that Kansas Speedway would be the site of the season’s best race five years ago, their sanity may have been put into question.
But not only has the Midwest-based circuit produced some of the best racing year after year since the inception of the Next Gen car, it is now the site of the closest finish in Cup Series history.
UNBELIEVABLE FINISH! KYLE LARSON WINS AT KANSAS. WOW. pic.twitter.com/O7K3pOnmTw
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 6, 2024
But it wasn’t the close finish alone that made the spring Kansas race so favorable either, as the event had a healthy amount of competition complete with side-by-side battles and lead changes – the third-most in track history – included.
Most fans agreed, too.
Was Kansas a good race? Well, for the first time since 2021……….
🚨 It’s A NEW. POLL. RECORRRRRRRRRD 🚨
Kansas got 95.8% Yes, making it the No. 1 race in poll history (312 races polled over eight-plus years).
An ultra-close finish (go figure) over 2021 Bristol (95.7%).
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) May 7, 2024
2003 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 Best Finish Award
Kansas was the site of the closest finish in Cup Series history. That made it probably the most exciting finish between two drivers since the 2003 Darlington thriller this award is named off of.
But what about a photo finish between three drivers?
3-WIDE AT THE LINE! WHAT A FINISH. Repost to congratulate Daniel Suárez on his Atlanta Motor Speedway WIN! pic.twitter.com/RdewRqJiwg
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 26, 2024
Daniel Suarez‘s victory over both Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney in what is perhaps the most incredible finish in recent NASCAR memory marked the second time a Trackhouse Racing driver has gone viral as a result of a thrilling result of passing somebody. It’s one of the few times a NASCAR finish has gone viral on the internet, making it all the more of an impressive finish.
.@Daniel_SuarezG’s photo finish at Atlanta was the most viral @NASCAR moment on social media since @RossChastain’s Hail Melon in 2022, another last lap involving a @TeamTrackhouse driver, per data from the sanctioning body.
🔲 It was also the No. 10 play on @SportsCenter today. pic.twitter.com/zunHXIrG9c
— Adam Stern (@A_S12) February 27, 2024
But put all that aside for a second.
Just look at the image above. Watch the video of it over and over again. You’re likely going to be seeing that clip for decades to come.
The Atlanta three-wide finish did, in fact, transcend the sport to bigger forms of media. However, it was only a single entry on a list of moments of the 2024 season that will be remembered forever in the NASCAR world, and there were plenty of them.
We can only hope 2025 will be just as good.
Sign up for the Frontstretch Newsletter
A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.