In the past two weeks, three Cup organizations not in a playoff spot have made key moves for 2025.
— Spire Motorsports will pair championship-winning crew chief Rodney Childers with Corey LaJoie next year.
— Front Row Motorsports signed Noah Gragson to its three-car operation for next season.
— Wood Brothers Racing signed Josh Berry to take over the No. 21 ride after this season.
All three organizations hope their changes help bridge the gap to the playoffs.
It won’t be easy even with 16 spots. Hendrick Motorsports, Team Penske and Joe Gibbs Racing are expected to fill 11 playoff spots this year — and close to that most seasons. That leaves few spots for the rest of the field, including 23XI Racing, Trackhouse Racing and RFK Racing, among others.
Facing such odds, Front Row Motorsports, Spire Motorsports and Wood Brothers Racing are going through changes. Here’s a look at what is taking place behind the scenes with those teams.
1. Spire Motorsports’ culture of winning
Last fall at Talladega, Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson bristled at questions about the organization’s expansion shortly after the team purchased Live Fast Motorsports’ charter for a reported $40 million.
“I don’t know how many more of these deals we have to do before people know we are for real,” Dickerson said last October.
Spire’s signing of Childers this week continues the organization’s prolific period of change. Consider what Spire Motorsports has done in the last 12 months:
— Announced a multi-year partnership with Gainbridge on July 5, 2023. The deal includes primary sponsorship of Spire’s Cup and Truck teams in various races.
— Signed LaJoie to a multi-year extension on Aug. 2, 2023, and signed Carson Hocevar to a multi-year deal on Oct. 10, 2023.
— Purchased Live Fast Motorsports’ charter (Sept. 16, 2023) and bought Kyle Busch Motorsports and its shop (Sept. 27, 2023).
— Added Doug Duchardt as team president (Dec. 4, 2023) and crew chief Luke Lambert (Dec. 6, 2023).
— Signed Michael McDowell on May 8 to drive the No. 71 car next season.
— Announced the signing of Childers on July 9.
The organization, which debuted in 2019, is building a culture of winning and many of its recent moves show that.
Duchardt served in executive roles at Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports and Chip Ganassi Racing before joining Spire. He has been a part of seven Cup championships and four indyCar titles.
Childers won the 2014 Cup title with Kevin Harvick and also has 40 career victories, including 37 with Harvick. Lambert finished second in the 2014 championship as Ryan Newman’s crew chief. While Lambert has only one Cup victory, he has 12 Xfinity wins. McDowell is a Daytona 500 winner.
Each hire adds to Spire Motorsports’ foundation and helps solidify a culture of winning.
“It’s being willing to work to prepare to win,” Duchardt told NBC Sports. “It’s constantly looking at how you improve and being committed to continually improve. … The thing I try to emphasize for that culture of winning is that we’re going to dedicate ourselves to working as good as we can together and learn together because that has to be our strength that our three Cup teams work to learn together.
“That’s what we focus on. But then also being honest about how and where we can improve and how we find people that can help us with that.”
Childers said that Spire’s moves gained his attention.
“Over the last year, you’ve seen different things go on, just like buying KBM and moving into that shop, buying all new pit carts, buying all new carts for pit road for practice and qualifying, ordering new haulers for next year, investing in the people,” Childers told NBC Sports.
“A lot of the guys that were on the 4 team, I couldn’t keep them. When Kevin was retiring, I couldn’t keep them and they were all wanting to go over there. At one time I thought I was going to lose my whole team before the season even started. That just told me right there that this is a place that can contend.”
Results have been mixed so far. Hocevar, a rookie, has his team 23rd in car owner points entering Sunday’s race at Pocono Raceway (2:30 p.m. ET on USA Network). At this time last year, that team was 35th in car owner points.
LaJoie’s team, though, has fallen since last year. His team was 26th in car owner points at this time a year ago. It is 31st in car owner points heading to Pocono.
Spire can look to the progress Hocevar, Lambert and the No. 77 team have made this year but also see what Front Row Motorsports has done in recent seasons. It’s rare for teams that struggle to win in Cup to climb the ranks, but McDowell has made the playoffs two of the last three years with Front Row. McDowell will carry that experience to Spire next year.
“Michael, part of his success is his ability to pull people in and grow teams that he’s on,” Duchardt said. “He brings the personality to do that, but don’t mistake that smile for lack of intensity and focus. … Now you bring Rodney in and Carson is a sponge, and I really think that is going to be a strong group moving forward.”
2. A long time coming for Front Row
Car owner Bob Jenkins typically stays behind the scenes and is not a team executive that NASCAR fans often see or hear from but don’t misconstrue that as having a lack of passion.
Jenkins is a long-time fan and was among the early members of the Dale Earnhardt fan club in the 1980s.
He remembers getting his fan club kit in the mail and how it included a certificate and a Wrangler hat.
“I wish I still had it,” Jenkins told NBC Sports.
One thing he still has is ownership in a Cup team that began in 2004.
Of the 19 Cup teams granted charters in 2016, only seven will remain in the sport after this season. Front Row Motorsports is one of those teams, along with Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Team Penske, Richard Childress Racing, RFK Racing and JTG Daugherty Racing.
What differentiates Front Row from most teams is the incremental approach it has made through the years. Such steady growth put the organization in a position to purchase one of Stewart-Haas Racing’s charters after the organization announced that it would cease operations after this season.
“We’ve always tried to race within our means, but we’ve always understood that you’ve got to add stuff,” Jenkins said. “You’ve got to have the technology. You’ve got to have the engineering. You just can’t go out there and race without spending money. I’ve had to invest in it. There’s not been a year when I haven’t.”
Jenkins’ ownership journey began when he purchased Jimmy Means’ equipment and bought a car, which had been a show car, and engine from Robert Yates.
“We went to Bristol with Brad Teague (in 2004),” Jenkins said. “We never made it on the track. We blew the engine up before we got on track because one of my guys had not re-attached the oil cooler line.”
Things got better and Front Row Motorsports won its first race in 2013 with David Ragan at Talladega and teammate David Gilliland finishing second. Chris Buescher gave the organization its next victory when he won a rain-shortened race at Pocono in 2016.
It wasn’t until the 2021 Daytona 500 that Front Row Motorsports won again, as McDowell took the checkered flag. He also won on the Indianapolis road course last year for the organization’s fourth career win.
“Winning the Daytona 500,” Jenkins said, “was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me, making the playoffs was the same thing. Now that’s sort of become our expectation.
“I realize we only have a few races left (in the regular season), but our goal is to be in the playoffs. It wasn’t to be a 20th-place team. We’re still fighting for that. Today, we’re 19th and (22nd) in points. There was a time I would have killed to be 19th in points, but if we don’t win a race, it’ll be a goal that was not achieved.
“I think we gradually continue to increase our expectations and hopefully that will continue.”
Next year will have a different look for the organization, as it expands to three full-time cars for the first time since 2019. Gragson will join Todd Gilliland, who is having his best season in Cup. The organization has not announced its third driver for next year, but Jenkins said it also will be a young driver. Gilliland is 24 years old and Gragson turns 26 a day after this weekend’s Pocono race. Front Row Motorsports likely will have among the youngest driver lineup in Cup next year.
It is a big change for the organization to go back to a three-car team. Front Row looks to hire about 30 people.
“You’re either moving forward or you’re moving backwards,” Jenkins told NBC Sports. “You never stand still. I just felt like I’m at a point in my life where I want to see this team break out of that 20th-to-25th team thing.
“You get into a rut of just going out there and participating. As soon as we got our cars really starting to run and have speed, and I’m not saying they’re dominant but they run top 10, top 20 most weeks, so I feel like we can do that with a third team.”
3. New leadership at Wood Brothers
Seven years after Ryan Blaney gave Wood Brothers Racing its 99th career Cup win with his victory at Pocono, the famed team continues to search for win No. 100.
But getting that victory isn’t what fuels Jon Wood, the third-generation family member who is now the team’s president.
“I don’t put as much emphasis on that win as putting ourselves in a position long-term to continue to have success even if it’s after 100,” Wood told NBC Sports. “That number to me is arbitrary. It’s more important that we’re in a place of success where we’re not having to worry about filling up the schedule and making it full-time and those types of really, really difficult days.”
The family-run team is going through a transition with Jon Wood, Keven Wood and Jordan Wood Hicks taking more prominent roles with the team from the second-generation trio of Eddie, Len and Kim Wood Hall.
The generations work together in setting the course for the organization. Wood Brothers Racing announced earlier this month that Josh Berry would take over the No. 21 car from Harrison Burton after this season.
Being involved in personnel decisions is something new for Jon Wood, who is 42 years old.
“I remember when I was probably, old enough to pay attention, let’s say 12 years old, and my dad (Eddie) or Len would have to fire an employee,” Jon Wood said. “I always thought at the time I hope I never ever have to be in a position where I have to do that because I’m just non-confrontational. … Planning it out and going and giving somebody bad news, that’s just not something I can do
“When it comes to like with Harrison, that’s a tough one. That’s a difficult one because he’s such a good kid and you want him to do well, you want him to have success.”
Jon Wood noted that being a former driver made discussions with Berry unique. Wood made his Truck debut in 2001 and ran full-time in either the Trucks or Xfinity Series from 2002-06. He finished with 208 career starts across the Truck, Xfinity and Cup Series and won two Truck races.
“This is the first time I’ve been in the room from start to finish, not only hiring a driver but those initial discussions with the driver and it was backwards for me because I’ve been on the other side (as a driver) like Josh was,” Jon Wood said. “… You’re trying to sell yourself, ‘Hey, I’m good enough for this job.’
“I go into this meeting with Josh and it’s like, ‘Hey, we’re good enough for you to take this job.’ It was just so backwards feeling. I’m trying to sell us to him and he’s trying to sell himself to us but we’re both trying to keep a poker face about it.”
In the end, they came to an agreement.
4. A pivotal win
Alex Bowman’s victory last weekend at Chicago not only snapped an 80-race winless streak but may take some of the pressure off him and quiet some of the rumors of his future.
“I understand why people want to talk and it’s a tough business,” said Jeff Gordon, vice chairman at Hendrick Motorsports, after Bowman’s win. “When you’re at Hendrick Motorsports, you do expect, especially when the other three have won, to be in that same category, and it hasn’t been happening. Hopefully this dispels a lot of the rumors.”
Bowman missed five playoff races in 2022 due to concussion. He led the points early in the 2023 season before he suffered a fractured vertebra in a sprint car crash that April. Those injuries slowed Bowman’s progress. His struggles lasted throughout last season.
While Bowman’s contract is through the 2026 season, he acknowledged that questions had been raised on social media about his future.
“There’s a lot of noise, and that makes it difficult for the team,” Bowman said. “I’m proud of my guys for being able to shut that out and work hard each and every week and have confidence in the decisions that we make and the race cars that we bring to the racetrack.
“It means a lot to me to be able to overcome a lot and do something that I don’t think a lot of people here really would have thought this weekend that we could.”
5. Numbers to know
3 — Consecutive restarts in the second stage of last year’s Pocono race that had crashes in Turn 1. Four of the 11 cautions in that race were due to accidents in Turn 1 on a restart.
9 — Races in a row Denny Hamlin has led at Pocono. Richard Petty owns the track record of 13 consecutive races led. Jeff Gordon and Darrell Waltrip are next at 10 each. Hamlin is tied with Kyle Busch and Bobby Allison on that list.
11 — Consecutive races Joe Gibbs Racing has had at least one car finish in the top five at Pocono. JGR has won six of those races.
13 — Years since Team Penske last won at Pocono. That victory came in 2011 by Brad Keselowski.
41 — Points gained by Tyler Reddick in the last three races on the points leader. He enters Sunday’s race third in the season standings, 23 points behind series leader Kyle Larson.
