Ranking the Top 5 Best Races of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Season

As the new year is here and the 2025 NASCAR season dawns upon us, we figure it is the perfect time to rank what we believe to be the Top 5 best races of the 2024 season. The 2024 season will go down in history as one of the craziest NASCAR seasons ever. From the highest of highs with the photo finishes and amazing races to the lowest of lows with the bad officiating and manipulation at Martinsville for the championship, people will look back on this season in a good and bad way. No matter how people felt about this season of NASCAR, no one can deny 2024 was home to some AWESOME races, and this weekend, we are going to list our Top 5 favorite races of the year and put some respect on this most recent season of NASCAR racing. Which races stood out as the cream of the crop this year? Let’s find out together.

  5. Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway – The Darlington Spring race and The Southern 500 were some of the best races this year, but we decided the spring race was a little better. The one thing that was the deciding factor in how good or bad a race was this year was the finishes. Some races had an all-time bad finish like the Summer Richmond race, but some races had an all-time great finish like the Spring Darlington race. This is why this race gets on the best races list. The first 260 laps were just some good standard Darlington racing. There were multiple leaders and a couple of lead changes, but nothing stood out enough to make it one of the best of the year until the final 33 laps. On the restart with 33 to go, Keselowski and Reddick battled for the lead HARD by racing side-by-side for multiple laps. No one was giving an inch literally as after a few laps of battling side-by-side, Keselowski accidentally squeezed Reddick into the wall, allowing Buescher to make a THREE-WAY pass on the bottom to take the lead. Buescher was looking to get redemption after losing in the most heartbreaking fashion at Kansas the week prior. Reddick did not want to lose the race after dominating most of it, and he made that clear when he THREW his car into Turn 3 on the bottom to pass Buescher, but unfortunately, the car didn’t stick and he slid into Buescher, putting them both in the wall. Both drivers’ days were ruined, but it gave a golden opportunity for Keselowski to capitalize on getting his first-ever win at RFK and his first win since Talladega 2021! There was also a brief scuffle between Buescher and Reddick on pit road afterward, but thankfully, it never escalated into a fight. What was looking to be a 7/10 race jumped up to an 8.5/10 race with an awesome ending of three guys duking it out for the win, two of them having a dramatic altercation on track, and a well-respected veteran breaking a long winless drought.

  4. Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway – any old-school NASCAR fans out there? For all the old-school fans who did not watch this race, check this race out because this race was a great return to the days of old NASCAR. The tires of the Gen 7 cars are wider than normal race car tires are, so we will likely never see this type of race again, but for this one race, it was a huge breath of fresh air to see. We saw tire wear to such an extreme that while a bit overboard, made the race into a banger. At the beginning of the race, we saw an unusual amount of passing for position and the lead and it did not seem right with how boring the 2022- and 2023-night races were. In the late portions of Stage 1, we would see tire wear come into effect MASSIVELY as drivers would start driving way off the pace or would blow tires like Hamlin and Busch. To save their tires, drivers would race several seconds off the pace on purpose, which led to racing like we see at Daytona and Talladega. As the race went on, drivers would get a better idea of how hard they would need to push it without blowing their tires and having their race destroyed. All of this may make this race look like a disaster to any casual fan, but as a hardcore fan, it was super fun. We saw passing like we have never seen at Bristol, over 50 LEAD CHANGES, and a lot of two-wide racing. Tire wear was excessive with how drivers could barely run 60 laps of green-flag racing, but it led to a lot of unpredictability as to what could happen and racing each lap. As to how this race was old school, the drivers who finished this race in the Top 3 were veterans: Hamlin, Truex, and Keselowski. The driver that had the best car in this race was Gibbs. The problem with Gibbs is he is still a young driver, meaning he does not have the skill of conserving and saving tires like the vets do. Gibbs was leading a lot of the race, but during the final green-flag run of the race, his car fell off the face of the earth from his tires heavily wearing out. Hamlin and Truex took command of the race and battled each other hard in the closing stretch while also saving their tires. This race showed why the veterans of NASCAR are still so valuable because they have a skill the young guns still need to learn. This race did not have a super, thrilling finish as the Top 3 races on this list did, so that’s why it is only number 4 on the list, but this Bristol race will easily go down as one of the best in Thunder Valley’s history.

  3. Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway – for anyone who says the Gen 7 cars perform badly at superspeedways, look at this race and see how Atlanta is a diamond in the rough of Gen 7 Superspeedway racing. Despite being a relatively new kind of Superspeedway, the new Atlanta surface is aging expeditiously to where handling is already a big factor in the races. This is why New Atlanta is better than Daytona and Talladega because drivers are able to run any lane in the corners, get good runs without the help of other drivers as much as Daytona and Talladega, and best of all, don’t have to save fuel. Atlanta Superspeedway has gotten better since it initially came about in 2022, but no future race at the speedway will top this one. Throughout the entire race, drivers would always be racing hard for position, leading to a lot of two- and three-wide racing, shuffling for position, different leaders, and banzai moves being made. For example, with 50 laps to go, Cindric would dive to the bottom to make a FOUR-WAY pass for the lead. It was just unbelievable to see this kind of racing at a 1.5-mile track like Atlanta, which is a lot smaller and less narrow than Daytona and Talladega. The race was not perfect since Stage 1 started with a HUGE wreck and both Stage 1 and 3 dragged on longer than needed with several cautions coming out in quick succession. It was not a big issue as it made the race very unpredictable as to what could happen next and seeing some carnage in a race is fun, but it was too much to stomach. Regardless of everything that occurred in this race, the best part was, without a doubt, the finish. On the final lap heading into Turn 3, Busch split the middle between Blaney and Suarez, and all three drivers drag-raced to the line to finish in a tight, three-wide photo finish! 18 years after the movie, Cars, the three-wide photo finish between Lightning McQueen, Chick Hicks, and The King in the opening race became a reality. No matter if the track is a Superspeedway or Short Track, seeing a three-wide photo finish with the Top 3 being separated by 0.007 seconds is LEGENDARY and a finish that deserves to be in the NASCAR Finishes Hall of Fame.

  2. Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway – for anyone who wants to know why Homestead deserves to be the Championship finale venue again, look at this race to find out why. Homestead has always been good by having 4 different lanes to run in the corners, leading to a lot of passing opportunities, and with this car and Homestead’s old surface, this track as the Championship venue again would be a match made in heaven. The Gen 7 cars were not built with 1.5-mile tracks in mind, and when a type of racecar is uncomfortable at a type of racetrack, it normally produces better racing. During the race, even during the long green flag runs, there would be battles all throughout the field. The preferred line at Homestead is right against the wall, which makes it a little hard to pass and is why drivers like Larson and Reddick are always at the front in a Homestead race, but drivers could still make passes and move through the field. Another crucial aspect of how dramatic and intense this race turned out was that it was a Playoff race. No matter what anyone thinks of the Playoffs, they always ramp up the tension in the last ten races. The four drivers who dominated this race were Reddick, Blaney, Elliott, and Hamlin, and they were all Playoff drivers looking to win their way into the Championship 4. There would be some good battles for the lead between the four like at the end of Stage 2, Hamlin, on fresher tires, battled hard with Elliott for the lead. Nothing, however, could compare to the all-time amazing finish to this race. During the final set of green flag pit stops, Reddick tried a strategy of staying out as long as he could to hopefully catch a lucky break with a caution and force everyone to pit with him. That way, Reddick would have the track position needed to win the race. He never caught that lucky break, so eventually, he had to pit. Shortly after he did, Larson spun himself out while racing Blaney for the lead. Everyone on the lead lap pitted, but since Reddick was still on fresh tires, he decided to stay out and take the lead. On the final restart, Hamlin powered by Reddick and Blaney to take over the lead. Blaney and Reddick stayed in Hamlin’s rearview mirror since they were faster than him. Blaney took the lead with two to go, but on the final lap, Reddick DROVE by Hamlin in Turns 1 and 2 and Blaney in Turns 3 and 4 to win the race and lock himself into the Championship 4!! So, not only did this race come down to strategy and a late-race restart, but it also came down to Reddick driving a heroic final lap to pass the two people in front of him to have a chance at the Championship. This was one of the best organic finishes in NASCAR history, and Reddick cemented himself as a legend with his amazing drive. An amazing race, for sure, but what could top this one as the best race of the year?

  1. AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway – The answer is a race that featured slightly better racing and a slightly more memorable and exciting finish. The spring Kansas race has been must-see TV for these last three years and the 2024 race was the best one. Kansas Speedway has become a multi-groove track ten+ years after it was last repaved, but the Gen 7 car is the perfect type of car for a track like Kansas because now, it is the raciest track on the circuit. It is racier than Homestead because Kansas does not have one groove that is more dominant than the others. Because of this, there would be passing or side-by-side battles all race long. For example, Chastain and Larson battled HARD for the lead by racing side-by-side and trading the lead back and forth for several laps in the late portions of Stage 1. It was some incredible stuff to watch and it shows one of the good things about this car; drivers can battle with someone for long periods. Speaking of leaders this race, just like Homestead, had multiple contenders for the lead or the win: Larson, Buescher, Hamlin, Chastain, and Truex. Chastain led early on, then Hamlin took the lead and won Stage 1. In Stage 2, Larson dominated the early portions before losing the lead during pit stops to Buescher, who won the second Stage. In Stage 3, Hamlin and Buescher battled for the lead for a long time before Buescher had his car start to fall off towards the end of the race. in the closing laps, the race was starting to come down to fuel mileage since the race was close to ending on a 60+ green flag lap run. Hamlin was trying to save fuel to make it to the finish while Truex was closing in on him rapidly. This race had a bit of everything; Great racing, multiple grooves, different leaders, and a fuel mileage race coming to the finish. However, this is one other thing this race had that Homestead did not, THE CLOSEST FINISH IN NASCAR CUP HISTORY. While Homestead has probably the best organic finish in NASCAR, Kansas had the closest, most nail-biting finish in NASCAR.  With seven to go, the caution flew for Busch spinning out from fourth place. Instead of being a fuel mileage race, it came down to a two-lap shootout. Hamlin won the race off pit road with Buescher coming out in second. On the restart, Larson, who was third, dove to the bottom to try and take the lead. Buescher emerged with the lead, but on the final lap in Turns 3 and 4, Larson sent it into the corner right next to the wall to get alongside Buescher. Larson then door-slammed Buescher twice and edged out Buescher by 0.001 OF A SECOND to win at Kansas. That is the new closest finish in NASCAR Cup history and was the perfect end to a race that was already an all-time classic beforehand. Homestead was nail-biting and dramatic, but the added factor of it being a Playoff race made it more exciting while Kansas did not need to be a Playoff race to be a near-perfect race.

  So now, for 2025, let us hope and pray we can get some more all-time great races and less frustrating or outright bad ones.