The NASCAR Cup Series teams have been looking forward to this week for nearly 300 days.
On October 4, 2023, NASCAR announced its schedule for 2024. It was announced that the Cup Series teams would not stop racing until the two-week Olympic break after their race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It is the only travel-free weekend of the year before the series continues on August 9 at Richmond Raceway and ends on November 10 with the finale at Phoenix Raceway.
The Cup Series has now been competing for 21 consecutive weeks. It’s finally time to take a breather and start over.
“It’s definitely time for our traveling guys to get some time (off),” said Travis Geisler, Team Penske’s director of competition. “We’re trying to figure out how to add up the days and make sure everyone has some sort of two-week period off. They knew that in advance so they could plan their vacation with their families and actually use the time.”
“When people get time off in this industry, it’s often, ‘This is your day.’ You can’t really take advantage of it. We thought it was really important that everyone gets the opportunity to take advantage of the time, and I think everyone has good plans and is ready to take advantage of them.”
The approach to the break will be different for each Cup Series organization. Hendrick Motorsports, Spire Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing, Rick Ware Racing, Legacy Motor Club and Trackhouse Racing will close their workshops for a period of time.
Hendrick Motorsports will close Wednesday through Sunday, giving its employees a long weekend. However, some may add extra days on their own time, and the company will support those who do. Chad Knaus, vice president of competition for Hendrick Motorsports, said the organization will also close its communication channels during the three quiet days.
“If we encourage everyone to take time off, it reduces the number of emails, texts and everything else you inevitably check,” Knaus said. “So we wanted to get to the point where the whole company is trying to unplug and take a breather, because even when you’re on vacation, people are still emailing you or asking questions. It never stops.”
Spire Motorsports President Doug Duchardt believes the organization will be quiet after Indianapolis this week, especially for the people traveling. Richard Childress Racing is giving the shop Wednesday through Tuesday off. Torrey Galida, the team’s president, talked about the organization looking for a way to make the most of both weekends.
“We made this announcement probably about two months ago and everyone was really happy,” Galida said. “It gave them time to plan something if they hadn’t already. The street people will be different, they already have their own schedule, but for all the shop people – top to bottom – it will be a week off.”
The last day of work for Stewart-Haas employees is Thursday. The company will remain closed until November 10th and will then resume normal operations on August 5th.
Rick Ware Racing is also taking a split week off. Legacy Motor Club is giving its employees the day off by closing the first week of the break, and Trackhouse Racing will take a split week with closures from Thursday through Monday. JTG Daugherty is also planning to close for a few days, according to crew chief Mike Kelley in a recent interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
A complete shutdown of the industry, similar to Formula 1’s summer break, never materialized, although some advocated it. Brad Keselowski was one of them. Keselowski, the co-owner of RFK Racing, told Kevin Harvick last month that he had lobbied vehemently for team owners to find common ground during the Olympic break.
Keselowski feels this is the perfect time to put the Olympics front and center while NASCAR teams recover. With no other free weekend in the first half of the year, there was no better time to implement such a strategy.
“Unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears,” Keselowski said. “It’s one of those things where all the team owners have to be on board; it can’t be half of them or it won’t work. And it’s really hard to get all the team owners in that mindset.”
NASCAR has no guidelines for breaks between teams (like F1 rules) or how teams should manage their staff. Since there is no consensus on how to handle the Olympic break, each team is doing what it feels is right. And for some, that means business as usual.
Joe Gibbs Racing, for example, will remain open but encourage its employees to take time off. Dave Alpern, the team’s president, joked that he could guarantee Joe Gibbs would work. Kaulig Racing also will not close but will adjust its hours so that everyone has about a week off.
Cup Series teams have to consider a few different variables. The employees who work in the race shop every day, those who work in the shop and then travel, and the pit crews who arrive on race day. Typically, the latter have their own schedule, practice during the week, and have any other commitments within the organization or outside of racing.
It will likely be a similar routine for pit crews during the Olympic break, but the focus on giving travel crews and garage staff a break has been a key theme for Cup Series teams as they look at this part of the calendar.
“I don’t know if any of the road crew will be there the first week,” said Jerry Freeze, general manager of Front Row Motorsports. “I believe the plan is that the travel guys won’t be there the first week and it’ll be kind of like days off. Then the second week they’ll come back and start preparing for (Richmond).”
Denny Hamlin trusts his management team to do what’s best for 23XI Racing. Hamlin, the co-owner of 23XI Racing, praised the organization for knowing how to keep everyone fresh during a season by rotating road crew people. He believes it will be the same during the break by taking time off for a break.
And Keselowski is taking the same approach. Since his idea of an industry-wide shutdown hasn’t been implemented, he’s decided to ask the company’s department heads how to best use the next two weeks.
“The last thing you want to do as a leader is to push your management team away,” Keselowski said. “So I follow them and strongly encourage them to take the opportunity to rest and take the time to sharpen their axe and come back even stronger.”
Richmond will be the first race of a 14-race series to conclude the season.
