It was the 69th season of the National Hot Rod Association's top drag racing competition. The NHRA will have 20 Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock events, marking the first time since 2018 that Pro Stock car will compete the full season.[2] Pro Stock Motorcycle is competing in 15 events this season.[1] There will be All-Star Call Out races, which are based on a format used by the Discovery television program Street Outlaws: No Prep Kings, where the drivers select their opponents in early rounds.[3]
On October 25, 2023, Camping World, which had been the title sponsor of the series since late 2020 in a four-and-a-half-year contract, and the NHRA agreed to relinquish naming rights sponsorship in renewing its NHRA professional category sponsorship while expanding to premier partner status that includes professional and sportsman series sponsorship for the next three seasons through 2026.[4] That allowed the NHRA that day to announce Mexican food producer Gruma, S.A.B. de C.V. will become the new naming rights sponsor of the series.[5] Gruma will promote their Mission Foods brand, which also expands their Mission Foods Challenge to all 14 regular season rounds in 2024, unlike 2023 when the event was not scheduled for the two four-wide rounds.
On November 9, 2023, the NHRA announced Virginia Motorsports Park in Dinwiddie, Virginia will return to the schedule to fill the June unannounced date that replaces Denver on the schedule. Originally planned to be a three-day event, the NHRA announced on April 2, 2024 that the event would be modified to a two-day format with three qualifying sessions taking place on Saturday.[6]
The season was originally scheduled for 21 races with one unannounced date. The unannounced date was anticipated to be held at I-70 Motorsports Park in Odessa, Missouri and would replace the Heartland Nationals event, held at Heartland Motorsports Park in Shawnee County, Kansas, which closed because of land and tax disputes between circuit ownership and the local government. The NHRA announced on March 10, 2024 that the planned Odessa round will not take place in 2024 because the drag strip, which during development was called the new Kansas City International Raceway and later Central Power Raceway, is still under construction.[7] That circuit opened April 11, 2024 for competition.
Schedule
Schedule released August 31, 2023. Last revision March 10, 2024
2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Schedule[1]
^Because of the Winternationals being abandoned after the semifinals, two finals were held at the Arizona Nationals. The first is the Saturday final, which was conducted for those who were involved with the abandoned Pomona race.[8]
Additional rules for specially marked races
4 Lanes: The Nationals in both Las Vegas and Charlotte in the spring will compete with cars on four lanes.
All cars will qualify on each lane as all four lanes will be used in qualifying.
Three rounds with cars using all four lanes.
In Rounds One and Two, the top two drivers (of four) will advance to the next round.
The pairings are set as follows:
Race One: 1, 8, 9, 16
Race Two: 4, 5, 12, 13
Race Three: 2, 7, 10, 15
Race Four: 3, 6, 11, 14
Semifinal One: Top two in Race One and Race Two
Semifinal Two: Top two in Race Three and Race Four
Finals: Top two in Semifinal One and Semifinal Two
Lane choice determined by times in previous round. In first round, lane choice determined by fastest times.
Drivers who advance in Rounds One and Two will receive 20 points for each round advancement.
In Round Three, the winner of the race will be declared the race winner and will collect 40 points. The runner-up will receive 20 points. Third and fourth place drivers will be credited as semifinal losers.
1.5: The U. S. Nationals and In-N-Out Burger Finals will have their race points increased by 50% . Drivers who qualify but are eliminated in the first round receive 30 points, and each round win is worth 30 points. The top four receive 10, 9, 8, and 7 points, respectively, for qualifying positions, with the 5–6 drivers receiving 6 points, 7–8 drivers receiving 5 points, 9–12 receiving 4 points, and 13–16 receiving 3 points. Also, the top four, not three, drivers after each session receive points for fastest times in each round (4-3-2-1).
TF/FC/PS/PSM CO: All-Star Call Out competition for that category.
Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge
The Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge is a collaboration between NHRA and Mission Foods, introduced in the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series.[9] The challenge spices up Saturday qualifying schedule at regular-season events. Semifinalists from the previous race compete anew, culminating in a final during the last qualifying session. Winners gain a purse, as well as bonus points.
Bonus points are awarded as follows:
Winner (3)
Runner-up (2)
Quickest losing semifinalist (1)
Bonus points earned from the challenge will be added to a driver’s total points at the start of the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.
^Only one round of the challenge was completed in Pomona due to weather. The semifinal winners will share the final round purse in each category, with no bonus championship points being awarded. In Top Fuel, Shawn Langdon and Steve Torrence advanced to the final, while J.R. Todd and Austin Prock both won their matchups in Funny Car. The Pro Stock winners were Erica Enders and Dallas Glenn.
^ abcdeVehicle class did not compete at this event.
^Pro Stock Car will not participate in the Challenge at Route 66 due to the Pro Stock All-Star Call Out taking place
^Pro Stock Motorcycle will not participate in the Challenge at Sonoma due to the Pro Stock Motorcycle All-Star Call Out taking place
