Five worst underperforming NASCAR drivers in 2024

Due to the inherent unpredictability of auto racing, it's extremely hard to predict who will be among the championship favorites at the start of every NASCAR season. Some drivers who had expectations coming into 2024 have met or exceeded them, while a few unfortunate men have fallen well short of their prior goals.

These are the five NASCAR Cup Series drivers who have failed to perform like they were expected to through the first 22 races of the season.

Kyle Busch

Let's go for the low-hanging fruit first. Busch is having the worst year of his career, and there seems to be little hope that the No. 8 team — or Richard Childress Racing as a whole — will turn things around. While it's true that a matter of inches at Atlanta could be the difference in Busch missing the playoffs, a single win wouldn't have changed the outlook of Busch's 2024 season — the two-time champ is just plain slow.

Zane Smith

Smith deserves his flowers for an uptick in performance over the last month — including a career-best runner-up effort at Nashville — but 33rd in points is far from what anyone was expecting from the 2022 Truck Series champion. Smith has the potential to blossom into a Cup Series star, but with fellow rookie Carson Hocevar beating him every week, it's time for Smith to do some soul-searching before his 2025 plans are decided for him.

Corey LaJoie

LaJoie has been harped on enough at this point, so here's a basic summary — his rookie teammate is outrunning him consistently, he's making few friends in the garage and his car seems to be magnetically attracted to the tow truck. In Year 4 at Spire Motorsports, LaJoie is running out of both time and excuses to perform, and working with legendary crew chief Rodney Childers in 2025 may be his last chance.

Ross Chastain

Now just seven points above the cut line with four regular-season races to go, Chastain — and Trackhouse as a whole — need to find some source of speed in the worst way. Not all of Chastain's misfortune this season can be placed on his shoulders, but if there was ever a time for the watermelon farmer to revert to his more aggressive tactics, it would be now.

Austin Dillon

If you're wondering why Dillon gets the nod over the likes of Harrison Burton, Daniel Suarez and Austin Cindric, it's because his aging teammate has somehow carried the shell of Richard Childress Racing to the playoff cut line. Dillon's future in the cockpit seems to hold nothing but vanity for RCR's future, and with a young talent in Jesse Love waiting in the wings, it may be in the best interest of both RCR and Dillon if he decides to move from the driver's seat to the executive suite.