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Front Row Motorsports changes alliance from RFK Racing to Team Penske

Originally posted on 5 GOATs | By Jonathan Howard | Last updated 1/18/24

The 2024 season is going to be a little different for Front Row Motorsports. They are changing their technical alliance. Front Row was paired up with RFK Racing. Now, the NASCAR team is going to join up with Team Penske.

Strategic alliances for smaller teams are common. Bigger teams have resources that are just too much for other teams to afford. By bringing on a smaller team, it can be beneficial to both organizations.

I think that this could be very fruitful for Front Row. They have momentum going into 2024 after Michael McDowell won at Indianapolis on the road course and made his way to the playoffs. Todd Gilliland is back, he is good friends with Harrison Burton who is part of that Wood Brothers/Penske group.

RFK Racing is going to have Rick Ware Racing in their building for 2024. It feels like that partnership might be more long-term than it appears. So, it makes sense for Front Row to see the writing on the wall and move to another organization.

More engineers, more resources, prep work can be done sooner and then focus can be put on making the race cars as fast as possible.

Travis Peterson, crew chief for McDowell talked about the move on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio this week.

Crew chief @TRAVIS_P3TERSON told #TMDNASCAR that @Team_FRM switch technical alliances from @RFKracing to back-to-back Cup Series champions @Team_Penske for 2024.

"The smaller teams like us kind of have to do things like that to survive." pic.twitter.com/bZcTY4DvO5
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) January 16, 2024

2024 could be a big season for Front Row Motorsports, or a step back. The new playoff format with Watkins Glen in the Round of 16 puts McDowell in a position to make, not just the Round of 12, but the Round of 8 as well.

You can’t do much better than teaming up with the back-to-back Cup Series champions.

Front Row Motorsports hopes for more in 2024

While it was great to see Michael McDowell win and make his way to the playoffs, I’m excited to see what Todd Gilliland does in 2024. He is the missing link here. McDowell is a great superspeedway and road course driver, Gilliland is supposed to have roughly the same skillset.

The only issue is that we haven’t seen Gilliland really show out. On road courses especially, he has to show that he can compete. McDowell needs someone to help push him on superspeedways as well. He can’t just count on another random Ford to do it.

For Front Row Motorsports to reach its full potential, Gilliland has to start earning those top-10s and top-5s. No one expects him to win a race in 2024, but helping McDowell as much as possible is the bare minimum, I think.

Zane Smith looked like he was going to take Gilliland’s seat in 2024, but instead went to Trackhouse Racing via Spire Motorsports. Hopefully, Todd can make Front Row glad that they made that decision.

This article first appeared on 5 GOATs and was syndicated with permission.

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