User blog:Ajaxcupseries/2024 Ajax Cup Series Season Preview

The Fallon Corner - February 2024

It is incredibly hard to believe we are a little over two weeks away from kicking off yet another Speedweeks at Ajax Superspeedway, and 20 days from the season opening 11th Annual Ajax 200 that will get the 10th Modern Era Ajax Cup campaign underway.

In a year that will feature arguably the most competitive Craftsman Series field in history, the Ajax Cup stars are certainly no slouches either with five former champions and nine drivers with 5 career wins or more set to duke it out over a four month span to crown another champ come June 19th in Belltown.

Without further ado, lets delve into some of the biggest storylines to follow throughout the 2024 season:

Rise of the ASCA’s Next Superstar?
With Randle Woods and the Orkedi brothers entering their mid 30’s only having likely a few more competitive years left in them before Father Time takes away their generational talents once and for all, the question that’s been posed for years is - who will pick up the slack once these all time greats are gone?

While the rise of new household names such as Todd Kidd, Greg Healey, and most recently Cameron Atwood have been well documented, there’s been one driver that’s come up through the ranks as of late that’s turned everyone’s heads as a generational talent - that being Laquon Scransen.

No driver had EVER won a Craftsman championship, Cup Series Rookie of the Year honors, and MULTIPLE Cup Series races before their 21st birthday…..until Scransen became the first to do so last year.

The Compton native is the definition of the young highly regarded prospect that ALL ASCA team owners have spent the modern era vying for - except for his rash of off the field shenanigans.

While Scransen has broken many ASCA records in his short tenure in the sport to date, he’s also been arrested numerous times, taken to court on multiple occasions, and was just released from prison a couple days ago with a suspended sentence still looming over his head.

The kid has the potential to be something special which is something not very many drivers can say, BUT that’s only if he can find a way to reign in his off track antics in the years to come.

Are the Veterans Running Out of Time?
Gone are the days when Randle Woods, Diego Orkedi, and Nick Orkedi were considered the fresh, young faces taking over the sport.

As mentioned earlier, these three active Cup champions at the top of the Cup Series all time wins list are now all in their mid 30’s and above - meaning that instead of talking about the trio chasing championships in their prime, the discussion is now about the dreaded r word as fans and pundits alike know that it’s coming sooner than later.

But will Father Time intervene and force these ASCA legends to retire sooner than expected?

The Orkedi Bros may not have to worry about this for another couple years unless either of them sees a stark Jimmy Hood type regression in 2024, but this could be a more serious issue for Randle Woods as at age 36 he’s now the second oldest driver in the sport. At least a slight dip in performance is expected around this age, unless your name is Jesse Price III or Dan Rodgers.

It’ll be an interesting season following these veterans and seeing if their time at the top of the sport is truly up once and for all.

The Most Star Studded Race in ADRA History?
Five Ajax Cup champions, a multi time Circle K Cup champion, a multi time Smithfield Cup champion, and a Chick Fil A Cup champion for good measure.

Those are just a few of the household names either scheduled or rumored to be competing in this year’s 14th Annual Windows 300, making it more of an ADRA All Star Race rather than your run of the mill Ajax Cup event!

With the popularity of the ASCA continuing to grow year after year, it makes sense that the sport’s most prestigious race continues to build more and more allure as drivers from all different types of ranks want an opportunity to capture the biggest race trophy currently in the ADRA.

CKCS legend Ryan Taylor, SFCS superstar Brandon Books, and reigning Panhead Cup champion Marco Garidelli have tried, but quickly been humbled by the sheer competition level it takes to run well at the Ajax Cup level these days. However, their failed attempts have inspired a whole new cast of characters to throw their hat in the ring and give this Windows 300 thing a shot.

So far in the modern era, no driver not competing full time on the Ajax Cup tour has ever won a Cup race, but with household names like Jesse Price III and Andy Moore, legends in their own right in their respective series’ throwing their hat in the ring, if there’s any time that stat could change it certainly seems like it’d be this year.

Mark April 25th at 7 PM EST down on your calendar folks, because right now its shaping up as a night that will forever be remembered in ASCA lore.

Season 10 Breakout Star - Jared Ayers
Last year, I finally got this prediction right for the first time in forever, picking Shane Park again to have a career year which he did with his first career win and a top 10 points finish.

This time around though, I’ll be taking a different approach to this question, picking an already established name who’s been on the downtrend the past three years: Jared Ayers.

I think its been well established that Jared Ayers has talent, and lots of it at this point in his career. You don’t finish top 5 in points as a second year driver without it.

However, the problem for the Daytona Beach native is that he seems to find himself in the garage area more often than not - sometimes of his own doing, sometimes at the fault of others.

The biggest problem with this No. 20 team has certainly not been pace, with Ayers leading well over 150 laps the past couple years, but just finishing races in general. The Daytona Beach native has 12 DNF’s in his last 32 starts…..those kinds of numbers are NOT going to have you anywhere close to winning a title in a championship format that heavily rewards consistency.

Over the course of the offseason, Michael White had a long discussion with his 25 year old successor, telling him to turn his aggressiveness down quite a few notches just to start keeping his car in one piece.

This is a discussion that has been long overdue for Ayers, and if he heeds his team owner’s advice I’ll predict a multi win season with a top 5 points finish for one of the sport’s most talented young drivers.

And the Winner of the 14th Annual Windows 300 will be….
With all the talk about Andy Moore, Jesse Price III, and Logan Paulsen giving the Windows 300 a go for the first time, you’d have to consider them the odds on favorites to win the ASCA’s biggest race - right?

That’s where you’d be mistaken, my friend.

The Ajax Cup regulars are still the favorites in my book with the basically free extra week of practice they get thanks to the All-Star race, and because of that I’ll be going EXTREMELY bold by picking Laquon Scransen to become the second youngest 300 winner in history.

While the Compton native of course scored his first career win in extremely controversial fashion at Computer Motor Speedway last year, people forget that Scransen took the lead away from Cameron Atwood on track early in the race and ran inside the top 5 all night before his infamous incident with Chris Barrymore.

With Chevrolet investing heavily in their new Camaro ZL1 1LE model to preform on high speed aerodynamic sensitive tracks such as CMS, we’ve seen what Scransen can do already in lackluster equipment here…..imagine what he’ll be capable of in one of the best cars in the field.

If I’m the competition, I’d be VERY scared of that No. 42 come April 25th.

And the 2024 Ajax Cup Champion will be……
How does a driver manage to finish top three in points each of the last four seasons, and top five in points the last SIX straight years but STILL not win a championship?

You’ll have to ask Todd Kidd to answer that question for you, and even I don’t think he can at this point.

However, a driver that followed a very similar career trajectory to this was Randle Woods, and of course eventually his consistency as a perennial championship contender finally paid off in 2019.

I see a very indistinguishable scenario like that playing out for the Silicon Valley native a half decade later.

As mentioned earlier, Chevrolet invested heavily in the new Camaro model, and their number one customers has been and likely always will be Ronnie Woods Motorsports. You don’t think the manufacturer planned this upgrade out as the one key ingredient missing to put the California Kidd over the top as the championship favorite this year?

Its also important to remember that Todd Kidd isn’t exactly a kid anymore. This is a 28 year old who’s now engaged with a kid on the way, and entering his NINTH full time season at the Cup level - now one of the longest tenured drivers in the sport.

While his championship window certainly isn’t closing anytime soon, with fellow new faces Greg Healey and Cameron Atwood crowning themselves as champions the past couple years, it’ll be Kidd’s turn to do so in 2024.

With that being said, that wraps up my preview of the 10th Modern Era Ajax Cup season!

This will be a historic campaign for many reasons with a vastly different calendar and numerous different storylines to follow, so I expect the on track product to be the best its EVER been over the course of the next four months!