Perhaps the dark horse team to keep an eye on during the NASCAR Cup Series season is Spire Motorsports.

Founded in 2018, Spire has quickly evolved from a field filler to field disruptor as the team enters the upcoming season hoping to make another leap to become a contender.

With a mixture of experience and youth within its three-driver lineup, the team may be in for a monumental season.

Heading into the new year, veteran Michael McDowell anchors the teams driver stable alongside Justin Haley and reigning rookie of the year Carson Hocevar.

Haleys Cup Series career started at Spire, where the team scored a rain-shortened victory in the summer at Daytona (Fla.) Intl Speedway during its inaugural season.

Since then, the Indiana native has made stops at Kaulig Racing and Rick Ware Racing. With only eight races left last year, Spire and RWR traded drivers as Corey LaJoie landed with RWR while Haley returned to his old stomping grounds.

According to Haley, the atmosphere was very different from the version of Spire Motorsports he had previously driven for.

Jeff Dickersons (co-owner) been open about this, Haley began. When I was originally there, we were just trying to get to the track and trying to figure out how to get to the race track and be competitive.

Now its, How do we win? I think thats on every banner in there. Every goal, every calendar is just to win and thats all that matters anymore. They definitely have hired the right people to win and they have acquired the right assets and car components to win.

Just getting the best of the best and things like that and building the best of the best, Haley continued. It was definitely interesting coming back at the end of the year. It was definitely different for all of us and I was trying to get acclimated into a situation.

Get acclimated with a crew chief that Id never worked with and the spotter I never worked with, just for it all to go away in seven races. Normally you have an offseason to prepare for that. Things like, me and Rodney have been in talks every day preparing. Weve had meetings. Weve been together.

Jumping back into that thing at Kansas and I had a Tuesday meeting and that was it. It was definitely different.

What a crazy year, this year has been. Kind of took a chance and feel like it paid off for whatever reason that is and trying to make the best of it going forward.

Haley will have a strong leader to lean on with Rodney Childers serving as his crew chief.

As the 2014 Cup Series champion alongside driver Kevin Harvick, Childers was arguably Spires biggest signing as he brings a title-winning pedigree to an up-and-coming race team.

As the season is set to begin this weekend with the CookOut Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium exhibition race, Haley believes the team is in a strong position, stating, I feel like we have the best of everything.

We might not have as many employees, or as many parts as the big teams or what have you, but we have enough, Haley affirmed. We have more than enough to go win any given week.

Its definitely a situation that Ive never been in that we go to the race track and are like, Wow, we have everything here. Its definitely different for me. Im excited for it.