All posts by Motorsports Tribune

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – For the second consecutive week, Daytona International Speedway crowned a first time NASCAR Cup Series race winner. Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Christopher Bell, earned the honor Sunday on the track’s road course, taking the lead from Joey Logano with two laps to go and pulling away to a comfortable 2.119-second victory over the former series champion. Bell, 26, is the 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion and this is his second season at the premier level – his firstRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Ty Gibbs turned in a historic NASCAR Xfinity Series debut Saturday night, the 18-year-old won in his first series start – holding off reigning champion Austin Cindric on the Daytona International Speedway Road Course. Gibbs took the lead on a restart in double overtime and held off the field by a comfortable 1.726-seconds at the finish line, dropping to his knees to reflect after climbing out of his No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – a car owned by his grandfather, NASCAR Hall ofRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Ben Rhodes wrapped up a perfect pair of race outings at Daytona International Speedway answering his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory on the oval last week with a dramatic win Friday night on the infield road course. It took three overtime starts to secure the victory over 2020 series champion Sheldon Creed, but Rhodes’ work in the No. 99 ThorSport Racing Toyota marked only the third time in series history a driver has opened the season with back-to-back wins. And it marked theRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – More than an hour after Michael McDowell had officially claimed the most iconic winner’s trophy in NASCAR with a last lap push to the Daytona 500 checkered flag, the 36-year old Phoenix native was still insisting with a smile and a shake of his head that it was all “unbelievable”. It was a phrase he used over and over in the celebratory moments after his life-changing win. When he woke up Monday morning, he could more fully embrace the impactRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service In a stunning upset at the end of an action-filled, rain-interrupted Daytona 500, Front Row Motorsports driver Michael McDowell claimed his first NASCAR Cup Series victory after charging into the lead during a brutal multicar wreck in Turn 3 on the final lap. “I can’t believe it,” McDowell said. “I’ve got to thank God. So many years of just grinding it out, hoping for an opportunity like this. I’ve got to thank (team owner) Bob Jenkins for giving me this opportunity. I’m so thankful. Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Austin Cindric took up where he left off in 2020. The reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion held off Brett Moffitt and Harrison Burton in a two-lap NASCAR Overtime dash to win Saturday’s action-filled Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. 300 at Daytona International Speedway, the season-opener. Cindric, who locked up the Xfinity title by winning in his last outing at Phoenix Raceway in November, picked up his first victory on the 2.5-mile Daytona oval and the ninth of his career in the No. 22 TeamRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service With a gaggle of trucks wrecking behind him as the field approached the finish line, Ben Rhodes shot past Cory Roper in the tri-oval at Daytona International Speedway to win Friday night’s NextEra Energy 250, the 2021 season-opener for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. With a decisive push from ThorSport Racing teammate Matt Crafton on the final lap of an overtime shootout, Rhodes had more than enough momentum to charge past Roper in the final 400 yards. Likewise, Jordan Anderson blew past RoperRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Florida native Aric Almirola drove to a convincing victory in the opening Bluegreen Vacations Duel at Daytona qualifying race Thursday night at Daytona International Speedway. Almirola’s No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford led a dominating 52 of the 60 laps and held off Christopher Bell’s No 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota by a mere .041-seconds for the Tampa native’s first victory in the Daytona 500 field-setting race. Ryan Newman, who was involved in a frightening last lap crash in last year’sRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Alex Bowman swapped car numbers for the 2021 season – from 88 to 48 – but has certainly retained his Daytona magic, earning the pole position for Sunday’s Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), giving the Hendrick Motorsports driver a record fourth consecutive front row start in the NASCAR Cup Series season-opener. Bowman, 27, went out late in the qualifying order (38th of 44 drivers) Wednesday night – the first night-time pole qualifying session in race history –Read More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch may carry the nickname “Rowdy” but it was a couple of his competitors acting that way that allowed him to move into the lead out of the final turn and earn his second career Busch Clash victory Tuesday night. Busch’s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota led only the length of a football field en route to the checkered flag – the only time he was out front all night at the excitingRead More