Cup Category

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – In the hours before his final Daytona 500 start, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson was riding bikes with his wife and two young daughters in the infield, enjoying the sunny Florida day and the good vibes before NASCAR’s highest profile green flag flew. On the grid before the race, Johnson’s daughters took turns sitting in the driver’s seat of their dad’s famed No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. And then moments later, their father rolled off and into theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Brendan Gaughan caps final Daytona 500 with career-best finish DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – With 10 laps left in his final Daytona 500, Brendan Gaughan was two laps down. Two quick cautions, however—the last one coming on Lap 199 of a scheduled 200—got Gaughan back on the lead lap as the highest-scored lapped car just in time for the first of two overtimes. Gaughan made the most of the opportunity, driving up to seventh place by the time the race reached its chaotic conclusion, withRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – With the car of Ryan Newman sliding upside-down trailing sparks behind him, Denny Hamlin joined elite company on Monday night in the second-closest finish in Daytona 500 history. Hamlin beat Ryan Blaney to the finish line at Daytona International Speedway by .014 seconds, and while the driver of the No. 11 celebrated with a burnout on the infield grass, the emergency crew worked to extricate Newman from his No. 6 Ford, which came to rest on its roof at theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Rain stopped the Daytona 500 after 20 laps of a scheduled 200 Sunday afternoon, forcing postponement of the Great American Race until Monday afternoon at 4 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were the centerpiece of pre-race festivities. After addressing the crowd, President Trump gave the command to start engines and paced the field for a lap before returning to the Daytona 500 Club. Jimmie Johnson, starting hisRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – As the 40-car field for Sunday’s 62nd running of the Daytona 500 rolls toward the green flag this afternoon, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. will have the best view of anyone as he starts the race from the pole position. The Olive Branch, Mississippi native may be in a new home with JTG-Daugherty Racing in 2020, but he is no stranger to success on the restrictor plate tracks, having won at both Daytona and Talladega in 2017. With that past success in his backRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Entering his 16th Daytona 500, Martin Truex, Jr. will be strapping in the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry for the first time without long time crew chief Cole Pearn. Ushering a new era will be James Small, who will be on top of the No. 19 pit box for the first time. However, there isn’t much of a void since Pearn ended his NASCAR career during the off-season. In fact, it’s business as usual for Truex who’ll look to haveRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – On Sunday, Denny Hamlin will be going for his second-straight Daytona 500 victory and third in the last five years, but the driver of the No. 11 Toyota at Joe Gibbs Racing wasn’t always a favorite on the superspeedways. It took Hamlin getting schooled by restrictor plate masters like Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Tony Stewart to turn him from an also-ran at Daytona and Talladega to becoming a perennial favorite at those types of tracks. “People think of us a lot ofRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – On paper, John Hunter Nemechek is listed as a Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender in the NASCAR Cup Series. But in the eyes of his Front Row Motorsports teammates Michael McDowell and David Ragan, John Hunter has the advantage over the other rookies. This is due in most part of John Hunter spending years years in the garage with his father Joe Nemechek, which his teammates view as an absolute benefactor to his racing experience. McDowell said last Sunday at theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Joey Logano grabbed the lead on the final lap of the first Bluegreen Vacations Duel 150-mile qualifying race Thursday at Daytona International Speedway and held on for the win, but a wreck at the halfway point dashed Daniel Suarez’s prospects of competing in his first Daytona 500 with his new team Gaunt Brothers Racing. In the second Duel, William Byron made a late charge to edge Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson for the victory by .117 seconds and will startRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The final two spots for Sunday’s 62nd Daytona 500 spot have been set as Reed Sorenson and Timmy Hill got themselves into the race after Thursday’s Bluegreen Vacations Duel at Daytona International Speedway while crashes eliminated Daniel Suarez and J.J. Yeley from making the 40-car grid. In Race No. 1, Suarez’s misfortune became Sorenson’s gain as the 16-year NASCAR Cup Series veteran locks his way into Sunday’s Daytona 500 via qualifying speed after Justin Haley (who was already in as the fastestRead More