NASCAR Category

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer For nearly 30 years, restrictor plates and both Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway have been viewed as the ‘great equalizers’ for all three of NASCAR’s National Series. Restrictor plates reduce horsepower, and in turn, keep speeds in check, but they also keep the field in a ‘draft-lock’ like situation. These ‘draft-lock’ packs are prone to massive wrecks that often involve 10 or more cars. In the Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 for the NASCAR Xfinity Series, less than half of the field avoided both of theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The major story of Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola – Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s final run at his beloved Daytona International Speedway in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – turned out to be a footnote to Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s masterful victory in a war of attrition that produced a race-record 14 cautions. The driver of the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, who got his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory in his 158th career start twoRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Every year, the underdog teams of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series circle the restrictor plate tracks of Daytona and Talladega as their chances to finish in the top-10 or contend for a race win, and Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 was yet another example of those tracks serving as the great equalizer. Along with Michael McDowell finishing fourth, two other underdog teams, Front Row Motorsports (David Ragan) and Beard Motorsports (Brendan Gaughan), brought home top-10 finishes, with their respective sixth and seventh place finishesRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer For the first time in his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career, Michael McDowell scores a top five finish in the Coke Zero 400. McDowell finished fourth after aggressively working his way up through the field in the No. 95 WRL General Contractors Chevrolet SS. In addition to scoring his career best finish in NASCAR’s Premier series, McDowell scored Championship Points in Stage 1. He finished the stage in the sixth position, netting five points. The biggest moment of the race for McDowell came whenRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer The Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway was filled with impressive runs for the 2017 Sunoco Rookie of the Year (ROTY) contenders in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. All four of the ROTY contenders have had experience at the 2.5-mile restrictor plate track. Erik Jones finished in ninth in the No. 77 Sport Clips Toyota Camry after a late spin sent him outside the Top 20. In the short run after the spin, Jones somehow made his way through the chaos that isRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor At a track where he had triumphed 17 times over the course of his career, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. came into Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona looking to put some of his restrictor plate magic to good use and try to win one more time on the 2.5-mile track, but the stars just didn’t align for Earnhardt as two crashes would relegate him to a 32nd place finish. After two straight top-10 finishes in the races leading into Daytona, followed up by a poleRead More

By: Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – In a wild race that ended more than 21 hours after it started, William Byron won his second NASCAR XFINITY Series event in seven days, taking the checkered flag in overtime in Saturday’s weather-delayed Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 at Daytona International Speedway. Byron took the lead from Joey Logano on Lap 98 of a scheduled 100, when off-center contact from Byron’s front bumper sent Logano’s No. 22 Ford plowing through the infield grass below the backstretch. “I was just trying to pushRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer  For the first time in his NASCAR Xfinity Series career, Jeb Burton earned a top five finish. Like his teammate Dakoda Armstrong, and fellow competitor David Starr, he scored his best career finish at Daytona International Speedway, finishing fourth in the Coca-Cola Firecracker 250. All of this comes even though Burton is not running a full season, his last start coming at Bristol Motor Speedway back in April in the No. 24 Estes Express Lines Toyota Camry. Burton squeezed through ‘The Big One’ with twoRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer For the second week in a row Dakoda Armstrong scores not only a top five finish, but improves his career best NASCAR Xfinity Series finish. Last week at Iowa Speedway, Armstrong tied his career best finish, fifth. This weekend at Daytona International Speedway, he survived ‘The Big One’ on his way to finishing third in the No. 28 WinField United Toyota Camry. Not only did Armstrong earn his best career finish in the Coca-Cola Firecracker 250, but he also earned stage points for just theRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer For the third year in a row, Bobby Pierce will No. 63 Premier Waste Services / Allgayer / Oakwood Tire Chevrolet Silverado for MB Motorsports at Eldora Speedway. There, Pierce and the team will attempt to finally win the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Aspen Dental 150 after coming up short in the two previous attempts. Two years ago, Pierce exploded onto the scene, earning the pole and tearing the Silverado apart en-route to a second-place finish. Last year, he dominated before spinning late andRead More