2016 Tag

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor All week long, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was pegged as everyone’s odds-on favorite to win the Daytona 500. Earnhardt’s car, dubbed Amelia, had shown so much speed and had shown incredible handling through qualifying, the Can-Am Duel qualifying race and every practice session. During Sunday’s Daytona 500, Earnhardt started off strong from the third position. Earnhardt knifed his way past his teammate, Chase Elliott for the lead on lap four. Earnhardt held the point to lead 15 circuits early on in the race, and it honestly looked likeRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor In the scariest moment of the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona, Christopher Bell went for a wild and dangerous ride. As the field restarted the race in overtime, Bell had rebounded from early misfortune to have a shot at victory. When the field reached the white flag, Bell’s focus went from winning to just being healthy. A wild pack of trucks weaving in and out triggered a massive melee, which sent Bell tumbling. Bell’s truck flipped anywhere from eight to 10 times in aRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – With the No. 4 Toyota of Christopher Bell barrel-rolling through Turn 1 behind him, Johnny Sauter nosed ahead in his No. 21 Chevrolet and had more than a car-length lead when NASCAR called the final caution of the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway. With the victory, Sauter is all but guaranteed a spot in the first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chase, a seven-race playoff modeled after the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. But Sauter neededRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor A few years ago, Ryan Truex’s future seemed destined for greatness. Then the reality of stock car racing slapped the young driver’s hopes down, and heading into the 2016 season, Truex had no idea where — or if — he’d drive this season. Then came an unexpected call from Shigeaki Hattori, a former IndyCar driver turned Truck Series driver, turned car owner from Japan. Hattori had a place for Truex in his newly formed No. 81 Toyota Tundra with sponsorship from Goodyear. Truex said, sure and a few weeksRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor When the 20-minute caution clock was announced for the 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season, NASCAR claimed made the rule change to create more strategy for crew chiefs in the series. Many fans and media alike feared that it would dull the series down with green-flag pit stops being eliminated. Friday night at Daytona International Speedway, the caution clock actually caused a crash on lap 41 when several drivers opted to pit just before the clock was to expire in an effort to gainRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor It’s no secret that Dale Earnhardt Jr. likes his car for this weekend’s Daytona 500. Earnhardt raced this very car in all four restrictor plate events last season, and with it he recorded two wins, and an average finish of 1.8. Earnhardt’s great luck with the car that he has named ‘Amelia’ continued in Thursday night’s Can-Am Duel qualifying race. “I was so nervous today about tearing the car up because I know how good it is versus what we have,” Earnhardt said. “What weRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor Wow, I’m speechless. If you would have asked me at the beginning of Speedweeks which teams would have four cars on the final grid for the Daytona 500, I would have obviously answered Hendrick, Stewart-Haas, Joe Gibbs Racing — but never in my wildest dreams did I think BK Racing would pull off the feat. For the mega teams I listed above, they are part of the new team charter system, which ensures that all of their cars will make every race in 2016 — BK RacingRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Retaking the lead with five laps left in the first of Thursday night’s Can-Am Duel 150-mile qualifying races, Dale Earnhardt Jr. cruised to a dominating victory and grabbed the third staring spot for Sunday’s Daytona 500. In the second Duel, reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kyle Busch took the checkered flag under caution after a wild last-lap wreck took out the cars of Jimmie Johnson, Martin Truex Jr., Matt Kenseth, AJ Allmendinger and Danica Patrick and damaged the No.Read More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor 17 years ago Dale Earnhardt Jr. was a talented, young up-and-coming driver, fresh off of a championship in the NASCAR XFINITY (then Busch) Series, who had a very famous last name which helped push expectations to an unreasonable level. Sound familiar? If so, it’s probably because it’s nearly the exact same scenario that Chase Elliott finds himself in as he heads into his maiden voyage in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. On Tuesday at Daytona 500 Media Day, Earnhardt hit the topic of his newRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer Throughout the last week much of the talk surrounding Ryan Blaney and The Wood Brothers Racing Team has been about the new charter system and their lack of a charter. After Daytona 500 qualifying was in the record books on Sunday afternoon, Blaney was one of two open teams to be locked in to the Great American Race on speed. The other driver locked in on speed based on qualifying was Matt Dibenedetto. When asked what it means to be locked into the Daytona 500,Read More