Daytona 500 Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Ford has struck the first blow of Speedweeks. Despite rolling into Daytona with the unknown of its new Mustang Dark Horse body for 2024, the Blue Oval brigade will have the best seat in the house to start Sunday’s 66th running of the Daytona 500 after Joey Logano and Michael McDowell locked out the front row in pole qualifying on Wednesday night. Logano, the 2015 Daytona 500 champion and two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, powered his No. 22 Team Penske Ford around the 2.5-mile superspeedway inRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — As Denny Hamlin sat at the dais in the Daytona International Speedway media center, a photo recalling the history he hopes to achieve hung on the wall to his immediate left. It was a Victory Lane shot of NASCAR Hall of Famer Cale Yarborough, holding the Harley J. Earl Award the earned by winning the 1977 DAYTONA 500. Yarborough, who died in December at age 84, won the Great American Race four times, second only to the seven victories achievedRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Winning the Daytona 500 brings its perks, especially for a single-car organization like JTG-Daugherty Racing. Although most of the praise goes to Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., who won his first NASCAR Cup Series race since July 2017, history was also made in the 65th renewal of “The Great American Race.” Daugherty became the first African-American owner to win NASCAR’s most prestigious event, but wasn’t around to see Stenhouse win big. Due to recently having eye surgery 10 days before, the Florida sunlight bothered Daugherty, so in theRead More

It means a lot to the two-time Xfinity champion to represent the discipline.Read More

The finish that could have been sticks with me more than what wasRead More

By Matt Weaver, Special Contributor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Brad Keselowski was released from the infield care center at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday night and proceeded to walk directly to his waiting golf cart and set sail into the distance. The disappointment was palpable. Keselowski led six times for a race high 42 laps in the Daytona 500. It is the only remaining omission from his NASCAR Cup Series resume. The No. 6 he co-owns at RFK Racing was the dominant force of the afternoon. It was quickest in finalRead More

It took both a fast car and all the right breaksRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Five years, seven months, 18 days. That’s how long it has been since Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. last tasted victory in the NASCAR Cup Series, but in Sunday’s Daytona 500, he broke his winless streak in the most epic fashion, surviving double overtime to win the 65th running of the Great American Race. Always a threat on the superspeedways, Stenhouse has been in position late in the running in NASCAR’s biggest race a number of times only to fall by the wayside forRead More

In a straight-up fight, the RCR cars had beat RFK. Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Brad Keselowski is no stranger to the top of the leaderboard on a superspeedway and that’s exactly where he found himself in Saturday’s final practice session for the 65th running of the Daytona 500. Piloting his No. 6 RFK Racing Ford around the 2.5-mile track in 47.071 seconds, 191.201 mph, the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion staked his place at the top and would not be moved for the remainder of the 50-minute session. “We made some really good improvements,” Keselowski said.Read More