Daytona International Speedway Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — With a deft move to the inside in the final corner of the first of two Bluegreen Vacations Duel 150-mile qualifying races on Thursday night, 19th-place starter Tyler Reddick took the checkered flag and earned the inside second-row starting position for Sunday’s DAYTONA 500 (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). And by the skin of his teeth, in that same Duel, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and recent NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Jimmie Johnson edgedRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Throughout the majority of the first Duel race Thursday night at Daytona, it appeared everything was going the way of seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson in his bid to make it into the field for the 66th running of the Daytona 500. Barring something unfortunate, it seemed Johnson was on easy street, running near the front of the field in the early going and playing it safe near the back after a round of green flag pit stops, but withRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.  – Thursday night’s Bluegreen Vacation Duels at Daytona mark one of the most nerve-wracking nights of the NASCAR Cup Series season, with a place in the starting field for the Daytona 500 up for grabs or a ticket home for those less fortunate. For the 66th running of the Great American Race, a cloud of uncertainty hangs over four drivers not yet locked into the 40-car field. By the end of the night, two drivers will punch their ticket into Sunday’s main event,Read More

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 David Morgan, Associate Editor The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is finally here. After weeks of piecing together next year’s schedule like a puzzle, the full picture was finally revealed on Wednesday when the sanctioning body rolled out the full lineup of tracks and dates for NASCAR’s premier series. While there are many mainstays that remain in known positions on the calendar, there have also been a number of changes made to the schedule, including the debut of Iowa Speedway next June.  Since opening in 2006, the Rusty Wallace designedRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Bubba Wallace came to Daytona holding on to the final spot available in the 2023 edition of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs and for him to be able to walk out of the World Center of Racing with that still in his possession, he would need one of two things to happen. Either he would need to park his No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota in Victory Lane at the end of the night and firmly secure the last Playoff berth, or heRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The RFK Racing duo of Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski were up to their old superspeedway tricks again Saturday night at Daytona, with Buescher capturing his third win of the season in the Coke Zero Sugar 400. Both Buescher and Keselowski were in the mix throughout the night, but when the race was pushed into overtime after a violent crash by Ryan Preece, it was go time for the two Ford drivers with Buescher lining up just ahead of his team ownerRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – After 23 years of being a NASCAR Cup Series competitor, Kurt Busch is officially hanging up the helmet from full-time racing at NASCAR’s highest level. Since his July 2022 crash at Pocono that has left him sidelined with concussion-like symptoms, Busch has been working toward a full recovery from his injury, but the tough path back has led to Saturday’s emotional announcement that he would be stepping away. “Racing at NASCAR’s highest level requires every last bit of focus, heart, stamina, andRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – This is it. One final race to decide which driver will capture the final spot for the 2023 edition of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Heading into Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400, Bubba Wallace holds onto the final spot with a 32-point advantage over the cut-off line just ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing driver Ty Gibbs. Along with Gibbs, there are numerous other drivers that are in must-win positions to be able to overtake Wallace in the standings and claim theRead More