Daytona International Speedway Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – In a wild war of attrition that went to two overtimes, Erik Jones outdueled Martin Truex Jr. on Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway to seize the first victory of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career. In a Coke Zero Sugar 400 that went eight laps beyond its scheduled 160, Jones passed the reigning series champion on the backstretch of the final lap and held on to win by .125 seconds. Jones battled back from damage sustained in a multicarRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Attrition. A word that once again defined the annual Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida Saturday. Unless its JTG Daugherty Racing, who were not only among a dozen cars without terminal damage, the two-car operation scored their first-ever double top-five finish with drivers A.J. Allmendinger and Chris Buescher finishing third and fifth respectively. During second overtime, both drivers were in solid position to possibly stop the Toyota duo of Martin Truex, Jr. and Erik Jones, and perhaps bring theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – When it comes to restrictor plate racing, the smaller teams in the NASCAR garage always circle these races as opportunities to capitalize. On Saturday night at Daytona, Matt DiBenedetto and Go Fas Racing placed themselves square in the middle of the action, bringing home a seventh-place finish by the time the checkered flag flew. “The Fords always run really good at the speedways, so that’s why we always seem to find ourselves up front at the end,” said DiBenedetto. “Fords and Roush-YatesRead More

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer After surviving a race that saw five cars undamaged, Ty Dillon earned his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Top-10 finish. Dillon’s car was not among the undamaged at the end of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway. In two separate overtime attempts, Dillon’s No. 13 GEICO Military Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 avoided trouble. On the first overtime attempt, he pitted coming to the green, fuel pressure issues plaguing his race. That kept him out of the final wreck of the night andRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Several drivers expected an aggressive race at Daytona on Saturday night and while they were right in their assumptions, none of them could have seen what was coming through the first 66 laps of the Coke Zero Sugar 400. In three different cautions, a total of 36 cars were involved in some capacity or another, with the majority of them seeing their night cut short following the series of multi-car crashes. Paul Menard was the first to go for a wild rideRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – In the two NASCAR Xfinity Series events held at Daytona International Speedway in 2018, Elliott Sadler has lost them both in photo finishes with a combined margin of victory of 0.005 seconds. On Friday night, Sadler looked as if he would finally get the monkey off his back and make a return to victory lane, only to see Justin Haley swoop past him and Kyle Larson en route to the finish and Larson nip him at the line after Haley’s move wasRead More

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer  After surviving the chaos, Timmy Hill earns the first-ever top-10 finish for Carl Long as either a driver or a team owner. Feel good stories from underdog teams are often a theme at Daytona International Speedway, and the Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 was no different. Hill, an eight-year veteran of the NASCAR Xfinity Series, somehow kept his No. 66 VSI Racing Patriotic / CrashClaimsR.us Toyota Camry out of trouble throughout the night. On the final restart, he was just inside the top-10, battling stars Daniel Hemric,Read More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer “I don’t think I’m going to get an explanation. That’s just how NASCAR works,” said Justin Haley. In just his second NASCAR Xfinity Series start, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular appeared to have snookered the field and scored his first win in Friday’s Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 at Daytona International Speedway. However, the celebration was snatched away after NASCAR made the call that Haley advanced his position below the yellow line on the final lap in Turn 4 to get by both Kyle LarsonRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Friday night’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race ended with a sweep, and overtime and two broken hearts. Five laps later than the scheduled 100, Kyle Larson got the victory in the Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 by .005 seconds over Elliott Sadler, who finished second at Daytona for the third straight race. But Larson’s victory wasn’t official until NASCAR demoted Justin Haley, who made a dramatic pass for the lead coming to the finish line but dipped below the yellow line dividing the racingRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – Early on in the Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 at Daytona, Christopher Bell found himself sitting sideways in his pit box with the entire field passing him by. By the time the checkered flag flew, all of that was in his rearview mirror as he brought home a third-place finish in overtime. Bell started the day in sixth-place and though he finished the first stage outside the top-10, things took a turn when the field hit pit road. To make matters even worse, BellRead More