Daytona International Speedway Tag

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

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer Determination, luck, and doing more with less, were the stories of Kaz Grala’s Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 at Daytona International Speedway. Grala’s team, Fury Race Cars LLC., is still competing on a race-to-race basis in the NASCAR Xfinity Series pending sponsorship. With a limited supply of racecars as well, the team used a retired Stewart-Haas Racing showcar. The showcar was also a former Evernham Motorsports car, a team that last competed in the Series under the Gillett-Evernham banner in 2008. Besides determination, Grala had a littleRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – It’s safe to say Chase Elliott has a knack for restrictor plate qualifying as the driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet laid down a blistering lap of 194.095 mph to score his fourth career pole in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, all of which have come at either Daytona or Talladega. “I didn’t know it was that fast,” said Elliott. “Our Hooters Chevy has been nice all weekend.  We made a couple of changes actually at the end of that lastRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – Through the first 17 races of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, there have only been six drivers to visit victory lane, leaving 10 playoff spots up for grabs heading into the home stretch of the regular season. Enter Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona, which presents an opportunity for a new winner on the season to punch their ticket to the postseason. Restrictor plate racing plus an overabundance of drivers hungry for a win means the 160-lapRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – Moving into unison with the other two manufacturers, Toyota announced on Thursday evening that they will be running a sportier looking car in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2019 as the swap over from their current Camry model to the Supra. Toyota has fielded the Camry since joining NASCAR in 2007, earning four manufacturer championships, two driver championships, and 143 wins, but with a production model of the Supra getting released next year, the manufacturer thought the timing was right to bringRead More

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer Although over two months have passed, Ryan Preece is looking to go back-to-back in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The last time Preece competed in the Xfinity Series, he won at Bristol Motor Speedway, capturing the XFINITY Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus in the process. The Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 will mark Preece’s third trip to Daytona International Speedway. As he did when he won at Bristol, he will drive the No. 18 Rheem Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. In his two previous starts at ‘TheRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Following last Sunday’s instant classic in the Windy City, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads back to where it all began, Daytona International Speedway, for this weekend’s 59th running of the Coke Zero Sugar 400, the third restrictor plate race of the season. From 1959 until 1987, the 160 lap, 400 mile shootout at the World Center of Racing, then called the Firecracker 400, was held on July 4th, even if the holiday fell in the middle of the week. Beginning in 1988, the raceRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor With an aggressive on-track persona, Jimmy Spencer was given the nickname of “Mr. Excitement” early in his racing career, but it wasn’t until the 1994 Pepsi 400 at Daytona that he really lived up to it. Entering the Independence Day classic, four drivers had been the class of the field all season long, with Ernie Irvan leading the way ahead of Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, and Mark Martin, but by the time the checkered flag flew, it was Spencer who stole the show. Earnhardt and LoyRead More

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer It’s the 16th race of the season and only three full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series regulars has scored a victory. The Xfinity Series returns to Daytona International Speedway for the second time this season, this time for the Coca-Cola Firecracker 250. Cup drivers, the unpredictability of restrictor-plate racing, and stage racing are just some of the storylines heading into the 16th race of the season. Coverage for the Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 is scheduled to start Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET. The ‘World Center of Racing’ has held theRead More