Daytona International Speedway Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – For Jimmie Johnson, the third time was not the charm. After losing two cars already in Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway, Johnson was down to his third car of the week for the Daytona 500 and things didn’t get any better for the seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion. Johnson started from the rear of the field and was working his way forward when disaster struck on the final lap of Stage 1. When Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. made a miraculous saveRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer While the Daytona 500 looms large, Brad Keselowski has already practiced showering in Gatorade and Miller Lite in victory lane since the calendar turned to 2018. The Roster Hills, Michigan native won last weekend in the Advance Auto Parts Clash, the exhibition race to start the 2018 season at Daytona International Speedway. Returning teammate Joey Logano was second and Team Penske newcomer Ryan Blaney was fourth as Fords swept the top four positions. Keselowski enters his ninth full-time season driving for one of the topRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Ahead of the 60th running of the Daytona 500, two members of the NASCAR Hall of Fame – Richard Petty and Ray Evernham – looked back at their memories of the Great American Race and expressed just how much this track and race means to them and the sport as a whole. Richard Petty, one of the members of the inaugural Hall of Fame class in 2010, is on the Mount Rushmore of NASCAR, both in terms of championships and DaytonaRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The JD Motorsports quartet stayed with the lead pack all afternoon and after five overtime attempts, two of their entries finished inside the top-10 in Saturday’s PowerShares QQQ 300 at Daytona International Speedway for the second consecutive year. Leading the way was 25-year-old Garrett Smithley, bringing the No. 0 Flex Seal Chevrolet Camaro home in fifth after overcoming a spin in the tri-oval grass on Lap 106. Ryan Truex had a strong run and tried to pass Smithley at the entrance of Turn 4, butRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – In a day race that ended under the lights, with the closest margin of victory in NASCAR history, Tyler Reddick finished Saturday’s PowerShares QQQ 300 less than three inches ahead of JR Motorsports teammate Elliott Sadler. In the last of five overtimes, after a stoppage of 5 minutes, 27 seconds, and on the 23rd extra lap, Reddick made a move to the outside off Turn 4 and won a drag race with Sadler to the stripe after their cars bumpedRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – For the second day in a row at the World Center of Racing, one of the smaller teams in the NASCAR garage was celebrating a top-five finish when the checkered flag flew. Kaz Grala, who pilots the No. 24 Ford for JGL Racing, provided the cause for celebration, surviving Saturday’s PowerShares QQQ 300 at Daytona to bring his team a fourth-place finish. The top-five marks the second straight race at Daytona that JGL entries scored top-five finishes after Dakoda Armstrong andRead More

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer It was a long and rough day, but Spencer Gallagher still had career day in the PowerShares QQQ 300. Gallagher had both a career best qualifying effort and finish in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Although, he had to survive multiple overtime attempts on his way to a sixth-place finish. Gallagher nearly didn’t make it to the finish at Daytona International Speedway. After avoiding ‘The Big One’ on the first overtime attempt, he found trouble in the second overtime event. Gallagher spun off the nose ofRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The closest finish in NASCAR…ever. Elliott Sadler just wishes he would have been on the winning side of it. Falling 0.000 seconds short to his JR Motorsports teammate Tyler Reddick, Sadler had to settle for second place at Daytona for the third time in his Xfinity Series career and the third straight race at restrictor plate tracks. “I’ve been close here a lot of times, but this one hurt a lot today because you didn’t know,” said Sadler. “Did we? OrRead More

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer  Ryan Truex hasn’t missed a beat. Despite a move from the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series to the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Truex scored a top-10 finish in his first Xfinity Series race since 2015. Truex survived five overtime attempts to finish seventh in the PowerShares QQQ 300. In the previous four overtime attempts, he snuck through the mayhem to emerge unscathed. The amount of fuel was also in question with the multiple overtime attempts, but was not a factor. On the final overtime attempt, TruexRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Failing to finish before reaching halfway of stage one wasn’t the way NASCAR Xfinity Series rookies Christopher Bell and Austin Cindric wanted to start out their season. The high-profile drivers competing for Rookie of the Year honors were both involved in a Lap 10 crash in Saturday’s Powershares QQQ 300 at Daytona International Speedway. Battling for seventh, Cindric’s No. 60 Pirtek Ford was sandwiched between Tyler Reddick and Daniel Suarez exiting Turn 3 as he fought an ill-handling car the moment the green flag dropped.Read More