Daytona International Speedway Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Ahead of the 59th running of the Daytona 500 in February, two more teams have thrown their hat into the ring to attempt to make the 40-car field in the Great American Race. Two of the regulars in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Brendan Gaughan and Elliott Sadler, will try their luck next month at Daytona as they look to make another start in NASCAR’s Super Bowl. Should they make it in, Gaughan would be making his second Daytona 500 start and first since 2004, whileRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer *Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Season for 24 drivers. We will release one driver preview per day over a 24-day stretch. Age: 34 Years in Cup: 4 Career Wins: 0 Biggest Accomplishment: 2013 Daytona 500 Polesitter In many ways, 2017 has already been a good year for Danica Patrick. The lone female in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS), Patrick has filled the early parts of the year with activities away from the race track, launching herRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer Kyle Weatherman has signed with Mason Mitchell Motorsports for 10 races on the 2017 ARCA Racing Series schedule, the team announced on Wednesday. Weatherman will pilot the No. 78 Chevrolet for the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway and will compete in the next three races at Nashville, Salem and Talladega. The remaining races for the 19-year-old driver will be Pocono, Michigan, Iowa, Chicagoland, Kentucky and Kansas. Weatherman was the 2015 SCOTT Rookie of the Year in the ARCA Racing Series, winning at New Jersey MotorsportsRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer Driver lineups in the ARCA Racing Series are taking shape in advance of this weekend’s test session at Daytona International Speedway, with Ken Schrader Racing announcing Austin Theriault as the driver of  the team’s No. 52 for the full 20-race schedule. Veteran crew chief Donnie Richeson, who has led a variety of drivers to victory lane during his 15-year tenure, will continue as the team’s crew chief. Theriault won in his ARCA debut in August 2014 at Michigan International Speedway behind the wheel of aRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After running on a part-time basis since their inception in 2011, Leavine Family Racing announced on Thursday that the team would be running the complete season in 2017, with Michael McDowell and Todd Parrott returning as the driver/crew chief combo for the team’s No. 95 entry. McDowell and Parrott will run all 36 races this upcoming season, making the organization Chase eligible for the first time in its history. Along with Leavine Family Racing running full-time for the first time, the 2017 season will alsoRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer Late Model driver Quin Houff will make his ARCA Racing Series debut with Mason Mitchell Motorsports in the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway in February, the team announced on Tuesday morning. The one-race agreement will allow Houff to gain valuable experience with restrictor-plate, superspeedway-style racing under the guidance of 2014 ARCA Racing Series champion and team owner Mason Mitchell and veteran crew chief Kevin Reed. “I’m going into Daytona being all ears since this is something completely different than I have ever done before withRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor The news that the NASCAR community has been waiting for since the offseason began finally came down on Thursday as Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was medically cleared to resume his racing career after successfully completing an on-track test to finalize his recovery from a concussion. Earnhardt and his No. 88 team performed the test at Darlington Raceway on Wednesday, where he completed 185 laps during a test session that lasted nearly five hours. Earnhardt was joined at the test by his crew chief Greg Ives asRead More

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter Jeff Gordon will race in next month’s Rolex 24 at Daytona for Wayne Taylor Racing in their new Cadillac DPi-V.R. The four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion highlights the team’s high-caliber lineup of brothers Ricky and Jordan Taylor as well as Max Angelelli. Gordon helped guide  WTR to a podium finish in the 2007 Rolex 24 for WTR alongside Angelelli, Wayne Taylor and Jan Magnussen. That was Gordon’s lone sportscar racing start among his legendary career in NASCAR where he earned 90 career wins to go along withRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor The season-opening exhibition race at Daytona International Speedway, which has had various name changes and format changes over the years, having recently been known as the Sprint Unlimited, will have a new name and format for the 2017 running of the event that is reminiscent of the early years of the race. On Wednesday, Daytona announced that the race, which began its life in 1979 as the Busch Clash, will be known as “The Clash” for next season. The race held the Busch Clash monikerRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor With Brad Keselowski’s dominant win at Daytona in Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 and his Team Penske teammate, Joey Logano, coming home fourth, team owner Roger Penske had nothing but good things to say about the duo that has combined for four wins on the season. Keselowski proved he would be a threat for the win at Daytona early on, taking the lead for the first time on lap nine and staying in the lead for 115 of the 161 laps in the race. TheRead More