Daytona International Speedway Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer After placing both of their cars in the top-five in points in 2015, JR Motorsports headed into the 2016 season with a retooled driver lineup and after Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona, the team is showing the entire garage that they will be a force to be reckoned with throughout the season. Though the four cars that JR Motorsports had entered in Saturday’s Powershares QQQ 300 didn’t show the type of speed the team would have wanted in qualifying, starting 10th, 15th, 16th, andRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – In Saturday’s final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice for the Daytona 500 (on FOX at 1 p.m. ET), it was time for Greg Biffle to turn a few laps with his new race engine. Biffle and new crew chief Brian Pattie opted out of Friday’s two practice sessions, preferring to wait until Saturday for their final shakedown. “This is our first laps on our race engine and race gear and race driveshaft – all of our driveline components – soRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor In the scariest moment of the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona, Christopher Bell went for a wild and dangerous ride. As the field restarted the race in overtime, Bell had rebounded from early misfortune to have a shot at victory. When the field reached the white flag, Bell’s focus went from winning to just being healthy. A wild pack of trucks weaving in and out triggered a massive melee, which sent Bell tumbling. Bell’s truck flipped anywhere from eight to 10 times in aRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor A few years ago, Ryan Truex’s future seemed destined for greatness. Then the reality of stock car racing slapped the young driver’s hopes down, and heading into the 2016 season, Truex had no idea where — or if — he’d drive this season. Then came an unexpected call from Shigeaki Hattori, a former IndyCar driver turned Truck Series driver, turned car owner from Japan. Hattori had a place for Truex in his newly formed No. 81 Toyota Tundra with sponsorship from Goodyear. Truex said, sure and a few weeksRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor When the 20-minute caution clock was announced for the 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season, NASCAR claimed made the rule change to create more strategy for crew chiefs in the series. Many fans and media alike feared that it would dull the series down with green-flag pit stops being eliminated. Friday night at Daytona International Speedway, the caution clock actually caused a crash on lap 41 when several drivers opted to pit just before the clock was to expire in an effort to gainRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer After his career best points finish to end the 2015 season, Martin Truex, Jr. and his Furniture Row Racing team were in high spirits heading into Daytona for the 58th running of the Daytona 500. Thus far in Speedweeks, the single car operation based out of Colorado has had a rough go of things. The trouble for Truex began with last Saturday’s Sprint Unlimited, where he had his No. 78 car near the front of the field as the laps were winding down. As the fieldRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief After encountering a vibration early on, Ryan Blaney raced his was back up to finish third in the opening Can-Am Duel race on Thursday night. Blaney, 22, stayed among the leaders in the opening 15 laps of the 60 lap event, lingering around the top 5. Moments later the rookie felt a strong vibration that eventually led to him falling a lap down, but a spin by Cole Whitt forced a caution to come out on lap 44, putting Blaney back on the lead lap. FollowingRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor Wow, I’m speechless. If you would have asked me at the beginning of Speedweeks which teams would have four cars on the final grid for the Daytona 500, I would have obviously answered Hendrick, Stewart-Haas, Joe Gibbs Racing — but never in my wildest dreams did I think BK Racing would pull off the feat. For the mega teams I listed above, they are part of the new team charter system, which ensures that all of their cars will make every race in 2016 — BK RacingRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Retaking the lead with five laps left in the first of Thursday night’s Can-Am Duel 150-mile qualifying races, Dale Earnhardt Jr. cruised to a dominating victory and grabbed the third staring spot for Sunday’s Daytona 500. In the second Duel, reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kyle Busch took the checkered flag under caution after a wild last-lap wreck took out the cars of Jimmie Johnson, Martin Truex Jr., Matt Kenseth, AJ Allmendinger and Danica Patrick and damaged the No.Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It was a noon practice on the day of the Can-Am Duels at Daytona International Speedway, and there was six-time champion Jimmie Johnson, doing his thing. The regular routine for Johnson and No. 48 crew chief Chad Knaus is a succession of single-car runs at Daytona, staying out of the draft and out of trouble, looking for speed. Based on Thursday’s practice, Johnson may be poised to add a third Daytona 500 title to his resume. The six-time NASCAR SprintRead More