Daytona International Speedway Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The absence of a former teammate, the late Justin Wilson, weighed heavily on AJ Allmendinger and his teammates at Michael Shank Racing as the Rolex 24 at Daytona approached. But the tragic loss of Wilson in a freak IndyCar accident last year at Pocono Raceway also provides a source of inspiration and motivation for Allmendinger, who teamed with Wilson, Oswaldo Negri and John Pew to win the 2012 Rolex 24. “Yeah, it’s tough,” Allmendinger told the NASCAR Wire Service onRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Driving a brand new Prototype developed and built in his native Russia, IndyCar driver Mikhail Aleshin won the top starting spot for the Rolex 24 at Daytona — with the ninth fastest time of Friday’s qualifying sessions at the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway road course. Englishman Nick Tandy had the afternoon’s fastest lap, leading a Porsche sweep of the top two starting spots in the highly competitive GTLM Class, touring the course in 2:01.408 (105.561 mph) and edging fellow PorscheRead More

Reigning Champ Teams with Mazda for Sports Car Debut DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – By winning the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires championship last September, Spencer Pigot became the first four-time Mazda scholarship winner having captured four titles in five years on the Mazda Road to Indy. And to the winner come the opportunities as the 22-year-old Floridian gets behind the wheel of a Mazda Prototype this weekend at one of the biggest sports car races in the world – the Rolex 24 At Daytona. “I spent five years onRead More

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Barney Hall, who communicated the thrill of NASCAR stock car racing to millions of radio listeners during a more than 50-year broadcast career has died at the age of 83. A native of Elkin, North Carolina, Hall was one of the original members of the Motor Racing Network staff and was known as the “Voice of MRN.” He was inducted into the National Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2007 and in 2012 joined former MRN colleague Ken Squier as the initial recipients and namesakes of theRead More

By Seth Livingstone, NASCAR Wire Service CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Coming off the finest season of his career, Martin Truex Jr. suddenly finds himself behind the wheel for a new manufacturer. After several years of thoughtful deliberation, Furniture Row Racing left Chevrolet and its affiliation with Richard Childress Racing in favor of Toyota and a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing. During “Toyota Tuesday” at the 34th annual Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour presented by Technocom, Furniture Row president and general manager Joe Garone explained the move. “If we were goingRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service To say 2016 will be a year of enormous change in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing is to understate the issue. NASCAR is rolling out a new competition package in its foremost division, one that features lower downforce. The aim is to make the Sprint Cup cars more difficult to drive, which in turn will put more control in the hands of the drivers. You’ll see dramatic changes on the track. Chase Elliott, a 20-year-old rookie, succeeds icon Jeff Gordon behind the wheel ofRead More

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Jan. 18, 2016) – Fresh off a 10-race schedule in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) with JR Motorsports (JRM), Cole Custer will embark on a full 23-race slate in JRM’s No. 00 Chevy Silverado in 2016. The soon-to-be-18-year-old California native has 19 career starts in parts of two seasons in the series, all with Haas Automation sponsorship. Last season, Custer showed flashes of brilliance from the start, qualifying second at Martinsville in his debut before finishing 16th. His third start of the season, at Gateway InternationalRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief FORT WORTH, Texas – Kyle Busch has continued to overcome the long odds this season and following a fourth-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway, is just one race away from qualifying for the Championship Four in Homestead. The 30-year-old missed the first 11 races of the year following a horrific crash at Daytona International Speedway during an XFINITY Series race in February.  When Busch returned NASCAR required he win a race and be among the top 30 in points in order to qualify for the Chase.Read More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor At its annual Finali Mondiali event at Italy’s Mugello circuit, Ferrari unveiled both racing variants of its new 488 GTB. The first is the 488 GTE set to compete in the World Endurance Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Like the street version it is based upon, it features a 3.9 liter, twin turbocharged V8 engine. It will be campaigned by privateers like the 458 GTE before it and was unveiled in the team colors of the stalwart outfit AF Corse. The GT3 versionRead More

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. endured a weekend of rain, a three-hour-plus pre-race delay, and nine caution flags to win the Coke-Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway early Monday morning. The race ended at 2:41 a.m. and concluded with a large crash featuring Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet going airborne and smashing into the catch-fence near Turn 1 after he crossed the start-finish line. Dillon walked away from the wreck, the fourth major crash of the night. After being released from the infield care center, Dillon said heRead More