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  • JR Motorsports to attempt Cup debut with Justin Allgaier in 2025 Daytona 500

    JR Motorsports to attempt Cup debut with Justin Allgaier in 2025 Daytona 500

    JR Motorsports (JRM) will attempt to etch a new chapter to its illustrious racing legacy by fielding a NASCAR Cup Series entry for the first time on this year’s 67th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.

    Justin Allgaier, the reigning Xfinity Series champion from Riverton, Illinois, who pilots the No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro entry for JRM in the Xfinity division, has been named the driver of JRM’s No. 40 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry throughout the upcoming Daytona Speedweeks as he attempts to secure the organization’s first participation in both a NASCAR’s premier series event and in the Great American Race.

    With Allgaier named the driver of JRM’s first Cup entry, Greg Ives, the 2014 Xfinity championship-winning crew chief, will work atop the pit box of the No. 40 entry that will be sponsored by Traveller Whiskey, the latter of which was created by 10-time Grammy Award-winning artist and country singer-songwriter Chris Stapleton.

    The news comes as JRM is coming off its 19th consecutive campaign in the Xfinity circuit, where the organization achieved its fourth championship with Allgaier, the latter of whom notched his first championship within NASCAR’s top three national touring series in his 14th campaign in the Xfinity Series. Throughout the 2024 season, Allgaier also notched two race victories and utilized consistency throughout the Xfinity Playoffs en route to his first title. He has amassed 25 career victories through 471 current starts in the Xfinity circuit.

    To date, Allgaier has made 82 career starts in the Cup Series division. He made his first four career starts in NASCAR’s premier series in 2013 before he spent the following two seasons as a full-time Cup competitor, all of which occurred with Turner Scott Motorsports. After scaling back down to the Xfinity circuit to join JRM, beginning 2016, the Illinois native would only make a total of seven additional Cup starts in five over the next nine seasons (2016, 2020-22, 2024). His most recent Cup start was the 2024 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where he piloted the No. 5 Chevrolet entry for Hendrick Motorsports as an interim competitor for Kyle Larson, the latter of whom was competing in the Indianapolis 500 and was unable to participate in the Coke 600 overall due to inclement weather.

    Should Allgaier qualify for this year’s Daytona 500, it would mark his third overall start in the Great American Race and his first since the 2015 Cup season. Currently, Allgaier’s best result in the Daytona 500 is 27th, which occurred in 2014. His best result in a Cup event is eighth, which occurred at Bristol Motor Speedway in April 2015.

    “This is an incredible honor to be driving JR Motorsports’ inaugural entry into the Cup Series, and to do it with not only Dale and Kelley, but Chris Stapleton and Traveller Whiskey makes this even more special,” Allgaier said. “Entering into the DAYTONA 500 has been a goal of this company for a long time and I know that we are going to have everything we need to go out and contend for the win. This is going to be special for sure.”

    The news of JRM’s attempted Cup debut for the 2025 Daytona 500 also brought excitement for both Chris Stapleton and Dale Earnhardt Jr., the latter of whom is the team owner of JRM and a two-time champion of the Great American Race. Since debuting in the Xfinity division in 2005, JRM has amassed 88 career victories, including seven in 2024 and once with Earnhardt Jr. as the driver at Richmond Raceway in April 2016. The organization is set to field four full-time entries in 2025, with Allgaier and Sammy Smith along with rookies Carson Kvapil and Connor Zilisch scheduled to compete as full-time competitors. Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen, both of whom compete in the Cup Series for Trackhouse Racing, will also pilot a fifth JRM entry in select Xfinity events for the upcoming racing season.

    Ironically, JRM’s announcement of its attempted Cup debut comes 10 years and three days to the date, January 12, where the organization first announced its expansion from the Xfinity circuit by fielding a part-time entry in the Craftsman Truck Series division, an expansion that would result with the organization competing in the series on a full-time basis for only the 2016 season and nab a total of two victories during the 2015 season.

    “We’ve been waiting for the right moment for JR Motorsports,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “With Justin winning the Xfinity Series championship and Chris Stapleton’s undeniable star power, the planets aligned for this perfect opportunity to enter this year’s DAYTONA 500.”

    “Traveller Whiskey joining JR Motorsports for their inaugural entry into the Cup Series at the DAYTONA 500 feels like a very natural partnership,” Stapleton added. “I’m honored to be apart of this historic moment with Dale and Kelley [Earnhardt Miller], and excited to see Justin race the No. 40 Traveller Whiskey Chevrolet in Daytona.”

    JRM is an unchartered entry for this year’s Daytona 500 festivities. This means that Allgaier will have to earn a starting spot for the Great American Race. He will have to either rely on his speed during the Busch Light Pole Qualifying session on February 12 at 8:15 p.m. ET or through his result in the Daytona Duels scheduled for February 13 at 7 p.m. ET to outduel additional non-chartered entries. Both sessions will air on FS1.

    The 2025 Daytona 500 is scheduled for February 16 with a coverage time slated to commence at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • NASCAR confirms Mike Wallace ineligible for Daytona 500

    NASCAR confirms Mike Wallace ineligible for Daytona 500

    Mike Wallace has not received approval from NASCAR to contend for a starting spot for the 67th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway scheduled for February 16, 2025.

    The decision was announced on January 13, only 11 days after MBM Motorsports announced that the 65-year-old Wallace would attempt to qualify for a starting spot in this year’s Great American Race in the team’s No. 66 Ford. After evaluating Wallace’s recent on-track activities, NASCAR flipped the script and deemed him ineligible to compete in the 2025 Daytona 500, which is scheduled to occur nearly a month from now.

    The decision was based on the fact that Wallace has not competed across NASCAR’s top three national touring series since August 2020, when he competed at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course venue while driving for J.D. Motorsports. He has also not competed in any large venues within NASCAR’s premier series, the Cup division, since he made his recent Daytona 500 start in 2015, where he finished 36th while driving for Premium Motorsports.

    To date, Wallace has made 11 career starts in the Great American Race. During his 11 starts, he recorded three top-10 results and notched a career-best result of fourth place during the 2007 event while driving for Phoenix Raceway.

    In total, Wallace has made 115 career starts in the Craftsman Truck Series division, 497 in the Xfinity circuit and 197 in the Cup competition. While his best result in the Cup division is a runner-up result at Phoenix Raceway in October 2001 while driving for Team Penske, he has amassed four career victories in the Xfinity division and five in the Truck Series division. His latest Xfinity victory occurred at Daytona in July 2004 while driving for Biagi Brothers Racing. His latest Truck victory occurred at Talladega Superspeedway in October 2011 while driving for Kevin Harvick Inc.

    Following the news of NASCAR’s decision, Wallace took to Facebook to express both his disappointment on not being eligible to compete and his endorsement to MBM Motorsports.

    “Daytona 500 NON update! To my utter shock and devastation at 4:00 today NASCAR [competition] director Elton Sawyer called me to inform me that NASCAR has decided not only to not approve me for Daytona 500 but at this time not approved to race in the Cup, Xfinity and Truck series in 2025 but could go through [their] process to possibly get approved for 2026. This comes as a total shock as the President of NASCAR last week in a real phone call told me all was good and he will see me in Daytona. I owe this posting to all my fans and [non-fans] who were so supportive through the great messages and postings of support as they say I inspired them! Please -Please show your Love and support to Carl Long and the complete MBM Motorsports team as this has now put them in a terrible position as I was not just the driver but also committed to sponsorship for their Daytona 500 effort, I had sponsorship commitments for the effort around me and. Help them find an approved driver and plenty of money!”

    MBM Motorsports also took to social media to express the team’s disappointment in not having Wallace as the driver throughout the 2025 Daytona Speedweeks. Nonetheless, the organization remains committed to recruiting another competitor with funding for the team’s No. 66 entry to make a bid for a starting spot in the upcoming Daytona 500.

    The 2025 Daytona 500 is scheduled for February 16 at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Hélio Castroneves joins Trackhouse Racing for first NASCAR & Daytona 500 bid in 2025

    Hélio Castroneves joins Trackhouse Racing for first NASCAR & Daytona 500 bid in 2025

    Hélio Castroneves will etch a new chapter to his iconic racing career by attempting to make his NASCAR Cup Series debut for this year’s 67th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.

    The four-time Indianapolis 500 champion from São Paulo, Brazil, will join forces with Trackhouse Racing’s PROJECT91 program and pilot the organization’s No. 91 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry sponsored by Wendy’s throughout Daytona Speedweeks that leads to the 2025 Great American Race, which is scheduled to occur on February 16. In addition, Darian Grubb, the 2011 Cup Series championship-winning crew chief, will work atop the No. 91 pit box.

    The news comes as Castroneves is coming off a part-time campaign in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES with Meyer Shank Racing (MSR), an organization that he is an ownership partner to and delivered the team’s first victory during the 105th running of the Indianapolis 500 in 2021. Throughout the 2024 season, he competed in three events, including the 108th Indy 500. He will compete with MSR for a starting spot in this year’s 109th Indy 500 in May, which would mark his 25th consecutive start in the Great Spectacle in Racing.

    “Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would enter a NASCAR race and certainly not the Daytona 500 with a team like Trackhouse Racing,” Castroneves said. “This is an opportunity that nobody in their right mind could ever turn down. I am so thankful to Wendy’s for allowing me to wear their uniform and drive their car, [Trackhouse owner] Justin Marks and everyone that made this happen. I wish the race were tomorrow!”

    Castroneves, who grew up competing in go-karts before his career blossomed within open-wheel and sports car competition, is a four-time champion of the Indianapolis 500, where he claimed his first two victories in back-to-back seasons in 2001 and 2002. After winning his third in 2009, the Brazilian endured a 12-year winless journey, where he finished second twice within the span before he claimed his fourth in 2021, which placed him in a tie with AJ Foyt, Al Unser Sr. and Rick Mears for the most Indy 500 victories of all time.

    In addition to his four Indy 500 victories, Castroneves has accumulated a total of 25 INDYCAR victories and has finished in the runner-up spot in the final championship standings four times. He also claimed three consecutive 24 Hours of Daytona victories (2021-23) and is the 2020 IMSA SportsCar champion, the latter of which he accomplished while driving for Team Penske.

    Should he both qualify and win this year’s Daytona 500, Castroneves would join Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt as the only competitors to win both the Great American Race and the Indianapolis 500.

    “I know how much of a challenge this is going to be, but I also know the type of people and team Trackhouse Racing will bring to the effort,” Castroneves added. “I can’t wait to get to the Trackhouse race shop in North Carolina to meet everyone and prepare for Daytona. There is so much I must learn and I’m ready to get started.”

    The addition of Castroneves to Trackhouse Racing’s PROJECT91 program brings enthusiasm and excitement for owner, Justin Marks. The team debuted PROJECT91 in 2022, featuring iconic motorsports competitors around the globe to compete in NASCAR’s premier series.

    Thus far, PROJECT91 has made a total of four appearances in the Cup Series between the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Kimi Räikkönen, the 2007 Formula 1 champion, debuted the program at Watkins Glen International in 2022 before he returned to compete at Circuit of the Americas in 2023. Then in July 2023, Shane van Gisbergen, a three-time Supercars champion, took the occasion by storm when he won at the Chicago Street Course during his NASCAR debut. After making an additional start with Project 91 a month later at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, van Gisbergen landed a full-time Xfinity Series ride at Kaulig Racing this past season. In 2025, he will compete on a full-time Cup basis with Trackhouse Racing.

    The 2025 Daytona 500 will mark the first time Trackhouse Racing has fielded four entries in a single event if Castroneves successfully qualifies. It will also be the first Cup event featuring PROJECT91 since Indianapolis in 2023. Trackhouse is fielding three full-time entries in a Cup season for the first time in 2025. Van Gisbergen, Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez will all return as full-time competitors for the organization.

    “Hélio is one of the greatest drivers of all time and exactly the type of driver we want to bring to NASCAR,” Marks said. “I think race fans around the world will be excited to see Hélio in NASCAR’s most prestigious race. It also exposes our sport to a global audience and allows them to see just how great of a series we have in NASCAR.”

    To make this year’s Daytona 500 as a non-chartered entry, Helio Castroneves’ 2025 Daytona Speedweeks schedule commences with the Busch Light Pole Qualifying session on February 12 at 8:15 p.m. ET on FS1. He will have to out-qualify any non-chartered entries to be guaranteed a spot. His alternative form of qualifying for the main event would next be the Daytona Duel qualifying races that will occur the following day, February 13, beginning at 7 p.m. ET on FS1, where he would have to outduel any non-chartered entries on the track to claim a starting spot.

    The 2025 Daytona 500 will occur on February 16 with its coverage slated to commence at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Daytona Coke Zero Sugar 400

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Daytona Coke Zero Sugar 400

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Christopher Bell: Bell finished third in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona.

    “Ty Gibbs’ No. 54 car featured advertising for a Ronald Reagan movie,” Bell said. “It’s too bad this movie wasn’t made 20-some years ago, because there could have been a car touting ‘Dick Trickle-Down Economics.’”

    2. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin was collected in a Lap 61 pile-up that involved 18 cars. The damage ended Hamlin’s day and he finished 38th.

    “We got hit earlier this week with a huge penalty,” Hamlin said. “And it cost us 75 points and more importantly, 10 playoff points. So, I wasn’t at all worried about the ‘Big One’ in the race, because it would pale in comparison.”

    3. Tyler Reddick: Reddick was involved in the Lap 61 “Big One,” but survived only to be collected in “Big One No. 2” on Lap 191. He finished 28th.

    “I’m not sure which idiot caused those accidents,” Reddick said, but it really affected several playoff drivers, including myself. I guess there’s a big difference between a ‘know-driving’ driver and a ‘no-driving’ driver.”

    4. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski was penalized for jumping the restart on a late restart, ending his chances at the win at Daytona. He was forced to serve a drive-through penalty and finished a disappointing eighth.

    “I don’t always agree with NASCAR’s decisions,” Keselowski said. “In fact, I never do, because they’re always wrong. But arguing with NASCAR officials is like arguing with a brick wall. But I’d much rather argue with a brick wall.”

    5. Kyle Larson: Larson survived Lap 61’s “Big One’ and went on to a 21st-place finish in the Coke Zero Sugar 400.

    “You probably heard me say I think I’m a better driver than Formula 1 star Max Verstappen,” Larson said. “I guess I’m gonna have to do one of two things: get more feet, or get a bigger mouth.”

    6. Bubba Wallace: Wallace survived the chaos at Daytona and finished sixth in the Coke Zero Sugar 400, boosting his playoff chances.

    “The Playoffs are looking much more likely for us,” Wallace said. “I think having Michael Jordan in the pits is always good for the team. If there’s anyone that’s familiar with the ‘odds,’ it’s Michael.”

    7. Ryan Blaney: Blaney finished 29th at Daytona, a victim, like many, of a wild and wreck-filled night.

    “I’m ready to defend my Cup Series championship,” Blaney said. “I’m really ready for the Playoffs to start. There are two things I really hate. One is waiting, the other is overtime restarts.”

    8. Chase Elliott: Elliott’s No. 9 Chevy was knocked out of the race on Lap 61, a victim of the “Big One” triggered when Ross Chastain was turned mid-pack in front of the field. Elliott was credited with a 36th-place finish.

    “Not only am I NASCAR’s most popular driver,” Elliott said, “I’m also its most laid back. I’ve always liked my dad’s nickname, so I’d like to be known as ‘Awesome Chill From Dawsonville.’”

    9. Kyle Busch: Busch was oh so close to the win at Daytona, but Harrison Burton’s pass on the final lap denied Busch extending his streak of a win in twenty straight seasons, and also denied him a playoff-clinching win.

    “I don’t know what I’m losing more,” Busch said. “Races, or patience. I guess I’m cursed. Which is only fair, because I’ve done my share of “cursing.’”

    10. (tie): William Byron: Byron finished 27th at Daytona.

    “It was a chaotic night at Daytona,” Byron said. “There was smoke, there was fire, there was Corey LaJoie.”

    10. (tie) Martin Truex Jr.: Truex suffered a flat tire early at Daytona and fell out of contention, falling a lap down. He eventually finished 24th.”It’s too bad that my Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin was handed down a stiff penalty,” Truex said. “It wasn’t even the team’s fault; Toyota Racing Development did it and self-reported the infraction. I guess as far as Denny’s concerned, ‘TRD’ will now stand for ‘That’s Real Dumb.’”

  • Buescher, Gibbs pleased; Wallace dejected amid top-10 runs and Playoff shakeup at Daytona

    Buescher, Gibbs pleased; Wallace dejected amid top-10 runs and Playoff shakeup at Daytona

    Harrison Burton’s first NASCAR Cup Series career victory in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, August 24, was a victory that dramatically shook up the 2024 Cup Series Playoff field as he went from being mired outside the top-30 mark in this year’s regular-season standings to locking himself into the Playoffs and contend for a championship.

    Burton’s victory also meant that 13 spots are solidified by guaranteed Playoff competitors who have recorded at least one victory through 25 of 26 regular-season events on the 2024 schedule. In return, three open spots to the Playoffs remain vacant ahead of next weekend’s regular-season finale at Darlington Raceway for the crown-jewel Southern 500 and have left a multitude of big names, including runner-up finisher Kyle Busch, in a “must-win” situation to make the Playoffs.

    Among those who remain within striking distance of one another for the vacant Playoff spots based on points ahead of next weekend’s regular-season finale include Ty Gibbs, Chris Buescher and Bubba Wallace, all of whom survived a “war of attrition” night mired with on-track chaos to claim top-10 results.

    Ty Gibbs, who sported Dennis Quaid’s Reagan movie on his No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry XSE entry, backed up his top-three result from the previously scheduled event at Michigan International Speedway by finishing in fifth place in Saturday’s event at Daytona amid an overtime shootout.

    The fifth-place run marked Gibbs’ seventh top-five result of the 2024 Cup Series season and his 11th top-10 result through 25 scheduled events. As a result, Gibbs, who came into the event 38 points above the top-16 cutline towards making the Playoffs, increased his advantage by one point as he strives to make his first Cup Series Playoffs after next weekend’s regular-season finale at Darlington.

    Ironically, Darlington is where Gibbs notched his career-best result of second place earlier in May, and the Charlotte, North Carolina native is aiming for one spot better to also land him his first Cup Series career victory.

    “[Tonight’s finish] was really important,” Gibbs said on NBC. “I was just happy to have a good clean day, good points day. I think we have the speed to go win [at Darlington], so I think it’d be cool to go win and get my first win at the Southern 500. It would be awesome.”

    Like Michigan, Buescher, the reigning Coke Zero Sugar 400 winner, endured a rallying type of night where he was collected in on-track carnage and had to fight his way back to finish inside the top 10. Compared to Michigan, however, the Prosper, Texas’ incident at Daytona occurred late in the event with 10 laps remaining as he got squeezed into the Turn 1 outside wall against Ricky Stenhouse Jr. amid a multi-car wreck that nearly flipped the pole-sitter, Michael McDowell.

    With the No. 17 Fifth Third Bank/Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry managing to continue with minimal damage, Buescher avoided contact from another multi-car wreck with two laps remaining and managed to squeeze his way to a 10th-place finish in an overtime shootout.

    As a result, Buescher, who led 10 laps en route to his 10th-place run at Daytona, is 21 points ahead of the cutline in his quest to make his third career Cup Series Playoffs and second in a row while driving for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing. He also holds sole possession of the final transfer spot ahead of the race at Darlington, a venue where Buescher nearly won in May before he was involved in a late skirmish with Tyler Reddick that knocked both out of contention while battling for the lead and win.

    “Our Fifth Third Bank Mustang was so good,” Buescher said. “We were able to push unbelievably well and make a ton of speed. It was a lot of fun for a long while there. [I got] Caught up in another accident. We were just trying to get it to the end and ultimately, it was not the day we needed, but yeah, we go to Darlington points being what they are. There’s a little bit of a cushion there, but we know we were really good there last time [in May]. [We’ll] Try and seal the deal this go around and make it easy going into the Playoffs.”

    Perhaps, no competitor was left more bitter with the outcome than Bubba Wallace, who dropped back out of the top-16 cutline despite rallying to post a strong sixth-place result at Daytona.

    The Mobile, Alabama, native methodically carved his way from starting 18th to lead for the first time on Lap 46. Leading 16 overall laps, Wallace’s event briefly went south when he was involved in a multi-car wreck with 10 laps remaining that dropped him from the lead group. After having his No. 23 Columbia/23XI Racing Toyota Camry XSE repaired and steering clear of another multi-car wreck with two laps remaining, Wallace navigated his way to sixth place when the checkered flag flew after an overtime shootout.

    The good news for Wallace was finishing in the top 10 for the 10th time in 2024, tying his career-best finish, and accumulating 10 top-10 results like his previous two Cup seasons.

    However, Harrison Burton’s Daytona victory dropped Wallace below the top-16 cutline two weeks after he boosted his way back above the cutline. Currently, Wallace is six points ahead of Chastain in the Playoff picture standings at 17th, but 21 points below the cutline.

    Ahead of this year’s regular-season finale at Darlington, Wallace is coming off four consecutive top-nine runs at the historic venue, including back-to-back seventh-place finishes during his last two Cup runs at Darlington. Wallace, however, is setting his primary focus on winning at Darlington to make the Playoffs. If he can accomplish this, it would mark his second consecutive appearance as a Playoff contender as he strives to be both competitive and win like teammate Tyler Reddick has done twice, including recently at Michigan.

    “You got one car [Reddick] fighting for a regular-season championship and another car [Wallace] right around the bubble. It’s unacceptable,” Wallace said. “I’ll take all that weight on my shoulders. [I] Should’ve won multiple times this year and I haven’t. We don’t even deserve to be here and we are. I got to go win next week. That’s it.”

    The pursuit to make the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs for Chris Buescher, Ty Gibbs and Bubba Wallace continues next Sunday, September 1, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, for the Cook Out Southern 500, which will air at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Harrison Burton shakes up 2024 Cup Playoffs with first career victory at Daytona; delivers 100th win for Wood Brothers Racing

    Harrison Burton shakes up 2024 Cup Playoffs with first career victory at Daytona; delivers 100th win for Wood Brothers Racing

    After enduring a series of trials and challenges while struggling to be competitive in 97 previous starts in the NASCAR Cup Series level, Harrison Burton responded back in an emphatic style by scoring his first career victory and delivering a landmark win for Wood Brothers Racing amid an overtime shootout in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, August 24.

    The 23-year-old Burton from Huntersville, North Carolina, led only the final lap of 164 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started in 20th place and maneuvered his way through both stage periods and a series of late-race carnages that included pole winner Michael McDowell getting airborne on one late incident before rookie Josh Berry rolled over during the following incident.

    Then while restarting alongside Kyle Busch on the front row at the start of an overtime shootout, Burton, who lost ground to Busch at the start of the final lap, received a huge draft from Parker Retzlaff to overtake Busch through the backstretch. With the lead in his grasp for two final turns, Burton then pulled two blocks on Busch entering the frontstretch’s tri-oval. He had enough steam underneath the hood of the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford to steer to his first elusive Cup Series victory that enabled him to automatically race his way into the 2024 Playoffs and deliver the milestone 100th win for the Wood Brothers.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup on Friday, August 23, Michael McDowell notched his fourth Cup Series pole position of the 2024 season after posting a fast pole-winning lap at 183.165 mph in 49.136 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Todd Gilliland, who posted the second-fastest qualifying lap at 182.801 mph in 49.234 seconds.

    When the green flag waved and the event commenced, teammates Michael McDowell and Todd Gilliland dueled for the lead in front of the field that was stacked amid two tight-packed lanes through the first two turns and the backstretch. As the majority of the field continued to run in a pack of two, McDowell led the first lap by a hair from the inside lane over Gilliland as he had Joey Logano drafting him while Gilliland had drafting help from Ryan Preece.

    During the next four laps, the field slowly began to fan out to three stacked lanes as McDowell, who continued to run in the inside lane, retained the lead throughout the four-lap stretch over teammate Gilliland, Logano and Preece. By then, a third drafting lane towards the outside wall led by Austin Cindric started to charge towards the front as Cindric had Brad Keselowski and Austin Dillon drafting him.

    This caused McDowell to go on defense as he tried to block and retain the lead through three lanes, but Logano capitalized on McDowell’s move to the outside lane, starting on the backstretch, to lead the sixth lap mark. Rookie Josh Berry then went three wide on both Logano and McDowell through the frontstretch to challenge for the lead from the inside lane, which caused Logano to lose ground and get shuffled out of the top five as Berry and McDowell dueled for the lead on the seventh lap.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps and with the entire 40-car field separated by less than three seconds amid three stacked lanes within the draft, Keselowski scored the lead ahead of Logano, McDowell, Berry and Gilliland while Cindric, Austin Dillon, William Byron, Chris Buescher and Daniel Suarez were running in the top 10. With a series of on-track shuffling towards the front ensuing over the next five laps, Logano carved his way back to the front as he was pursued by McDowell, Keselowski, Berry, Gilliland, Byron, Cindric, Austin Dillon, Buescher and Kyle Larson by Lap 15.

    At the Lap 20 mark, Gilliland was drafted into the lead by teammate McDowell from the outside lane as Keselowski, Logano and Berry were scored in the top five ahead of Cindric, Blaney, Byron, Austin Dillon and Larson. Behind, Chris Buescher, Daniel Suarez, Bubba Wallace, Kyle Busch and Ross Chastain followed suit in the top 15 while Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick and Erik Jones were mixed in the top 20 ahead of Chase Elliott, Daniel Hemric, Martin Truex Jr., BJ McLeod, Ty Gibbs, Corey LaJoie, Justin Haley, Harrison Burton, Cody Ware and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., with Noah Gragson, Chase Briscoe, Parker Retzlaff, Shane van Gisbergen and John Hunter Nemechek trailing in the top 35.

    Five laps later, the top 39 of 40 starters were separated by four seconds while the top 25 were separated by less than a second, all of whom were racing amid three tight lanes within the draft, as Gilliland continued to lead ahead of teammate McDowell, Keselowski, Cindric and Berry.

    Just past the Lap 30 mark, Logano carved his way back to the lead as he was followed by teammate Blaney, Larson and Kyle Busch while Keselowski kept pursuit from the outside lane. Logano and Keselowski would proceed to duel for the lead for the following two laps as the front-runners began to fan out and draft aggressively in their march to the front.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 35, Berry, who received a strong push from Buescher towards the outside lane amid three stacked lanes, starting from the backstretch, fended off Logano and Buescher at the start/finish line to capture his first Cup stage victory of the 2024 season and of his career. Logano and Buescher followed suit in second and third, respectively, while Cindric, Blaney, Gilliland, Keselowski, McDowell, Byron and Larson were scored in the top 10. By then, 39 of 40 starters were scored on the lead lap while the event had featured 13 lead changes and six different competitors leading at least one lap.

    Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Berry pitted for a first round of pit service, Other drivers led by Corey LaJoie and including BJ McLeod, Martin Truex Jr., rookie Zane Smith, Austin Dillon, Preece, Daniel Hemric, Shane van Gisbergen, rookie Carson Hocevar and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. remained on the track.

    Following the pit stops, Logano exited pit road first ahead of Buescher, Cindric, Berry, Larson, Chastain, Wallace, Keselowski, Gilliland and McDowell. During the pit stops, Daniel Suarez had fire blazing out of his No. 99 Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 as he left his pit stall, which he then cycled for a full lap before he returned to his pit stall while still blazing in flames and escaped the cockpit uninjured. The cause of the fire was spilled fuel that was run over by Hamlin as the spark then carried forth into Suarez’s entry.

    During the caution laps, a multitude of names that included Tyler Reddick, Erik Jones, Chase Briscoe, Cody Ware, Austin Hill, Noah Gragson, LaJoie, Austin Dillon, van Gisbergen, McLeod, Zane Smith, Justin Haley, Stenhouse, Truex and Hocevar pitted to top off with fuel as they were shuffled to the rear of the field.

    The second stage period started on Lap 41 as Logano and Buescher occupied the front row. At the start, both dueled for the lead through the first two turns before Logano received a draft from teammate Cindric and Berry from the outside lane to emerge ahead of Buescher, who continued to run on the inside lane and lead the following lap as he had Ross Chastain drafting him.

    With the field quickly fanning out to three packed lanes over the next four laps, Bubba Wallace, who did not record stage points during the first stage’s conclusion, maneuvered his way to the front as he challenged Buescher, Logano, Cindric and Keselowski for the lead as Chastain, Berry and Larson followed suit within the top eight.

    Through the first 50 scheduled laps and a series of on-track shuffling ensuing at the front, Chase Briscoe, who carved his way to the front a few laps earlier, was leading by a hair over Wallace as Hemric, Logano, Buescher, Austin Hill, Keselowski, Cindric, Berry and LaJoie were mired in the top 10 ahead of Chastain, Gilliland, Larson, Gragson, McDowell, Burton, Preece, Kyle Busch, Blaney and Haley. Meanwhile, Elliott, Nemechek, Ty Gibbs, Hamlin and Byron were mired in the top 25 as the top 38 competitors were separated by a second amid three packed lanes.

    Five laps later, Wallace, who reassumed the lead three laps earlier, retained the lead ahead of Buescher while Keselowski and Logano dueled for third place in front of the stacked field. Wallace proceeded to transition from the outside to the inside lane as he fended off Buescher and Logano for the top spot while LaJoie was trying to formulate a run from a third drafting lane toward the outside lane. Amid a series of on-track shuffling over the next four laps, Wallace retained the lead ahead of a long line of competitors opting to run towards the outside lane and behind Wallace

    Then on Lap 59, the caution flew for a multi-car wreck that erupted in the backstretch when Gragson, who was trying to carve his way towards the top-10 mark, was aggressively pushed into Chastain and Haley by LaJoie, where a stack-up caused LaJoie to get Gragson turned sideways and clip both Nemechek and Chastain as Truex, Bowman, Ty Gibbs, Hill, Hamlin, Erik Jones, Byron, Elliott, Larson, Hemric, Preece, Blaney, Austin Dillon and Reddick all wrecked. The multi-car wreck took a hit on Chastain’s hopes of remaining in Playoff contention as he lost one lap in the process of having his car still in contention to race while top names including Preece, Hamlin, Gragson and Elliott retired from further competition.

    During the caution period, nearly the entire field led by Wallace pitted, primarily for fuel, while a select few led by Hocevar remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Buescher exited first ahead of Keselowski, Logano, Wallace, Berry, Cindric, Gilliland, McDowell, Burton and Blaney. Hocevar would then pit after leading a lap under caution while Reddick, Hill and Erik Jones remained on the track in the top three spots. The latter three would then pit shortly after, which enabled Buescher to cycle back into the lead.

    The start of the next restart period on Lap 66 featured teammates Buescher and Keselowski dueling for the lead against one another before Buescher muscled ahead with strong drafting help from Logano on the outside lane through the first two turns. With Buescher and Logano drafting their way to first and second on the track, Keselowski followed suit along with Wallace, Cindric and Burton while Berry was trying to mount a charge from the inside lane as he had drafting help from Gilliland. By Lap 68, however, the majority of the field migrated to a long single-file line towards the outside lane as Buescher led the way ahead of Logano, Keselowski, Wallace and Cindric.

    Just past the Lap 70 mark, Buescher continued to lead ahead of a long line of competitors running towards the outside lane as he was pursued by Logano, Keselowski, Wallace, Cindric, Burton, Kyle Busch, van Gisbergen, Haley and Gilliland. Behind, McDowell, Blaney, McLeod, Erik Jones, Ty Gibbs, Bell, Nemechek, Hill, Zane Smith and Berry occupied the top-20 spots ahead of Austin Dillon, Byron, Briscoe, Larson and Cody Ware. By Lap 73, however, the field quickly fanned out to two drafted lanes as Wallace received a draft from Kyle Busch while transitioning to the inside lane to reassume the lead. The field then fanned out to three lanes on Lap 75 as Logano overtook Gilliland to aggressively move into the lead as teammate Cindric, Haley, Blaney and Reddick quickly made their way to the front as Buescher, Wallace and Kyle Busch were getting shuffled out of the top-10 mark.

    On Lap 77, Cindric, who was running towards the front, nearly got sideways on the backstretch after he got hit on the side by Larson while being drafted by teammate Blaney, but he managed to keep his No. 2 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse straight despite getting shuffled out of the lead group as the race remained under green flag conditions.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 80 and a series of on-track shuffling ensuing at the front, Larson was leading by a hair over Gilliland and Logano while Busch, Blaney, Keselowski, McDowell, Reddick, Buescher and Byron were scored in the top 10. By then, the top-31 competitors were separated by four seconds as the top 18 were separated by under a second.

    Then on Lap 80, the caution returned when Erik Jones fell off the pace due to blowing a flat right-front tire to his No. 43 Family Dollar Toyota Camry XSE. Behind Jones, van Gisbergen, who was announced as a full-time Cup Series competitor for Trackhouse Racing in 2025, had his No. 16 Safety Culture Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 billowing in thick smoke through the backstretch as his car, which also ended up in flames, came to an end with an engine failure, where he then managed to park his car and escape uninjured.

    During the extensive caution period, some led by Gilliland and including Busch, McDowell and Cindric pitted while the rest led by Logano remained on the track.

    With the race restarting under green flag conditions on Lap 88, Loganon and Larson dueled for the lead through the first two turns and ahead of an aggressive field dueling amid two stacked lanes. While Logano had teammate Blaney drafting him from the outside lane, Larson gained the upper hand from the inside lane as he led the next lap with drafting help from Keselowski and Buescher as Gilliland and Busch closed in to join the draft.

    By Lap 90, Larson continued to lead ahead of Keselowski, Logano, Buescher and Blaney as Wallace started to ignite a third drafting lane towards the outside lane with drafting help from teammate Reddick. With the top 21 competitors separated by a second, Keselowski and Larson dueled for the lead in front of the stacked pack for the following lap.

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 95, Logano held off a three-wide challenge from teammate Blaney and Keselowski to capture his second Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Larson and Gilliland followed suit behind the three Ford leaders while Haley, Busch, Byron, Buescher and Wallace were scored in the top 10. By then, the top-31 competitors were scored on the lead lap while the event had featured 31 lead changes.

    During the stage break, a majority of the field led by Logano pitted while a select few led by Keselowski and Stenhouse remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Chastain managed to cycle his way back onto the lead lap while Keselowski and Stenhouse would pit for fuel not long after.

    With 60 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as McDowell and Berry occupied the front row. McDowell launched ahead with the lead from the outside lane as he was drafted by Busch and Burton. Berry led the inside lane ahead of Haley and Cindric. McDowell would proceed to lead the following lap as he transitioned between the inside and outside lane to keep Berry behind him. In the process, Haley moved into second place during the next lap period while Berry settled in third ahead of Cindric and Busch as the top 32 competitors were separated by within two seconds.

    With less than 54 laps remaining and the majority of the field running in a long single-file line towards the outside lane, McDowell was leading ahead of Haley, Berry, Cindric, Busch, Burton, Nemechek, Zane Smith, Larson and Austin Dillon while Hemric, Austin Hill, Briscoe, Logano, Wallace, Blaney, Bell, Gibbs, Bowman and Erik Jones followed suit in close-quarters racing within the top 20. Meanwhile, Chastain was mired in 30th place along with Keselowski while Buescher was in 22nd in between Bell and Gilliland.

    Down to the final 50 laps of the event and with the field both fanned and stacked out to two lanes, McDowell continued to lead ahead of Haley, Nemechek, Berry, Larson, Cindric, Busch, Logano, Burton and Hemric while the top 30 competitors were separated by less than two seconds.

    Ten laps later, Haley, who aggressively overtook McDowell for the top spot a lap earlier, was leading two stacks of competitors vying for spots amid the draft, with Cindric, McDowell, Logano, Berry, Nemechek, Keselowski, Larson, Buescher and Busch mingled in the top 10 ahead of Cody Ware, Burton, Bell, Zane Smith, Austin Dillon, Wallace, Hill, Briscoe, Gilliland and Blaney.

    Five laps later and with the majority of the field migrating towards the outside lane in a long single-file line, Haley continued to lead ahead of Berry, Nemechek, Larson, Busch, Cindric, McDowell, Logano, Burton and Cody Ware as the top-25 competitors were separated by less than two seconds and the top 32 separated by three seconds.

    Another five laps later, Haley retained the lead ahead of Berry, Nemechek, Larson and Busch with a majority of the lead lap field remaining in a long single-file line towards the outside lane while Cody Ware was trying to ignite a charge from the inside lane with drafting help from Bell and Wallace. By then, Truex was pinned multiple laps down after he pitted his car under green.

    Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Haley, who threw a series of blocks while transitioning from the inside and outside lane, retained the lead ahead of Berry while Bell muscled his way up to third place as he was followed by Nemechek, Larson, Wallace, Busch, Hemric, Cindric and Keselowski, with the top-30 competitors separated by less than two seconds. Three laps later, however, the field began to fan out aggressively to three stacked lanes as Nemechek challenged Haley for the lead from the outside lane.

    Then with 21 laps remaining, the caution flew.= when Nemechek, who was vying for the lead amid a three-wide battle with Busch and Haley, received a hard bump from Larson in the middle lane that caused Nemechek to turn across the right-front fender of Haley and send Nemechek’s No. 42 Pye Barker Toyota Camry XSE spinning below the backstretch’s asphalt, though Nemechek managed to keep his car off the wall and continue as no one else wrecked. At the moment of caution, Busch emerged as the leader ahead of Cindric, Larson, McDowell, Berry and Keselowski.

    During the caution period and with the field assessing their fuel situation to the finish, the entire lead lap field led by Busch pitted, primarily for fuel. Following the pit stops, Cindric exited pit road first, followed by Keselowski, Larson, McDowell, Busch, Logano, Blaney, Berry, Briscoe and Wallace. Within the pit stops Bell made contact with McLeod while exiting his pit stall.

    The start of the following restart period with 16 laps remaining featured Keselowski and Cindric dueling for the lead through the first two turns amid a wave of shoves towards the front, with Cindric having drafting help from Larson while Keselowski had drafting help from McDowell. Cindric would then prevail from the outside lane as he led the next lap ahead of Larson before Keselowski fought back.

    Shortly after, however, Keselowski was penalized for a restart violation, where he pulled ahead of the leader Cindric from the inside lane when he was not in control of the restart to launch ahead. Keselowski, however, remained on the track and towards the front before he yielded and served a pass-through penalty through pit road with 12 laps remaining. With Keselowski serving his penalty, the field fanned out to three stacked lanes as Cindric battled McDowell for the lead.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, the top 27 competitors were separated by less than a second amid three stacked lanes as Cindric, Larson and McDowell all dueled for the lead from the top, middle and bottom lanes, respectively. Amid the battles, Berry and Busch were scored in the top five as Logano, Wallace, Bowman, Reddick and Blaney were mingled in the top 10.

    A lap later, the caution flew for a multi-car wreck that erupted in Turn 1 when McDowell, who led the previous lap and transitioned towards the outside lane to block Cindric, got sideways off the front nose of Cindric as he spun to the bottom of the track. McDowell received a huge hit on the driver’s side by Logano as McDowell’s No. 34 Long John Silver’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse went airborne and nearly flipped. The car managed to land back on all four wheels while sliding back up the track and clipping the rear deck lid of Bowman’s No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the process.

    Amid the carnage, a multitude of names including Logano, Larson, Bowman, Bell, Wallace, Reddick, Haley, Byron, Blaney, Stenhouse, Buescher and Hill were all involved. Meanwhile, Cindric escaped with the lead while Berry, Busch, Bell, Austin Dillon and Zane Smith were scored in the top six.

    During the caution period, some including McLeod, Nemechek, Wallace, Joey Gase, Briscoe, Reddick, LaJoie and Chastain pitted their respective entries while the rest led by Cindric remained on the track.

    With three laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Cindric and Berry occupied the front row. At the start, Cindric and Berry dueled for the lead in front of two stacked lanes before Cindric muscled ahead from the inside lane entering the backstretch. Cindric and Berry continued to battle dead even for the lead for the following two turns as Cindric led the following lap by a hair, with Busch, Byron, Bell and Burton closely mixed in the top six.

    Then, with two laps remaining entering the backstretch, the caution flew and the event was sent into overtime following another multi-car wreck that started when a stackup at the front resulted in Busch bumping Cindric as Cindric went up the track and made contact with both Berry and Byron. It sent Byron’s No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 up into the outside wall hard while Cindric and Berry were sent sliding toward the backstretch’s infield.

    Amid the spins, Berry’s No. 4 eero Ford Mustang Dark Horse then went airborne and rolled over on its roof as the car slid down the backstretch and smacked the inside wall hard head-on before the car spun several times on its top and came to rest while still upside-down. Among those involved included Zane Smith, Erik Jones, Gilliland, Austin Dillon, Nemechek and Austin Hill while the rest of the field scattered to avoid the carnage.

    Amid the wild ride, Berry, who had the on-track safety crews roll the car back on all four wheels, managed to climb out and emerge uninjured with the driver giving thumbs up. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch escaped with the lead ahead of Burton while Bell, Retzlaff, Nemechek and Keselowski were scored in the top six as the event was placed in a red flag period for nearly seven minutes.

    When the red flag lifted and the field proceeded under a cautious pace, Kyle Busch and Burton opted to restart alongside one another for the first overtime attempt, with Busch having Bell, Cody Ware and Keselowski lining up behind him on the inside lane while Burton had Retzlaff, Nemechek and Gibbs lining up behind him on the outside lane.

    The start of the first overtime attempt featured Busch and Burton dueling for the lead until Busch rocketed his No. 8 Cheddar’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 ahead with drafting help from Bell’s No. 20 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry XSE on the inside lane. Busch would retain the lead through the backstretch and he started to muscle ahead of both Burton and Bell entering Turns 3 and 4 with a reasonable advantage.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Busch remained as the leader ahead of Burton and Bell with the field behind continuing to stack up and draft aggressively amid two lanes. Then as Busch was trying to keep Bell drafting him from the inside lane, Harrison Burton rocketed his No. 21 DEX Imaging Ford Mustang Dark Horse into the lead with a strong push from Parker Retzlaff from the outside lane.

    Then as Burton maintained the lead through Turns 3 and 4, he went up the track to block Busch. He blocked Busch again while transitioning back to the inside lane, going below the double yellow lines in the process. With Burton keeping his car straight and fending off Busch’s last corner efforts, he managed to beat Busch to the finish line by 0.047 seconds to claim his first triumph in the Cup Series.

    With the victory, Burton became the 205th competitor overall to win in NASCAR’s premier series, the first competitor to record a first Cup victory in 2024 and the first competitor to record a first Cup victory while driving for the Wood Brothers Racing team since Ryan Blaney made the last accomplishment at Pocono Raceway in June 2017. Ironically, Burton, who won in his 98th Cup career start, became the first competitor to record a first Cup win in Daytona’s 400-lap feature since William Byron did so in 2020 where he also achieved the feat in his 98th series start.

    Speaking of Wood Brothers Racing, the historic organization accomplished its seven-year battle of notching its elusive 100th victory in the Cup Series as Burton, who became the 19th competitor overall to win while driving for the Wood Brothers, drove the team’s No. 21 Ford to its first Daytona win since Trevor Bayne won the 2011 Daytona 500.

    As a result of his first Cup Series victory, Burton, who came into the event strapped in 34th place in the regular-season standings, earned a one-way ticket to the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs, which will mark his first opportunity and the Wood Brother’s third overall to contend in the Cup’s postseason elimination-style battle for the championship. Burton also became the 13th competitor overall to be guaranteed a 2024 Playoff berth by winning throughout the regular-season stretch.

    “I don’t know. I cried the whole victory lap,” Burton, who fought tears of emotions, said while celebrating with his team, family and father Jeff on the frontstretch, on NBC. “Obviously, [I] got fired from the shove. I wanted to do everything for the Wood Brothers that I could. They’ve given me an amazing opportunity in life. To get them [win No.] 100 on my way out is amazing. We’re in the Playoffs now. Let’s go to Darlington and see what happens.”

    The victory was a personal one for Burton, who is set to be a free agent after this season. With Josh Berry set to replace Burton in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford in 2025, Burton’s racing status for next season remains undetermined, though he strives to conclude the 2024 season strong.

    “It’s amazing,” Burton added. “It’s been the hardest three years of my life. Obviously, the hardest three years for some of these [No. 21] guys’ lives. To win the way that we just did, to beat the best in the business, Kyle Busch, across the line, it’s pretty fantastic. I made a bet with Jeremy [Bullins], my crew chief, that if we won, we’re staying here and driving home, so we’ll be at a bar somewhere! Come find us and we’re gonna celebrate this one!”

    Behind Burton, Kyle Busch, who led eight laps, recorded a strong runner-up result for his fourth top-five result of the 2024 season. Despite being left satisfied with his run, Busch trails the Playoff cutline by 106 points and is still left in a “must-win” situation entering next weekend’s regular-season finale at Darlington Raceway to keep his Playoff hopes alive.

    “I just finished second. It’s all good,” Busch said. “We were really, really, really lucky tonight to miss a few of them crashes. All good. Just real proud of everybody, [crew chief] Randall [Burnett], all the guys. Everybody at [Richard Childress Racing], ECR [Engines]. They did a great job and brought a fast car. [It] Wasn’t meant to be, so we’ll take this and got a good little stretch here going with these last three weeks and hope that we can do what we need to do in next week’s [race].”

    Christopher Bell came home in third place followed by Cody Ware, who recorded his first top-five result in the Cup Series, while Ty Gibbs battled back to finish in fifth place.

    Bubba Wallace also rallied to finish in sixth place followed by Parker Retzlaff and Brad Keselowski, who spun through the frontstretch’s tri-oval after crossing the finish line while Daniel Hemric and Chris Buescher completed the top-10 results in the final running order.

    With three spots into the 2024 Cup Series Playoff standings being vacant entering next weekend’s regular-season finale at Darlington, Martin Truex Jr. sits 58 points above the cutline and Ty Gibbs sits 39 points above the cutline. Meanwhile, Chris Buescher holds sole possession of the 16th and final transfer spot in the Playoffs by 21 points over Bubba Wallace and 27 over Ross Chastain.

    There were 40 lead changes for 16 different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 34 laps. In addition, 20 of 40 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Following the 25th event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Tyler Reddick continues to lead the regular-season standings by 17 points over Kyle Larson, 18 over Chase Elliott, 68 over Ryan Blaney, 80 over William Byron and 86 over Christopher Bell.

    Results.

    1. Harrison Burton, one lap led

    2. Kyle Busch, eight laps led

    3. Christopher Bell

    4. Cody Ware

    5. Ty Gibbs

    6. Bubba Wallace, 16 laps led

    7. Parker Retzlaff

    8. Brad Keselowski, eight laps led

    9. Daniel Hemric

    10. Chris Buescher, 10 laps led

    11. Carson Hocevar, one lap led

    12. Ross Chastain

    13. Zane Smith

    14. Chase Briscoe, two laps led

    15. John Hunter Nemechek

    16. Alex Bowman

    17. Erik Jones

    18. Austin Cindric, 15 laps led

    19. BJ McLeod

    20. Joey Gase

    21. Kyle Larson, one lap down, five laps led

    22. Austin Dillon, two laps down

    23. Todd Gilliland, two laps down, five laps led

    24. Martin Truex Jr., three laps down

    25. Austin Hill – OUT

    26. Josh Berry – OUT, Accident, nine laps led, Stage 1 winner

    27. William Byron – OUT, Accident, one lap led

    28. Tyler Reddick – OUT, Accident

    29. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident

    30. Michael McDowell – OUT, Accident, 26 laps led

    31. Joey Logano – OUT, Accident, 34 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    32. Justin Haley – OUT, Accident, 21 laps led

    33. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident, two laps led

    34. Corey LaJoie, 32 laps down

    35. Shane van Gisbergen – OUT, Engine

    36. Chase Elliott – OUT, Accident

    37. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident

    38. Denny Hamlin – OUT, Accident

    39. Ryan Preece – OUT, DVP

    40.  Daniel Suarez – OUT, Fire

    Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, which will serve as this year’s regular-season finale and officially determine the 16-car field for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, September 1, during Labor Day weekend and air at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Ryan Truex muscles to second Xfinity victory of 2024 at Daytona

    Ryan Truex muscles to second Xfinity victory of 2024 at Daytona

    In his eighth NASCAR Xfinity Series start of the 2024 season, Ryan Truex struck gold for a second time by surviving an overtime attempt and fending off the competition amid the draft to win the Wawa 250 at Daytona International Speedway on Friday, August 23.

    The 32-year-old Truex from Mayetta, New Jersey, led six times for 28 of 102 over-scheduled laps in an event where he qualified in sixth place and ran upfront from start to finish. Mingling within the field through the draft and close-quarters competition, Truex, who recorded a total of 13 stage points between the event’s first two stages, led for the first time on Lap 52 and he would spend the remainder of the event both working and fending off his fellow competitors and Toyota teammates amid the draft through every corner and straightaway.

    Then during the event’s lone overtime attempt, Truex, who received a shove from Riley Herbst on the inside lane to move ahead of the field, fended off a late attempt charge from AJ Allmendinger and Parker Kligerman before the latter sent the former for a spin on the final lap. With the event concluding under caution, Truex was able to retain the lead from teammate Chandler Smith and Kligerman, which resulted in the part-time Xfinity Series competitor racing for Joe Gibbs Racing to cautiously cruise to his second Xfinity victory of the 2024 season and first at Daytona.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Chandler Smith notched his first Xfinity pole position of the 2024 season with a pole-winning lap at 181.189 mph in 49.672 seconds. Smith was awarded the pole position following the first qualifying round after the second and final qualifying round was canceled due to lightning strikes within an eight-mile radius of the speedway. Qualifying in second place was Austin Hill, who posted his best qualifying lap at 181.123 mph in 49.690 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Sam Mayer dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change. Not long after, Hill was also sent to the rear of the field due to an unapproved adjustment. With Hill starting at the rear of the field, Joe Graf Jr. moved up and started alongside teammate/pole-sitter Chandler Smith on the front row.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Chandler Smith and Joe Graf Jr. led the field that was stacked amid two tight-packed lanes through the frontstretch, the first two turns and the backstretch. Then exiting the backstretch, the event’s first caution flew when Jeffrey Earnhardt bumped and got Jeremy Clements sideways as Clements spun his No. 51 One Stop/All South Electric Chevrolet Camaro below the apron before he almost made his way back across the track and slid across the apron again entering Turn 3. Clements’ spin ignited a chain reaction wreck as Austin Hill, Ryan Ellis Akinori Ogata and newcomer Gus Dean all damaged their respective entries. The incident spoiled Hill’s attempt to sweep both Xfinity Daytona events of the 2024 season as he lost multiple laps while his No. 21 pit crew proceeded to repair the car.

    During the event’s first caution period, some including Sammy Smith, Ryan Sieg, Brennan Poole and Tim Viens pitted their respective entries, with Sieg sliding through his pit stall, while the rest led by Chandler Smith remained on the track.

    Following an extensive caution period to clear the fluid on the track, the event restarted under green on the ninth lap. At the start, teammates Chandler Smith and Graf Jr. dueled for the lead entering the first two turns until Graf moved ahead from the outside lane as he had teammate Ryan Truex drafting him. With Graf then being disconnected from Truex exiting the backstretch, Chandler Smith gained the momentum from the inside lane entering Turns 3 and 4 and with drafting help from AJ Allmendinger powered ahead in his No. 81 QuickTie Toyota Supra and led the Lap 10 mark.

    On the following lap, the field fanned out to multiple lanes as Truex was getting shuffled out of the draft. With Truex slipping out of the top-10 mark, Allmendinger assumed the lead as Chandler Smith and Riley Herbst dueled for second place amid the draft. Herbst would then challenge Allmendinger for the lead, but the latter would retain the top spot as the field behind continued to fan out and jostle amid the draft for early spots. By Lap 15, however, Chandler Smith drafted his way back to the lead by a narrow margin over Graf with Allmendinger, Truex, Josh Williams and Parker Kligerman following suit in the top six.

    Through the first 20 scheduled laps, Allmendinger was leading ahead of Kligerman, Justin Allgaier, Chandler Smith and Ryan Sieg while Cole Custer, Graf, Jesse Love, Truex and Anthony Alfredo were scored in the top 10 ahead of Sheldon Creed, Jeb Burton, Sammy Smith, Jeremy Clements, Josh Williams, Brandon Jones, Kyle Weatherman, Sam Mayer, Jordan Anderson and Jeffrey Earnhardt, all of whom were separated within one second amid the draft. By then, 33 of 38 lead-lap competitors were separated by five seconds.

    Five laps later, Allgaier, who led for the first time two laps earlier, was still leading amid the draft by a narrow margin over Allmendinger as Ryan Sieg, Kligerman and Love were scored in the top five ahead of Alfredo, Chandler Smith, Custer, Sammy Smith and Jeb Burton. Another lap later, Love was pinned in the middle lane and shuffled out of the draft as he slipped out of the top-10 mark. By then, Allgaier remained in the lead as he had Allmendinger and a bevy of competitors drafting him on the outside lane while Ryan Sieg was trying to ignite a drafting charge from the inside lane.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 30, Allgaier blocked and fended off both Chandler Smith and Allmendinger through two lanes from the backstretch to the frontstretch to claim his 12th Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Chandler Smith settled in second ahead of Allmendinger, Sheldon Creed and Kligerman while Truex, Alfredo, Graf, Sammy Smith and Clements were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Allgaier pitted while the rest including Leland Honeyman, Matt DiBenedetto, Joey Gase, Kyle Sieg, Caesar Bacarella and CJ McLaughlin remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Sam Mayer exited pit road first. Prior to the pit road’s entrance, where the field led by Allgaier had pitted, Jeb Burton pitted to address a cut tire along with rookie Shane van Gisbergen, who was dealing with an ill-handling car.

    During the pit stops, Sammy Smith came to a stop upon exiting pit road and reversed his No. 8 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet Camaro back into his pit stall to have his left front tire tightened. In addition, Jesse Love spun and pitted while facing the field backward, Graf overshot his pit box and Riley Herbst was penalized for not remaining in single file upon entering pit road. Soon after, Cole Custer made a second pit stop for repairs after he made contact with teammate Herbst while trying to exit his pit stall on pit road while Patrick Emerling was penalized for a safety violation.

    The second stage period started on Lap 36 as Mayer and Creed occupied the front row. At the start, Mayer and Creed dueled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch until Creed moved ahead from the outside lane entering Turns 3 and 4. Mayer, however, would fight back on the inside lane and lead the following lap before he drove ahead of Creed through the first two turns. He then went on defense in blocking Creed on the outside lane and teammate Allgaier on the inside through the backstretch as he led the next lap period. Kligerman and Allmendinger would then come to assist Mayer and Allgaier amid the draft from the inside lane as the field behind fanned out to as wide as three lanes.

    Just past the Lap 40 mark, Allmendinger, who made a bold three-wide move to overtake both Allgaier and Kligerman for the runner-up spot exiting the backstretch, assumed the lead from Mayer as he had the momentum and the draft from the outside lane. Allmendinger would then receive drafting help from Kligerman, Creed and Truex from the outside lane while Mayer was the lead competitor from the inside lane.

    Through the first 45 scheduled laps and with a majority of the field running in a long single-file lane towards the outside wall, Allmendinger was leading ahead of Kligerman, Truex, Creed and Chandler Smith while Brandon Jones, Alfredo, Love, Mayer and Sammy Smith followed suit in the top 10. Behind, Jeb Burton occupied 11th place ahead of Blaine Perkins, Herbst, Jeffrey Earnhardt and Graf as Kyle Weatherman, Clements, Josh Williams, Allgaier and Anderson followed suit in the top 20 ahead of van Gisbergen, Parker Retzlaff, Josh Bilicki, Patrick Emerling and Brennan Poole. Meanwhile, Ryan Sieg was mired back in 28th place.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 50, Allmendinger continued to lead a long line of competitors opting to run in a long single-file line towards the outside wall, with Kligerman, Truex, Creed and Chandler Smith following suit in the top five. Behind, Jones, Alfredo, Love, Mayer and Sammy Smith also continued to run in the top 10.

    Five laps later and with the field beginning to fan out to two drafting lanes, Truex, who drafted his way into the lead three laps earlier, retained the lead ahead of a hard-charging Allgaier, who would then navigate his way back into the lead for the following lap. As Allgaier then moved up the track to block Truex through the first two turns, Allmendinger, Herbst, Jeb Burton and Kligerman followed suit amid the draft. As the front-runners continued to fan out and jostle for spots during the proceeding laps, Allgaier weaved his car back and forth amid the lanes to retain the lead.

    Then on the final lap of the second stage period, the caution flew when Alfredo smacked the outside wall after he received contact from Alfredo in Turn 4 while Mayer, who was running right behind both, reacted by spinning his No. 1 Carolina Carports Chevrolet Camaro on the apron and towards the pit road entrance. The incident was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 60 to officially conclude under caution as Allgaier claimed his second Xfinity stage victory of the event and the 13th of the 2024 season. Herbst settled in second ahead of Truex, Allmendinger and Jeb Burton while Kligerman, Creed, Chandler Smith, Brandon Jones and Josh Williams were scored in the top 10. Amid the incident, both Alfredo and Mayer managed to continue.

    During the stage break, select names including Poole, Matt DiBenedetto, CJ McLaughlin, Leland Honeyman and Caesar Bacarella remained on the track while the rest led by Allgaier pitted. With Truex being the first competitor to exit pit road, the remaining names who initially remained on the track eventually pitted.

    With 35 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Truex and Herbst occupied the front row. At the start, Truex and Herbst dueled for the lead entering the first two turns until Truex received a push from teammate Creed to boost ahead from the inside lane through the backstretch. Kligerman and Chandler Smith would follow suit and gain the draft with Truex and Herbst on the inside lane while Herbst was trying to maintain pace on the outside lane.

    Over the next three laps, Chandler Smith would weave his way into the lead, where he led a single lap, before Truex reassumed the top spot not long after. Then with 32 laps remaining, the caution returned when Brandon Jones was bumped by Love and sent for a long slide below the backstretch, though Jones was able to straighten his No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro through the backstretch’s asphalt and continue.

    During the caution period, some including Custer, Creed, van Gisbergen, Clements, Caesar Bacarella, Retzlaff, Leland Honeyman, Poole, Patrick Emerling, Jordan Anderson and Jones pitted while the rest led by Truex remained on the track.

    The start of the next restart period with 27 laps remaining featured Truex and Allmendinger dueling for the lead until Truex nearly got loose off the front nose of teammate Chandler Smith entering Turn 1. This allowed Allmendinger to gain an advantage from the outside lane as he had drafting help from Kligerman. Allmendinger would then fend off Kligerman for the following lap as the field battled in close-quarters racing amid two drafting lanes.

    With 24 laps remaining and with Allmendinger leading by a hair over Truex, the caution returned for a multi-car wreck that erupted just past the frontstretch’s tri-oval and involving Love, Custer, Jeb Burton, Retzlaff, Sammy Smith, Jones, Matt DiBenedetto, Kyle Sieg and Bacarella. During the extensive caution period, some including van Gisbergen, Emerling, Jordan Anderson, Joey Gase and CJ McLaughlin pitted while the rest led by Allmendinger remained on the track.

    At the start of the next restart period with 18 laps remaining, Allmendinger had the advantage from the inside lane and he boosted into the lead with drafting help from Kligerman. Allmendinger would then transition from the top to the bottom of the track to keep Kligerman’s No. 48 Big Machine Spiked Coolers Chevrolet Camaro drafting him as he led the following lap. With Truex trying to fight back on the inside lane, he then dueled with Allmendinger through the backstretch before Allmendinger powered ahead with Kligerman and Herbst following suit. By then, Truex had Ryan Sieg drafting him with 16 laps remaining.

    With 15 laps remaining, the front-runners slowly began to fan out to three lanes as Alfredo carved his No. 5 Dude Wipes Cameo Chevrolet Camaro towards the top-three mark with drafting help from Allgaier’s No. 7 Hellmann’s Chevrolet Camaro while Truex and Allmendinger dueled for the lead. With Kligerman continuing to draft Allmendinger’s No. 16 Campers Inn RV Chevrolet Camaro on the outside lane, Truex had Alfredo and Allgaier drafting his No. 20 Certified Collision Center Toyota Supra on the inside lane for the proceeding laps. Truex then received a strong push from Alfredo to boost ahead with 13 laps remaining, where he would remain ahead of Alfredo, Allmendinger, Kligerman and Allgaier. By then, the front-runners were racing in close-quarters competition in two tight-packed lanes and nearly getting sideways in the process.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Allmendinger and Kligerman drafted their way back into the top two spots, with Truex, Herbst and Allgaier following suit ahead of Chandler Smith, Alfredo, Creed, Kyle Weatherman and Blaine Perkins. By then, the top 22 competitors were separated by a second as Allmendinger maintained the top spot and the lead competitor on the outside lane while Truex led the charge from the inside lane.

    Then with six laps remaining and the intensity towards the front intensifying, the caution flew when the slightest contact between Bacarella and Kyle Sieg got Sieg loose and he then darted back up the track and clipped Alfredo, who was beginning to fall off the pace, as Alfredo spun backward into the outside wall into the path of Sieg, with Clements, Bacarella, Josh Bilicki, Jeffrey Earnhardt and van Gisbergen all wrecking in between Turns 3 and 4. The incident was enough to send the event into overtime as Truex emerged with the lead amid a late, frantic battle with Allmendinger as Herbst, Kligerman, Chandler Smith, Allgaier, Creed and Ryan Sieg suit. Not long after, the event was placed in a red flag period for more than 12 minutes to have the on-track carnage cleared.

    When the red flag lifted and the race resumed under a cautious pace, select names including Poole, Joey Gase, Jones, Jeb Burton and Sammy Smith pitted while the rest led by Truex and Allmendinger remained on the track.

    The start of the first overtime attempt featured Truex receiving a strong draft into the lead ahead of Herbst and Allgaier from the inside lane while Allmendinger tried to fight back on the outside lane as he remained in front of his drafting partner Kligerman. While Allmendinger and Kligerman emerged as the strong duo towards the front of the field, Truex, who moved up to the outside lane and in front of the former two, retained the top spot for a full lap.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Truex remained as the leader ahead of Allmendinger and Kligerman, both of whom were drafting together and starting to gain a run through the tri-oval. Then entering the first turn, the caution flew and the event was deemed official after contact from Kligerman sent Allmendinger spinning below the apron entering Turn 1, where he slid back up the track and hit the outside wall despite being dodged by oncoming traffic. With the event concluding under caution, Truex was ruled the leader at the moment of caution and was declared the winner.

    With the victory, Truex, who last won at Dover Motor Speedway in late April, recorded his third NASCAR Xfinity Series career win in his 98th series start and his first ever at Daytona International Speedway as he achieved his first multi-win season in the Xfinity circuit.

    Truex’s Daytona victory was the eighth for both Joe Gibbs Racing and the Toyota nameplate through 22 scheduled events of the 2024 season, with both the team and manufacturer winning at Daytona in the Xfinity Series for the first time since Matt Kenseth piloted a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota entry to Victory Lane in July 2013. The victory was also the sixth of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 Toyota team led by rookie crew chief Tyler Allen.

    “Oh my gosh, man,” Truex, who strongly credited the Joe Gibbs Racing simulator group as part of his weekly simulator training, said on the frontstretch on USA Network. “Thanks to these fans. It’s so amazing to race here. Just thanks to these [No. 20] guys, man. I don’t get to race that often. I don’t know what I’m going to do next year. It’s all working progress, but just a great car. We’ve worked hard on our superspeedway stuff. Daytona, Atlanta, I feel like we were behind the eight-ball and we came here, all qualified well, all raced well. Shoutout to [spotter] Tyler [Green] up on the roof. What an amazing spotter. He drove this car, I just turned the steering wheel. I can’t believe this. I felt good this week coming in and I knew we’d have a shot. I feel like every time I’m here, I just end up making the dumb mistake or getting caught up in a wreck. I’m just glad we finished one out.”

    Teammate Chandler Smith, who led 15 laps from pole position, charged his way to a second-place finish, thus recording a 1-2 finish for Joe Gibbs Racing, while Parker Kligerman settled in third place. While Chandler Smith was left pleased with his runner-up result, which marked his first top-two result coming off four consecutive finishes of 15th or worse, the third-place result did little to satisfy Kligerman’s strong race and result despite being scored 44 points above the top-12 cutline in his efforts to make the 2024 Xfinity Series Playoffs.

    “Just extremely, extremely happy for everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing,” Smith said. “I say this in a very nice way. We have not been good on superspeedways for a very, very, very long time on the Xfinity program. We came here today and sat on the pole. That’s huge for us. Just couldn’t time my run good enough and just wasn’t meant in the cards for today.”

    “I just feel like I’ve put myself in position time after time [to win] and this race team has helped me do that,” Kligerman said. “[Me and AJ Allmendinger] were awesome. We were the best two [competitors] that weren’t Toyotas all day. I just had a run and I had to go. I felt like it was a run I had to take to try and put myself on the bottom [lane] to win this race. I felt like the bottom was gonna win it in [Turn] 4. I hate it. I love [Allmendinger] like a brother. He and I have been in this for a long time together. I don’t want to turn someone like that, but I would’ve liked to been able to finish under green [flag conditions] as well. We did everything right. We never led a lap, but I got to think we were probably the most in the top three, so we had a really strong car, strong night and overall, but god, I just want to win one of these damn things so bad.”

    Riley Herbst came home in fourth place while Ryan Sieg battled his way to finish fifth, with the latter moving back into the top-12 cutline after notching his fifth top-10 result of the 2024 season.

    “We’ve just been chasing points,” Sieg said. “It’s been great. We’ve been doing what we need to do and then, come out of here with the top five, where we should be running, but finally, we got some momentum. Hopefully, we can continue it. We’ve been running really well. Just got to keep executing and keep it there at the stage three and try to, I guess, point our way in and all we can do and try to win one of these races out of here before we start the Playoffs.”

    Jordan Anderson, Justin Allgaier, Sheldon Creed, Leland Honeyman and Kyle Weatherman finished in the top 10.

    Meanwhile, AJ Allmendinger, who led a race-high 35 laps, ended up in 24th place, the final competitor scored on the lead lap.

    There were 19 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 34 laps. In addition, 24 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    Following the 22nd event of the 2024 Xfinity Series season, Justin Allgaier leads the regular-season standings by 33 points over Cole Custer, 75 over Chandler Smith and 102 over Austin Hill.

    Results.

    1. Ryan Truex, 28 laps led

    2. Chandler Smith, 15 laps led

    3. Parker Kligerman

    4. Riley Herbst, one lap led

    5. Ryan Sieg

    6. Jordan Anderson

    7. Justin Allgaier, 16 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner

    8. Sheldon Creed

    9. Leland Honeyman

    10. Kyle Weatherman

    11. Josh Williams

    12. Joe Graf Jr.

    13. Sam Mayer, seven laps led

    14. Blaine Perkins

    15. Kyle Sieg

    16. Brennan Poole

    17. Jeb Burton

    18. Patrick Emerling

    19. CJ McLaughlin

    20. Joey Gase

    21. Jesse Love

    22. Brandon Jones

    23. Sammy Smith

    24. AJ Allmendinger, 35 laps led

    25. Shane van Gisbergen, one lap down

    26. Anthony Alfredo, one lap down

    27. Jeremy Clements, one lap down

    28. Jeffrey Earnhardt, three laps down

    29. Caesar Bacarella – OUT, Accident

    30. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Accident

    31. Austin Hill, 23 laps down

    32. Cole Custer – OUT, DVP

    33. Matt DiBenedetto – OUT, Accident

    34. Parker Retzlaff – OUT, Accident

    35. Tim Viens – OUT, Engine

    36. Gus Dean – OUT, Accident

    37. Ryan Ellis – OUT, Accident

    38. Akinori Ogata – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, for the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200. The event is scheduled for next Saturday, August 31, and air at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • McDowell rockets to fourth Cup pole of 2024 at Daytona; Front Row Motorsports sweep front row

    McDowell rockets to fourth Cup pole of 2024 at Daytona; Front Row Motorsports sweep front row

    Front Row Motorsports’ Michael McDowell and Todd Gilliland rocketed their way to the front row starting spots for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Friday, August 23, with McDowell soaring to his fourth Busch Light Pole Award of the 2024 season.

    McDowell, the 2021 Daytona 500 champion from Glendale, Arizona, was one of 10 from a list of 40-entered competitors to transfer into the second of two qualifying rounds consisting of one timed lap per round, with the top-10 competitors posting the 10-fastest lap times during the first round. At the conclusion of the first qualifying, McDowell and teammate Todd Gilliland had posted identical qualifying lap times at 182.86 mph in 49.218 seconds, where their times were both the fastest and the initial track record at Daytona in Next Gen cars.

    During the final round, McDowell, who was the next-to-last competitor of 10 to post a qualifying lap, soared his No. 34 Long John Silver’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry right back to the top of the leaderboard with a track qualifying record of 183.165 mph in 49.136 seconds in a Next Gen car.

    As a result, McDowell notched his fourth NASCAR Cup Series pole position of his career and his third on a superspeedway venue, all occurring in 2024. He will also start on pole position for the first time since doing so at World Wide Technology Raceway in June. The pole award also marks the fifth overall for Front Row Motorsports as McDowell, who is campaigning in his final season with the organization before moving to Spire Motorsports in 2025, strives to race his way into the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs with two regular-season events remaining on the schedule. Currently, he is 157 points below the top-16 cutline to make the 2024 Playoffs.

    “I’m just proud of everybody at Front Row Motorsports,” McDowell said on USA Network. “To have both cars on the front row is amazing. Just a testament to how hard everybody’s working at Front Row Motorsports. We know we got two shots left here [to make the Playoffs]. This is a big weekend for us, so to have both cars upfront is really important. Hopefully, we can stay up front, control the race and give ourselves a fighting chance to get into these Playoffs.”

    Joining McDowell on the front row for Saturday’s main event will be teammate Todd Gilliland, who was the last competitor to qualify during the final round of qualifying and posted the second-best lap at 182.801 mph in 49.234 seconds. Like McDowell, Gilliland faces a “must-win” situation to make the 2024 Playoffs as he and his No. 38 Grillo’s Pickles Ford Mustang Dark Horse team are 151 points below the top-16 cutline.

    Joey Logano, who posted the third-fastest qualifying lap at 182.341 mph in 49.358 seconds, will share the second row with Ryan Preece, who posted the fourth-best qualifying lap at 182.312 mph in 49.366 seconds. Rookie Josh Berry will start in fifth place with his best qualifying lap being scored at 182.197 mph in 49.397 seconds while Chase Briscoe will line up in sixth place with a qualifying lap at 182.194 mph in 49.398 seconds as Ford competitors claimed the top-six starting spots.

    William Byron, the highest-qualifying Chevrolet competitor, will start in seventh place while Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott round out the top 10 starting spots, respectively.

    Notably, Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski will share the sixth row in 11th and 12th, respectively, while Chris Buescher, the reigning Coke Zero Sugar 400 winner, will start in 13th place as he shares the seventh row alongside Ryan Blaney. In addition, Austin Dillon will start 16th, Martin Truex Jr. will start 17th in his final full-time Cup start at Daytona, Bubba Wallace will line up in 18th place ahead of team owner Denny Hamlin and Ross Chastain will occupy the 24th starting spot ahead of Michigan winner Tyler Reddick and Ty Gibbs.

    During the first qualifying round, Erik Jones was the only competitor who did not post a qualifying time after her forfeited his run due to an issue to his No. 43 Dollar Family Toyota Camry XSE entry. As a result, he will round out the 40-car grid by starting Saturday’s main event in 40th place, dead last.

    *All 40 entered competitors made the main event.

    Qualifying position, best speed, best time:

    1. Michael McDowell, 183.165 mph, 49.136 seconds
    2. Todd Gilliland, 182.801 mph, 49.234 seconds
    3. Joey Logano, 182.341 mph, 49.358 seconds
    4. Ryan Preece, 182.312 mph, 49.366 seconds
    5. Josh Berry, 182.197 mph, 49.397 seconds
    6. Chase Briscoe, 182.194 mph, 49.398 seconds
    7. William Byron, 182.057 mph, 49.435 seconds
    8. Austin Cindric, 181.998 mph, 49.451 seconds
    9. Kyle Larson, 181.899 mph, 49.478 seconds
    10. Chase Elliott, 181.752 mph, 49.518 seconds
    11. Kyle Busch, 181.613 mph, 49.556 seconds
    12. Brad Keselowski, 181.543 mph, 49.575 seconds
    13. Chris Buescher, 181.51 mph, 49.584 seconds
    14. Ryan Blaney, 181.499 mph, 49.587 seconds
    15. Noah Gragson, 181.408 mph, 49.612 seconds
    16. Austin Dillon, 181.40 mph, 49.614 seconds
    17. Martin Truex Jr., 181.17 mph, 49.677 seconds
    18. Bubba Wallace, 181.123 mph, 49.69 seconds
    19. Denny Hamlin, 181.006 mph, 49.722 seconds
    20. Harrison Burton, 180.999 mph, 49.724 seconds
    21. Alex Bowman, 180.937 mph, 49.741 seconds
    22. Daniel Suarez, 180.843 mph, 49.767 seconds
    23. Austin Hill, 180.835 mph, 49.769 seconds
    24. Ross Chastain, 180.825 mph, 49.772 seconds
    25. Tyler Reddick, 180.817 mph, 49.774 seconds
    26. Ty Gibbs, 180.752 mph, 49.792 seconds
    27. Christopher Bell, 180.745 mph, 49.794 seconds
    28. Daniel Hemric, 180.650 mph, 49.820 seconds
    29. Parker Retzlaff, 180.647 mph, 49.821 seconds
    30. Zane Smith, 180.563 mph, 49.844 seconds
    31. John Hunter Nemechek, 180.552 mph, 49.847 seconds
    32. Shane van Gisbergen, 180.426 mph, 49.882 seconds
    33. Cody Ware, 180.274 mph, 49.924 seconds
    34. Corey LaJoie, 180.263 mph, 49.927 seconds
    35. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 179.795 mph, 50.057 seconds
    36. Justin Haley, 179.766 mph, 50.065 seconds
    37. Carson Hocevar, 179.176 mph, 50.079 seconds
    38. BJ McLeod, 177.441 mph, 50.721 seconds
    39. Joey Gase, 175.114 mph, 51.395 seconds
    40. Erik Jones, 0.000 mph, 0.000 seconds

    The 2024 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway is scheduled to occur on Saturday, August 24, and air at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Sammy Smith scheduled for final double-duty Xfinity-Truck campaign between Daytona and Milwaukee

    Sammy Smith scheduled for final double-duty Xfinity-Truck campaign between Daytona and Milwaukee

    This upcoming weekend is set to mark a busy one for Sammy Smith, who will be racing double duty between two racetracks and two NASCAR national touring series (Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series) that commences under the lights at Daytona International Speedway before concluding on a Sunday afternoon at the Milwaukee Mile.

    On Friday, August 23, Smith, a 20-year-old native from Johnston, Iowa, will be piloting his full-time Xfinity Series ride, the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports, at Daytona and in his continued quest to remain above the top-12 cutline in the regular-season standings that would enable him to make the 2024 Xfinity Series Playoffs. Two days later, he will then travel to West Allis, Wisconsin, and make his fourth and final Craftsman Truck Series start of the season at Milwaukee in the No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado RST for Spire Motorsports, a team that is set to contend for this year’s Truck Series owners’ championship with Milwaukee serving as this year’s Truck Playoff opener.

    Smith, the reigning Xfinity Series Rookie of the Year and two-time ARCA Menards Series East champion, is coming off a fifth-place run at Michigan International Speedway, which moved him back into the top-12 cutline to make the Playoffs as he currently holds sole possession of the final transfer spot into the Playoffs by a single point with five regular-season events remaining on the schedule. He is also competing in his second full-time stint in the Xfinity Series and first with JR Motorsports after spending the previous season driving for Joe Gibbs Racing.

    Thus far, Smith’s best on-track result at Daytona in the Xfinity Series is 19th, which occurred during the 2023 season opener. Through 21 of 33-scheduled events of the 2024 Xfinity Series season, Smith has recorded four top-five results, 11 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 15.6 as he strives to make his second consecutive appearance in the Xfinity division’s postseason berth and elimination-style battle to the championship. He qualified for his first Xfinity Playoffs a year ago, where he fell short of transferring into the Championship 4 round and ended up in sixth place in the final standings. During the season, he notched his first career victory at Phoenix Raceway and managed to claim the rookie title over Chandler Smith.

    In addition to his full-time Xfinity Series role this season, Smith has made three Truck Series starts in Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 “all-star” Chevrolet entry, all on short track events. He made his first start at Martinsville Speedway in April, where he finished eighth. Four races later, he recorded a career-best fifth-place run at North Wilkesboro Speedway in May before finishing sixth in his recent series’ start at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in July. During the Martinsville and Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park weekends, Smith was also pulling double duty between both the Truck and Xfinity circuits.

    Previously, Smith made his Truck Series debut during the 2023 season opener at Daytona, where he piloted the No. 17 TRICON Garage Toyota to a 14th-place finish. While this upcoming Sunday is set to mark Smith’s first start at the Milwaukee Mile in the Truck Series, it will not mark his first overall start at the venue, with the Iowa native notching an ARCA Menards Series victory in 2022 while driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports.

    Currently, Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 entry is set to commence the 2024 Truck Series Playoffs in eighth place in the owners’ standings with 2,003 points. The entry has been piloted to Victory Lane twice this season, both occurring with two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February and at Texas Motor Speedway. Corey LaJoie, Connor Zilisch, Connor Mosack, Andres Perez de Lara and Clint Bowyer have all piloted the entry at least once through 16-scheduled events. Following Smith’s fourth and final start at Milwaukee, Zilisch and Mosack are scheduled to pilot the entry for the remainder of the season in their efforts to keep Spire’s No. 7 entry led by veteran crew chief Brian Pattie in contention for the owners’ title.

    Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    Sammy Smith’s upcoming double-duty weekend is set to commence with the Xfinity Series’ Wawa 250 at Daytona International Speedway on Friday, August 23, with the event’s broadcast time to commence at 7:30 p.m. ET on USA Network. He will then compete in the Craftsman Truck Series’ Playoff opener at the Milwaukee Mile for the LiUNA! 175 on Sunday, August 25, that will air at 4 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Daytona

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Daytona

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. William Byron: Byron took the lead on lap 199 and held on for the win as Ross Chastain and Austin Cindric crashed as they approached the start/finish line.

    “It was an awesome day for Hendrick Motorsports,” Byron said. “I won in the No. 24 car that Jeff Gordon made famous. And Jimmie Johnson actually qualified for the Daytona 500. Just a few laps into the race, he was two laps down. So I guess you can say Jimmie’s doing much better than he was driving an Indy car.”

    2. Alex Bowman: Bowman took second in the Daytona, giving Hendrick Motorsports a 1-2 finish.

    “As Hannibal Smith of the ‘A-Team’ often said after foiling the plans of the enemies,” Bowman said, “‘I love it when a plan comes together.’ That’s also what Hendrick Motorsports said after me and William Byron worked together to cause a wreck and foil the plans of all the other contenders.”

    3. Christopher Bell: Bell started second and finished third in the Daytona 500.

    “Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson served as Grand Marshal for Monday’s race,” Bell said. “I think what he should have said was ‘If you hear what The Rock is saying, then drivers, start your engines.’

    4. Joey Logano: Logano started on the pole and led a race-high 45 laps before his day ended as a casualty of the Lap 191 “Big One.” He finished 32nd.

    “With Kevin Harvick now in the broadcasters’ booth,” Logano said, “my car now sports the Hunt Brothers Pizza in-car camera. And I always want to see what’s going on behind me, unless I recently ate some Hunt Brothers Pizza.”

    5. Corey LaJoie: LaJoie grabbed an unlikely fourth in the Daytona 500.

    “This was a great day for Spire Motorsports and Chili’s,” LaJoie said. “We didn’t win the race, so I guess dousing myself in champagne is out of the question. So with Chili’s in mind, my celebration will consist of taking a dump…..of Chili’s molten chocolate cake on my head.”

    6. Bubba Wallace: Wallace finished sixth at Daytona.

    “I think if the final lap would have been under green,” Wallace said, “I think we had a good chance to win. That would have been a career-defining moment. I dream of driving a car into victory lane; my co-car owner Michael Jordan actually drove an NBA team into the ground in real life.”

    7. Ross Chastain: Chastain had the lead when green flag racing resumed after a massive Lap 191 melee necessitated a red flag.

    “I was totally ready to smash a watermelon,” Chastain said. “The drivers collected in that accident were ready to smash a steel chair, over the head of Alex Bowman.”

    8. A.J. Allmendinger: Allmendinger overcame early-lap trouble at Daytona and methodically picked his way to a sixth-place finish in the 500.

    “I think Netflix’s ‘NASCAR: Full Speed’ series gives fans a great look inside the lives of drivers,” Allmendinger said. “So they get to see that we say the ‘F’ word way more than we pretend not to.”

    9. Chase Elliott: Elliott took Stage 1 and survived Lap 191’s “Big One” on his way to a 14th-place finish in the Daytona 500.

    “I think all my fans can agree,” Elliott said, “that my right foot is best on the floorboard as opposed to a snowboard.”

    10. Ryan Blaney: Blaney was a factor at Daytona until a huge Lap 191 accident KO’d his chances for a 500 win. He finished 30th.

    “I’m the defending Cup champion,” Blaney said. “That makes me the hunted, and not the hunter. It makes sense because my car was ‘shot’ after the race.”