NASCAR XFINITY Series PowerShares 300 at Daytona Preview

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NASCAR XFINITY Series teams will race 300 miles over 120 laps in the PowerShares QQQ 300 at Daytona International Speedway Saturday, February 25, 2017. FOX Sports 1 coverage begins at 3 pm ET with the green flag around 3:30 pm ET. Radio coverage is on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Joe Gibbs Racing Goes for Six – After capturing its fifth NASCAR XFINITY Series owner title last season (2008, ’09, ’10, ’12 and ’16) the JGR organization immediately turned its attention to number six. This season Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, Matt Tifft and Daniel Suarez will contribute to the owner title winning cause. Jones, Tifft and Suarez will be competing this weekend at Daytona. Gibbs has four NASCAR XFINITY Series Daytona wins, but only once in the season opener (Tony Stewart, 2008).

JR Motorsports Looking to Take Back-to-Back Season Openers – Last season in a wild race that saw 32 green flag passes for the lead, former series champion Chase Elliott captured the victory for JR Motorsports. This season, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s crew is looking to go back-to-back. Not since 2010-2011 (Kevin Harvick Inc. with driver Tony Stewart) has a team burst open the season with back-to-back season opening wins.  Michael Annett, Elliott Sadler, Kasey Kahne and Justin Allgaier will be blazing the JRM nameplate come Saturday.

Star-Studded Lineup Includes Some Monsters – A star-studded lineup of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers will pull double duty this weekend, as Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon, Daniel Suarez, Brad Keselowski, Kasey Kahne and Aric Almirola will race in both the PowerShares QQQ 300 and Daytona 500.

Milestones Starts – Jeff Green will attempt to make his 450th NASCAR XFINITY Series start this weekend at Daytona. Green is ranked fourth all-time on the series starts list behind Kenny Wallace (547), Jason Keller (520) and Mike Wallace (494). This will also be Green’s 24th series start at Daytona; which will tie him with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kenny Wallace for the fourth-most series starts at Daytona.

Daytona XFINITY Quick Facts

  • Daytona International Speedway has hosted 50 NASCAR XFINITY Series races.
  • 26 different drivers have won at Daytona International Speedway in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, led by Dale Earnhardt and Tony Stewart with seven wins each.
  • Eight of the 26 series Daytona winners have multiple wins – none are active this weekend.
  • Former winners active this weekend (four): Aric Almirola, Austin Dillon, Kasey Kahne, and Ryan Reed – all with one victory
  • Race Record – Geoff Bodine (157.137 mph, 2/16/1985)
  • 37 different drivers have won the pole, led by Joe Nemechek with five.
  • Qualifying Record – Tommy Houston (194.389 mph, 2/14/1987)
  • Former pole winners’ active this weekend (eight): J.J. Yeley (2), Austin Dillon (2), Aric Almirola, Dakoda Armstrong, Ty Dillon, Brad Keselowski, Elliott Sadler and Daniel Suarez each have one.
  • All-time lap leader – Dale Earnhardt Jr., 560 Laps Led
  • Single Race Laps Led Record – Joe Nemechek, 105 Laps Led (2/14/1998)