Ryan Reed Gets Second NASCAR XFINITY Win where he Got the First–Daytona

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For Ryan Reed, there’s magic in the air at the Birthplace of Speed.

Reed went to Victory Lane at Daytona International Speedway in February 2015 and hadn’t won since—until Saturday night, when he held off Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series veteran Kasey Kahne in overtime to claim victory in the Powershares QQQ 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series season opener.

With the race going four laps past its scheduled distance of 120 laps, and with the series running NASCAR’s new three-stage event format for the first time, Reed blocked Kahne in turn two on the first of two overtime laps and stalled his momentum. Continue reading

NASCAR XFINITY Series PowerShares 300 at Daytona Preview

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). Continue reading

Diversity Class Introduced after Awards Presentation

Reporters met the 2017 NASCAR Drive for Diversity class in the Daytona media center on Saturday. The class includes Collin Cabre and Chase Cabre, the first siblings ever to participate in the same D4D class; Ruben Garcia Jr., the youngest driver to win the NASCAR Peak Mexico Series championship (in 2015 at age 20); Jay Beasley, the first African-American driver to win a Super late Model race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway bullring; Madeline Crane, who posted 59 top-fives in 82 starts in Legend cars; and Macy Causey, the granddaughter of Diane Teel, the first female driver to compete in  what is now the NASCAR XFINITY Series.

The introduction of the 2017 Drive For Diversity class followed a luncheon that featured the presentation of tenth annual NASCAR Diversity Awards. Winners were as follows:

Daniel Suarez—NASCAR Ignition Award.

Jesse Iwuji—NASCAR Diverse Driver Award

Peri Karslioglu—NASCAR Diversity Internship Participant Award

Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA)—NASCAR Institution Award

Hallie Deegan—Young racer Award

Smithfield—NASCAR Partner Award

Kenyatta Houston—NASCAR Diverse Crew Member Award

Pocono Raceway—NASCAR Track Award

Patriot Motorsports/Circle Track Racing—NASCAR Team Award

Josh Avila—Industry Ambassador Award

You’ll Hear Familiar Voices in ‘Cars 3’ this Year

(L-R) Brian Fee, Daniel Suarez, Darrell Wallace Jr., Chase Elliott, Darrell Waltrip and Zane Stoddard attend the ‘Cars 3’ NASCAR Collaboration Announcement on February 23, 2017 in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Photo – Scott Hunter/Getty Images

NASCAR and Disney-Pixar’s “Cars 3” announced a season-long partnership on Thursday at Daytona International Speedway. Scheduled for release on June 16, Cars 3 “very much pays homage to stock car racing and its rich history,” said director Brian Fee.

“Our drama leans into the drama, emotion and excitement NASCAR fans find at every race.”

Owen Wilson, who will serve as the grand marshal for Sunday’s 59th running of the Daytona 500, will reprise his role as the voice of Lightning McQueen, but his isn’t the only voice NASCAR fans will find familiar. Continue reading

Opportunistic Logano claims victory in wild Clash at Daytona

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When Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin collided in turn two on the final lap of Sunday’s rain-delayed Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona International Speedway, Joey Logano was there to seize the moment.

Charging to the outside and grabbing the lead near the entry to the Superstretch at the 2.5-mile speedway, Logano took the checkered flag 1.121 seconds ahead of runner-up Kyle Busch, who beat third-place finisher Alex Bowman to the stripe by 0.018 seconds.

Danica Patrick dodged the turn two mêlée to surge from tenth to fourth on the final lap to post her first top-five finish in any Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race, though the result is not official because the Clash is an exhibition event with a limited field. Continue reading