William Byron tasted victory for the first time in the NASCAR Cup Series in the Bluegreen Vacations Duel 150-mile qualifying races on Thursday night.
In Monday’s rain-delayed Daytona 500, Byron experienced the sting of an early exit from NASCAR’s most prestigious race.
Continue reading
Ryan Newman hospitalized after wreck
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – With the car of Ryan Newman sliding upside-down trailing sparks behind him, Denny Hamlin joined elite company on Monday night in the second-closest finish in Daytona 500 history.
Hamlin beat Ryan Blaney to the finish line at Daytona International Speedway by 0.014 seconds, and while the driver of the No. 11 celebrated with a burnout on the infield grass, the emergency crew worked to extricate Newman from his No. 6 Ford, which came to rest on its roof at the end of the tri-oval.
Continue reading
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 16, 2020) – The completion of the 62nd annual DAYTONA 500 has been postponed until Monday at 4 p.m., due to rain Sunday at Daytona International Speedway.
The season-opening race for the NASCAR Cup Series season will be televised by FOX. The race was halted Sunday night after 20 of the scheduled 200 laps were run on the 2.5-mile tri-oval, with polesitter Ricky Stenhouse Jr. leading the event in the No. 47 Kroger Chevrolet.
Speedway parking lots open at 11 a.m. Monday. Gates and the UNOH Fanzone open at 1 p.m. with hospitality areas opening at 2.
DAYTONA 500 tickets, hospitality passes, and parking passes will be honored in all areas.
Editor’s Note: Fan4Racing writer Andy Laskey is the co-host for NASCAR Hot Topics Sound Off on Fan4Racing Radio every Monday and Thursday night at 10 pm ET. He’ll now offer a weekly blog of NASCAR Hot Topics to elaborate on subjects that – due to time constraints – we miss or short-change on the radio show. Please share your perspective of these hot topics in the comments section below.
Hot Topics 1 – Daniel Suarez Fails to Make Daytona 500
Arguably one of the biggest disappointments to start the 2020 NASCAR season has to be Daniel Saurez missing the season-opening Daytona 500. The driver of the Gaunt Brothers Racing No. 96 Toyota was involved in a crash in the Duel 1 race that sent him to an early exit from the race and subsequent DNQ from the 500.
Daytona 500 Run Eludes a Frustrated Daniel Suarez
This is incredibly disappointing for a team trying to gain traction and establish themselves in the NASCAR Cup Series. The deal between Saurez and Gaunt Brothers Racing came together fairly late in the off-season, which put the team in a position of hiring personnel and building cars barely in time for Daytona Speedweeks. Making the Daytona 500 would have helped this up and coming team in a major way, especially in terms of financial benefits by starting the event, with a good performance and showing the potential to win.
What ‘could have been’ was the chance to gain exposure and sponsorship for the team. Missing the biggest race of the season automatically puts this team in a deficit and it will be interesting to see how they can overcome this set-back in the coming weeks.
Hot Topics 2 – No Sophomore Slump for Gragson
A feel-good story to start the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series season has to be Daytona winner Noah Gragson. Entering his sophomore season in the Xfinity Series for JR Motorsports, Gragson finds himself in a situation of opportunity to step up and establish himself as a title favorite and help secure his long term future in the sport.
Noah Gragson gets First NASCAR Xfinity Win
There’s no better way to do that than start the season off by winning the biggest race of the year. Granted, winning a superspeedway race doesn’t guarantee success for the whole season but it certainly gives this team a lot of confidence moving forward. To start the weekend, Gragson exhibited a lot of confidence and optimism for the 2020 season, as do all teams this time of year. But you just get the feeling that this has the potential to be a big year for Gragson and certainly his win at Daytona helps establish himself as one of the favorites.
With last year’s Big Three drivers in Cole Custer, Christopher Bell, and Tyler Reddick moving to the Cup Series, it remains to be seen exactly who will fill that void, however, this weekend Noah Gragson certainly made his case that he’ll be a season-long contender.
Daytona International Speedway annually holds the two duel races to set the lineup for the Daytona 500 on Sunday. The first duel sets the inside line, and the second duel sets the outside line. These two races give the drivers the best opportunity to see how their cars will handle in the draft, and while making dicey moves to work their way to the front of the field.
Continue reading