2 months agoOn Thursday night, it looked like Erik Jones was going to start the season off with a victory, as the No. 43 Toyota barely edged Austin Cindric's No. 2 Ford to the finish line at the conclusion of the second Duel race at Daytona International Speedway. Initially, Jones was declared the winner, but after an officiating review by NASCAR, the victory was awarded to Cindric, who was determined to be the leader at the time the caution came out. After the race, Jones remarked, "Yeah, I mean that's the rules and that's their [NASCAR's] call. So, it's part of it. But yeah, I've never been in that spot, so it's a bummer. Would have loved to start out with a win." The quick caution once again throws NASCAR's officiating decisions into the spotlight instead of a great finish to the race. Jimmie Johnson, who is a seven-time Cup Series Champion and co-owner of LEGACY Motor Club--the organization that owns Jones' car--also chimed in after the race, simply stating, "That's bullsh*t."
--Jordan McAbeeSource: On3
2 months agoMartin Truex Jr. had already advanced to the Daytona 500 on the basis of his qualifying time, thereby locking his Tricon Garage entry into the race, but he seldom factored into the first Duel race, where he started 12th, finished 15th, and rarely was anywhere near contention on a night his fellow Toyota drivers like Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick, Erik Jones, and Denny Hamlin seemed to have some of the fastest cars. It's unclear whether he was actually that uncompetitive, or whether he was simply saving his equipment to avoid having to switch to a backup car. It seems likely given Toyota's speed that the combination of Truex's retirement, his historical struggles on this track type, and driving for a brand new team will render him uncompetitive for the 500, but he just as easily could have been conserving his equipment.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 months agoAlthough it looked a little precarious for a moment, Justin Allgaier did advance to the Daytona 500 by finishing ninth in the first Duel race, finishing highest among the five non-chartered drivers to give his JR Motorsport team its first start in the NASCAR Cup Series. Although everyone expected him to advance over J.J. Yeley (particularly after both Hélio Castroneves and Chandler Smith crashed out), Yeley kept it surprisingly close at times as they ran together for most of the middle stretches of the race, and Yeley even passed him for a few laps. But Allgaier made a furious charge at the end to meet expectations while deftly avoiding the trouble that the other non-chartered drivers like Castroneves and Smith faced.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 months agoAlthough Ty Dillon has always been lightly regarded, he matched his best-ever NASCAR Cup Series finish of third on his full-time debut with Kaulig Racing in Thursday's first Duel race. He has had moments on drafting tracks before and earned both of his top-five finishes in point races at Daytona and Talladega and even earned a stage win at Talladega in 2022, and it certainly helps that Kaulig has a history of focusing particularly on drafting tracks. But it was not expected that he would outrun his veteran teammate A.J. Allmendinger, nor that he would arguably pose one of the stoutest challenges to Bubba Wallace, who eventually won the duel. Dillon was in fact the only driver other than Wallace who led in the last 21 laps, as they changed the lead four times, including twice in the last eight laps.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 months agoAfter selling his charter to Live Fast Motorsports, B.J. McLeod finished 17th in Thursday's second Duel race and suffered his second consecutive DNQ in the Daytona 500, which hardly came as a surprise. Even with the estimated $40 million he received from selling his charter, Live Fast still does not have a great deal of resources, and his car was simply too slow to compete with Corey LaJoie and Anthony Alfredo, the other two drivers who weren't locked in. He likely would have needed either of them to have bad luck to advance, and even as mistake-prone as LaJoie and Alfredo have been, that's not something you can necessarily count on. LaJoie and Alfredo outran McLeod all race, but McLeod did finish ahead of Jimmie Johnson's other non-chartered entry because he ran out of fuel.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 months agoAlthough J.J. Yeley initially looked like a long shot to advance into the Daytona 500, considering he drives for the historically subpar NY Racing Team, Yeley ran surprisingly well in the first duel race as he and Justin Allgaier ran together for large portions of the event and Yeley was even ahead for a while despite a substantially slower car. But he likely needed Allgaier to have some trouble to advance, and that played out as expected, as Yeley faded to 17th. This marked his second consecutive Daytona 500 DNQ for the team. It's unclear whether Yeley will return for more starts later this season, but since he made eight starts last year, that is a definite possibility.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 months agoChase Briscoe kicked off his Joe Gibbs Racing stint with a bang by unexpectedly winning the pole for Sunday's Daytona 500, earning Toyota's first pole in the Great American Race since the marque entered the NASCAR Cup Series in 2007. Although on the surface this might appear surprising, Briscoe previously won the pole for the 2023 regular-season finale at Daytona, where he also led 67 laps. However, the Toyotas in general have not been as fast as the Fords in Next Gen drafting track races so it seems unlikely he'll win either his Duel race or the Daytona 500. Briscoe's priority in the Duel will be avoiding a crash so he doesn't have to go to the back and lose his primary car. He will likely be more focused on that than winning his Duel race since he's already starting on the pole.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 months agoAfter winning a long-overdue NASCAR Xfinity Championship in 2024 for JR Motorsports, Justin Allgaier was rewarded by getting the opportunity to drive JRM's first-ever NASCAR Cup Series entry for next Sunday's Daytona 500 in the No. 40 car, sponsored for this race by country star Chris Stapleton's Traveller Whiskey brand. Although he only qualified 33rd in yesterday's qualifying session, he seems likely to advance as he and Martin Truex, Jr. are better than any of the other non-chartered drivers in the first Duel race and they also have the fastest cars, while Hélio Castroneves is likely too inexperienced and Chandler Smith and J.J. Yeley likely have too slow cars to beat either Truex or Allgaier unless one of them has bad luck. However, bad luck is certainly a frequent occurrence at Daytona.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 months agoJimmie Johnson clinched a spot in Sunday's Daytona 500 by qualifying 29th in Daytona 500 qualifying on Wednesday evening, which ranked second among drivers for non-chartered teams. Johnson's qualifying run was impressive, as he outqualified both of his full-time drivers Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek while tying his Toyota stablemate Bubba Wallace in qualifying, even though the 23XI Racing cars are usually far faster than the Legacy Motor Club cars. The seven-time champion and two-time Daytona 500 winner is unlikely to contend in either his Duel race or the Daytona 500 itself, as he has never finished better than 26th or had an average running position better than 19th since his 2023 return. But at least he avoided the ignominy of a high-profile DNQ.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 months agoAlthough B.J. McLeod missed last year's Daytona 500 after he sold his Live Fast Motorsports charter to Spire Motorsports at the end of the 2023 season, he's trying to qualify for the race again this year, but his odds likely aren't much better. He qualified only 43rd in yesterday's qualifying session and posted by far the slowest qualifying time of the four drivers in the second Duel race. However, his one saving grace could be that the drivers and teams in the second Duel race are less competitive as he only needs to beat Jimmie Johnson, Corey LaJoie, and Anthony Alfredo to advance and it's particularly easy to see any of those drivers making a mistake and crashing while McLeod is probably the least likely of the four to crash. He probably needs to benefit from attrition to advance, but that's definitely a possibility.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 months agoAlthough Chandler Smith was undeservedly demoted from the Xfinity Series to the Craftsman Truck Series in 2025, he got another opportunity to enter the Daytona 500 this year but seems unlikely to qualify for the second straight year, particularly after his car chief was ejected when the No. 66 team failed inspection. Now driving for Garage 66 -- the Carl Long-owned team previously known as MBM Motorsports -- Smith qualified only 42nd overall and sixth among the eight non-chartered drivers. In order to advance to the Daytona 500, he will need to finish ahead of Justin Allgaier, Hélio Castroneves, and J.J. Yeley, and his car likely isn't fast enough. He will also need to finish ahead of Martin Truex Jr. if Truex doesn't finish higher than the other non-chartered drivers. Although he will likely outrun Castroneves and Yeley, he probably needs Allgaier to have bad luck in order to advance.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
5
months
agoJoey
Logano
won
Sunday's
NASCAR
Cup
Series
Championship
race
at
Phoenix
Raceway,
which
gave
him
the
2024
Cup
Series
title.
Starting
from
the
second
position,
Logano
displayed
one
of
the
best
cars
in
the
field
from
the
beginning,
making
it
to
the
lead
after
10
laps
and
he
read more...
5
months
agoTeam
Penske's
Ryan
Blaney
finished
second
during
Sunday's
NASCAR
Cup
Series
Championship
at
Phoenix
Raceway,
falling
short
of
the
race
win
and
the
Cup
Series
title.
Beginning
the
race
from
the
17th
position
in
the
first
stage,
Blaney
quickly
ascended
through
the
field
as
his
car
was
great
read more...
5 months agoTyler Reddick finished fourth in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs after finishing sixth in the season finale at Phoenix. He spent most of the race in the back half of the top ten and never really had the speed of even William Byron, let alone Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney, who were the two fastest drivers all race. However, the regular season champion frequently struggled for speed in the playoffs perhaps because 23XI Racing is being distracted by its lawsuit against NASCAR so it's not surprising he wasn't as fast as he was in the March race when he tied for the most laps led with his boss Denny Hamlin. Since Reddick barely made the Round of 8 and probably would have missed the Championship 4 if not for his epic pass on Blaney at Homestead, he's probably satisfied enough just to make it that far.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
5 months agoWilliam Byron was arguably lucky to make it to the final round of the NASCAR playoffs at Phoenix on Sunday after Christopher Bell was penalized last week at Martinsville, but he did his best and posed a stout challenge to Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney, the Penske drivers who finished first and second in the race and the championship. Although Hendrick Motorsports has rarely been able to match Penske's speed at Phoenix lately, Byron took his shot by long-pitting on his final stop, then staying out of the pits while the other leaders pitted under caution a few laps later. Since his teammates Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson didn't pit until the caution, he had a bit of a buffer on the ensuing restart, but the Hendrick trio could not match the Penske drivers' speed, and Byron was relegated to a third-place finish in the race and championship.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
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