Posted on by Staff Report

Two-time NASCAR Cup Series championship-winning crew chief Adam Stevens will not return to the No. 18 team as Kyle Busch’s crew chief in 2021, Joe Gibbs Racing announced on Tuesday afternoon as it unveiled its crew chief lineups for the upcoming season.

Ben Beshore will serve as Busch’s new crew chief, while Stevens shifts over to the No. 20 team and driver Christopher Bell in his first Cup Series season at JGR. Chris Gayle had been the crew chief of the No. 20 team with driver Erik Jones for the past three seasons.

RELATED: Keep up with the latest Silly Season moves

The pairings of Denny Hamlin-Chris Gabehart (No. 11 team) and Martin Truex Jr.-James Small (No. 19) remain intact for the 2021 season. Hamlin and Gabehart have combined for 13 wins, two Daytona 500 wins and two Championship 4 appearances in two seasons, while Truex and Small scored a win at Martinsville in June in their first season together.

“We go through a process at the conclusion of every season that includes evaluating each of our teams,” said Joe Gibbs, in a team release. “We believe our crew chief lineup for 2021 will best position each team and driver for success across both series.

The 2020 season saw Busch go winless until the third-to-last race of the season at Texas — after he had been eliminated from the playoffs. The season marked the first time Busch and Stevens failed to reach the Championship 4 together after reaching that round the previous five seasons.

Together, the Busch-Stevens duo won 28 Cup races over the past six seasons and championships in 2015 and 2019. The pairing was first together in the NASCAR Xfinity Series from 2013-14 where the duo won 19 times. All told, Stevens has 31 Xfinity Series wins as a crew chief from 2011 to 2014.

RELATED: Every national series win for Kyle Busch | Crew chief stats for Adam Stevens

Stevens’ shift to Bell will mark the first time the 25-year-old is not paired with Jason Ratcliff since 2017.

Beshore previously served as engineer on the No. 18 team before becoming a Xfinity Series crew chief in 2019. He filled in atop the pit box for Stevens for three races in 2017 and Busch nabbed one top five and three top 10s in those starts. He also teamed up with Busch for four wins in the Xfinity Series in 2019 before guiding Xfinity Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year Harrison Burton to a four-win campaign in 2020.

JGR also rounded out its crew-chief roster in the Xfinity Series, where it fields three full-time teams. Ratcliff rejoins the organization as crew chief of the No. 20 Toyota for Harrison Burton, the 2020 Sunoco Rookie of the Year. Ratcliff spent last season on the Cup Series side with Leavine Family Racing, teamed with Bell. He has 54 wins and one championship atop the pit box in the Xfinity Series.

Veteran Dave Rogers will return to the No. 18 Toyota team, but will be paired with Daniel Hemric, who was announced last week as a replacement for Riley Herbst. Jeff Meendering will continue to be partnered with Brandon Jones on JGR’s No. 19 team.

RELATED: Harrison Burton returning for ’21 | Daniel Hemric joins JGR

JGR also stated that it intends to field a fourth Xfinity Series entry — No. 54 — with a rotating cast of “all-star caliber drivers” on a part-time basis. Gayle shifts into that team’s crew chief role for 2021. The organization indicated that drivers and scheduled races for the No. 54 team will be announced later.

“We take a lot of pride in our depth of talent across our entire organization,” Gibbs said. “All of our crew chiefs are proven winners.  We are also looking forward to bringing the No. 54 Toyota Supra back to the track in 2021 with an exciting team of drivers.”

Posted on by Staff Report

After NASCAR’s return and a jammed-packed schedule that saw the sanctioning body catch up to its original timeline, the sport descended on Daytona, Florida, for the final race of the regular season.

RELATED: Start your free trial today on the MotorTrend app

The Coke Zero Sugar 400 marked the first time back at Daytona International Speedway for Ryan Newman since his involvement in a serious accident that left him hospitalized for several days after the 2020 Daytona 500 in February. Newman gave thanks to those who worked fast to get him removed from his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford and paid a visit to Halifax Medical Center to chat with staff.

The race also marked the last chance for Jimmie Johnson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and others to make the playoffs. Johnson, wrapping up his final full-time season, was in the midst of a tight playoff battle among himself, William Byron and Matt DiBenedetto for the final spots barring a surprise winner — which the 2.5-mile superspeedway has been known to produce.

In “Now or Never,” the third episode of MotorTrend docuseries “NASCAR 2020: Under Pressure,” see the drama of the fight to make the playoffs unfold through the eyes of drivers like Johnson and Stenhouse as Daytona hosts the regular-season finale for its first time.

Come back every Saturday, from Nov. 7 to Dec. 12, to see an all-new episode of “NASCAR 2020: Under Pressure,” an inside look at the unforgettable 2020 NASCAR season.

Plus, with your free trial to the MotorTrend app, you will also get access to more than 3,600 hours of automotive entertainment, including shows from MotorTrend, Discovery Channel, live events and more. Start watching “Under Pressure” today.

Posted on by Steve Luvender

In a fully-stocked NASCAR Cup Series field, there are 40 possible finishing positions. The goal, of course, is to finish first — but all is not lost for drivers who come up short. 

We track an admittedly unimportant metric called the All 40 Challenge — that is, the progress each driver has made over the course of their careers toward finishing in every single possible position, first through 40th, at least once. Once you’ve notched a finish in each slow, you’ve completed the All 40 Challenge.

Heading into the 2021 season, only these 11 full-time drivers have completed the elusive All 40 Challenge:

  • Aric Almirola
  • Ryan Blaney
  • Alex Bowman
  • Kurt Busch
  • Kyle Busch
  • Denny Hamlin
  • Kevin Harvick
  • Joey Logano
  • Ryan Newman
  • Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  • Martin Truex Jr.

Retirees Clint Bowyer, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth are also among those who’ve completed the Challenge. Maybe they’re hanging up the steering wheel because of such an accomplishment. (Probably not.)

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Jimmie Johnson | Clint Bowyer | Matt Kenseth 

In 2020, no driver added their name to the exclusive list — though Austin Dillon and Matt DiBenedetto inched closer to completion. Dillon’s second-place finish in the Darlington Southern 500 was his first-ever runner-up in his seventh full-time season, while DiBenedetto picked up his first 10th-place finish at Martinsville — his 211th career start.

To complete the All 40 Challenge, Dillon only needs to score a last-place finish; for DiBenedetto, he only needs to win. (No pressure!) They’re the only two drivers who are one finish away from completing the sweep — but they’re ahead of Cup Series champions Chase Elliott and Brad Keselowski, both of whom only need to finish 28th and 40th, coincidentally.

Could a new ride make the difference for some drivers?

Erik Jones is only a 32nd-place and 37th-place finish away from completing the Challenge — he’ll move to Richard Petty Motorsports in 2021. Upstart Trackhouse Racing Team’s Daniel Suarez needs a win and a 39th. (He’d probably prefer to score the former more than the latter.) And when Kyle Larson returns to the driver’s seat at Hendrick Motorsports in 2021, he’ll need just 22nd and 32nd to add his name to the list. 

With some luck, Chris Buescher isn’t far from completing the All 40 Challenge himself — he’ll need a second, fourth, and seventh to wrap it up. 

So, even though nobody got the job done in 2020, we’ll just chalk it up to one of those classic 2020 oddities.

Who will complete the Challenge next is anybody’s guess, but we’re feeling pretty confident somebody gets it done in 2021. Check back throughout the racing season — we’ll update our #All40Challenge tracker after each race.

Posted on by Chase Wilhelm

CONCORD, N.C. — Kurt Busch and Martin Truex Jr. got their first taste of NASCAR’s Next Gen car slated for the 2022 Cup Series season on Monday.

The pair participated in the first of a two-day test session at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval. Busch and Truex opened the week testing separate cars on the 2.32-mile oval/road course layout. Taking a day in between to transition track configurations, Wednesday’s session will be held on the 1.5-mile D-shaped track.

PHOTOS: Scenes from the Next Gen test

Busch is piloting the “Prototype 3” car prepared by Richard Childress Racing in conjunction with NASCAR in both sessions. The third prototype, or “P3” as it’s referred to internally, features an ECR engine and was previously tested by NASCAR at Auto Club Speedway and Dover International Speedway.

“It’s been a fun, exciting, interesting day,” Busch said during a break in Monday’s session. “Feels like the first day of school because of how different the car is. With the sequential gearbox, that’s the most fun. I love shifting through the gears.”

RELATED: Next Gen debut moves to 2022 | Cole Custer shares Next Gen impressions

Monday’s session served as the first time multiple Next Gen cars have been on the track at the same time, while NASCAR’s third prototype was featured on a road course for the first time. The intention of Monday’s test was to experiment with different tire combinations for Goodyear in an effort to locate the right code for 2022. According to Busch, tire sets for Watkins Glen International, Mid-Ohio Sport Car Course and Sonoma Raceway were of particular focus, along with other road-course specific components.

CONCORD, NORTH CAROLINA - NOVEMBER 16: Kurt Busch speaks with team members in the garage area during the NASCAR Cup Series test at Charlotte Motor Speedway on November 16, 2020 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Kurt Busch debriefs with those on hand for the Next Gen test at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

“It accelerates quick, it stops quicker, it turns quicker, it’s nimble,” Busch said. “All the lap time that’s been gained is through the infield section with this independent rear suspension and the ability to shift quicker. Really, the car is more effective and the car is more sensitive to changes and to feel … you feel everything more vividly.”

Truex is testing the prototype built by Action Express, an IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship team, with a Ford Performance engine. The car was last on track at Daytona International Speedway’s road course in August.

Truex said he was “pleasantly surprised” with the reaction of the car on Charlotte’s Roval, noting the Next Gen car is suited for road courses and it’ll be a bigger challenge on the oval track Wednesday.

The most substantial changes Truex noticed include bigger tires, sequential shifting with more gears in the transmission and bigger brakes.

“It does everything a little bit better,” Truex said. “A little bit easier to drive in general around the road course. It turns really well. We’re having a few issues with the steering on the big track. If the car bottoms out, it really goes haywire, but otherwise, it’s all been good, and it’s been solid and fun to drive so far.”

CONCORD, NORTH CAROLINA - NOVEMBER 16: Martin Truex Jr. climbs into the NASCAR Next Gen car during the NASCAR Cup Series test at Charlotte Motor Speedway on November 16, 2020 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Martin Truex Jr. climbs into the Next Gen prototype at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

Another talking point in Monday’s test was the sound of the engine at speed, which provides a deeper tone than the current car. Truex explained that’s due to a more old-school approach with the exhaust system, with tailpipes coming out of each side of the car.

“It sounds cool I think,” Truex said. “I don’t know what it sounds like from up in the grandstands. In the pits, I feel like it sounds pretty good. I think it sounds pretty cool and badass when you’re driving it. It’s throaty, deep sounding.”

Busch had the same opinion regarding the power unit’s new roar.

“The sound was really cool,” Busch said. “I don’t get to hear cars a lot because I’m in the car racing, but to hear Truex go around and to hear the split exhaust – one pipes out the left, one pipes out the right – that’s an old-school, Trans-Am thundering power.”

On Wednesday, the cars will run closer together in order to study how the cars will react in true racing conditions.

For Truex, that’ll be the true test.

“I think Wednesday is going to be the real test to see what I think and to see how it feels on a fast oval,” Truex said. “I think that’s going to be a real eye-opener.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Front Row Motorsports announced Monday that John Hunter Nemechek has informed the organization he will not return to the team for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Nemechek piloted Front Row’s No. 38 Ford this season as a Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate. The 23-year-old driver notched three top-10 finishes in 36 races, placing a career-best eighth twice — in both races this year at Talladega Superspeedway.

RELATED: Key figures in Silly Season

“We want to thank John Hunter for being a part of Front Row Motorsports and beginning his NASCAR Cup Series career with us,” FRM owner Bob Jenkins said in a team statement. “He certainly helped elevate our performance this past season and brought added value to our No. 38 team. We wish him the best in the next phase in his career and he will always be a friend of ours.”

Front Row Motorsports indicated its 2021 plans would be announced at a later date. The organization also fielded a full-time entry for veteran Michael McDowell last season.

Nemechek released his own statement Monday, thanking Jenkins and the team, and also indicating that his plans for next season would be announced later.

Nemechek made his Cup Series debut with Front Row in 2019, driving its No. 36 Ford in the final three races of the season. He wound up 27th in the final driver standings in 2020.

Nemechek has seven national series victories — one win in the Xfinity Series and six in Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series competition.

Posted on by Staff Report

Jeb Burton will run a full-time season with Kaulig Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for the 2021 season, the organization announced Monday.

Burton will drive the No. 10 Chevrolet and fill the seat vacated by Ross Chastain’s rise up the NASCAR ladder to the Cup Series with Chip Ganassi Racing. Nutrien Ag Solutions will be on board as a primary partner for Burton on the car. In 2020, the No. 10 driven by Chastain reached the Round of 8 of the Xfinity Series Playoffs and finished seventh in the standings.

RELATED: Keep tabs on latest Silly Season moves

“It’s an honor to have this opportunity driving full-time for Kaulig Racing and Nutrien Ag Solutions,” Burton said in a team release. “I’ve worked so hard, not only behind the wheel, to get an opportunity like this, and it couldn’t be more perfect – representing a brand with the same values and beliefs as my family. This partnership represents everything we are, and I can’t thank Matt Kaulig, Chris Rice and Nutrien Ag Solutions enough.”

Burton will join Justin Haley as a full-time driver for the organization who is entering its sixth year in the series. All of its full-time drivers — Blake Koch (2016, 2017), Ryan Truex (2018), Haley (2019, 2020) and Chastain (2020) have reached the playoffs. Haley was the first driver at Kaulig to reach the Championship 4 in 2020.

“Jeb is a hard worker on and off the track,” said Chris Rice, president of Kaulig Racing in a team release. “He’s a great fit for Kaulig Racing and our partners. I’ve known the Burton family and worked with them back in the 1980’s, so it feels like everything has come full circle. We are going to go out and compete for wins and championships. Jeb is a guy we can build a long term, successful program around.”

Burton, the 27-year-old from Halifax, Virginia, is the son of 2002 Daytona 500 champion Ward Burton and the nephew to 21-time Cup winner Jeff Burton. Jeb Burton is well traveled across all three NASCAR national series with 33 Cup Series starts, 43 Xfinity Series starts and 57 starts in the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series. He won a Truck race in 2013 at Texas Motor Speedway for his lone national series win to date.

Most recently, Burton served as a part-time driver with JR Motorsports’ Xfinity program. He made 18 starts over the past two seasons and notched five top fives and 12 top 10s. His best series finish came in September with a second-place run at Richmond Raceway.

Posted on by Staff Report

Which channels have NASCAR programming this week? We answer that and give the weekly NASCAR television listings here in the NASCAR TV schedule.

Note: All times are ET.

MORE: How to find NBCSN | Get the NBC Sports App | How to find FS1 | Get FOX Sports App

Monday, November 16
1 p.m., IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship: 12 Hours of Sebring (re-air), NBCSN/NBC Sports App

Tuesday, November 17
5 p.m., Dale Jr. Download: Chase Elliott (re-air), NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub: 2020 Sights and Sounds, FS1/FOX Sports App
6 p.m., Glory Road: David Pearson and the 1968 Rebel 400 (re-air), NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6:30 p.m., Glory Road: Dirt Roots (re-air), NBCSN/NBC Sports App
10 p.m., Dale Jr. Download: Chase Elliott (re-air), NBCSN/NBC Sports App
11 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub: 2020 Sights and Sounds (re-air), FS2/FOX Sports App

On MRN
7 p.m., NASCAR Live

Wednesday, November 18
1 a.m., Dale Jr. Download: Chase Elliott (re-air), NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive: Part 1, FS1/FOX Sports App
6 p.m., Dale Jr. Download: Kyle Larson and Rick Hendrick (re-air), NBCSN/NBC Sports App
7 p.m., Dale Jr. Download: Darrell Waltrip, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
8 p.m., NASCAR Awards, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
9:30 p.m., Lost Speedways (re-air), NBCSN/NBC Sports App
10 p.m., Lost Speedways (re-air), NBCSN/NBC Sports App
10:30 p.m., Lost Speedways (re-air), NBCSN/NBC Sports App
11 p.m., Lost Speedways (re-air), NBCSN/NBC Sports App
11:30 p.m., Lost Speedways (re-air), NBCSN/NBC Sports App

Thursday, November 19
12 a.m., Lost Speedways (re-air), NBCSN/NBC Sports App
1 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: 2020 Sights and Sounds (re-air), FS2/FOX Sports App
2 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive: Part 1 (re-air), FS2/FOX Sports App
3 a.m., NASCAR Racing Classics: 1986 Miller High Life 400 (re-air), FS2/FOX Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive: Part 2, FS1/FOX Sports App
7 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub: 2020 Sights and Sounds (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App

On MRN
7 p.m., Road to the Cup

Friday, November 20
1 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive: Part 1 (re-air), FS2/FOX Sports App
2 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive: Part 2 (re-air), FS2/FOX Sports App
9 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: 2020 Sights and Sounds (re-air), FS2/FOX Sports App
10 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive: Part 1 (re-air), FS2/FOX Sports App
11 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive: Part 2 (re-air), FS2/FOX Sports App

Posted on by Official NASCAR Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — As NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver Chase Elliott sailed his No. 9 Chevrolet across the Phoenix Raceway finish line to capture his first NASCAR Cup Series championship, several more numbers came into focus, none more important than this one: 36.

Together, the NASCAR industry accomplished the improbable, completing a full 36-race NASCAR Cup Series schedule, making it the only major sport to complete a full season in 2020. Not only did NASCAR run every race despite several challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, NASCAR saw numerous positive trends both on and off the track.

On the track, the sport enjoyed some of the most competitive racing in years, evidenced by an increased number of passes, both for the lead and throughout the field.

The intense racing led to viewership on television remaining stable during the most competitive television landscape in history, while NASCAR’s social and digital metrics enjoyed several increases across its platforms.

Finally, positive buzz around NASCAR’s brand is trending 25% higher than last year, a testament to the incredible strides the sport made to get back to racing under incredibly challenging circumstances.

Below is a full “by the numbers” look at milestones from NASCAR’s 2020 season.

Statistical Superlatives

23.3 – Average age of NASCAR’s national series champions: Cup Series, Chase Elliott (24.11); Xfinity Series, Austin Cindric (22.1); Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series, Sheldon Creed (23).

1,190 – Green flag passes for the lead in the NASCAR Cup Series, second-most in the past 14 seasons.

20.0 – The average number of lead changes per NASCAR Cup Series race, the most since 2014 (21.17).

20 – Number of races with a margin of victory of less than a second, most since 2014.

1988 – The last year that NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver won the championship (Bill Elliott).

4 – NASCAR transitioned from a series entitlement model to a premier partner model that welcomed four global leading brands as premier partners – Busch Beer, Coca-Cola, Geico and Xfinity.

3 – Three new teams have announced they will enter the NASCAR Cup Series in 2021, including 23XI Racing owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin.

COVID-19 Protocols

90,391 – Health questionnaires returned from essential personnel who enter the race track.

102,347 – Documented temperatures taken from essential personnel.

45,100 & 39,000 – Number of cloth and disposable masks purchased to help essential personnel combat the virus while in-venue.

205 – Number of thermometers purchased for at-track health screenings.

2 – Pulse oximeters purchased to be used at secondary screening locations.

64 – Gallons of high-grade disinfectant solution purchased to disinfect the garage area.

In-Venue

94 – National Series races conducted in 2020, completing the entire schedule.

5,000 – First responders and military personnel invited to attend the first sporting event with fans at Homestead-Miami Speedway on June 14.

1969 – The last year NASCAR introduced three new venues to a NASCAR Cup Series schedule. The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series schedule will introduce three new racetracks and two new layouts at iconic venues.

Fan Engagement (Television & Digital)

3.058M – Average viewers on television of the NASCAR Cup Series, off just -2% year-over-year during one of the most competitive television landscapes in history.

+1% – NASCAR viewership was up across races 2 thru 36 (excluding a rain impacted DAYTONA 500) – consistently bringing a stable audience each weekend.

+11 – On FS1, weekday editions of “NASCAR Race Hub” were up 11% this season compared to 2019 (show started back on Jan. 27).

190+ – NASCAR content was distributed in over 190 countries and territories.

+7% – Total visits to NASCAR’s digital platform rose +7% from 2019.

+10% – Increase in the amount of time fans are spending on NASCAR’s digital platforms on race days.

+56% ­­– NASCAR social media engagements have increased significantly.

18% – Increase in NASCAR Mobile App downloads year-over-year.

30% – @NASCARonFOX recorded a +30% increase over 2019 with more than 431 million views across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

8.6M – Video of drivers pushing Bubba Wallace’s car to the front of the grid at Talladega is FOX Sports’ most-watched Twitter video of all time on any account with 8.6 million views.

140+ – Live races aired in debut season of OTT platform TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold.

eNASCAR

6 – eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series events on FOX and FS1 that rank as the highest-rated esports TV programs of all time.

2M – New unique viewers (people who had not previously watched NASCAR in 2020) that tuned into the seven eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series events on FOX and FS1.

Sports Betting

3 – Deals brokered with sports-betting operators (Penn National Gaming, BetMGM, WynnBET).

1st – NASCAR became the first league to join responsible betting campaigns with the American Gaming Association and National Center for Responsible Betting.

Licensing

10 – Chase Elliot’s first Cup Series title resulted in the most first-day merchandise sales of any NASCAR champion in the last 10 years.

+78% – Overall NASCAR Shop Sales are significantly up year-over-year / since NASCAR’s return to racing in May, NASCAR Shop Sales are +147% year-over-year.

Television Metrics Source: The Nielsen Company
Digital Metrics Source: Adobe Analytics
Social Metrics Sources: Conviva and Meltwater

Posted on by Team Release

STATESVILLE, N.C. — GMS Racing announced Friday that Chase Purdy will join the organization full time in 2021. The NASCAR Next alumni will pilot one of the team’s Chevrolet entries in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

“I am very excited to be back full-time racing again, especially with a strong organization like GMS Racing,” Purdy said. “I am ready to get to work with this team and start preparing for 2021. I am already counting down the days until we leave for Daytona (International Speedway).”

RELATED: Stay on top of all the Silly Season moves

Purdy piloted a Silverado in seven events for the Statesville, North Carolina-based organization in 2020. Purdy’s best finish was 10th at the second Kansas Speedway event. Purdy ran full time in 2018 in the ARCA Racing Series for MDM Motorsports alongside GMS Racing drivers Sheldon Creed and Zane Smith. Purdy amassed 10 top-five and 14 top-10 finishes en route to a fourth-place finish in the championship standings. The 2018 season also marked Purdy’s Gander Trucks debut, competing at Martinsville Speedway and Phoenix Raceway with current GMS Racing crew chief Jeff Stankiewicz atop the pit box.

“We are happy to have Chase back and this time for a full-season,” said Mike Beam, president of GMS Racing. “He will be a great addition to our powerhouse team for 2021. Sheldon, Zane and Tyler (Ankrum) will be great mentors for him to learn off of.  I can’t wait to see how he learns and grows as a driver this coming season.”

Posted on by Jason Christley

The short-track season continues this weekend at New Smyrna Speedway.

The half-mile banked oval is the destination for Super Late Model drivers from across the country as it hosts the 55th Annual Halifax Health Race to Stop Suicide Florida Governor’s Cup Weekend presented by Solar Fit. Both days of racing will stream live on TrackPass on NBC Gold.

Wisconsin’s Ty Majeski is a three-time winner of the Governor’s Cup and will return for a shot at No. 4. Majeski won the Orange Blossom 100 at New Smyrna in February. North Carolina’s Matt Craig is the defending race winner.


Brad May and Bubba Pollard will look to bring home the trophy that has eluded them.

May won his fourth Super Late Model division championship and fourth NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Florida championship this year. He also won the week-long World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing title for the first time earlier this year. Pollard, who has piled up big event wins across the country, won the World Series title in 2019. The field is also expected to include ARCA Menards Series driver Kris Wright, 2019 Pro Late Model champion at New Smyrna Daniel Dye, and former New Smyrna Super Late Model champion Anthony Sergi.

RELATED: Full Schedule | Buy Tickets

The Florida Governor’s Cup was first run in November of 1965 at Golden Gate Speedway in Tampa, and was won by Wayne Reutimann over runner-up Bobby Allison. The event was held at Golden Gate or Showtime Speedway in Pinellas Park through 1987, before moving permanently to New Smyrna.

More recently, Erik Jones won the event in 2011 as a 15-year-old, beating David Rogers and Ben Kennedy. Harrison Burton was third in 2014 and ’17, while Tyler Ankrum (fifth) and Derek Kraus (sixth) made runs in 2015, and Raphael Lessard was third in 2018.