The 2020 struggles for reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch continued Sunday at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course.
Busch closed out the inaugural Go Bowling 235 with his fifth finish outside the top 30 this season, placing 37th on the final scorecard. He only had two races go that way in 2019.
On top of that, the Daytona Road Course marked Busch’s fourth event this season in which he did not make it to the checkered flag. There were also only two races like that in all of 2019.
Sunday’s series of unfortunate events started on Lap 2 of 65. Busch took the lead but then dragged the tires on his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the front chicane. He flat-spotted his left-front tire, forcing him to make an unscheduled pit stop on Lap 4.
Busch was 27th at the end of Stage 1 on Lap 15 and then up to 19th when Stage 2 ended on Lap 30.
Things were fine until Busch pitted on Lap 48 from the second-place position with a completely different issue that needed to be diagnosed. The No. 18 crew took a longer stop than normal, furiously wrenching on Busch’s Toyota. Instead of sending the two-time champ back out on the track, he was told to steer his car to the garage with a mechanical issue.
With less than 20 laps remaining and the laps continuing to tick off, however, JGR didn’t have much time to spare. Busch ultimately returned to the race six laps down … only to exit early regardless.
On Lap 60, both of Busch’s rear tires went down, sending the Camry spinning. That incident officially ended his day.
It was in Busch’s best interest to finish out the event for points purposes. He has yet to win a race this season and therefore is not guaranteed a spot in the playoffs. Busch does have a comfortable 100-point cushion above the cutline in 13th, but — again — not guaranteed a berth.
Just three regular-season races remain, including a return trip to Daytona for the finale on its high-speed oval that tends to be unpredictable. That’ll be more familiar than the road course — even though Busch had the most recent experience among drivers on the layout stemming from the Rolex 24 earlier this year.
Before that last-ditch effort, Dover International Speedway will host a doubleheader next weekend (Saturday and Sunday both at 4 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Busch has three wins in 30 career starts at the “Monster Mile” — most recently in 2017. He came in sixth and 10th there last year.
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Monday, Aug. 17
2:30 a.m., NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series: Sunoco 159 (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App
Tuesday, Aug. 18
1:30 a.m., IMSA Auto Racing Special Lamborghini Super Trofeo: Road America, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App
On MRN
7 p.m., NASCAR Live
Wednesday, Aug. 19 12:30 a.m., Glory Road: Stock Car Evolution, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
5 p.m., Dale Jr. Download, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App
Sheldon Creed had to hold off his GMS Racing teammate, Brett Moffitt, twice on restarts with less than five laps remaining in Sunday’s Sunoco 159, with the 22-year-old Creed ultimately beating the former series champion by a mere .743 seconds in overtime to earn the inaugural NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race victory at Daytona International Speedway’s famed road course.
Appropriately, Creed and Moffitt dominated the top position on the scoring pylon all day – combining to lead 32 of the race’s 46 laps. There were seven race leaders and 11 lead changes, but Creed topped all drivers with 22 laps out front en route to his second series victory. Ironically, Creed’s first career win at Kentucky Speedway earlier this season came when the race was shortened due to weather. On Sunday, he won having to lead extra laps, including those last intense 12 laps.
Sunoco rookie Raphael Lessard finished a career-best third, followed by 2019 series champion Matt Crafton and current championship points leader Austin Hill. Tyler Ankrum finished sixth, and the season’s other two-time race winner Grant Enfinger was seventh. Parker Kligerman, Scott Lagasse Jr. and Stewart Friesen rounded out the top 10 in order.
It was quite a comeback for both Enfinger and Friesen, whose trucks spent extended time on pit road for repairs earlier in the race. For Lagasse, a cancer survivor, it was a particularly impressive afternoon – his ninth-place work came in his only Gander Trucks start on the year.
For winning the first race in the Triple Truck Challenge incentive, Creed receives a $50,000 bonus check. The series will compete again for the extra money at Dover International Speedway next week and then Aug. 30 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. Should a driver win two of these races, he earns a $150,000 paycheck. Should he win all three, he would earn a $500,000 bonus.
“Nerve-wracking,” a smiling Creed said after climbing out of his No. 2 GMS Racing Chevrolet. “Brett’s really good on road courses and he’s helped me so much on the Chevy simulator. I just thought about not making a mistake there. He tried crossing me up a couple times there in (Turns) 3 and 5 and I just stopped in the corners so he couldn’t get the run.
“I’m so thankful for my guys. They’ve been working really hard. We’ve had a rough couple weeks, last weekend running up front and lost an alternator.”
Of the extra money he won?
“Man, if I get to keep it, that will be rad,” the California native said. “Just thankful to be here and for this opportunity. Just trying to make a name for myself.”
It was a big day for several others in the field – especially those still looking for a playoff position with only four races remaining to set the 10-driver championship field.
Moffitt’s runner-up showing only solidified his position despite not having a victory yet. He is 84 points up on all drivers without a win. Ankrum is ninth in the championship standings five points ahead of 11th-place Derek Kraus. Todd Gilliland is 10th in the standings, only two points ahead of Kraus.
The Gander Trucks are back in action Friday at Dover for the KDI Office Technology 200 (5 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Note: Sheldon Creed’s No. 2 GMS Racing Chevrolet passed NASCAR’s post-race inspection at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course. There were no other issues.
Justin Allgaier’s season of frustration bubbled over in a post-race rant Saturday after a run-in with veteran AJ Allmendinger in the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ debut at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course.
Allgaier and Allmendinger were both running among the top five in the inaugural UNOH 188 when Allmendinger overshot the entry to Turn 6 on the 3.61-mile circuit with three laps to go. His lock-up forced the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet into Allgaier’s No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevy, looping him out of the groove.
Allmendinger drove on to finish fourth. Allgaier righted his car and took ninth place, but he marched over to confront Allmendinger after the checkered flag.
Allmendinger tried to soothe the situation by accepting fault, but Allgaier stayed on the offensive, saying, “That’s just dumb.” Allmendinger countered: “It was a mistake, and I’ve seen you make a lot of them.”
Once the trading of words ended, Allmendinger reiterated he was to blame in their on-track contact.
“I mean, he should be mad. That’s my fault,” Allmendinger told NBC Sports. “It wasn’t anything intentional, but that was my fault. I got in there trying to get under (Andy) Lally, and honestly I didn’t even drive it in that hard. I had the Lally pass done, and as soon as I touched the brake pedal, it started wheel-hopping, and as soon as it did, I was trying to clear out of the way, like I was trying to turn right to get away from the 7 and miss him. I got into him, so he should be mad, and I apologized to his race team.
“He says I’ve wrecked him a lot in the past. I’m not really sure of that. If that’s the case, I’m sorry.”
Allgaier’s remarks stemmed not only from what was an unforced error on Allmendinger’s part, but also a 2020 season that has been among the most irksome of his career. Though he’s well within the comfort zone in the Xfinity Series playoff picture thanks to 10 top-10 finishes in 19 races, he has yet to visit Victory Lane this year. Adding to the frustration level, five of his races have been cut short by crashes, mostly of the late-race variety.
Allgaier’s road-race start didn’t end early Saturday, but the sting was still painful.
“Getting wrecked, plain and simple,” Allgaier told NBCSN. “He just made a dumb, dumb decision. Obviously I’ve not seen a replay, but it’s pretty easy to tell what happened. I don’t know if we could’ve held him off at the end of the race there, but he just drove in there and cleaned me out. Really proud of everybody on this Brandt Agriculture Camaro. We weren’t the best today, the guys did a really good job and made big gains all day, and the pit crew did a great job of getting track position. Spotters did awesome, just getting me in the right spots.”
Allgaier then paused, gave a half-chuckle and shook his head.
“2020 has been just like that right there, and I’m over it,” he said. “It’s not the first time AJ’s wrecked me, and it’s just hard when the same guy wrecks you over and over again.”
The NASCAR Cup Series will embark on its maiden voyage Sunday on the historic Daytona International Speedway Road Course, bringing yet another set of twists and turns (14 of them, in fact) to an already unpredictable 2020 season.
Did we mention they’ll be taking the green flag with no practice or qualifying, too? That’s enough to add to the intrigue of what is bound to be a wild weekend, but if that wasn’t enough, the playoffs are right around the corner, with plenty of implications on the line this weekend.
NASCAR.com has you covered for this premier event from every conceivable angle. Read our full coverage below to get ready for the Go Bowling 235 (3 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, Sirius XM NASCAR).
Austin Cindric’s summer of dominance continued Saturday afternoon in the inaugural UNOH 188 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course.
Cindric, 22, of Mooresville, N.C., earned his fifth victory in the last six races, his No. 22 Team Penske Ford pulling away to a hefty 7.108-second win over Brandon Jones’ No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. That impressive ultimate margin of victory, however, is not indicative of the action-packed debut on Daytona’s famed road course.
Noah Gragson recovered from an off-course excursion early in the race while leading the field to finish third and maintain a perfect record of top-10 finishes on every Xfinity Series road-course event he has competed in. AJ Allmendinger and Andy Lally – both road-course experts – finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
Jeremy Clement, Sunoco rookies Riley Herbst and Harrison Burton, veteran Justin Allgaier and rookie Myatt Snider rounded out the top 10 in well-earned, masterful drives to the finish.
Allgaier and Allmendinger had words on pit road after the race. Allmendinger spun Allgaier out of a top-five finish in the closing laps and was apologetic. Allgaier, one of the series-best road-course racers, approached Allmendinger after the race and shared his displeasure.
With no practice or qualifying and most of the competitors in the race completely new to the 3.61-mile, 14-turn course, the race was a steady dose of high-speed how-do-you-do. From overly ambitious restarts to simply missing corners while figuring out this brand-new competitive experience, there was action from green to checkered flags.
“I’m not sure anyone was really all that happy with their race cars you know, unfortunately I have the perspective of driving really fast race cars at this track,” said Cindric, who has competed in three Rolex 24 at Daytona IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship races on the road course.
“It’s a great credit to my team, MoneyLion and the guys. … That’s five wins on the year obviously back-to-back now. I didn’t feel like I drove my best today but we executed there at the end when it counts and that’s what makes these races so difficult to win.”
Chris Graythen | Getty Images
Cindric, who led 21 of the 52 total laps, led the opening 16 laps of the race to earn the Stage 1 win and bookended the work by leading the last five laps to claim his seventh career Xfinity Series victory. His five wins (and a second place) in the last six races ties a record held by the legendary Sam Ard set back in 1983.
Cindric’s chief rival – as has been the case all season – was fellow Ford driver Chase Briscoe, who led a race-best 26 laps. Cindric and Briscoe put on a master class of road-course dueling particularly in the second stage, with Briscoe, also a five-race winner in 2020, earning the green-and-white checkered flag in that sprint.
Their battle – at times contentious, with Cindric tossing a water bottle toward Briscoe’s car under caution – continued late in the race until Briscoe was collected in a multi-car restart melee with eight laps remaining. Briscoe’s No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford suffered too much damage to continue, and he was scored 29th – his worst finish of the year.
Similarly, another two of the Xfinity Series championship contenders, Kaulig Racing teammates Justin Haley and Ross Chastain simultaneously suffered race-ending issues – Haley with an off-course excursion and Chastain, a mechanical issue. They finished 36th (Chastain) and 38th (Haley) – their worst finishes of the season as well.
With seven races remaining to set the 12-driver Xfinity Series playoff field, Cindric, Briscoe, Gragson, Jones, Burton and Haley have assured their chances at a title with victories.
Brandon Brown, who suffered a tough 34th-place finish, holds the final 12th-place transfer position in the driver standings but is only 28 points up on Saturday’s sixth-place finisher Jeremy Clements in 13th.
The race provided a preview for Sunday’s doubleheader of Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series and Cup Series events, with the Xfinity Series field encountering trouble spots multiple times in the two chicanes. Turn 1 also proved difficult in late-race restarts with multiple tie-ups and instances of drivers running wide as they dove into the infield section.
The race was delayed by one hour, 50 minutes by lightning strikes just before pre-race ceremonies. When the race did start at 5:09 p.m. ET, NASCAR officials deemed the track damp, giving teams the option to add rain tires after the late-afternoon showers.
The Xfinity Series is set for a pair of races next weekend at Dover International Speedway, Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. ET. Both races are scheduled to be broadcast on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Note: Post-race inspection in the NASCAR Xfinity Series garage was completed with no issues.
Sunday’s Go Bowling 235 (3 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) on the road course at Daytona International Speedway will be the first NASCAR Cup Series race on this layout, making it very difficult from a handicapping perspective.
We have no historical data to analyze and don’t truly know how closely this track compares to other road courses on the Cup Series schedule, like Sonoma Raceway, Watkins Glen International and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.
Because of this, it’s reasonable to assume this race will be more wide open than most, paving the way for longer shots down the odds board to outperform expectations.
After looking at general road-course performance, experience and a handful of other factors, here’s one driver worth betting for a top-10 finish at Daytona.
Randomness is the driving theme of my betting strategy this weekend. Will it result in a surprise winner? Who really knows. However, uncertainty surrounding what the racing will look like makes taking cracks at some long shots a reasonable approach, especially in top-10 props.
McDowell comes from a road-racing background and actually has five previous starts in the Rolex 24, a 24-hour road-course race on the Daytona Road Course.
Additionally, McDowell has the 11th-best average finish over the two Cup Series races run on the Charlotte Roval, which is likely the best comp on the current Cup Series schedule.
In McDowell, we have a driver with extensive road-racing experience, including on the Daytona Road Course, and with a top-15 average finish on the road course at Charlotte.
He’ll be starting deep in 30th place, but that’s obviously built into this price, and for all the reasons above, I’m aggressively betting McDowell for a top-10 finish at +340.
Austin Dillon self-reported a positive COVID-19 test to Richard Childress Racing on Saturday, a development that will keep him out of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course.
Dillon, driver of the No. 3 Chevrolet, is self-quarantining, the team said. RCR has named Kaz Grala as his replacement this weekend for Sunday’s Go Bowling 235 (3 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM), the first Cup Series race on the 3.61-mile oval and road-course layout.
Dillon’s wife Whitney and son Ace remain healthy and symptom-free, according to a team statement.
Dillon may be eligible to return to competition if he receives two negative COVID-19 test results, from tests taken at least 24 hours apart. He must also receive written clearance to resume racing activity from his personal physician. If Dillon is unable to produce two negative tests within the 10-day period for his initial positive test, his return status may be reviewed by a NASCAR consulting physician.
Dillon qualified for the NASCAR Playoffs with a victory July 19 at Texas Motor Speedway. Once the team requests it, Dillon will receive a medical waiver to ease the requirement that he compete in every race to retain his postseason eligibility.
Dillon, the grandson of team owner Richard Childress, is currently in his seventh full season of Cup Series competition. The 30-year-old driver has three premier-series wins, including the 2017 Coca-Cola 600 and the 2018 Daytona 500 and has won championships in the Xfinity Series (2013) and Gander Trucks (2011).
“RCR takes the safety of our employees, fellow competitors, fans, partners and outside vendors seriously,” the team said in a statement. “Based upon recommendations outlined by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), NASCAR and our health partners at Wake-Forest Baptist Health, RCR has enacted procedures and safety protocols designed to minimize the risk of COVID-19 exposure and spread. These guidelines were developed in close consultation with a panel of medical experts with broad experience in infectious diseases, many of whom have been on the front line in treating COVID-19 patients across the country. We will continue to adhere to these guidelines in order to protect the health and safety of our employees and their families, and our business partners.”
Grala will be making his Cup Series debut in Sunday’s 65-lap event. Since its a driver change, Grala will drop to the rear during pace laps instead of starting 10th as Dillon would have. The 21-year-old Grala has entered two Xfinity Series races for RCR this season, matching his career-best with a fourth-place finish last weekend at Road America. Grala also has experience on the Daytona Road Course layout, twice sharing driving duties in a Lamborghini for Change Racing in IMSA’s Rolex 24 (2016-17).
Grala’s lone national-series win was a historic one, also at Daytona International Speedway. He prevailed from the pole position, driving a GMS Racing entry to victory in the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series’ 2017 opener to become the 2.5-mile speedway’s youngest winner at 18 years, 1 month and 26 days old.
Rules for the weekend stipulate that no driver may compete in multiple national-series races on the Daytona Road Course.
CHARLOTTE, NC (Aug. 13, 2020) – With the first NASCAR Cup Series race at the all-new Daytona International Speedway Road Course set to unfold on Sunday, one of the many tools that Team Chevy drivers used to prepare is Chevrolet Racing’s Driver-in-the-Loop (DiL) simulator, located just outside of Charlotte, North Carolina.
Much more than just a game, Chevy’s DiL is a proven, high fidelity and very immersive system used by professional race teams, which gives a visual of a specific track and then replicates how that track feels to the driver.
In Team Chevy spirit, Hendrick Motorsports drivers Alex Bowman — driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE — and William Byron — driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, worked with Jordan Taylor, who campaigns the No. 3 Corvette C8.R with teammate Antonio Garcia for Corvette Racing, this week at the Chevy DiL to discuss the completely new challenge that awaits.
Although the upcoming 65-lap Go Bowling 235 will run on the same road course layout as the Rolex 24 At Daytona, North America’s premier race for sports cars, it will feature an added twist. The traditional ribbon of asphalt out of NASCAR Turn Four will sport a new chicane that transforms the design into a 14-turn, 3.61-mile, high-banked tri-oval/infield road course, which is unique to all motorsports. With NASCAR having curtailed practice sessions during the COVID-19 pandemic, preparation is key.
“Jordan really helped with entry to Turn 5,” Bowman said. “His entry in there was quite different than how I was approaching it. Some of the braking zones were a little bit different. Then some line stuff and some rain stuff as well. Having his knowledge is super helpful. He’s a really good guy and I really appreciate his help. The rain will be the biggest thing. I have absolutely no clue what I’m doing in the rain, so being able to have an idea of what to expect there is a big help.”
Bowman, with two career Cup Series wins to his credit and who formerly served as an integral part of the simulation and on-track testing programs for Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet, collaborates with Taylor. He and Garcia lead the GT Le Mans (GTLM) category of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with two victories in the new mid-engine Corvette C8.R. Among them was a win at the IMSA WeatherTech 240 at Daytona – the Corvette C8.R’s first win and Corvette Racing’s 100th in IMSA competition.
“When you look at it on a track map, it looks pretty basic but each corner has little tricks that can help you,” Taylor said. “They’re going into this race with zero practice and zero laps on this track, so they need as much preparation as they can get. From my side, I bring some experience from that track that I can give him – little tips that maybe would take them a session or two to figure out. Hopefully they can hit the ground running when they show up for race day.”
Joey Logano will pilot a Bobby Allison-inspired throwback paint scheme for the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Sept. 6 (6 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Logano’s No. 22 Ford was unveiled on Team Penske’s social media channels Friday morning. The design pays tribute to the No. 22 Buick that Allison drove during the 1985 NASCAR Cup Series season.
