Posted on by Staff Report

Daytona International Speedway’s annual celebration of season-opening events gets into full swing with a sports-car classic: The 58th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is back for its annual 24-hour test of endurance, with a variety of drivers and cars competing in four classes — and the only place to watch the race in its entirety, with no channel changes, is TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold.

There are also several NASCAR connections, with defending Cup Series champion Kyle Busch among the entrants.

With teams preparing to race for two trips around the clock, here’s a glance at this year’s Rolex 24, including the race format, schedule, tune-in information and more as Daytona Speedweeks gets going in earnest.

RELATED: Top 10 NASCAR moments in the Rolex 24 | NASCAR drivers in the Rolex 24

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IMSA cars on the grid for 2020 Rolex 24 at Daytona
Courtesy of IMSA

What: 58th Rolex 24 at Daytona, the first race of the 2020 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season

When: Race starts Saturday, Jan. 25, at 1:40 p.m. ET and ends Sunday, Jan. 26, at 1:40 p.m. ET

Where: Daytona International Speedway, 3.56-mile combined tri-oval and road course

How to watch: NBC Sports plans extensive live coverage, beginning and ending on NBC’s main network, with NBCSN and the network’s streaming platforms rounding out the broadcast. Full supplemental coverage will come through NBC Sports Gold’s TrackPass service. Information for international broadcasts can be found here and radio broadcast information is found here. The full TV broadcast schedule is listed below.

Divisions: The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is divided into four classes, all competing on the track at the same time. Those four divisions include two prototype classes — Daytona Prototype International (DPi) and Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) — and two sports-car classes — Grand Touring Le Mans (GTLM) and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD).

Preliminary events: The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, split into Grand Sport (GS) and Touring Car (TCR) classes, will host the four-hour BMW Endurance Challenge at Daytona on Friday, Jan. 24 (1 p.m. ET, TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold, IMSA.tv). The Rolex 24 Heritage Exhibition will feature classic sports cars from IMSA’s history turning laps Saturday at 10 a.m. ET. Two races for the Ferrari Challenge series are also slated — Thursday at 9 p.m. ET and Friday at 6:45 p.m. ET.

2019 winners: The Wayne Taylor Racing Konica Minolta DPi Cadillac took overall honors with drivers Fernando Alonso, Kamui Kobayashi, Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande.

Last year’s other class winners:

  • LMP2: DragonSpeed ORECA team with drivers Roberto Gonzalez, Pastor Maldonado, Sebastian Saavedra and Ryan Cullen.
  • GTLM: BMW Team RLL M8 GTE with drivers Connor De Phillippi, Philipp Eng, Augusto Farfus and Colton Herta.
  • GTD: GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 with drivers Mirko Bortolotti, Rik Breukers, Christian Engelhart and Rolf Ineichen.

SHOP: Buy Rolex 24 tickets

Cars: A total of 12 manufacturers will participate in the series’ four classes. The number of automakers grows to 17 when adding the Michelin Pilot Challenge series. The full list: Acura, Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ferrari, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Lamborghini, Lexus, McLaren, Mazda, Mercedes-AMG, Porsche.

Jake Galstad
Jake Galstad | LAT Images

NASCAR involvement: Several bonds to NASCAR’s national series are evident on the entry list, topped by Kyle Busch’s first entry in the Rolex 24. He’ll be one of four drivers in a No. 14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC-F GT3 in the GT Daytona Class. The NBC Sports broadcast crew will also feature some familiar faces from its NASCAR coverage team.

A list of the participants in IMSA’s opening weekend with NASCAR ties:

  • Multimatic Motorsports will enter three Ford Mustang GT4s in Friday’s BMW Endurance Challenge, with Ford development drivers Hailie Deegan and Chase Briscoe sharing the No. 22 entry and Xfinity Series regular Austin Cindric joining the No. 15 Mustang effort in the Michelin Pilot Challenge’s Grand Sport class.
  • AJ Allmendinger will team up in a four-driver group in the Heinricher Racing with MSR Curb-Agajanian No. 57 Acura NSX GT3 in the GT Daytona class. Allmendinger, who was a NASCAR Cup Series regular from 2007-18, has one overall Rolex 24 win (2012). It’s his 14th Rolex 24 entry in the last 15 years.
  • Acura Team Penske will field the Nos. 6 and 7 Acuras in the DPi class. Former NASCAR Cup Series competitor Juan Pablo Montoya, a three-time Rolex 24 overall winner, will be a part of the three-driver effort — with two-time IMSA champ Dane Cameron and 2019 Indy 500 winner Simon Pagenaud — for the No. 6 team.
  • British ace Jack Hawksworth will be one of three teammates to Busch in the GTD-class Lexus. Hawksworth made his Xfinity Series debut last season in a Joe Gibbs Racing effort at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, starting on the front row and leading five laps.
  • Katherine Legge, who made four NASCAR Xfinity Series starts in 2018, will team up in a four-driver effort in the No. 19 Lamborghini for GEAR Racing powered by GRT Grasser in the GTD division.
  • Andy Lally, Sunoco Rookie of the Year for the NASCAR Cup Series in 2011, is set for GTD duty in the GRT Magnus Lamborghini. Lally is a five-time class winner in the Rolex 24.
  • Colin Braun, a one-time Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series winner (2009) who also has Xfinity Series experience, will be part of a four-driver crew in the No. 81 DragonSpeed entry in LMP2.
  • Brandon Gdovic, who made eight Xfinity Series starts from 2015-16, is part of a four-driver entry for the No. 47 Lamborghini fielded by Precision Performance Motorsports. Gdovic, 27, notched a K&N Pro Series (now ARCA Menards Series) East win in 2013.
  • Mike Skeen, a sports-car specialist who was at the center of post-race fireworks in the first Gander Trucks race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in 2013, will co-drove the No. 2 Audi R8 GT4 for Ave Motorsports in Friday’s Michelin Pilot Challenge event.

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RELATED: Sign up for TrackPass today

FULL BROADCAST SCHEDULE
(All times Eastern)

Thursday, Jan. 23

  • 4:05-5:20 p.m.: Rolex 24 at Daytona qualifying (IMSA.tv)

Friday, Jan. 24

Saturday, Jan. 25

Sunday, Jan. 26

Posted on by Terrin Waack

Superspeedway racing can be the ball for Cinderella stories in the NASCAR Cup Series, and Daytona International Speedway sets the stage at the start of every season.

One of the greatest underdogs was Trevor Bayne, delivering Wood Brothers Racing a win in the 2011 Daytona 500. There have also been names like Jamie McMurray, Austin Dillon, Sterling Marlin and Derrike Cope to surprise the stock-car racing world with wins on Florida’s 2.5-mile track.

The Great American Race is known for and remembered by its underdog winners. So, with it coming up on Feb. 16, the question is not only who’s next but what exactly qualifies as an underdog? Is that a first-time winner, a smaller team member or maybe a veteran looking to break a drought?

NASCAR.com’s Jonathan Merryman and Terrin Waack give their picks for which driver has the best shot to fit Daytona’s glass slipper on a lead foot to kick off the 2020 season.

RELATED: Complete look at Daytona 500 winners 

Merryman: It may be a stretch to consider Ricky Stenhouse Jr. an underdog at a superspeedway, but with only two wins in the NASCAR Cup Series, a win in the Daytona 500 would certainly raise eyebrows.

Stenhouse’s two previous wins came at Talladega Superspeedway and the summer Daytona race in 2017. Now three years removed from victory lane and behind the wheel of a new team, it’s safe to say Stenhouse has the motivation and skillset to win.

Stenhouse heads over to JTG-Daugherty Racing where the No. 47 car scored five consecutive top 10s at Daytona through last year’s Great American Race, three of those five coming in the season opener itself. That streak ended just last July, where the No. 47 finished 32nd.

All in all, I think Stenhouse’s aggressive superspeedway style pays off in 2020 and the No. 47 gives him the best shot at being the next underdog Daytona 500 champion.

Waack: Watch William Byron win his first career race in the first race of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season. The driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet enters his third full-time season after an 11th-place finish in the standings last year. He made it to Round of 12 in his NASCAR Playoffs debut. Momentum is on the young driver’s side.

DEBATE: Who you like more in ’20: Byron or Elliott?

Byron finished 23rd in his first-ever Daytona 500, which can be considered an accomplishment considering it’s a superspeedway. He then won his first career pole in his second Daytona 500 start last season and led 44 laps. He did, however, crash out of that race and ultimately finish 21st.

So, follow this Great American Race logic: Finish? Check. Crash? Check. Pole? Check. Win? Seems like that’s next on Byron’s to-do list.

Then, just looking at Daytona as a whole, Byron was runner-up there in the 2019 July event. It was one of his two (Martinsville Speedway in October) second-place showings last season. He had five top-five runs and 233 laps led overall.

Byron knows how to be fast and get out front. This season, he’ll figure out how to stay there come checkered flag — may as well be in the Daytona 500.

Posted on by Official NASCAR Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 23, 2020) – As the 2020 season rolls into view and the industry prepares to hit the open roads, NASCAR and Mack Trucks announced today a multi-year extension that continues its designation as the “Official Hauler of NASCAR®.”

For nearly five years, NASCAR has logged approximately 450,000 miles annually with Mack trucks, paving the way for successful races at various tracks across North America. In 2018, NASCAR helped Mack unveil its new Mack Anthem® model — the latest addition to its premium lineup and still hauling the NASCAR fleet today — during NASCAR Fan Appreciation Day.

“Our relationship with Mack Trucks continues to deliver a transportation solution that plays an integral role in our success every weekend,” said Elton Sawyer, vice president, officiating and technical inspection, NASCAR. “With their partnership, we have developed a customized fleet of NASCAR trucks that has simplified our transportation logistics and in turn, help us remain focused on our events.”

Mack Trucks utilizes the partnership to engage customers across the country with a variety of activations across the sport. Most recently, a Mack Anthem wrapped in a custom-designed, military-themed scheme was front and center during last year’s NASCAR Salutes Refreshed by Coca-Cola® — an industry-wide expression of respect, appreciation and reverence for those who have served the nation both past and present.

Four different design concepts for the wrap were shared on social media where fans could vote for their favorite scheme. The winning design, which featured all five branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, earned nearly 40 percent of the vote.

“Our partnership with NASCAR has provided unique opportunities to showcase our products, services and technology to a wide array of customers,” said John Walsh, vice president, marketing, Mack Trucks. “Through the extension of our relationship, we look forward to doing even more with NASCAR to further demonstrate the value we’re delivering to our customers’ businesses today through industry-leading total transportation solutions.”

The popular NASCAR Salutes Mack Anthem paint scheme will return for its third installment in the 2020 season, and once again, fans will be given the opportunity to choose the design for the NASCAR Cup Series rig. Additionally, Mack Trucks will be the presenting sponsor of NASCAR Digital Media’s weekly Power Rankings video franchise this year.

Mack Trucks will also continue to serve on the NASCAR Fuel for Business Council, an award-winning business-to-business program, that brings together an exclusive group of nearly 60 NASCAR Official Partners throughout the year to explore potential joint business opportunities.

NASCAR and Mack Trucks will embark on their fifth season together in February when the fleet of Mack Anthems departs for Daytona International Speedway for the famed DAYTONA 500. The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season will commence Thursday, Feb., 13 with the Bluegreen Vacations Duels at DAYTONA airing on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM at 7 p.m. ET.

Posted on by Jonathan Merryman

When Joe Gibbs got into NASCAR Cup Series racing, he simply didn’t dip a toe into the water, he jumped off the high dive.

The 1992 season was the three-time Super Bowl champion’s first season in NASCAR and it yielded modest results. Dale Jarrett racked up eight top 10s but only two top fives for JGR. Just a year later, the tides would turn in the first week of the season.

RELATED: Drivers’ first wins at JGR | Results from 1993 Daytona 500 

1993 Daytona 500
Harris Lue | NASCAR Creative Design

The 1993 Daytona 500 looked promising to another Dale, Dale Earnhardt. Earnhardt had come up short countless times before in NASCAR’s most coveted race and was in position to win up until the final lap. Jarrett and Earnhardt were side-by-side at the start-finish line on the white flag lap but it was Jarrett who was able to edge his No. 18 Lumina in front of the Intimidator. The win delivered Joe Gibbs his first ever NASCAR Cup Series win in the sports biggest event, the Daytona 500.

The win was the first of three Daytona 500 victories for Jarrett (’93, ’96, 2000) and the first of three to date for JGR (Jarrett in ’93 and Hamlin in 2016 and ’19).

Relive Gibbs and Jarrett’s first win together and the intense final lap Ned Jarrett branded the “Dale and Dale show” in this week’s Full Race Replay.

Posted on by Sean Montgomery

Editor’s note: Today’s Richard Petty Motorsports preview continues NASCAR.com’s countdown of team previews for the NASCAR Cup Series season, ranked in order of best finish in last year’s owner standings.

MORE: Changes to know for the 2020 season

RICHARD PETTY MOTORSPORTS
Manufacturer: Chevrolet
Engine: ECR
Driver: Bubba Wallace
Crew Chief: Jerry Baxter

What’s new: Baxter is back with Wallace and the move makes sense. The chemistry between Wallace and Baxter dates back to the duo’s stint in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series, where they made five trips to Victory Lane over a span of two seasons and finished third in the 2014 point standings. As Wallace enters his third full-time season in the Cup Series, a familiar face atop the pit box should bring new energy and excitement to the No. 43 team.

Team strength: Familiarity and experience building a winning culture together provides a huge boost for RPM in 2020. The team has established leadership with 34 years of NASCAR crew chief experience in Baxter, coupled with a now-veteran Cup Series driver in Wallace.

BUBBA WALLACE: No. 43 Chevrolet

2019 Stats: One top five, eight top 20s; 23.9 average finish with 96.9 percent of laps completed
2020 Championship Odds: 5000-1
Racing Insights Number to Know: Two. Wallace has a top-five finish in each of the last two seasons with the team. — Racing Insights
Fantasy Live Picks: Daytona, Indianapolis, Bristol
Outlook: Though not a title contender, Wallace seemed to find his stride towards the tail end of the season, picking up his second-best Cup Series finish with a third-place effort in Indianapolis and top-15 results at Richmond and Martinsville. This momentum should give him confidence heading into the Daytona 500 – where he finished runner-up in 2018 – and may bring him his first premier series win in 2020.

NASCAR.com 2020 team previews schedule

Jan. 20: Teams outside the top 30
Jan. 21: Go Fas Racing
Jan. 22: Front Row Motorsports
Jan. 23: Richard Petty Motorsports
Jan. 24: Germain Racing
Jan. 27: Leavine Family Racing
Jan. 28: Richard Childress Racing
Jan. 29: JTG Daugherty Racing
Jan. 30: Wood Brothers Racing
Jan. 31: Roush Fenway Racing
Feb. 3: Hendrick Motorsports
Feb. 4: Chip Ganassi Racing
Feb. 5: Team Penske
Feb. 6: Stewart-Haas Racing
Feb. 7: Joe Gibbs Racing

Posted on by Chase Wilhelm

CONCORD, N.C. – Looking to rekindle the magic from years past, Roush Fenway Racing heads into the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season with an intriguing organizational dynamic.

New No. 17 Ford Mustang driver Chris Buescher links up with former Richard Childress Racing crew chief Luke Lambert. Lambert worked with No. 6 driver Ryan Newman for five seasons at RCR, recording a victory at Phoenix Raceway and 19 top fives in five full-time seasons.

Heading into his second season with Roush, Newman will stick with crew chief Scott Graves. It was Graves who called the shots for Buescher during his 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship-winning season, earning three wins and 16 top fives in a two-year span together.

Although Newman made the 2019 NASCAR Playoffs, the organization has lacked some of the consistency necessary to compete with the top teams in recent years. But it appears the tide may be starting to slowly turn at the Concord, North Carolina, shop. Newman is optimistic the driver-crew chief synergy will continue that trend.

RELATED: Roush Fenway unveils new sponsor for Newman

“Organizationally, I think having Luke and Chris be a part of our teamwork is going to be huge,” Newman said. “When I say our teamwork, it’s not Scott and I, it’s the organization. Just working together to be stronger in unison.”

Newman thinks lofty goals like making the Championship 4 can be within reach if both teams improve upon unloading faster cars off the haulers this season. Newman cited that last season, the team was unable to focus on qualifying trim because its race trim needed work, which limited its chances at a higher starting position for each race. Newman thinks this can be accomplished with the lineup they have established for this season.

“The cross-synergies of me and Scott and Chris and Luke and the fact that we were both related at some points in our past life,” Newman said. “So, to have the four key guys … to be affiliated with each other in the past and to know we are not aligned the way we were, but we are still aligned together for the greater good for Roush Fenway Racing to work toward our goal this season. I think that that’s one of our strengths now.

“I think Chris will have a learning curve with Luke, but I can help Chris because I know Luke. Scott can help Luke because he knows Chris and those types of things. You don’t get that opportunity many times.”

For Buescher, many familiar faces greeted him walking through the shop for the first time since 2015. The Roush homecoming gives Buescher his best chance to date for more Cup Series victories. Between relationships already established from his Xfinity days at Roush and the strengths Newman, Lambert and Graves bring to the table, Buescher thinks the timetable of a typical eight-to-10 week process of getting comfortable with a new team can be drastically cut.

“I think that’s something we’ll be able to get down to just a couple weeks,” Buescher said. “Really be able to get back from that West Coast swing and have a good understanding of each other and be able to get rid of worrying about the feelings part and the personalities part and get worried about race cars.

“There’s not really a bunch of strangers in this scenario and that should help speed the process along. It is tough when nobody understands personalities of any others. Nobody wants to step on toes, nobody wants to come off as rude or overbearing or any of those things. I think everyone has a good sense of someone else in the process so that should streamline some of our learning curve.”

If the organization can get through the three-race stretch of West Coast races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Auto Club Speedway and Phoenix without a hitch, Buescher strongly believes success for the No. 17 team can come as early as Bristol Motor Speedway in April. Buescher’s predecessor, new JTG Daughtery Racing driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr., also put together strong runs there in the past.

“I always ran well at Bristol on the Xfinity side,” Buescher said. “I’ve seen the Roush cars and the Roush chassis, not even just Roush, but even that Front Row car run very competitively at Bristol and that’s always been a strong suit of this organization. With it being probably my strongest track as well, yes, there’s a lot of confidence going into that one. That could be a great opportunity for us to go win a race.”

Buescher is well aware the vision that he and the entire organization share for the future will not come overnight. It’ll be a grind, but he’s confident they can collectively get Roush back to its winning ways.

“It’s been there before, and it can get back,” Buescher said. “Now to see it back on that upswing heading back toward that. Not there yet, but pieces in place and things heading in the right direction gives me hope. We definitely have opportunities ahead of us, and we’ve got work ahead of us as well.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Matt DiBenedetto and NASCAR officials offered positive first impressions Wednesday during the Xfinity Series’ first test on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road-course layouts.

DiBenedetto drove a Team Penske No. 22 Ford on a pair of configurations — a 12-turn layout and a 14-turn circuit — to help determine the best setting for the July 4 event at the historic speedway. Track owner Roger Penske joined other officials Jan. 15 to announce that the Xfinity Series would use the IMS road course for the first time this season.

MORE: 2020 Xfinity Series schedule

During a lunchtime news conference, DiBenedetto said he was still figuring out his approach to the more technical sections in the track’s infield, adding that the tighter twists reminded him of Sonoma and Mid-Ohio, but that the faster portions of the course had parallels with Watkins Glen. The 12-turn layout (2.28 miles) uses the oval’s first turn as a sweeping right-hander before the frontstretch; the 14-turn configuration (2.41 miles) bypasses the oval’s Turn 1 with a sharp infield chicane.

2020 Jan22 Matt Dibenedetto Indy Main Image
@nascarcasm

DiBenedetto also joked about making the proper turn out of the Indianapolis garage; stock cars will run clockwise for the first time at the Brickyard this summer.

“The part that I liked the most about this course is that it actually does have multiple passing opportunities,” said DiBenedetto, who will join Wood Brothers Racing for the Cup Series season this year. “That was one of the things we wanted to evaluate is how it’s going to race, how technical it is and the passing zones. So the cool thing is what we love as road racers is heavy braking zones. … There’s high-speed stuff, there’s low-speed stuff, so it’s pretty much everything we could ask for from a competitor’s standpoint for race-ability.”

Xfinity Series director Wayne Auton said that competition officials would analyze the data from the test to make a determination about which course layout will be used and the length of the race and its stages. Auton said in-car camera footage would be shared with the drivers, and teams would share the data to help get a baseline for set-ups at the IMS road course.

Auton added that Goodyear officials attended the test, trying a pair of tire combinations — one used recently at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval and the other used at both Mid-Ohio and Road America.

“The one thing with the engineers that are here and Matt’s input inside the race car is we look at the gearing to make sure that we aren’t too slow with RPMs when you get into the slower turns that we have here, or that you’re not hitting the (rev-limiter) chip going down this long front straightaway or the long back straightaway that upsets the engine,” Auton said. “There’s a lot of data that we’ll look to the team for. Matt’s input inside the race car is valuable. He’s given us already a lot of information today with the couple of runs that we’ve already done that will be very valuable for us to take back to our engineers. … We’ll evaluate it, and see how we do.”

DiBenedetto was chosen as the driver for the test with the caveat that he would be ineligible to enter the July 4 event. He said that it was the lone minor regret from what’s been a time of great personal transition — joining the Wood Brothers soon after his release from Leavine Family Racing.

“It’s been a lot of change in a short time, and it’s been a whirlwind,” DiBenedetto said. “So I don’t even know how to answer that of just how cool my life has been in the past handful of months really since not long after Bristol last year. So a lot’s changed for me personally and my family, and I couldn’t have possibly dreamt up all the big things and the little things. I mean, I’d consider this one of the big things — opportunities like this are things I’ll never forget the rest of my life.

“I’ll be able to say forever that, hey, I got asked by Mr. Penske himself, that whole team, by NASCAR, folks at IMS — everyone — to come and be the first ever to run the road course and test it out for the NASCAR Xfinity gang. So there’s a lot of amazing things for me personally that have been happening that I’ll never forget and always appreciate.”

Posted on by Sean Montgomery

Editor’s note: Today’s Front Row Motorsports preview continues NASCAR.com’s countdown of team previews for the NASCAR Cup Series season, ranked in order of best finish in last year’s owner standings.

MORE: Changes to know for the 2020 season

FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS
Manufacturer: Ford
Engine: Roush Yates
Drivers: Michael McDowell, John Hunter Nemechek
Crew chiefs: Drew Blickensderfer (McDowell), Seth Barbour (Nemechek)

What’s new: Nemechek will make his full-time Cup Series debut at the Daytona 500 in February, driving the No. 38 Ford Mustang. The organization is pivoting back to a two-car effort in 2020.

Team strength: Fielding just two full-time cars in the Cup Series – minus one from the past two seasons – Front Row will be able to shift more focus and assets toward veteran McDowell and young Nemechek. The strategic combination of experience and youthful energy should provide a refreshing team outlook and new excitement for 2020.

The Action Network Best Bet: McDowell is always a driver I target at superspeedways. He had two top-five finishes last season – the Daytona 500 at Daytona and the 1000Bulbs.com 500 at Talladega – so I’m looking to take him in top-10 finish prop bets whenever the Cup Series visits those racetracks. – PJ Walsh

Racing Insights Number to Know: Six. Six of the organization’s eight top-five finishes have come at superspeedways, including a pair in 2019. – Racing Insights

MICHAEL MCDOWELL: No. 34 Ford

2019 Stats: Two top fives, 10 top 20s, 18 laps led; 24.2 average finish
2020 Championship Odds: 5,000-1
Fantasy Live picks: Daytona, Watkins Glen, Charlotte Roval
Outlook: McDowell may be a consistent threat to win at superspeedways after posting the highest finish of his career at Talladega and the second-highest at Daytona in 2019. He’s also a sneaky driver at road courses. Three of his four top 10 starting positions came in the second half of last year, so look for him to bring more consistent qualifying speed throughout the 2020 season.

JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK: No. 38 Ford

2019 Stats (Xfinity/Cup): Six top fives, 19 top 10s and a 12.5 average finish in 33 NXS starts/23.7 average finish in three NCS starts
2020 Championship Odds: 5,000-1
Fantasy Live picks: Talladega, Daytona, Michigan
Outlook: Alongside a star-studded rookie class, Nemechek aims to be right in the mix for Sunoco Rookie of the Year this season. The 22-year-old got his feet wet filling in for Matt Tifft at the close of the 2019 season and now takes over the seat that David Ragan occupied for the past three seasons.

NASCAR.com 2020 team previews schedule

Jan. 20: Teams outside the top 30
Jan. 21: Go Fas Racing
Jan. 22: Front Row Motorsports
Jan. 23: Richard Petty Motorsports
Jan. 24: Germain Racing
Jan. 27: Leavine Family Racing
Jan. 28: Richard Childress Racing
Jan. 29: JTG Daugherty Racing
Jan. 30: Wood Brothers Racing
Jan. 31: Roush Fenway Racing
Feb. 3: Hendrick Motorsports
Feb. 4: Chip Ganassi Racing
Feb. 5: Team Penske
Feb. 6: Stewart-Haas Racing
Feb. 7: Joe Gibbs Racing

Posted on by Team Release

CONCORD, N.C. (January 22, 2020) – Roush Fenway Racing has announced a partnership with Castrol for the high-performance lubricant brand to be the team’s official oil partner. In addition, Castrol will serve as a primary sponsor on Ryan Newman’s No. 6 NASCAR Cup Series entry in select events.

“We are really excited to have Castrol on board as our official oil partner,” said NASCAR Hall of Famer and team co-owner Jack Roush. “Castrol has been a leader in engine lubrication for as long as I can recall. They have a history of competing with great success at the highest levels of motorsports. I’m looking forward to the edge we feel they will provide our race cars going forward and we can’t wait to launch our partnership in Daytona.”

MORE: 2020 NASCAR schedule

2020 Jan22 Ryan Newman Castrol Main Image
Roush Fenway Racing

Roush Fenway Fords will run Castrol Oil exclusively in all of its Ford machines, with Castrol’s debut as a primary sponsor coming at Auto Club Speedway on March 1.

“Jack has a hard-earned reputation for success in NASCAR and all of us at Castrol are thrilled by the opportunity to join the Roush Fenway team,” said David Bouet, Castrol’s US president.

“Castrol has a long history of partnership and success with many Ford teams – in NHRA, World Rally and with the iconic Ford GTs in endurance. We look forward to using this proven race expertise and our leading performance technology to build on the team’s record of success.”

NASCAR veteran Ryan Newman has powered the No. 6 into a solid contender, propelling the iconic Ford Mustang back into the NASCAR playoffs last season with 14 top-10 finishes. Chris Buescher, who brought home Jack Roush’s eighth NASCAR championship in 2015, returns to Roush Fenway to pilot the No. 17 in 2020.

Posted on by Staff Report

Richard Childress Racing revealed Wednesday the No. 3 Chevrolet that veteran NASCAR Cup Series driver Austin Dillon will pilot in the 62nd annual running of the Daytona 500.

The black, orange, gray and white scheme will function as his primary Bass Pro Shops livery for the ’20 Cup Series season and will be the colors he’s sporting as he attempts to collect his second career victory in the Great American Race (Feb. 16, 2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Dillon won the 2018 Daytona 500.

RELATED: Buy Daytona 500 tickets | Full 2020 schedule

And maybe it’s just us, but we see a little ‘Intimidator’ in there.