Posted on by IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Popular NASCAR driver turned commentator Dale Earnhardt Jr., and his former Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Steve Letarte, will broadcast their second Rolex 24 At Daytona this weekend. They met with the media Friday morning along with on-air talent Calvin Fish and Leigh Diffey as part of the NBC Sports team covering that is covering the race.

NBC Sports’ coverage of the Rolex 24 starts live on the NBC network Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET, with NBC network coverage of the finish airing at 12 p.m. ET Sunday. In addition to the network windows on Saturday and Sunday, additional Rolex 24 Coverage includes windows on NBCSN and the NBC Sports App and the race in its entirety on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold.

Fish, a former driver and longtime IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship announcer, spoke about the extended benefits of having the NASCAR pair on the broadcast team for the Rolex 24 for a second consecutive year.

RELATED: Watch Rolex 24 on Trackpass | Pre-race guide to the Rolex 24

“I think we just have a great mix,” Fish said. “It’s great to be back, and I think last year working with Dale and Steve up there on the pit box, they come at the sport from a different angle so they’re very curious about a lot of things and I think that opens you up to look at it differently yourself.

“I think that was great for the fans.”

Earnhardt was similarly enthused to be trackside for the annual twice-around-the-clock classic endurance race. He competed in the race twice, scoring a memorable runner-up finish in 2001, co-driving a GTO-class Chevrolet Corvette with his father, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt and sports car champion Andy Pilgrim.

He finished fifth overall and third in the marquee Daytona Prototype class in the 2004 Rolex 24 co-driving with NASCAR champion Tony Stewart and sports car great Andy Wallace. The team led 345 of 519 laps, only to suffer a suspension problem in the closing laps.

“I have to remind myself that I even ran this race a couple times because we come here as the NASCAR guys. When you sit on the [NBC Sports] pit box you really do kind of fall into that fandom sort of experience watching the race and seeing who the underdogs are and who the guys to beat are,” Earnhardt said smiling.

RELATED: Kyle Busch ready for first Rolex 24 at Daytona

“It’s an incredible experience from a fan perspective.”

Earnhardt joked that he and Letarte were enjoying their Rolex experience so much, they should field a team and compete themselves one day soon. Earnhardt said Letarte would be the designated “gentlemen” driver, he would be the 50-plus driver because he’d probably be 50 years old before they could make this attempt.

“Then we’d have to have someone really really fast to save us,” Earnhardt said. “Every time we daydream about it’s a different driver.”

Both Earnhardt and Letarte said they fully expected Kyle Busch would not only enjoy his first 24-hour race experience but fully expected the reigning Cup champ to be competitive in his driving stints. There wasn’t much advice Earnhardt felt he could give the recently crowned two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Busch at this point.

“Kyle’s got a great team around him and great drivers that he’s working with and his experience will be completely different from mine,” Earnhardt said. “It was so long ago that I don’t know that I could help him a whole lot.

“It will be fun to watch him experience it. He’s such a talented driver. He’s going to be so prepared mentally and knows exactly what he needs to do to do the job right.”

Posted on by IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Kyle Busch conceded there have been some definite “lessons” preparing for his first Rolex 24 At Daytona start. But the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion was quite optimistic about his No. 14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 and the challenge that awaited the team.

The car will start 16th among the 18 GTD cars. The team did not make a qualifying run after an eventful pre-qualifying session when the car went over a raised speed bump-type section of the bus stop turn entering the NASCAR Speedway Turn 3.

RELATED: Watch Rolex 24 on Trackpass | Pre-race guide to the Rolex 24

The team repaired the damage from the heavy hit, changed the engine and had limited practice Thursday evening. Busch insisted the team recovered well, and that he and driver Jack Hawksworth, who drives the car full time, were back to quicker lap times by Friday morning.

“We’d love to get that better and feel a little more competitive, but we’re also trying to make sure we stay on track and complete all 24 hours,” Busch told reporters on Friday. “Got some good laps last night and some good laps this morning. I think I ran the quickest of our cars this morning,” adding with a grin, “I’m not sure what that means.”

The team handed out driving assignments on Friday and Busch said he is tentatively scheduled to drive from 6-9 p.m. on Saturday, overnight from 2-4:30 a.m. and then again Sunday morning, 7-9 a.m. Of course the schedule changes – in lineup and timeframe – as the twice-around-the-clock event goes on.

Posted on by RJ Kraft

The Daytona 500. The biggest race on the NASCAR calendar. You win it and your name is etched in history forever.

Seven drivers enter the 2020 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway (Feb. 16, 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX) having already won “The Great American Race:” Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson have each won twice, while Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman and Kevin Harvick have all won this race once.

Which driver is most likely to repeat as a Daytona 500 winner come February? NASCAR.com’s Zack Albert and RJ Kraft debate the possibilities.

RELATED: Daytona Speedweeks schedule | Odds to win 2020 Daytona 500

KRAFT: This is likely the obvious choice on the list given his superspeedway success, but it’s hard for me to see how Joey Logano would not be the first choice to notch another Daytona 500 victory. The Team Penske driver has four superspeedway wins in his career. He also has finished in the top six in the past five Daytona 500s – the only driver to do so. The 29-year-old has a knack for being at the front when it’s go time at these types of races.

Team Penske’s superspeedway strength is an additional reason I view Logano as the most likely repeat winner – he’s the only Penske driver on the potential repeat winner list. Logano’s teammates Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney are strong superspeedway racers, and the trio have a knack for finding a way to work together at this type of racing. Add in Ford’s strength in numbers as well, and that’s an added recipe for success to Logano adding another Harley J. Earl Trophy to his collection.

ALBERT: Obvious choice? If we’re keeping the discussion to former winners, let’s not dig all that far back into the history books and go with a recent Joey Logano foil who already has multiple 500 crowns: Denny Hamlin.

Hamlin has three wins at a similar track called Talladega Superspeedway in the last five years, but his Daytona 500 statistics rate even more highly when it comes to consistency. In the last six Daytona 500s, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has a stellar average finish of 4.67 (a hair better than Logano’s 5.33). Perhaps more impressively, Hamlin has gone his whole career (a span of 14 starts) without a Daytona 500 DNF.

JGR-affiliated cars led more than half of last year’s running of “The Great American Race” (116 of 207 laps) and wound up with a 1-2-3 finish, so their ability to make teamwork click is a relatively fresh concept. Don’t be surprised if it’s Hamlin leading that charge again.

Posted on by Chase Wilhelm

Editor’s note: Today’s Germain Racing 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

GERMAIN RACING
Manufacturer: Chevrolet
Engine: ECR
Driver: Ty Dillon
Crew Chief: Matt Borland

What’s new: It appears to be more of the same for Germain Racing and driver Dillon for the 2020 season. Crew chief Matt Borland will be back at the helm for the No. 13 crew, signing a multi-year deal back in 2018. Dillon and GEICO also signed a multi-year contract back in 2017, set to be featured as the primary sponsor for 32 races this year.

Team strength: Superspeedway racing is Germain Racing’s strong suit. Dillon and team are tied with Hendrick Motorsports for the longest active streak of races at Daytona with at least one top-10 finish (three straight races). Dillon earned three top-10 finishes in 2019, coming at both Daytona races and Talladega in the fall.

The Action Network Best Bet: Ty Dillon was sneaky good at the superspeedways in 2019, finishing sixth, 17th, fourth and 10th. In fact, both of those top-six runs came at Daytona, making him a nice target for both driver matchups and top-10 props at the Daytona 500. – PJ Walsh

TY DILLON: NO. 13 CHEVROLET

2019 Stats: One top five, three top 10s; 20.6 average finish with 99.2 percent of laps completed
2020 Championship Odds: 5000-1
Racing Insights Number to Know: Five. Their five best finishes came at Daytona, including a fourth-place finish in July and a sixth there in February.
Fantasy Live Picks: Talladega, Daytona, Phoenix
Outlook: Heading into his fourth full-time NASCAR Cup Series season with Germain Racing, Dillon doesn’t have the stellar finishes, but he does know how to take care of equipment. The 27-year-old driver completed the 2019 season with a goose egg in the DNF column, which is a huge accomplishment for a smaller, one-car team in the field. If Dillon can keep that going, plus get a few more stage wins like he did in Stage 1 at Bristol last spring by edging out Clint Bowyer, the upward trend has all the potential to continue going into 2020.

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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 Holly Cain

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Sitting side by side on stage Thursday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway, Lyn St. James and Hailie Deegan represented two significant eras in auto-racing competition.

St. James was the first woman to earn an IMSA GT-class solo victory in 1985 and won three times competing in a Ford Mustang for Jack Roush that season. This weekend, Deegan will make her IMSA debut driving the No. 22 Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4 in Friday’s Michelin Pilot Challenge four-hour race – the car designed with a tribute livery to St. James’ 1985 car.

Fans can watch the event exclusively on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold.

MORE: How to get TrackPass

In her IMSA sports-car career as a Ford driver, St. James earned six wins, including a pair of Rolex 24 class victories.

“Meeting Lyn, someone who has had such a historical presence in the sport and done so much in the past and just to pick your brain on everything and everything you know especially — and not just being a racer but being a girl in racing,” Deegan said, smiling at St. James. “And also being just a true racer at heart and having pure talent like she has, I think it’s definitely cool to go back and go through scenarios we can relate on.”

Deegan, 18, who was recently announced as a Ford Performance development program driver, will team with 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship contender Chase Briscoe in the four-hour IMSA race Friday – a day before the annual Rolex 24 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener on Daytona’s road course.

RELATED: Rolex 24 guide

Briscoe, 25, who won the 2019 Xfinity Series Sunoco Rookie of the Honors, drives for Stewart-Haas Racing and has competed in this Michelin Pilot Challenge event three times previously. Another up-and-coming NASCAR star, Austin Cindric, will be driving a second car for the Multimatic team.

For her part, St. James said she was truly honored for the team to use a paint scheme acknowledging her efforts. She has been a long-time advocate for women in racing and spent more than a decade as an advisor to Ford Motor Company.

“It’s awesome to be sitting here and remembered,” St. James said. “It was great to meet Hailie. I’ve followed her career even before she was doing some things last year and I knew that she was a rising star. I knew Chase and remember him from back when he was doing sprint car stuff.

“I follow the young drivers and what they’re doing. It’s just great to be in their presence and to be able to hang with them.”

Deegan will compete full time in the ARCA Menards Series, which opens its season Feb. 8 on Daytona’s 2.5-mile high banks and is planning to compete more Michelin Pilot Challenge races throughout 2020.

Posted on by Staff Report

FOX Sports confirmed Friday that the network will go with a two-person booth for its primary NASCAR Cup Series coverage in 2020, with Mike Joy returning as play-by-play announcer alongside analyst Jeff Gordon.

The move comes after the retirement last year of longtime analyst Darrell Waltrip, who had been part of FOX Sports’ NASCAR coverage since 2001. The news of FOX’s new lineup was first reported by Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal.

Joy returns as NASCAR on FOX’s lead announcer for the 20th consecutive season, part of his 50 years of motorsports experience. This season will mark the 70-year-old broadcaster’s 45th Daytona Speedweeks as part of the TV or radio coverage team.

RELATED: Daytona 500 info

Gordon, 48, is back for his fifth straight season providing color commentary for FOX Sports. The four-time Cup Series champion joined the network after his retirement from full-time driving in 2015. Gordon was inducted to the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2019.

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.