Posted on by Zack Albert

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — William Byron says Brad Keselowski apologized Thursday night after purposely initiating contact between their two cars in final practice at Daytona International Speedway.

It was an apology Byron said he welcomed, even if he still disagreed with Keselowski’s initial intent.

“I just feel like it was unnecessary, still,” Byron said Friday afternoon after Busch Pole Qualifying for Sunday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 (1 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM) was canceled for inclement weather. “I talked to Brad and got his opinion, and I really appreciate him talking to me because that helped just understand where he’s coming from. But I just still feel like it was unnecessary for practice.”

RELATED: Keselowski draws ‘line in the sand’

Keselowski was outspoken after Thursday’s final Monster Energy Series practice, saying that his recent history with others’ blocking techniques had left him in a pickle — either ride his momentum and collide with the leading car, or lift off the throttle and risk contact from behind. Thursday, he chose the former, explaining that he wanted to deliver a message to the rest of his competitors that his frustrations with being chopped off had boiled over.

Message delivered? For Byron, not quite.

“It would’ve been more professional to just come talk to me about what was wrong, instead of tear up a race car and make my guys have to bring out a backup and have to work all the way through last night and show up early this morning and work even more,” Byron said. “I don’t think that’s the way to handle it, so that’s the unnecessary part for me.”

Another driver who took exception to Keselowski’s tactics was Byron’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, seven-time series champ Jimmie Johnson, who called the incident “avoidable.” Johnson said blocking is the name of the game under the current rules package and that Keselowski’s salvo only aggravates a pressure-packed playing field.

“I don’t know if, I don’t think he sent a message to anybody,” Johnson said. “I think it was kind of careless and not such a smart move yesterday. If he feels good about it, which clearly — I just watched his interview, it was on in the bus before I came over here — he feels pretty good about what he did, and we’ll just see how it all unfolds for him.”

Only a dramatic save by Byron saved the incident from being much worse. His No. 24 damage sustained only moderate right-side damage and he was able to drive the car back to the garage.

The 21-year-old driver says he took comfort in Johnson’s show of support, as well as his No. 24 Chevrolet crew, which worked tirelessly to make his reserve car race-ready.

“It doesn’t bother me because I’m driving the car at the end of the day, and I still have an opportunity to do that and my team backs me,” Byron said. “The confidence that comes from my team to know that they support me is all that I need. I think I’ve said this other times, but I don’t care to have him as a friend or anything, and I don’t really need other people’s approval. So I can still have a clean race car to go race on (Sunday) and hopefully win the race.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Erik Jones is typically cool, calm and perhaps a bit shy when facing a room full of reporters hanging onto his every word. That same composed demeanor has also served him well behind the wheel of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota Camry he drove right into Daytona International Speedway Victory Lane a year ago for his first career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory celebration.

Backing up that win on the notoriously challenging Daytona high banks in Sunday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 (1 p.m. ET; NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) may be a bigger challenge. The last person to win two consecutive Daytona July races was newly-selected NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart – coincidentally, also a former driver of the JGR No. 20  – who did it in 2005-06.

RELATED: Starting lineup | Full Daytona schedule

The 23-year-old Jones certainly remembers his last-lap, career-defining win vividly even a year later.

“I remember that whole last sequence of restarts,” Jones said. “The last one, the green-white-checkered, we were stuck side-by-side with Martin (Truex Jr.) on that first lap. Then coming around to take the white, I could see the top line forming behind me and I was hoping they would stick with me and I would get a big push.

“Going down the backstretch, Martin was trying to side-draft hard and we got a really big push from behind from the 37 (Chris Buescher) and got clear of Martin there, and I knew at that point the only way we were going to lose it was a catastrophic failure, so I was defending the last move that Martin could make and getting to the checkered.

“Coming out of (Turn) 4, I would say I knew it was pretty locked in. I remember everything about those last laps for sure.”

And, he added with a smile, he also remembers the celebration that ensued.

“It was good,” Jones said. “I didn’t (get) home until 3 in the morning and I had to fly out and go out to Slinger (Speedway in Slinger, Wisconsin) the next day for a late model race, so I don’t know if we went to sleep. But we flew up there and practiced the late model that day and finally got to celebrate that night.

“I had a lot of buddies that came over to Wisconsin from Michigan to come celebrate, so that was a lot of fun.”

Jones could certainly use a second boost of good fortune. He’s the only member of his high-achieving JGR team without a win this season — yet. His former Cup champion teammates Truex and Kyle Busch have four victories each and veteran teammate Denny Hamlin has his own pair of wins – including the season-opening Daytona 500.

Daytona has long been a source of extreme emotion for drivers. They tend to either love it or simply tolerate it – the style of intense pack racing is a test of ability that also seems to require a stroke of good fortune.

Jones would like to think the defending winner tag may be a source of good juju.

“Coming back as the defending winner always feels good,” Jones said. “For me, it gives you that extra little bump to keep being the defending winner and to come back and do it again.”

He certainly came close in the February Daytona 500, won by Hamlin. Jones finished third – his best-ever showing in the race.

That gives Jones consecutive top-five finishes at the speedway, counting his victory last July. He has three top-10s in five career starts at the big track, including a ninth-place run in the 2017 summer race.

Jones comes into this weekend’s race ranked 17th in the championship standings – 15 points behind Clint Bowyer in the 16th and final Playoff position. Jones has had eight top-10 finishes in the 17 races and four top-fives. He has a season-high three third-place finishes.

Even after the promising results, Jones is fighting for this playoff entry. And he’s absolutely upbeat and optimistic about his chances.

“I think for us, our goal is 30 points a race,” Jones said. “That’s about a seventh-place finish. If we do that every week, we will easily point our way in without a win. We know we can win a race. We have a lot of good tracks coming up here.

“If we can continue to crank out that 30 points a race, guys will make mistakes, and we will keep pointing our way up there.”

And he reassured, “We’ve got good cars; we just need to have things go our way. We need to execute better on our end on all fronts. Make sure we are doing all we can to get the best finish that we can.”

Posted on by Jonathan Merryman

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Superspeedways and Team Penske have a hand in glove relationship. Joey Logano has four superspeedway wins with his biggest one coming in the 2015 Daytona 500. Team Penske’s current stable of drivers have 10 wins at superspeedways. 

With all that success at two of NASCAR’s biggest, fastest tracks, Logano was faced with two new challenges this spring at Talladega. A new NASCAR superspeedway package and a host of Camaro’s with a directive straight from Chevrolet: Win. That’s something that isn’t lost on the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang.

“I think what stands out to me the most is what Chevy did,” Logano told NASCAR.com on Thursday at Daytona International Speedway before practice began for Sunday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 (1 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“They came together and joined as one force and they were pretty quick when we were in Talladega. You know I think that’s going to force everyone’s hand to adjust the way they race to try to take them down. That’s what we are going to do.”

RELATED: Full Daytona schedule | Opening odds for Daytona 

That may be easier said than done. Ford has names like Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer and Ryan Blaney under their banner. Those guys are competitors and naturally want to be “the guy” to take their Ford to Victory Lane. 

“As a Ford driver, we have been back and forth on this and going for quite some time,” Logano said. “Now everyone is trying. How do you work together to win? How do we all win? That’s something that is very challenging when you get to the superspeedways.”

With that being said, Logano finds himself in a good spot with nine races left before the playoffs start in Las Vegas in September. He has two wins to his name and leads Kyle Busch by 18 points in the regular season championship battle, a title that comes with 15 extra playoff points.

RELATED: Series standings | Playoff watch: How the postseason looks right now

“It’s just a security blanket,” Logano said of adding as many playoff points as possible. “That’s what you’re trying to get. That’s what the first 26 races are for, get yourself in the playoff and then how do you just get a little more secure.”

Logano added: “Those points aren’t just for the first round, they are for each round until you get to Miami. Those race wins, playoff points, stage wins whenever you can get them are so big because it’s your blanket in case something goes wrong.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A lightning delay at Daytona International Speedway forced cancellation of qualifying for Sunday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 (1 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) because it prevented timely completion of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series inspection before time trials.

Accordingly, with the field ordered according to owner points, Joey Logano will start from the pole position in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Kyle Busch, who thought he would have qualified mid-pack if time trials had been held, will start next to Logano on the front row in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

RELATED: Full Daytona lineup

Sunday’s race will mark the last at the 2.5-mile superspeedway on its traditional July 4 weekend — at least for the time being. The second Daytona race will move to Aug. 29 next year as the cutoff race for the series’ playoffs.

That’s a change Logano endorses.

“I think making this the cutoff race before the playoffs is a good move,” Logano said. “I think that keeps it exciting, adds a lot of drama to where you’re never out of this thing. Sometimes, if you weren’t really in contention for that bubble spot by points by the time you got to the final race of the cutoffs, you kind of thought, ‘I’m kind of out of it. I might not win at that type of race track.’

“But here, anybody can win, and so I think by NASCAR moving this race to that moment is going to be something that adds more drama and more possibilities of things that can happen, so, cool.  I think that’s kind of what the schedule does in general, a lot of the moves they did over the off season they announced at least is going to really just add more stuff for you guys (the media) to talk about and more for us to worry about. That’s kind of what it does.”

When Logano takes the checkered flag on Sunday afternoon, most drivers in the field will be looking to become the eighth different Cup winner this season, thereby assuring a spot in the playoffs.

Behind Logano and Busch in the third and fourth spots, respectively, will be a driver who has won three times (Brad Keselowski) and one who, surprisingly, has failed to find Victory lane this season (Kevin Harvick). Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Kurt Busch Alex Bowman and Ryan Blaney complete the top 10 positions on the grid.

Of the top 10 starters, only Harvick, Kurt Busch and Blaney haven’t won yet this season. The cancellation improved Kyle Busch’s starting position over his own expectations, and he’s happy to take the second spot.

“Overall, being able to start up front is certainly better than where we would have started,” Busch said. “I think we would have been back in the teens. Having the second starting spot is better for us.”

Posted on by Official NASCAR Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 5, 2019) — Longtime NASCAR pit reporter and magazine editor Dick Berggren has been named the recipient of the 2020 Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence. Berggren becomes the ninth journalist to win the prestigious award named after Ken Squier and Barney Hall, the first two recipients.

Berggren will be honored during NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony festivities on Jan. 31, 2020 and featured in an exhibit in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Tickets to the Induction Weekend events go on sale to the public on Saturday, July 6 at 10 a.m. A special presale is available to NASCAR Hall of Fame members through Friday, July 5 at 11:59 p.m. Tickets to Induction Ceremony events begin at $75 per person (plus tax and applicable service fees).

RELATED: NASCAR Hall of Fame

“For more than three decades, Dick Berggren helped bring fans closer to the action across all levels of motorsports,” said NASCAR Chairman and CEO Jim France. “Though best known for his role as a pit reporter for NASCAR national series races, Berggren’s dedication to the grass roots level of racing helped shape his legend. His work with short track racing magazines brought life to the many series that make up the soul of NASCAR.”

Easily identified by his trademark flat cap, Berggren was a fixture on NASCAR television coverage from 1981 through his retirement in 2012.  He began his television career as a pit reporter for ESPN in 1981 and appeared on CBS, TBS and TNN broadcasts before closing his career with a 12-year stint as the lead pit announcer for NASCAR on FOX.

Beyond his television work, Berggren dedicated his craft to short tracks, simultaneous serving as editors of both Stock Car Racing and Open Wheel magazines. He also went on to found Speedway Illustrated, which touts itself as “America’s favorite monthly short track racing magazine.”

RELATED: Class of 2020 revealed

A college professor by trade, Berggren began his motorsports announcing career as the PA announcer at Arundel Speedway in Maine. Prior to that, he raced a variety of cars, including stock cars and modifieds.

Berggren is a member of the Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Hall of Fame and was named National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) Writer of the Year in 1999.

Berggren was among eight nominees voted upon by a panel comprised of NASCAR and NASCAR Hall of Fame executives, journalists, public relations representatives and former drivers. The Squier-Hall Award was created in 2012 to honor the contributions of media to the success of the sport. Chris Economaki, Tom Higgins, Steve Byrnes, Benny Phillips, Norma “Dusty” Brandel and Steve Waid also have won the award.

The other seven nominees for the 2020 award were:

Russ Catlin, one of the best-known early racing writers and historians; editor of Speed Age Magazine 

George Cunningham, long-time beat writer for The Charlotte Observer, Atlanta Constitution and NASCAR Scene; is the namesake for the annual NMPA award for Excellence in Writing

Shav Glick, covered motorsports for the Los Angeles Times for 37 years bringing NASCAR coverage to the West Coast

Mike Harris, spent 30 years as the lead motorsports writer for the Associated Press

Bob Jenkins, served as the lead NASCAR lap-by-lap anchor at ESPN from 1982-2000.

Bob Moore, spent more than 20 years as a NASCAR beat writer including stints with the Daytona Beach News-Journal and The Charlotte Observer.

T. Taylor Warren, best known for his three-wide photo of the 1959 Daytona 500 finish, he covered every Daytona 500 until his death in 2008.

Posted on by Zack Albert

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Brad Keselowski has had enough. As one of stock-car racing’s very best at the superspeedway brand of racing, he comes thoroughly qualified to take exception to the tactics of other drivers.

And so it happened that the tipping point arrived on an otherwise sleepy Thursday, before Sunday’s summer classic, the Coke Zero Sugar 400 (1 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). William Byron’s blocking technique irked Keselowski during a charged-up final practice, but that moment wasn’t his only trigger. It was the culmination of a series of devil-may-care chop-blocks from others, and crashes that had placed his Team Penske No. 2 Ford on the wrecker’s hook for four of the last five races at Daytona International Speedway.

RELATED: Keselowski, Byron tangle

So Keselowski pushed back and stayed on the gas Thursday when Byron’s No. 24 changed lanes in front of him, all in the name of making a point at 200-plus mph.

“I’ve been put in positions these last few plate races — not just by William but a handful of other people — where I’ve had to make a decision to risk myself on being loaded up on the trailer and watching the end of the race or drive through the guy in front of me,” Keselowski said after an hour-long cooling-off period in the No. 2 team’s hauler. “I’ve been too conservative and ended up watching too many of these plate races from the back of the trailer, and that is not the responsible thing to do for my team.

“I’m not going to do that anymore. I’ve made that commitment. And if you’re gonna make that commitment, you make that commitment today and make that commitment in the race as well.”

Keselowski insisted Thursday’s contact was “nothing personal” toward Byron, the 21-year-old Hendrick Motorsports driver making just his fourth Daytona start this weekend. But Byron figured into the drama from last year’s 400-miler at nearly the same point on the 2.5-mile track.

In the 2018 version, Byron moved to block a substantial swell of momentum from Keselowski and Ford partner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to keep his lead. When Keselowski’s eased off the throttle to avoid Byron’s maneuver, Stenhouse’s push became too great. Keselowski’s No. 2 slid into the path of the oncoming pack, and 25 more cars crashed in its wake.

MORE: Keselowski exits in 2018 Daytona crash

Keselowski took the blame for that accident, but vowed no more. “I’m just not wrecking enough people,” Keselowski said last July after emerging from the infield care center unhurt. “I need to wreck more people so they’ll stop throwing bad blocks.”

Thursday, he kept his word.

“There’s two types of blocking. There’s blocking that makes someone lift and there’s blocking that doesn’t,” Keselowski said. “When you know the difference, you can be successful at these races. …

“If you’re forcing someone to lift, that means they’re going to get run over from behind. And that means I’m sitting on the trailer. I’m tired of sitting on the trailer. I’m not watching the end of these races.”

Keselowski has some history with not lifting. He delivered his first major-league win by keeping the gas pedal mashed and not budging when Carl Edwards tried to force him below the out-of-bounds line at Talladega Superspeedway in 2009. Edwards pirouetted toward the retaining fence, and Keselowski sailed unimpeded to the checkered flag.

RELATED: See every one of Keselowski’s wins

For Keselowski, those rules of engagement are back. Time will tell if the message sent with Thursday’s purpose pitch was received.

“You’ve got to put a line in the sand, and that’s not fun to do, but it’s important to do if you’re going to win these races,” Keselowski said. “I plan on winning these races for my team, they deserve that.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Want to watch the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) from a different perspective? Go for a 360-degree view in William Byron’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet on NASCAR Drive.

RELATED: Watch the Daytona race with NASCAR Drive

You’ll see the high banks of the “World Center of Racing” like you’ve never seen them before at the 2.5-mile superspeedway from the perspective of the No. 24.

The second-year Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver scored the pole for the Daytona 500 back in February. He has been on a strong points run of late — earning the eighth-most points in the past eight races and rising from 19th to 12th in the point standings during that stretch. That run has also seen him score four top 10s in the past eight races after notching just one in the opening nine races of the season.

For a view of what the 360 experience looks like, watch the video above.

RELATED: Drivers with most points in past eight races | Playoff Watch entering Daytona

Posted on by Reid Spencer

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It’s not hard to fathom why AJ Allmendinger would put aside a fulfilling gig with NBC Sports for a few weeks and race a NASCAR Xfinity Series stock car on road courses.

After all, the road circuits are his specialty, accounting for Allmendinger’s only Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory (at Watkins Glen in 2014) and his only two Xfinity Series wins (Road America and Mid-Ohio in his only two starts in 2013).

But why Daytona, where cars run within inches of each other at 200 mph, and every turn of the wheel can spell disaster?

RELATED: Xfinity Series practice results | Daytona offers unique challenge for Big 3

After all, Allmendinger is enjoying his stint on TV, where, by his count, he has now called races in six different series. In the meantime, he has lowered his golf handicap index to an enviable 6.5.

Nevertheless, Friday’s Circle K Firecracker 250 at Daytona (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) is part of the four-race deal Allmendinger struck with Kaulig Racing, a schedule that includes three road courses—Mid-Ohio (Aug. 10), Road America (Aug. 24) and the Charlotte Roval (Sept. 28).

“I don’t know how they talked me into this,” Allmendinger joked about his imminent return at Daytona, where temperatures in the greenhouse of his No. 10 Chevrolet are likely to exceed 120 degrees Fahrenheit. “They asked, ‘Please!’ and I was like, ‘Road courses seem pretty cool.’

“And they said, ‘Let’s do Daytona.’ I said, ‘You sure?’ And they talked me into it.”

All kidding aside, Allmendinger has an impressive record at the 2.5-mile superspeedway. His three Cup series top fives at Daytona are tied for his most at a single track, matching Watkins Glen. Allmendinger’s first career top five came at Daytona. So did his last two, the final one coming in 2018, his last full season with JTG Daugherty Racing.

And don’t forget, Allmendinger also was the anchor driver of the winning team in the 50th Rolex 24 Hours on the Daytona road course in 2012. So making a return to competition at Daytona isn’t such a stretch for the road course ace. And it helps that Allmendinger has confidence in the equipment he’ll be driving for Kaulig, as he proved in Thursday’s opening practice by topping the speed chart with a lap at 194.902 mph.

“You have to have a fast race car to go out there and have an opportunity to at least put yourself in position to win a race,” he said. “I’ve watched enough of these races, and the way guys run these races is a little bit different, probably a little more aggressive—some young guys—so I’ll try to ease into that as the race goes on.

The revival of Allmendinger’s stock car career started with a phone call.

“I was eating some sandwiches, trying to work on my TV body, and they called me,” Allmendinger said. “They said, ‘Hey, you want to get back in a race car?’ I was like, ‘This sandwich is really good.’ They were looking to do the road course events, and we started talking, and I told them, ‘Hey, I love to race, so whenever you have an opportunity and want me to do that, I’m willing to do that.

“We’ve talked about some other races besides road course races and Daytona, and we’ll kind of see how it plays out.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron made a tremendous save during the final practice Thursday at Daytona International Speedway, keeping his car (mostly) straight after contact from the No. 2 of Brad Keselowski — contact both drivers ceded was intentional.

Keselowski’s Ford smacked the left rear of Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet, sending it spinning onto the apron and putting the car in the garage for repairs.

RELATED: Final practice results | Speeds high

“Just had a big run,” Keselowski told NBCSN when he brought his car back to the garage. “He put me in a position where I had to lift, and I keep telling these guys I’m not lifting. Just trying to send a message. I’m not lifting.

“I’m tired of getting wrecked at these (superspeedway) tracks,” he added. “They’re all watching. They know.”

The conflict between the two stems from last year’s July race at Daytona. Byron was leading then, switching lanes from top to bottom. He moved low to block Keselowski, an incident that ended with the No. 2 Ford spinning high and smashing the wall.

“I need to wreck more people so they’ll stop throwing bad blocks,” Keselowski said then.

He made good on his word Thursday.

“It’s practice,” Byron said after climbing from his car. “I don’t think that was really necessary to turn us there. … I didn’t really expect that, but that’s all right. It wasn’t like I changed four lanes down the backstretch and blocked him. I was just kind of holding my lane, and he just used his run to drive into my left rear.”

The No. 24 team will go to a backup car for Sunday afternoon’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 (1 p.m. ET; NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RELATED: Watch Byron’s full interview