Posted on by Zack Albert

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Billy Rock, a crewmember for the FDNY Racing team and driver Bryan Dauzat, was injured in Friday night’s NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series opener in a pit-road incident.

Rock, the team’s jackman, was struck by Dauzat’s No. 28 Chevrolet, which was unable to stop in its pit stall because of brake issues. Rock was transported to Halifax Health Medical Center for further evaluation, and NASCAR officials said he was “awake and alert.”

Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports reported that Rock suffered a broken shoulder in the incident, according to Jim Rosenblum, the FDNY team’s owner. Rosenblum also told FOX Sports that Rock was later released from the hospital.

Dauzat’s accident happened in a chaotic first few laps in the NextEra Energy 250. Dauzat said he ran over a piece of debris as he followed the No. 87 of veteran Joe Nemechek.

“Going into the turn on the drop of the green, something came off Joe’s truck,” Dauzat said. “Whether it was from his truck or someone else’s truck, I don’t know. I thought I centered it, but it must’ve hit the right-front tire. I don’t know.”

The damage hampered Dauzat’s stopping ability as he brought his truck to the pits. Rock crossed in front of the No. 28 truck’s path, and was upended by the contact. Medical personnel attended to Rock, who was taken off pit road on a stretcher.

“I just lost brakes when I was coming in,” Dauzat said. “… I told him, I said, ‘I have no brakes,’ and he came out in front.”

Posted on by Staff Report

NEW SMYRNA, Fla.— Once again Matt Hirschman was in the right place at the right time to take advantage of an opening to score his second tour type modified win this week at New Smyrna Speedway.

The Northampton, Pennsylvania, driver had powered by Timmy Solomito for the lead on a lap 28 restart. Solomito had been fighting to hold of Tommy Catalano when Hirschman, running in third, jetted by them both. Hirschman drove away in the final circuits to win the fourth Modified race of the week. Timmy Solomito of Islip, New York, was second and Chuck Hossfeld of Ransomville, New York, third.

A late race crash on lap 27 had collected multiple top contenders including Doug Coby, Jimmy Blewett, Anthony Nocella and Patrick Emerling.

“That was pretty exciting actually,” said Hirschman.  “I really didn‘t think tonight was going to be our night after our pole qualifying effort. We‘ve definitely got to do better there. We missed the opportunity for the invert completely. But I made a few more changes, stuff I wanted to try and at first I didn‘t think it was really probably any good, but it really came in well.”

Hirschman qualified a disappointing ninth and did not break into the top five until lap 20. Once in the lead pack, Hirschman did what he does best — wait for an opportunity and then pounce on it.

The Super Late Model veteran, Bubba Pollard, once again dominated Thursday‘s 35-lap Super Late Model feature as part of the World Series, picking up his third victory. Pollard qualified second, and with the luck of the draw, stayed there to start on the outside of the front row for the drop of the green flag.

Pollard passed Anthony Sergi on lap 10 to take the lead. He dominated the rest of the race to take the win and Super Late Model championship point lead.

“We had a good night tonight. We had two off nights. We had issues and we worked through those,” said Pollard. “We did not change much on the car except for tires. All that hard work it has been a tough long week. But it is a lot of fun!”

“Can‘t thank this group of guys enough. It‘s a great group.”

Gabe Sommers finished second and Anthony Sergi third.

All eight nights of NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action are airing live on FansChoice.TV. Racing continues on Friday night, where the Tour Type Modifieds will compete in the Richie Evans Memorial 100-lap feature.

Jamie Skinner scored his second Pro Late Model feature win this World Series Thursday, while Jerry Symons picked up the Florida Modified win.

Bubbapollardnightsevenslmwin

Results: World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing Night 7:

Tour Type Modifieds: 1. Matt Hirschman; 2. Timmy Solomito; 3. Chuck Hossfeld; 4. Bobby Measmer, Jr.; 5. Tommy Catalano; 6. Andy Jankowiak; 7. Patrick Emerling; 8. Calvin Carroll; 9. Dillion Steuer; 10. Amy Catalano; 11. Jeremy Gerstner; 12 Tyler Rypkema.; 13. Nikki Carroll; 14. Anthony Nocella; 15. Doug Coby; 16. Jimmy Blewett; 17. Chris Ridsdale; 18. Mike Leaty; 19. Al Emmarino; 20. Mike Bologna.

Super Late Models: 1. Bubba Pollard; 2. Gabe Sommers 3. Anthony Sergi; 4. Alex Labbe; 5. Carson Kvapil; 6. Ryan Moore; 7. Jeff Noland; 8. Travis Braden; 9. Derek Kraus; 10. Jared Irvan; 11. Tate Fogelman; 12. Derek Griffith; 13. Logan Seavey; 14. Sam Mayer; 15. Nolan Pope; 16. Collin Garrett; 17. Brandon Hebert; 18. Brad May; 19. Christian Rose; 20. Dakota Stroup.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The new Ford Mustang announced its arrival into the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in emphatic fashion—sweeping the top three positions in each of the two Gander RV Duel at Daytona 150-mile qualifying races on Thursday night.

MORE: Full Duel 1 results | Duel 2

Team owner Jack Roush, for one, is delighted that the Mustang has finally ascended to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Roush, after all, has fielded Mustangs in a wide array of motorsports pursuits in a career that spans more than five decades.

“The Mustang is a river that runs through for me,” Roush said on Friday at Daytona International Speedway during a press conference with fellow Ford team owners and Mark Rushbrook, global director, Ford Performance Motorsports. “Fifty-three years ago, I loaded my first Mustang on the truck and took it to the (drag racing) Winter Nationals.

“I’ve watched the Mustangs be raced in a myriad of classes, road racing and drag racing. We’ve taken it to Bonneville, Pikes Peak. We’ve taken it to Europe. The Mustang has finally taken its rightful place at the top of the stock car arena with NASCAR. It’s been something that I’ve watched come over a period of time that I’m very proud of being a staple with (Ford) for all those years.”

RELATED: Scenes from 2019 Ford Mustang intro video

Growing pains may still surface in the transition from the Fusion to the Mustang this year, but to a great extent, any apprehension that may have existed was allayed substantially by the Fords’ performance in last Sunday’s Advance Auto Parts Clash, where Paul Menard ran up front until contact from Jimmie Johnson’s Chevrolet sent him spinning, and in the Duels, where Fords finished 1-2-3 in both races.

Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner Tony Stewart says such transitions have become routine for his organization, which made the jump from Chevrolet to Ford before the start of the 2017 season. And the ability of the Ford teams to work together at superspeedways has led to the carmaker’s dominance at those tracks.

“As far as preparation for this year, I think Stewart Haas Racing probably has been one of the teams that are used to hitting curve balls left and right,” Stewart said. “To sit here and switch body styles over the winter, as much as that’s a huge undertaking for everyone, I think it’s just another walk in the park for our guys.

“They’re so used to it from adding teams in consecutive years, to changing manufacturers, changing body styles. It’s just a layup for our guys. I’ve had all the confidence in our group. We have cars that are fast down here. I think we all learned last year, especially at the restrictor-plate tracks, when we get these Ford teams together, it’s really hard to handle all of us if we’re working together.

“We all want to win the race at the end of the day, but if we’re racing each other at the end of the day, it’s a lot better scenario than racing the entire field. Excited about what we’ve got to look forward to this year.”

To Stewart’s point, before Austin Dillon triumphed in last year’s Daytona 500, Ford drivers had won three straight races at the track. At Talladega, Ford has a current seven-race winning streak, with reigning Cup champion Joey Logano accounting for three of those.

Team Penske owner Roger Penske, who fields Logano’s Fords, believes Stewart-Haas’ manufacturer switch has helped produce a critical mass that has strengthened the entire camp.

“We really began a collaboration back then from the standpoint of how to make the cars better,” Penske said. “With the thought of the new Mustang, all of us had the opportunity with our technical people to sit down and interface with Ford’s performance team. Whether it was wind tunnel, scale tunnel, all the things that go together, they were key. Each of us had a piece of that.

“From our preparation, you have all these cars that are Fusions. We don’t have just four or five cars in the stable. You have multiple cars that have to be changed over. It puts a big pressure on us. The good news was Ford provided us the pieces that are specific by NASCAR. We had those in time in order to build these cars, which I thought was good.”

Penske also credited engine builder Roush Yates Engines as integral to the performance of the Fords, describing it as “the cornerstone of our success last year.

“And certainly, what you saw last night (in the Duels), it’s a big piece of that,” Penske added. “They should get a big thank-you for that. It’s just a total collaboration. We’re racing each other when it comes to Sunday.

“But I think what we learned is we can work better together during these races. You could see it last night and during the season last year. We all want to win, but I think that’s key to get us to that point where you have five or 10 laps to go, you have a chance to win, (that’s) what we’re all trying to do.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Paul Menard topped the leaderboard in Friday’s fourth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Daytona International Speedway at 200.758 mph in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford.

Right behind him was Jamie McMurray in the No. 40 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet at 200.696 mph. McMurray was the only Chevrolet in the top 10.

MORE: Fourth practice results

Rounding out the top five were Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, Ryan Newman in the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford and Clint Bowyer in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.

The entire Joe Gibbs Racing fleet sat out this practice with 2016 Daytona 500 champion Denny Hamlin indicating the No. 11 team is done practicing for the weekend.

The final practice session before Sunday’s Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) is set for Saturday at 12:05 p.m. ET on FS1.

Practice 3

Joe Gibbs Racing dominated Friday’s third Daytona 500 practice session for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

Kyle Busch jumped on top with a fast lap speed of 200.285 mph in the No. 18 M&M’s Chocolate Bar Toyota. Martin Truex Jr. followed in second with a lap of 200.200 in the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota.

RESULTS: Full Practice 3 speeds

Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Ryan Preece practiced for 17 laps in his No. 47 Kroger.com Chevrolet and finished the practice session in third. He ran a best lap speed of 200.169 mph. This is Preece’s first Daytona 500.

Busch was also near the top of the leaderboard in the first Daytona 500 practice session last Saturday, when he finished in second behind Truex with a best speed of 195.852.

The 2015 champion was involved in an incident on Lap 35 of the Gander RV Duel No. 2 with Jimmie Johnson on Thursday night, where his left-rear quarter panel was clipped by the right-front bumper of Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet. Busch went for a spin down the backstretch but was able to avoid more damage.

He will start 31st on Sunday for the Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on by Steve Luvender

For the second year, we’ve asked people on Twitter to publicly predict which drivers they think will make up the 2019 Championship 4. Because, of course, opinionated internet strangers always know what’s right.

https://twitter.com/steveluvender/status/1096069271321526273

The idea here is simple: we want to avoid showboating later in the season: the “yeah, I knew it all along” and “it was obvious all year” claims that come from internet geniuses once the NASCAR Playoffs roll around. It’s just nice to have it in writing, you know?

When we called for predictions in 2018, not a single person on Twitter correctly guessed a Championship 4 of Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, and Kyle Busch. Not one.  

The 2019 season is a year of change in NASCAR, which might make predicting contenders before the season-opening Daytona 500 even more difficult than usual. Really, that’s more incentive to solicit guesses ahead of time. Accountability, baby.

Whether it’s two sets of BFFs:

Or a repeat of 2018:

Or intentionally vague picks that help keep options open:

Or a driver who’s only scheduled to start one race (though, maybe Jamie McMurray will win the Daytona 500 and clinch a spot in the playoffs):

Or, everybody’s favorite — nonsensical picks (it’s OK, it’s hard to resist):

https://twitter.com/TonyJWriter/status/1096088837996990464

https://twitter.com/jonesbrent570/status/1096088778450571264

Twitter never disappoints. Anyway, we’ve got hundreds of picks documented, and we’ll gladly laud those who were correct and laugh at those who were wrong.

Of course, we’ll always welcome those hot and spicy takes, too, because they’re the most fun to dig up when they’re totally wrong. Send ’em our way.

Nevertheless, once the Championship 4 is determined in November, we’ll revisit these picks and see if anybody was right. Maybe Twitter will do a little better than last year’s goose egg.

If you, NASCAR oracle, think you can guess this year’s Championship 4 before the season begins, fire up the Twitter machine and reply to the prediction tweet with your picks. Or, if you’re up for a season-long challenge, check out @nascarcasm’s Fantasy Dumpster Fire for a chance to score some hot passes.

Posted on by @nascarcasm

This week’s Social Moment of the Week goes to the driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry, Kyle Busch.

In an awesomely brazen display of 80s b-boy braggadocio, Rowdy posted this gem – he, his wife Samantha and son Brexton, striking an awesome pose at the door of their private jet. This is straight-up awesome. It’s like they took a normal family photo and then applied the Lewis Hamilton Instagram filter.

It’s crucial to exude confidence heading into the season, and this image clearly shows that Kyle isn’t lacking in this department. He’s got the skills. He’s got the determination. He’s got an Urban Outfitters somewhere near his house.

We know Samantha is stylish at all times, but let us pay respects to Kyle’s vintage red Adidas jumpsuit. This is an ensemble that tells competitors “My album drops in March, with guest spots by Drake, Cardi B and Offset.” And the backwards hat? Kyle’s like Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit, the difference being Kyle has talent.

Oh, and the high-top shoes! So glad these are making a comeback, and that Kyle is following suit. They provide more support to ankles that may or may not have been injured jumping on trampolines.

So best of luck this weekend in the Daytona 500, Kyle. And best of luck on your forthcoming rap album with your family.

Perhaps there will be a Jimmie Johnson diss track?

MORE: Johnson spin leaves Busch in fiery mood | Duel results

Either way, we expect nothing but hot verses, because if anyone knows how to drop the mic, it’s you.

Kyle Busch No GIF by NASCAR - Find & Share on GIPHY

 

Posted on by Staff Report

Jimmie Johnson’s Daytona Speedweeks has been fruitful already with a win in the Advance Auto Parts Clash, but his work on the track in his No. 48 Chevrolet and with new crew chief Kevin Meendering is only part of the racing he’s doing this week.

Johnson is getting in plenty of work outside of the car, too.

There was the 13.1-mile Daytona Beach Half Marathon in the morning prior to his eventual win at The Clash, a windy route that saw Johnson win his age group and place 14th overall.

Then on Thursday, Johnson was one of several riders in the fifth annual “Champions Ride for Bicycle Safety,” a 45-mile ride that is meant to humanize cyclists and raise awareness. That ride started with a lap around the 2.5-mile superspeedway and ended with a trip to Victory Lane for pictures.

Fellow racer Scott Lagasse developed this concept, which has grown every year.

“It’s just great to see this thing grow each and every year,” Johnson said. “A huge thank you to the law enforcement who helps support this and all the awareness raised because of this day.”

Posted on by Brad Norman

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – William Byron is the biggest mover on the Las Vegas odds board following his Busch Pole Award last Sunday during Daytona 500 qualifying.

Byron opened Daytona Speedweeks at 40-1 odds to win the 61st running of the Daytona 500 (Sunday, 2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). A $100 bet on Byron to win at those odds, for example, would yield a $4,000 payday plus the initial $100 back.

RELATED: Las Vegas odds

Those have shifted significantly now that Byron is on the pole, as Las Vegas oddsmakers typically adjust odds throughout the week based on betting patterns.

As of Friday morning, Byron was pegged as a 20-1 favorite, tied for 13th on the board.

Nine of the 60 Daytona 500 races have been won from the pole position. Dale Jarrett’s win in 2000 is the most recent.

MORE: Daytona 500 lineup by paint scheme