Whether it’s behind the steering wheel or on foot, seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson is always looking for a race to run — this time it’s the 2019 Boston Marathon.
After competing in the Daytona Half Marathon on Sunday morning prior to Daytona 500 Busch Pole Qualifying and his victory in the Advance Auto Parts Clash, Johnson announced he will compete in the 26.2-mile race on April 15.
1:33 for the 🏁. That one hurt, the wind was crazy on the way out to the beach. Tailwind on the way back was nice. Next up: drivers meeting and #Daytona500 qualifying pic.twitter.com/GGAjJFYE1d
The race takes place just two days after the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway on April 13, which allows Johnson a full day of recovery following the Saturday night event.
An avid runner and fitness advocate, Johnson has become a significant influence on many others throughout the garage to pay more attention to their physical health. After competing in multiple half marathons, this new endeavor will be his first full marathon, one he’s had on his radar for quite some time after the 2013 bombing that prompted the “Boston Strong” movement.
“Watching the Boston Marathon the year of the bombing (in 2013), something clicked about me wanting to run that race, and once the bombing happened, I wanted to be part of ‘Boston Strong,’ ” Johnson told Dave Burns during the debut of the Splash and Go segment for NBCSports.com.
Johnson finished 14th place overall in the 13.1-mile race in Daytona and won his age group with a time of 1 hour and 33 minutes.
The trophy collection at Kyle Busch Motorsports is as varied as it is impressive. Winning nearly 200 NASCAR national series events, plus fielding a successful NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series team, tends to make a pack rat out of even the most clutter-averse people.
Winning has made Kyle Busch a gatherer — a hoarder even. But there’s organization to the whole caboodle. The shelves at the 77,000-square-foot team headquarters in Mooresville, N.C., are stacked with hardware, with most trophies grouped by track — providing visitors a virtual tour of the stock-car racing circuit with every venue represented. When you request a video shoot with the trophy case as a backdrop, Busch’s handlers can reply, “Which one?”
Down the hallway are the mini Miles the Monster keepsakes from Dover, the triangle-mounted eagles from Pocono, the cowboy hats from Texas. Bristol Motor Speedway, where Busch can claim 21 victories in all three series, has its own special case and then some, decorated with gleaming, silver loving cups and ceremonial brooms from his pair of tripleheader sweeps there. So many wins are chronicled here, the trophies spill over into the gift shop.
In the main case, some recent reorganizing is evident. Square in the middle of a curated selection of Monster Energy Series memorabilia is a sizable gap, signifying what seems to be the only missing piece from the 33-year-old driver’s portfolio.
It’s a reserved parking spot for Harley J.
This space is reserved for the Daytona 500 Harley J Earl trophy.
“What’s missing?” Busch says in the splashy promo reel that dropped last weekend, announcing his arrival at Daytona Speedweeks and his firm goals for his first win — and first Harley J. Earl trophy — in the Daytona 500 (Sunday, 2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN). Busch is an agonizing 0-for-unlucky-13 in the Great American Race, a goal that started with childhood dreams and that has been blocked by a variety of hurdles.
“Overall, when I made my first start in the Daytona 500 in ’05, I was like, ‘Man, how cool would it be for a rookie to come out here — like, a true rookie — to be able to win this thing?’, ” Busch says. “I dreamed of winning that race, thinking I could win that race since I’ve been in it. It’s just never happened.”
If it does happen Sunday, that last trophy — the most prestigious in NASCAR — would pull the whole room together.
Daytona remembrances
Busch estimates it was late in his elementary school years when he first saw Daytona International Speedway. His mother took him and brother Kurt for the Daytona USA experience, which provided a trip through the infield and a tour of the rest of the facilities.
“You went all the way down to the grandstands for the road course in Turn 1,” Busch says, “and then you looked all the way back to Turns 3 and 4 and it was like, ‘Holy (expletive), this place in humongous.’ ”
His more frequent return trips to the 2.5-mile speed center have merited less of the wide-eyed fascination associated with youth, but with no less focus. Busch’s passion for the Daytona high banks grew as he watched Hendrick Motorsports — a team he would later drive for — go 1-2-3 in the 500 in 1997. The following year, he shared in the collective joy of watching Dale Earnhardt’s long-anticipated breakthrough in Daytona’s main event after 19 years of fruitless attempts.
Busch’s history with the 500 has its own share of close calls and heartbreak. In 2008, he led the most laps and was locked in a draft with then-teammate Tony Stewart when Ryan Newman whizzed by on the final lap, buoyed by a push from Kurt Busch, Newman’s Team Penske teammate.
Busch returned to lead the most laps the following year, but wound up 41st after a late-race stack-up. He wouldn’t come that close again for another seven years, but would encounter the largest trauma of his racing career in between, fatefully at Daytona.
Busch crashed during an Xfinity Series race on Feb. 21, 2015, his Toyota nosing into a frontstretch barrier and causing multiple, severe leg injuries. He missed the first 11 races of the season, the first of which was the next day’s Daytona 500, held just blocks away from the hospital where he recovered from surgery to repair a compound fracture. Truck Series veteran Matt Crafton drove Busch’s No. 18 to 18th place in the only Monster Energy Series start of his career.
Brian Lawdermilk | Getty Images
Nine months later, Busch would become a premier series champion for the first time, farther south in Florida at Homestead-Miami Speedway. But the anguish of being outside the car for NASCAR’s most esteemed race still lingered.
“(Wife) Samantha and I, I cried at the start of the race because I wasn’t in it,” Busch says. “It was not a great experience or one that you’d wish on anybody. In the end, the way ’15 ended up, I’m kind of glad I went through it, in all retrospect. I think that life happens in funny ways for funny reasons. I don’t know.”
He returned to Daytona the following year as a champion, but again left with regrets, helplessly watching teammate Denny Hamlin inch by Martin Truex Jr. in front of him as he claimed third. Hamlin’s clinching maneuver came nearly a full lap from the checkers as he exited a Joe Gibbs Racing train formation to break Kevin Harvick’s momentum on the high side.
“And I thought,” Busch says, snapping his fingers to mimic the split-second nature of his decision process, “just the corner before he went by me, I needed to get out of line and do that move and didn’t. It ended up being the move that won the race. I kick myself every time that I didn’t do that.”
An elusive prize
Prominent drivers with NASCAR Hall of Fame jackets never wore the Daytona 500 crown — Terry Labonte, Mark Martin and Rusty Wallace among them. Still others waited the bulk of their careers to finally taste a 500 victory.
Busch isn’t quite to Dale Earnhardt’s “20 years of trying, 20 years of frustration” refrain just yet, but his pathway has been similarly tortuous. And when asked to pinpoint the reason, Busch says no single explanation jumps out.
“I’d say it’s multiple things, but in all reality, I’d say it’s bad luck,” Busch says. “Two years in a row, these last two years we’ve had flat tires that have just taken us out of the running. Nothing that we’ve done, I don’t think, so that’s been a bit demoralizing overall. But at some of the other events, we’ve run OK and been in contention.”
Hamlin, his teammate, had his own waiting time outside of Daytona’s Victory Lane, but finally claimed his lone 500 win with a numerologist’s dream sequence in 2016. He drove car No. 11 from the 11th starting position in his 11th Daytona 500 try.
Like Busch, Hamlin cites the factors of luck against fate. But he also suggests that Busch’s repeat performances in contention at the historic track should eventually equal kismet.
Sean Gardner | Getty Images
“You’d like to think that it’s a matter of time,” Hamlin says. “Look how long it took Dale Earnhardt to do it, and he dominated. He was way better than either one of us at that race track — by a mile. It’s just a hard race to win because of so many things that can go wrong. You have to have everything happen perfectly, you have to miss the wrecks, you need a little bit of luck in there, but you just try to put yourself in those ideal situation. And sometimes Kyle was just not in the right, ideal situation, but a lot of the times, it was just bad luck.
“Looking back, I can think of a couple years, maybe, where he got in a crash that wasn’t his doing or maybe had a tire go in one of the years. But certainly, I think at his age, it’s probably a matter of time. He’s got a long time ahead of him. I think that he’s won those Shootouts before and all those races. He’s kind of had the same resume that I had before I’d won the Daytona 500. So certainly, he’s got everything in his favor to go out there and get it done, but sometimes he just hasn’t had that little bit of luck factor that you need to finish the deal off.”
That finicky nature of competing at the World Center of Racing has led to some love-hate sentiment for Busch, who enters Sunday’s 500 as a contender in a field flush with would-be winners. He’s prevailed in almost everything else here, winning qualifying races and the preliminary Clash, scoring a victory in the July 400-miler and claiming Daytona triumphs in the other two national series.
If a Daytona 500 win truly is a matter of time, Busch should have a special reverence for the event’s history and its ability to wash away years of heartache.
He’ll also have no guesswork when figuring out the proper place for the trophy.
“Really, I’ve loved the place,” Busch says. “For what that race track means in the history of our sport and what Daytona Beach means for the history of our sport, back from 1949, it’s what our sport was built on.”
Kyle Busch sits at an impressive 194 NASCAR national-series victories entering the 2019 season. That’s within driving distance of another historic all-time wins milestone, the amazing 200 set nearly 35 years ago by Richard Petty.
Though close in proximity to Petty’s mark — which was established entirely in NASCAR’s top series — Busch’s numbers are divided among three different stock-car circuits. And that’s a fact that has also divided many history-minded NASCAR observers trying to draw comparisons between the two accomplishments.
For his part, Busch isn’t trying to make his own correlations. He’s simply enjoying the discussion.
“That was just a number I threw out there, even though it was the same number. It was just out of thin air,” Busch said, referencing a casual first mention of the 200-win goal after notching the 50th of his career back in 2009. “But what’s crazy is I’m getting close to it. I didn’t think I’d get close to it, especially this early. I mean, I might have a chance to do it this year.
“I don’t try to equalize or compare apples to apples on myself and Richard. That’s not what this debate is about. I think it’s cool that there’s a debate. I think it’s cool that there’s a dinner-table-type talk around this.”
That debate has been spirited, with vocal arguments from each side. Advocates for Petty contend that 200 wins in NASCAR’s top division would trump Busch’s tally, which has roughly three-quarters of its win total from the Xfinity and Gander Outdoors Truck Series ranks. Busch backers retort that his wins came against arguably stiffer competition, with Petty racking up dozens of trophies against thin fields in 100-mile races before NASCAR’s modern era.
Dissecting stats across different eras leads to multiple conclusions and feeds an even larger discussion about who is the all-time No. 1 driver in NASCAR history. Busch doesn’t delve into the latter debate, which he says is impossible to solve.
“People want to figure out who’s the greatest of all time, and in my opinion — in any sport — there’s no greatest of all time,” Busch says. “I think you can have a top five, but it’s going to be really, really hard to decipher who’s the No. 1 of the top five in any sport. You look at Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Steph Curry — guys like that. Look, Michael’s my favorite just because he’s my favorite of the three, but I look at LeBron and what he’s been able to do and the different teams he’s been able to do it with and how he’s led them to championship games eight years in a row. You can’t beat that, you know what I mean? But he doesn’t have more championships than Michael Jordan, and Michael Jordan doesn’t have the most.
“That’s what I’m getting at. Like Tom Brady and (Peyton) Manning, Drew Brees, (Joe) Montana — that’s how I interpret all those things. That’s the comparison I’m trying to build. Do I want to be known as the greatest of all time? No. Do I want to be known as one of the top five? Sure.”
Those unending debates all fuel the weighing of Busch’s legacy in the sport, a legacy he’s still actively building as a 33-year-old driver in his prime. As a one-time champion with 51 (and counting) premier-series wins, his NASCAR Hall of Fame credentials are secure. But he’s still aiming to add a Daytona 500 victory to that portfolio, a goal that he’s redoubled this season.
Adding to that list of accomplishments is what still drives him, and it’s what prompts the question of when he might consider exiting the cockpit and enjoying life after competition. He cites the example of Jeff Gordon, who quit full-time driving on his own terms in 2015, going out by battling Busch for that season’s title.
“What’s left on the list? It’s like, well, I’ve about checked everything off. It’s just now about adding to it,” Busch said of his legacy. “A one-time champion is great, but two is better. A one-time Daytona 500 winner would be awesome. That would check off the rest of the boxes. It would complete the deal. But then winning more of them. People ask, what’s going to keep you going? Well, it’s winning more of them. I’ll be done when I feel like I’m not able to perform and be at the top of my game anymore.”
MOORESVILE, N.C. – Front Row Motorsports today announced an expanded partnership with CITGO® Petroleum Corporation and its CITGARD® brand that began last season with David Ragan and the No. 38 team.
The CITGARD brand is the primary sponsor on the No. 38 Ford Mustang throughout this season. Ragan will carry the CITGARD colors at the events at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March, Michigan International Speedway in June and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course in September. The brand will also be featured as an associate sponsor all season.
CITGARD began its partnership last season with FRM at Darlington Raceway, paying tribute to Dale Jarrett during the annual “Throwback Weekend” with a red and white scheme. The popular feedback from race fans and success of the program led to the increased commitment with FRM and Ragan this season.
“Everyone at the Front Row Motorsports organization and David Ragan worked hard to ensure that we had a wonderful experience and that our program was a success for us last year,” said Brian Paulson, CITGO General Manager Lubricants. “In return, our customers and fans were thrilled and now we’re proud to increase our partnership with David and the team this season.”
CITGARD heavy duty engine oils are next generation oils formulated with proprietary additive technology that protects engines from running at higher temperatures and fuel injection pressures, while meeting tighter wear limits and lower emission requirements. The Front Row Motorsports transporters rely on CITGARD throughout the season.
“It’s great to have CITGARD return to our program this season,” said Ragan. “As a team that travels thousands of miles from race to race, you need reliable, heavy-duty engine lubricants to ensure we get to the track and back home. I’m glad that we have the best. I want to thank everyone at CITGO for stepping up and helping us improve our race program.”
Fritz Sports & Event Enterprises will again oversee the partnership.
“I want to thank everyone at Front Row Motorsports and David Ragan for their support of CITGARD,” said CEO Doug Fritz. “This is a great partnership and we’re proud to have an increased presence of CITGARD on the track this season.”
Editor’s note: This week in advance of the Daytona 500, NASCAR.com will look back at some memorable race victories and detail the odds the winning driver had, and which driver in the 2019 field most correlates.
Trevor Bayne had one previous career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start entering the 2011 season. He had just turned 20 years old the day before the 2011 Daytona 500 went green.
Historic Wood Brothers Racing was stuck in a winless streak that stretched back to the 2001 season. The team had won four previous Daytona 500s, including the iconic 1976 version with driver David Pearson — and the long-standing No. 21 car had been retrofitted in 2011 to resemble Pearson’s ride.
Something special happened on Feb. 20, 2011, though.
With Tony Stewart on his outside, and veterans Mark Martin and Kurt Busch looming, Bayne — the race leader — hammered the final restart in NASCAR Overtime and held off the entire field on the green-white-checkered finish for what many consider to be the biggest upset in Daytona 500 history.
Bayne, so green in his own right that he got lost on the drive to Victory Lane, delivered an iconic moment that makes the “Great American Race” so special. And at 80-1 odds, he joined a list of athletes — in NASCAR and beyond — to beat incredibly long odds to triumph at the sport’s highest level.
The most comparable driver in this year’s field is …
Ty Dillon, No. 13 Germain Racing Chevrolet
Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
There isn’t an 80-1 long shot in the field this year, but there is a 100-1 bet in Ty Dillon — who also is looking for his first career Monster Energy Series win, much like Bayne in 2011.
Dillon’s best finish in three Daytona 500 starts is 28th, and he has one career top-10 finish in 90 Monster Energy Series starts.
He fits the model of a true long shot at the odds book, but he also fits the Bayne profile of someone not to overlook. Germain Racing uses ECR Engines and moved its headquarters to Welcome, North Carolina, to more closely align with Richard Childress Racing. RCR has an excellent superspeedway program, highlighted by Austin Dillon’s Daytona 500 win last year, and Ty Dillon was raised in the Richard Childress Racing style.
As it turns out, the NASCAR Heat 3 box art — and bear in mind, this is a game released last September — predicted the top four qualifiers of this year’s Daytona 500.
And, yes, even in the exact order, if you judge by running position in the artwork: William Byron, Alex Bowman, Jimmie Johnson, and Chase Elliott.
Are we gonna talk about how NASCAR Heat 3’s cover art predicted this years D500 qualifying IN EXACT ORDER??
Parker Kligerman and William Byron, who will compete in Thursday’s Gander RV Duel qualifying races, prepared for their races by drafting on iRacing’s virtual Daytona International Speedway.
Kligerman, unlike Byron, is not locked into the Great American Race, meaning any preparation could make the difference for racing his Gaunt Brothers Racing Toyota into Sunday’s Daytona 500.
You know it’s 2019 when you go to do a Fixed A class race in @iRacing to practice for the duels. And the pole sitter for the #DAYTONA500 is in the race too @WilliamByron
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers weren’t the only drivers preparing for the Daytona race weekend. Gander Outdoors Truck Series competitors Harrison Burton, Todd Gilliland, and Christian Eckes invited fans on iRacing to race trucks in the Daytona draft.
Myatt Snider streamed some iRacing truck racing, too.
Stream alert!
Tune in around 10:10 PM when @iRokStar4x4 @nickpain & I go live running @iRacing Trucks at @DISupdates! Make sure to watch because it definitely will not go to plan 😂https://t.co/6ISZVrR3sa
Taylor Hurst, who went unclaimed in the January 30 draft, dominated the non-points event, leading 45 of 50 laps. Two multi-car crashes took out several race favorites early.
The eNASCAR PEAK Antifreeze iRacing Series officially begins its 2019 season Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET, streaming live on eNASCAR.com. Drivers will compete for more than $100,000 in prizes throughout the series’ 10th season.
Daytona’s season opener marks the first race where drivers represent their new teams.
From a very young age, I was a @DaleJr fan. This pic was taken before one of the Pocono races in 2003. Tomorrow night, I get to run my first @NASCAR@peakauto@iRacing series race for @JRMotorsports – a childhood dream come true. We're going to make it a race to remember! pic.twitter.com/JiFEEs95jB
The 100 eNASCAR Heat Pro League finalists have started competing in the Showcase Race series — the opportunity to prove their driving skills beyond raw numbers.
Host Jonathan Merryman will kick off coverage in the morning and NASCAR Digital will live stream interviews with all 42 drivers attempting to make the Daytona 500 field. Kim Coon joins Merryman as co-host as the event, and special guest NASCAR Next driver Hailie Deegan will be on air interviewing drivers as well.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 11, 2019) – Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt will become the first NFL player to give the command to start engines at the DAYTONA 500 when he serves as Grand Marshal for the 61st running of “The Great American Race” on Sunday at Daytona International Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, FOX Deportes, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“I am honored to have the opportunity to serve as Grand Marshal for this year’s ‘Great American Race,’ ” Watt said. “The DAYTONA 500 is a truly iconic event with a rich history and I am very much looking forward to taking in the action up close and personal this year.”
A former player of the University of Wisconsin, the three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year became the first player in NFL history to record two 20-plus sack seasons in 2014. Watt also holds the Texans’ franchise record for sacks and forced fumbles. In 2017, he was named Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year.
Watt is also well-known for his charity work as the president and founder of the Justin J. Watt Foundation, a charity organization that provides after-school opportunities for children in various communities, and has assisted those who are affected by deadly shootings. Following the events of Hurricane Harvey in 2017, Watt set a goal to raise $200,000 for recovery efforts in the city of Houston, a goal he greatly surpassed by raising more than $41 million, for which he was awarded the prestigious Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award.
“We’re ecstatic to have a person who has shown to be not only an incredible athlete, but also somebody who has done so much for communities in need,” said Daytona International Speedway President Chip Wile. “J.J. is one of the best players currently in the NFL and now he’s going to be our Grand Marshal for ‘The Great American Race.’ It’s a spectacular pairing.”
The DAYTONA 500, first held in 1959 at the famed 2.5-mile high-banked tri-oval, is the season-opening race for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Tickets for the 61st annual DAYTONA 500 and other Daytona International Speedway events can be purchased online at www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com or by calling 1-800-PITSHOP.
Editor’s note: This week in advance of the Daytona 500, NASCAR.com will look back at some memorable race victories and detail the odds the winning driver had, and which driver in the 2019 field most correlates.
Kurt Busch was on plenty of preseason lists entering the 2017 season, although likely not the ones he wanted.
Think in line of the “Best driver to never win the Daytona 500” discussion.
The veteran Busch was widely regarded — and still is — as one of the best racers in the garage when it comes to the unpredictable Daytona and Talladega tracks. The well-documented issue, though, was that Busch, then entering his 17th full-time season, had never won at those tracks.
Yes, the win column then read “0” — especially troubling because Busch had made 63 combined Monster Energy Series starts at those tracks entering the 2017 season.
But the Stewart-Haas Racing driver kept his battered No. 41 Ford on the track despite plenty of battle scars, put himself in position late and then pounced when leader Kyle Larson ran out of fuel on the final lap.
The win was the first race that featured stage racing and came with Monster Energy on the car in the brand’s first race as NASCAR’s entitlement sponsor.
Busch was slated at 35-1 odds for this race, making for a nice payday for bettors who trusted in the veteran.
The most comparable driver in this year’s field is …
Kyle Larson, No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet
Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
No driver is listed at exactly 35-1 odds, but the closest pick here is Kyle Larson at 28-1.
Yes, the driver Kurt Busch passed on the final lap for his lone Daytona 500 win two years ago most resembles Busch’s Las Vegas odds for this year’s running of the Great American Race (Feb. 17, 2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Like Busch, Larson doesn’t have a win at either Daytona or Talladega — although he’s made just 20 combined starts at those tracks, far fewer than Busch. But also like Busch, he’s considered one of the most purely talented drivers in the garage.
Larson is looking for his first win since 2017 after going winless last year.
The numbers are clear. Every year in the elimination-style postseason, which began in 2014, an average of four drivers make the postseason field after not making it the previous year.
Using the first year (2014) as the standard, here’s the breakdown by season:
2015: 4 drivers who didn’t make playoffs in 2014 (Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr., Paul Menard, Jamie McMurray); 2016: 5 drivers who didn’t make playoffs in 2015 (Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon, Tony Stewart, Chris Buescher); 2017: 4 drivers who didn’t make playoffs in 2016 (Ryan Blaney, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne); 2018: 4 drivers who didn’t make playoffs in 2017 (Clint Bowyer, Aric Almirola, Erik Jones, Alex Bowman).
Let’s play the law of averages and assume this trend continues and four drivers who did not make the playoffs in 2018 qualify in 2019.
Here’s a best guess at this year’s group:
Sean Gardner | Getty Images
William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet
The 2018 Sunoco Rookie of the Year was the youngest full-time driver in the Monster Energy Series last year. When one extrapolates that out for his whole career, the data shows that almost always has been the case — Byron has one full-time season of experience in both the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series. He climbed into his first race car, of any size, make or model, later in life than practically any other Cup driver. That he already is in his second Cup season at age 21 is a testament to his natural ability and wizardry behind the wheel.
There was bound to be a significant learning curve for Byron as a rookie, especially with a brand-new Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Expect the 21-year-old to make a natural improvement in his sophomore season, and having Chad Knaus atop the pit box further accelerates his learning curve.
The No. 24 team should be back in the playoffs this year.
Jonathan Ferrey | Getty Images
Daniel Suarez, Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Ford
Suarez never found Victory Lane at the Monster Energy Series level in two years with Joe Gibbs Racing, but the change of scenery will do him some good. The last half of 2018 in particular likely was difficult for Suarez, with rumors of Martin Truex Jr. joining Joe Gibbs Racing in 2019 and taking over the No. 19.
Stewart-Haas Racing was the most powerful team in NASCAR last year, so Suarez is leaving one strong team for another. His everyday-guy type of personality is a great fit at the Tony Stewart-owned team, and Suarez now gets to learn from the likes of Kevin Harvick after years of getting input from Kyle Busch.
He’ll be all the better for it and makes the playoffs for the first time in his Monster Energy Series career.
Brian Lawdermilk | Getty Images
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Roush Fenway Racing No. 17 Ford
Stenhouse Jr. slipped out of the postseason last year, and I think he’s due for a bounce back. The 2019 rules package will give the Roush Fenway Racing driver an opportunity to make up ground on the 1.5-mile tracks, and few in the sport are as daring and daunting on the superspeedways of Daytona and Talladega.
It’s there we think Stenhouse will get to Victory Lane and clinch a spot in the NASCAR Playoffs. An interesting stat: Stenhouse in 2018 actually led more than double the laps he did in his two-win 2017 season. That bodes well for tracks outside of Daytona and Talladega — keep an eye on Bristol.
Chris Graythen | Getty Images
Matt DiBenedetto, Leavine Family Racing No. 95 Toyota
Sure, this is probably the long shot of the four picks here. But it feels like Leavine Family Racing has the right pieces in the right place.
DiBenedetto is lauded throughout the garage for his talent wheeling a stock car, and now he’s in the best ride of his career. The team’s newfound relationship with Joe Gibbs Racing should be fruitful quickly, and veteran crew chief Mike Wheeler left the No. 11 JGR team — and close friend Denny Hamlin — to attempt to build something new.
The thought here is that this No. 95 group performs ahead of schedule this year in making the postseason.
