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Actress Charlize Theron — and Sunday’s honorary starter for the Daytona 500 — is new to NASCAR.

But racing has been a part of her since she was young.

“My family loved car racing, so I was raised in a house where it was always on and a lot of the South African car racing and championships were always playing on TV,” Theron told NASCAR.com. “My dad was a mechanic and built cars in the backyard so that whole kind of car culture is something that I’m very familiar with.”

The Academy Award winner, whose new movie “Gringo” hits theaters on March 9, reflected on her childhood days in South Africa later in her press conference, comparing her father to a “crazy scientist in the backyard making things” with engines lying around her family farm.

“You realize that you come from that family when at eight, you know what a spark plug does and your friends don’t,” Theron said. “I loved it. … My dad used to build these little go-karts when I was really young and I loved racing them. And I would beat the boys all the time.”

Those go-kart racing skills proved useful when the producers of “Italian Job” wanted the actors to enroll in driving school for the film.

“They threw us on this track for four weeks and it was just me and a bunch of boys,” Theron said. “I outdrove all of them. So, I’m kind of glad I was raised that way because it gave me an advantage that I think a lot of people don’t think that I have because the director was like, maybe you should do two weeks extra. I was like, than the boys? That’s a little sexist.

“And so then I really went for it — I think one of the actors puked at one point, one went home. They’re a bunch of (sissies).

“It was Mark Wahlberg. He’s going to kill me!” she said with a laugh.

Theron’s pick for the season-opening Daytona 500 also knows a bit about racing with boys; Theron noted that it would be “pretty badass” for Danica Patrick to win.

“To have her be a part of this, as a woman, that just seems to be incredible,” Theron said. “For me to be able to witness her last race, that feels pretty special to me, too. The girl in me in obviously secretly cheering for her. Even my kids were just really impressed that a girl is racing cars today, too. I think that’s such a good thing and we need more of that and hopefully we’ll have more of that … it only makes it better and richer, you know?

“Hell, I’ll try it.”

She’ll get a chance to learn a bit more about NASCAR, one of her goals on Sunday, from one of the best seats in the house, as Theron will wave the green flag to start the 500-mile race.

“Has anybody ever dropped it?” she said when asked about her duties. “Oh OK, well there’s my pressure right there …

“I’m just excited about being in an environment where I think this sport is really respected and enjoyed and I love being crowds who are excited to see something that they’re excited about.

“And who doesn’t like a fast car going around the track and professionals driving them?”

Posted on by Brad Norman

SHOP: Danica gear

Danica Patrick will pilot her final NASCAR race on Sunday, but her impact and contributions to the sport won’t be going away anytime soon.

Especially for young female drivers like Natalie Decker who look to Patrick as role model and pioneer in the professional stock car industry.

MORE: Patrick is all systems go in Daytona | Danica through the years

Just last weekend, the 20-year-old ARCA driver became the fourth female to win a pole (Lucas Oil 200) at Daytona International Speedway.

The first? Patrick in 2013, of course.

Hours before the 35-year-old gets behind the wheel of her No. 7 GoDaddy Chevrolet, Decker sent a tweet sending her gratitude toward Patrick.


Danica Patrick also received a nice ovation after being recognized during the drivers’ meeting ahead of the 60th running of the Daytona 500.

Posted on by Brad Norman

RELATED: Bubba Wallace’s journey to first Daytona 500 to be featured on Facebook Watch

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The biggest race of his life looming, Darrell Wallace Jr. received some well-wishes from a pair of global icons.

Four-time Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton sent Wallace, entering his first full-time season in the historic Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Chevrolet, words of encouragement, as well as a follow, on Twitter.

Then, before Wallace climbed into his No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet for the Daytona 500, baseball Hall of Famer and one-time home run king  Hank Aaron phoned him.

RPM’s Andrew Murstein told the SportsBusiness Journal:

Aaron, 84, broke Babe Ruth’s home run record in 1974 and held it until 2007.

Wallace Jr., the first full-time African-American driver in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series since Wendell Scott in 1971, made his first Daytona 500 start on Sunday.

Hamilton, he of 5+ million Twitter followers, has won the F1 title three of the past four years. A driver’s driver like Wallace, Hamilton has made hints of competing in a NASCAR race in the future.

Wallace Jr.’s journey to the biggest race at NASCAR’s top level is being documented with a behind-the-scenes look on Facebook Watch.

Posted on by Staff Report

Ever wonder what goes on in a driver meeting? We’re here to help.

This year, we’ll publish the actual rules video your favorite Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver will watch before climbing into their stock cars. Above is the video for the 60th annual running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.

Enjoy!

Posted on by Zack Albert

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The recent history of Daytona International Speedway’s dramatic designs in the tri-oval grass began with what Andrew Gurtis calls a “happy accident.” During the 2000 running of the Rolex 24, a sports car spun off the course, scraping up a swath of the lush, green turf.

With the rest of Speedweeks soon approaching, it was repair mode for Gurtis, now Daytona’s VP of Operations, his team and the grounds crew.

“Our groundskeeper at the time, Sam Newpher, had thrown down some seed that he still had in the barn and it came up and it was a different color,” Gurtis recalled. “If we had down annual rye, this was perennial rye, and with that we got two tones and knew at that point that we could do a two-tone pattern.”

That design has evolved into this year’s elegant rendering of the General Motors Firebird 1 that tops the Harley J. Earl Trophy for the 60th running of the Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM). The design was chosen in a vote by fans and has served as a four-acre centerpiece along the frontstretch.

Getting the pattern off the ground — quite literally — has been a collaboration between the Speedway’s operations staff and TruGreen, which also assists in the care of other vegetation around the track’s extensive campus. The track also partners with Missouri Turf and Paint, which imprints logos on the frontstretch grass, including the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series logo, the track’s brand mark and a promotion for Facebook Watch’s docu-series this week with Bubba Wallace.

The preparations for making the design come to life actually began near the end of last season. The grounds team typically aerates the ball field area in the second week of November, with an overseed on Thanksgiving weekend. Ten days later, a fertilizer and fungicide treatment are applied. The whole process is repeated in late March to early April to prepare for the Coke Zero 400 weekend near Independence Day.

TruGreen has partnered with several other NASCAR facilities, but their handiwork has also been on display at stadiums for Major League Baseball, the NFL and at Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby.

“I want to stress is it’s us coming alongside them and really working under their direction,” says Brent Armstrong, vice president of commercial sales at TruGreen. “They’re the heroes. They’re the ones who make it shine and we just come alongside and hopefully make their jobs a little easier.”

There might be some pressure to creating an eye-popping effect for such a prominent area in NASCAR’s biggest race, but grounds superintendent Jason Griffeth and his crew have had fun with it. When Kurt Busch won last year’s Daytona 500 and carved donuts into the infield, a large patch of turf landed on his car’s hood. That patch stayed put, all the way to the No. 41 Ford’s display in Daytona’s museum. A humorous video shows Griffeth watering and trimming the grass in the day’s after Busch’s 500 win.

But Griffeth and Co. have also shown the ability to act quickly during the more chaotic portions of Speedweeks, when wrecks or spins have blemished the pristine turf. For that, Daytona has a contingency plan in place.

“We do have what we refer to as the sod retention area,” Gurtis says. “Both types of grass — annual and perennial rye — are growing on the backstretch in an area that most of the general public doesn’t have access to, and if there were a major gouge or somebody really plowed up a significant portion of it, we are able to cut up that sod and transplant it and get back to looking good for the next race day.”

Newpher, the former DIS groundskeeper, helped recruit Griffeth through his connections to Major League Baseball. Griffeth’s resume includes tenure with the Boston Red Sox in caring for Fenway Park’s grass, so he’s familiar with hallowed ground in the world of sports.

“There’s an enormous amount of effort that goes into executing the creativity, and that’s where Jason and the Ops team at Daytona really are the best in the business,” Gurtis says. “That shows up if you get down close on the ball field, you can see the care. That doesn’t just happen — not only the level of detail, but then the color behind it. The color enhances how it shows up on television, the color enhances how it shows up in still photography, and it’s an amazing job that they’ve done executing on the creativity. It doesn’t just happen.

“We work with a lot of them, but there are very few folks in the U.S. who could’ve pulled off what Jason and his team pulled off.”

Posted on by Brad Norman

A season dawns anew at the World Center of Racing.

It’s Daytona Day, the 60th running of the Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), and with it the start of a brand-new season.

Alex Bowman, who succeeds Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 Chevrolet, starts from the pole today. The Fords are super fast. And that youth-veteran rivalry beginning to bud last year appears to be on the verge of fully blossoming, dominating the conversation here this week at the birthplace of speed.

RELATED: Starting lineup | Today’s rundown

There’s more. A connection to the past, with a week steeped in history. Memories that flood back. The promise of a fresh start.

It’s Daytona time. Get ready for today’s race by fully prepping with the below story lines.

GOING GREEN

Sunday marks the 60th running of the Daytona 500. | Getty Images

• Sunday preview: What to watch for on Sunday? Well, there’s a lot. For starters, we break down five critical story lines that will dominate the Daytona 500. | READ MORE

• Bold colors: One of the coolest parts of the Daytona 500 is seeing the new livery. And there’s plenty fresh this year. We highlight every paint scheme here, ranked by the official lineup. | SEE ‘EM ALL

• Bowman shows ’em: From being fired — his words — to winning the Daytona 500 pole award, Alex Bowman’s NASCAR rise is anything but ordinary. He explains in his own words. | READ MORE

• Duel — and dual — wins: About those young guns? They conquered the Can-Am Duel qualifying races, with Ryan Blaney winning the first one and Chase Elliott winning the second. They looked poised for huge years. | READ MORE

• Big names to the back: The other side of the Can-Am Duels hit plenty of big-name drivers. Wrecks forced backup cars, and backup cars force drivers to the rear. There’s eight of ’em at the back … so far. | READ MORE

• Best of the best: Dale Earnhardt Jr. is retired, so the moniker of “best restrictor-plate racer” needs a new owner. Drivers debate who it is, reaching a shaky conclusion. | READ MORE

• A double, half: Danica Patrick will run the first leg of the “Danica Double” and likely end her Monster Energy Series career. Look back at her photos through the years. | SEE THEM ALL

• Our picks: We give you our best predictions for the Daytona 500 winner. And we throw in season-long picks as well. Bold predictions, anyone? | READ MORE

HISTORY, THEN AND NOW

The rich history of the Daytona 500 is unmatched through the years.

Kurt Busch made history last year with his first Daytona 500 win. Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

• Our ranking: It’s a tall order to rank every Daytona 500, but we tackled that in advance of the 60th annual Daytona 500. Our criteria? Simple. Greatness. | COUNT ‘EM DOWN

• Winners, winners: We’ve got pictures of every winner in race history, from Lee Petty to Kurt Busch. | PICTURES HERE

• Untold stories: Twenty years ago, Dale Earnhardt won his only Daytona 500 in one of the most memorable endings to a NASCAR race. Those who played key roles share their memories with NASCAR.com. | READ MORE

• A penny saved: Wessa Miller gave Dale Earnhardt a lucky penny prior to his 1998 Daytona 500 win. We catch up with her and her family, who still call the “Intimidator” their hero. | READ MORE HERE

• Pole position: Several of you diehard fans out there may know most of the Daytona 500 winners, but what about the pole sitters? | SEE THEM ALL

• Sands of time: Races in Daytona Beach used to be on, uh, the beach. Seriously. We have photographic proof in pics you won’t believe. | SEE THE PHOTOS

FANTASY FOCUS

We have a new Fantasy Live game, with a simplified scoring system. Here’s how to win.

• Line up your lineup: We have a new Fantasy Live game with a revamped scoring system and a new “garage” pick. Here’s everything you need to know. | FAQ

• Life in the Fastlane: We got yer fantasy advice right here, with both an in-depth look at specific drivers and a video detailing smart plays this week. | OUR FORECAST   | WATCH THE VIDEO

• Sign up now: You haven’t signed up yet?! What are you waiting for. Make sure to do it before the green drops, and check in throughout the race to adjust your lineup. | FANTASY HOME

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Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway concluded under the lights with five overtime attempts, several crushed race cars and a margin of victory of 0.000.

 It was a margin so close that the winner was determined by the photo finish, with Tyler Reddick’s No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet barely edging teammate Elliott Sadler’s No. 1 machine across the start/finish line.

Marking Xfinity’s 100th race as a sponsor, the 143-lap thriller didn’t disappoint.

“Either way, a JR Motorsports car wins, right?” Reddick said, as team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. agreed. “… That was insane, I just saw a picture of it like 10 minutes ago and it’s not much.”

MORE: Tyler Reddick wins by 0.000 margin | Complete race results

The final laps around the 2.5-mile speedway delivered everything Daytona promises: lead changes, passing, pushing and, yes, even a few wrecks. The second overtime attempt resulted in an 18-car wreck that took out top contenders Kyle Larson and Joey Logano among others. 

It left fans glued to the action and crew members antsy in their pit boxes as the race continued to push 57.5 miles past its scheduled distance. 

“Man, it was hard to watch,” said No. 9 crew member Rowdy Harrell, listed on the team’s roster as a front carrier.

“The 1 (of Sadler) was out in front of us right here,” he added, motioning to the final bit of track behind him before the start/finish line. “About 20 yards from the line, we got ’em. You hope for everything to work out the best in that situation, but we know it doesn’t always work out that way.

“Being in the first position for all those cautions, the first thing that goes through your head is, ‘There’s no way this is gonna happen. We’ve had this many opportunities and it’s about to get taken away from us. ‘ Luckily the kid hung onto it. He did good.”

In the end, the front of the field was built of a mélange of rookie drivers (Reddick and Kaz Grala), series veterans (Sadler and Ryan Reed) and underdogs, like Ryan Truex, who made his debut with new team Kaulig Racing on Saturday.

WATCH: Final laps, Reddick outlasts field

“I was just stressed out because every time I was in a really good spot coming to the white (flag), the caution would come out and we’d have to reset,” Truex said on pit road after the race. “That last run, I just pushed Ryan (Reed) as hard as I could; we’re pretty good buddies off the track so it was cool to try and push him to a win … I didn’t mind the length, I didn’t mind the restarts — our car was really good on restarts. But you have be in the perfect lane and that last lap there I backed up to whoever was behind me and got a huge run and Tyler (Reddick) was able to just shut the door at the last minute and that was all I had.”

The younger brother of reigning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr., Truex’s debut with Kaulig Racing resulted in a seventh-place result with three laps led, earning fist bumps and congratulations from crew members post race.

It wasn’t a W, but it was an impressive performance in an equally exciting race for a young driver who hasn’t run in the Xfinity Series since 2015.  

“Man, our car was really — we came from the back four times, every time we were able to get it to the front, had a lot of speed,” Truex said. “We got lucky a few times, we pretty much wrecked in Turn 3 across the apron in Turn 3 and somehow came out of there without killing the car.

“Our plan was to be there at the end and we did that and got a good finish out of it.”

Posted on by Track Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Reserved stadium tickets for the historic 60th annual DAYTONA 500, the season-opening event for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, are sold out, Daytona International Speedway President Chip Wile announced today. This is the third consecutive year that the DAYTONA 500 has sold out.

MORE: Alaskan couple makes long trek to Daytona 

“Once again, race fans have shown their loyalty to ‘The Great American Race’ and we thank them for that,” Wile said. “Our fans recognize there is nothing like the experience of attending a DAYTONA 500 in the world’s only motorsports stadium. We will strive to make it a memorable day for each and every guest.”

Premium hospitality, infield admissions and UNOH Fanzone/Pre-Race access still remain for the DAYTONA 500 and are available at www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com or by calling 1-800-PITSHOP as well as through PrimeSport.com, the official ticket exchange and travel package provider of Daytona International Speedway.

This year’s DAYTONA 500 will be attended by fans representing 49 different countries and every state in the U.S.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Complete race results

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — In a day race that ended under the lights, with the closest margin of victory in NASCAR history, Tyler Reddick finished Saturday’s PowerShares QQQ 300 less than three inches ahead of JR Motorsports teammate Elliott Sadler.

In the last of five overtimes, after a stoppage of 5 minutes, 27 seconds, and on the 23rd extra lap, Reddick made a move to the outside off Turn 4 and won a drag race with Sadler to the stripe after their cars bumped side-to-side coming to the finish line.

The margin of victory was listed officially as .000 seconds because NASCAR timing and scoring usually doesn’t measure beyond thousandths of a second. But upon further review from NASCAR’s timing and scoring officials, the margin was .0004 seconds when taken out that far.

 

https://twitter.com/odsteve/status/965001018915393536

Reddick restarted in the lead on Lap 142, after Dylan Lupton cut a tire and nosed hard into the backstretch wall to cause the record 12th caution of the event. Sadler got a run to the inside on the final lap and edged ahead of Reddick, who regained the advantage just before the flag stand.

“This feels amazing,” said Reddick, who picked up his second NASCAR Xfinity Series victory in his first start since joining JRM. “This is a hell of a way to start the year off with JR Motorsports.

 “Ryan Reed and Ryan Truex, those guys were giving me good pushes as I was really struggling on some of those restarts to get going. I was holding back there on the last restart and (Reed) gave me one last really good push to get back up to Elliott.

 “I don’t even know how close it was at the line, but it was real close.”

 With the victory, the 22-year-old Reddick is all but assured of earning a spot in the NASCAR Xfinity postseason Playoffs.

Sadler’s spin on the backstretch on Lap 118 of a scheduled 120, after contact from JR Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott, brought out the eighth caution and started the sequence of events that saw the season opener extended through five overtimes.

WATCH: Sadler says, “I don’t know how many more starts I’ll have

Though Sadler was disappointed with the runner-up finish, it could have been much worse. The driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet spun twice and drew a black flag for locking bumpers with teammate Chase Elliott and pushing Elliott down the backstretch. Elliott also was penalized as the recipient of the push.

“Congratulations to him (Reddick),” Sadler said. “He’s my teammate, so it’s great on one hand to have a JR Motorsports car in Victory Lane, but it’s definitely tough to finish second. I think that’s three seconds in a row for me on superspeedway races, so we’ve got to figure out how to be leading one of these things.

“We had a pretty wild day. We spun out twice, got black flagged for something–I’m not real sure what yet.  I think I was running 32nd on the first green-white-checkered attempt, and we had a chance to win the race. So perseverance and never give up and just kind of stay after it. That’s the kind of motto of my race team, and it kind of showed again today. 

WATCH: Massive wreck gathers up 18 cars

The 18-car backstretch wreck on Lap 122 that ended the first overtime eliminated a handful of cars that had run up front all day. The Chevy of Kyle Larson and the Ford of Joey Logano, who combined to lead 89 of the first 121 laps, both were casualties, as was Justin Allgaier, one of the favorites for the series championship.

That was just the beginning of the overtime chaos. Third-place finisher Ryan Reed, winner of this race in 2015 and 2017, had the lead for the second overtime restart on Lap 130, but Spencer Gallagher spun off the bumper of Ross Chastain to end the attempt.

Ryan Truex inherited the top spot for the third overtime attempt, but surrendered the lead to Reddick, who came within 100 feet of the white flag (and an official race) before the 11th caution forced another try.

The fourth attempt was cut short when Lupton slammed the backstretch wall.

Behind Reddick, Sadler and Reed, Kaz Grala rolled home in fourth place, followed by Garrett Smithley, who recorded a career-best fifth. Gallagher, Truex, Daniel Suarez, Chastain and Brandon Jones completed the top 10.

 

 

Posted on by Staff Report

Zack Albert
Brad Keselowski. With a strong restrictor-plate acumen, all the variables set to finally align for the No. 2 crew at the Great American Race.

Allie Davison
Joey Logano. The only way to wipe away last year’s ‘horror film’ season is with a win … and making a splash in the season-opener is just the ticket. The Team Penske driver has been conservative so far during Speedweeks, but that’s what a winner does: Seizes the right moment.

Pat DeCola
Joey Logano. The Team Penske driver’s redemption tour kicks off early, as Logano becomes the latest two-time winner of the Great American Race. His teammates each already have wins during Speedweeks, but it’s Logano this time who will land in Victory Lane — in the biggest one of ’em all.

Clint Bowyer
Chris Graythen | Getty Images

RJ Kraft
Clint Bowyer. Fords have been dominant at the plate tracks and the veteran breaks his winless drought in a big way.

Jonathan Merryman
Brad Keselowski. Starting from the rear of the field is no problem for Keselowski. I think he gets out front, and when he does, he will be very hard to pass.

Brad Norman
Kyle Larson. Yeah, the Fords are fast this weekend, but it’s Daytona. The Joe Gibbs guys lurk late, but ultimately, it’s Larson outrunning the field to the checkered.

Jessica Ruffin
Joey Logano. The Fords have proven to be the cars to beat in the long run at Daytona, and Team Penske’s Logano has the plate prowess to be patient when he needs to be (and aggressive when coming to the checkered).

Kathy Sheldon
Joey Logano. Team Penske has put the speed in Speedweeks, and Logano’s been biding his time, not pushing the issue in the preliminaries. Expect him to be more aggressive in the Daytona 500 and seize the checkered flag.

Sarah Crabill | Getty Images

Chase Wilhelm
Ryan Blaney. After coming so close to winning the Daytona 500 with a runner-up finish last year, Blaney has showcased some serious muscle throughout Speedweeks in his new Team Penske ride. He made a bold race-winning move in the Duel, which displayed his willingness to take risks. YRB has the moxie you need to win the Great American Race.

George Winkler
Denny Hamlin. A lot of focus has been on the Fords and their success at restrictor-plate tracks, and Chevy has a new model, but it’s a Toyota that ends up in Victory Lane. Hamlin has been fast in qualifying and practice and knows what it takes to win here.