Posted on by Team Release

Officials from Rick Ware Racing (RWR) confirmed today that NASCAR Next alumnus Cole Custer will make his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) debut March 2-4 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Custer, a native of Ladera Ranch, California, will drive the team’s No. 51 Ford Fusion while also competing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race for Stewart-Haas Racing.

Haas Automation, Inc., America’s leading builder of CNC machine tools, will continue its support of Custer and serve as the primary sponsor of RWR’s No. 51 Ford in the March 4 race.

Starting his racing career at the age of four, Custer has been successful in every form of motorsports competition. From quarter midgets to Late Models to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and Xfinity Series, the 20-year-old has proven himself as a winner.

Some of Custer’s NASCAR accolades including becoming the youngest Truck Series pole winner ever at Gateway (Ill.) Motorsports Park. Five events later, he became the youngest winner in the history of NASCAR’s national touring series at 16 years, 7 months and 28 days when he won at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.

Custer also scored his first-career Xfinity Series win with a dominating performance in the 2017 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, leading 182 of the event’s 200 circuits in his 38th career series start.

“This is a dream come true to compete in the Cup Series,” said Custer. “I can’t thank Rick Ware Racing and Haas Automation enough for the opportunity to race at Las Vegas. It’s going to be a new experience for me, but I feel that we can have a productive day by completing all the laps and seeing the checkered flag.”

Ware, a mainstay in motorsports competition for 27 years, says Custer is a superstar in the making and is grateful for the opportunity to work with him.

“I’ve been watching Cole a long time and he’s a fine young man,” Ware said. “I’ve been friends with the Custer family for a while now and they are truly are amazing people. Over the last couple years Cole has grown into a stout race car driver with a fine finesse for speed and rhythm.

“The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is home of someone of the greatest race car drivers in the world and Cole definitely fits into that category. I think our expectations as a team are realistic and achievable. Getting Cole to the checkered flag is our top priority as a race team.”

Custer has two career starts at Las Vegas – one in the Truck Series and one in the Xfinity Series. He finished third in the 2016 Truck Series race and 11th in the 2018 Xfinity Series race.

To commemorate Custer’s Cup debut, RWR through Lionel will offer a die-cast of the No. 51 Haas Automation Ford Fusion available for purchase to the general public in the coming weeks.

In December, RWR announced that they had secured a charter from Richard Petty Motorsports securing the team a berth not only into the Daytona 500 but the remaining 35 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series events in 2018 as well.

Posted on by Jason Lofing

RELATED: Full iRacing schedule for 2018

Nick Ottinger claimed victory in the opening round of the NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze iRacing Series on Tuesday night at Daytona International Speedway. The premier NASCAR online racing series features the world’s fastest drivers racing virtual Chevrolets, Toyotas and Fords on tracks all around the United States — competing for a NASCAR championship and a $10,000 prize. The race was broadcast on NASCAR.com, FansChoice.tv, iRacingLive, Facebook and YouTube.

After suffering through a winless 2017, Ottinger found Victory Lane in the season opener, holding off Brian Schoenburg in a five-lap shootout. Schoenburg, who was seeking his first NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze iRacing Series win, made a bid for the victory coming off Turn 4 on the final lap, but came up short despite getting a push from Michael Conti.

Schoenburg wound up .07 seconds short at the checkered flag, but was thrilled to get his season off on a positive note. Christian Challiner came from 34th on the grid to edge Conti for third. Keegan Leahy rounded out the top five after leading 13 laps.

Ottinger led a race-high 40 of 100 laps and he, along with Schoenburg and Conti, used pit strategy to gain control of the race on a night where passing was more difficult than in years past. The trio, along with most of the lead-lap cars, headed to pit road for tires and fuel under caution on Lap 43. A handful of drivers, including Leahy and 2017 champion Ryan Luza opted to stay out for track position.

iRacing green flag Daytona
Chris Overland (#37) and Jimmy Mullis (#11) lead the field to the first green flag.

However, the next 43 laps ran without a yellow flag, forcing the drivers who stayed out to the pits earlier than the rest of the field. Some of the drivers who pitted under yellow came with the group that stayed out but needed less fuel, gaining them time.

Ottinger, on the other hand, decided to stretch the run longer since he and the rest of the cars yet to pit, including Conti and Schoenburg, caught the pack exiting the pits. This allowed them to turn fast laps and keep their track position, but on Lap 86 they finally headed to the pits for a splash of fuel.

Both Ottinger and Schoenburg had great pit stops, coming out nose-to-tail, well ahead of the pack. The two were able to hook up and stay in front of the field, but a caution with 10 laps to go for Casey Kirwan’s spin set up the dash to the finish.

Four crashes slowed the field for 11 laps and eliminated several drivers from contention. The biggest incident occurred on the last lap in Turn 2 when the field stacked up behind the leaders. Zack Novak was the first to slide sideways and the rest of the field piled in, including Luza, polesitter Chris Overland and 2017 playoff contender Logan Clampitt.

With Daytona, the only restrictor-plate race on the schedule, in the rearview mirror, the NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze iRacing Series heads to Phoenix’s IMS Raceway for Week 2 of the season. Fresh off his win, Ottinger will look to keep the momentum going in the Valley of the Sun, but Luza and three-time champion Ray Alfalla are the favorites. The pair accounted for half of the victories in the series one year ago and looks to break into the win column in 2018.

Has the field closed the gap over the offseason? Find out in three weeks on iRacing Live when the NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze iRacing Series returns to action!

Posted on by Official NASCAR Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A dramatic, runner-up finish in the 2018 DAYTONA 500 by the first full-time African-American driver in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series since 1971 will be chronicled in the final two episodes of “Behind the Wall: Bubba Wallace,” the new docu-series on Facebook Watch.

The final episodes in the original series will post at 12 p.m. ET (Episode 7) and 2 p.m. ET (Episode 8) on Thursday, February 22, and can be viewed by following the Behind the Wall: Bubba Wallace show Page. The first six episodes, which premiered last week, are available now on demand.

In his first start in the Great American Race, Wallace edged out 2016 DAYTONA 500 champion Denny Hamlin to take second place in the sport’s most prestigious event, which was won by driver Austin Dillon. The result marks the best-ever finish by an African-American driver in the DAYTONA 500.

Both the lead-up to Wallace’s debut in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, including a third-place finish in his Can-Am Duel qualifying race, and his emotional press conference after the DAYTONA 500 will be featured in the series’ final episodes on Facebook Watch.

WATCH: Bubba emotional after finish

“The whole experience of my first DAYTONA 500 was amazing,” said Wallace. “Through Facebook Watch, fans are going to be able to see what I went through leading into Sunday’s race and after it. It’s really cool to be able to share those moments and emotion with all our fans. Everyone needs to check it out.”

The first six episodes of “Behind the Wall: Bubba Wallace,” produced by NASCAR Productions, follow Wallace’s road to Daytona International Speedway — from his earliest racing days to his debut as the new full-time driver of the No. 43 Click n’ Close Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Petty Motorsports.

The series follows Wallace in the months and weeks leading up to the 2018 season, including encounters with team owner and NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Richard Petty, Charlotte Hornets rookie Malik Monk and close friend and fellow NASCAR driver Ryan Blaney.

RELATED: High praise from Dale Jr.

In the final episodes, the cameras capture Wallace as the clock ticks down to the biggest race of his life, including a surprise, pre-race phone call from pro baseball legend and fellow Alabama native Hank Aaron.

Following the dramatic final lap and Wallace’s second-place finish, the series documents a teary-eyed reunion between the driver and his mother as she interrupts his press conference to congratulate him.

“For years to come, fans will remember Bubba Wallace’s performance in the 60th running of the DAYTONA 500,” said Evan Parker, NASCAR managing director, content strategy. “On Facebook Watch, we’re giving fans unfiltered access to a NASCAR star in the making — straight from the perspective of Bubba himself.”

Before graduating to NASCAR’s top series, Wallace competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. In October 2013, he won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway to become the first African-American driver to win a NASCAR national series race since NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Wendell Scott in 1963.

In 2012, Wallace became the first graduate of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity development program to compete in a NASCAR national series race. Since then, he’s won six NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races.

Facebook Watch is a video platform created to bring episodic content, community and conversation together on Facebook. The platform is home to a wide variety of sports shows, including reality, documentary and live sports.

Posted on by Chase Wilhelm

En route to South Korea to cover the Winter Olympics for NBC Sports, Dale Earnhardt Jr. used a layover in Atlanta to produce his weekly “Dale Jr. Download” podcast on Dirty Mo Radio.

Fresh off his duties as Grand Marshal for the 60th annual Daytona 500, Earnhardt reflected on his experience at the “Great American Race” as a newly retired driver. Spending a good portion of his time atop the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsport pit box cheering on Alex Bowman, Earnhardt was impressed with how well the younger drivers of the sport were able to hold their own against veterans.

RELATED: Bubba, in tears: ‘I just try so hard’ |  Petty energized by Bubba’s start

Among the fleet of competitors who fall under the youth movement category in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, it was Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. who stole the headlines following a second-place finish in Sunday’s race.

After Bubba became the highest-finishing African-American driver in Daytona 500 history, he caught the attention of many —  including Earnhardt.

“A lot of people kind of wondered if he had done enough, I guess, to get this opportunity. I never felt that at all or felt like he didn’t deserve the chance,” Earnhardt said in his podcast. “And he went out and proved it on Sunday by driving like a veteran and driving with his head on his shoulders.”

On top of his on-track performance, Earnhardt also noted how well Wallace was able to handle all the pressure on NASCAR’s biggest stage.

“I was watching him all of Speedweeks and he had so many media responsibilities and commitments, more than any other driver by far … multiple times more than any other driver by far,” Earnhardt added. “He was feeling that pressure, man. I think it was probably the most pressure I’ve ever seen any driver deal with. I think he set a new high for handling that type of pressure.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Richard Petty walked onto pit road Sunday evening after the Daytona 500 just like he raced: fast and focused.

As the cars began pulling off the Daytona International Speedway surface following the dramatic season opener, the NASCAR Hall of Famer was in full pursuit – looking for his No. 43 Click n’ Close Chevrolet and its driver, Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr., who had just finished runner-up in his first Daytona 500.

A sizable crowd of reporters surrounded Petty, who walked up and down pit road, and into the pits looking for his driver. He didn’t have time to stop and talk though. He was in search of Wallace – for a handshake, hug and congratulations.

MORE: Petty energized by Bubba’s start | Wallace Jr. emotional after Daytona 500 

Some last-lap contact near the finish line with Denny Hamlin left Wallace’s Chevy damaged and meant a quick trip to the infield medical center for the “all clear,” so Petty quickly headed that way to check on the 24-year-old driver.

After a few minutes inside, NASCAR’s “King” emerged wearing a huge grin topped by his trademark cowboy hat — and sunglasses, even in the night sky. It absolutely appeared as if Wallace’s Daytona effort gave his beloved team owner a healthy dose of 200-mph rejuvenation.

“They were checking his blood pressure and I walked in, I asked him, ‘What was the last thing I told you,'” Petty said, smiling.

“He said, ‘I don’t know.’ I said, ‘I told you don’t mess up my car.’… I think his blood pressure went to 330. I wasn’t going to blame him, that’s for dang sure.”

Petty continued, “That’s a heckuva start. … They’d make pit stops and he’d run himself back up to sixth or seventh, he probably passed more cars than anybody, but he was in the race all day long.”

A few minutes later, Wallace made his way to the track’s media center to formally address his record-worthy rookie performance. And it was clear the young Alabama native was dealing with some hefty emotions. He is now the top-finishing African-American ever in the Daytona 500, and the impact of his hard work was not only a great season kickoff, it was a significant moment for him and for his sport. 

Just as Wallace sat down in front of the microphone, his mother approached – full of emotion and intent for a hug – for the first time they had seen each other since the race began four hours earlier.

Wallace asked the room of reporters to give him a moment to compose himself. His eyes were red and still filled with tears when he began taking questions.

When it came to his relationship with the 80-year-old Petty, Wallace wiped his eyes and shared a story.

He spoke about going to dinner with the 200-time winner the night before the 500. Wallace joked that he was Petty’s “Uber driver” and conceded he was completely enthralled listening to the legend retell stories of Daytona racing — on the beach pre-dating the Daytona 500 and then all the fascinating tales of close calls and fantastic triumphs in the sport’s greatest race – which Petty won a record seven times. 

But Wallace confirmed that after the race, as he sat in the infield care center, he wasn’t sure, at first, how to read Petty.

“I’m pissed off about the finish, obviously, and he walks in livid, and I’m like, yes, he’s mad, let’s go do something,” Wallace said. “He walks in, and the first thing he said is, ‘What’s the first thing I told you?’ with a very stern attitude.”

Wallace turned to Petty and said, “Ummmm.”

“I told you not to wreck the car,” Petty said.

“I didn’t do it!” Wallace retorted.

“So we shared a good laugh, and he came in and gave me a big hug after that,” Wallace said. “To see the smile on his face, I think you had to be there to experience that moment.  All the liaisons in there were pretty nervous for me, too, until he cracked the joke. 

“But just a great day, a great week, seeing him after the Duels, how pumped up he was and just the same amount of emotion, if not more, right here after the race.”

The result of the pairing – and its most promising start – has already resulted in big news for the team less than 24 hours after the Daytona 500 checkered flag flew. Driving 101 and it’s “NASCAR Racing Experience” brand signed on as a primary sponsor of Wallace’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for this weekend’s race at Atlanta. 

Fans and sponsors alike – ready to embrace and support the pairing of NASCAR’s most legendary driver guiding a young talent full of unlimited potential. 

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: 2018 iRacing schedule

The ninth season of the NASCAR Peak Antifreeze iRacing Series kicks off Tuesday evening with a live stream of action from the virtual Daytona International Speedway.

The race begins at 9 p.m. ET and will be streamed live here on NASCAR.com and on FansChoice.tv.

Eighteen races make up the 2018 season, which includes virtual tracks such as Charlotte Motor Speedway, Sonoma Raceway and Bristol Motor Speedway and culminates in a four-race playoff. The championship race takes place Oct. 23 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

More than $17,000 in cash and prizes is on the line in the competitive NASCAR eSports racing series.

View the livestream below or on YouTube and FansChoice. Full scoring can be found here.

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: 1-on-1 with Austin Dillon | Dillon: ‘This one’s for the Senior fans’

Austin Dillon enjoyed one of the many perks that comes with being the newest Daytona 500 champion — making media rounds in New York City.

Fresh off taking the No. 3 back to Victory Lane for the first time at Daytona since Dale Earnhardt accomplished the feat in 1998, Dillon kicked off the day at 7:30 a.m. with an appearance on FS1’s “First Things First.”

Dillon also dropped by “Live with Kelly and Ryan,” SiriusXM’s “The Morning Mashup,” and the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street to ring the closing bell.

Posted on by Steve Luvender

Each year, the Daytona 500 lives up to the hype, and 2018 was no exception. The race had a last-lap pass, new faces up front, Peyton Manning — you know, the usual stuff. We’re just happy to see race cars again.

Thumbs Up: Dale Jr.’s command to start engines

In his first race not as a full-time driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr. took on a role as the Daytona 500’s Grand Marshal. The Grand Marshal seems like a pretty sweet deal, doesn’t it? The duties include telling drivers to start their cars, and probably not too much more. Like, it sounds easy, but you wield a ton of power.

Maybe that’s why Dale Jr. so vividly shouted the most famous words in racing Sunday. You be the judge.

WATCH: Dale Jr. nails Grand Marshal duties at Daytona 500

Junior admitted the duties made him feel a little excited, and we don’t blame him for that.

Thumbs up for a spirited command to kick off the 2018 NASCAR season.

Thumbs Down: Bad Luck Blaney

Ryan Blaney made his first full-time start in the Team Penske No. 12 Ford Sunday, and everybody knew he was here — for a few reasons.

First, you can’t possibly miss his car. It’s impossible. It’s a radioactive highlighter that somebody dipped in glow-in-the-dark paint.

Second, Blaney’s No. 12 led more than half the Daytona 500. If the neon chartreuse Ford Fusion didn’t do it for you, surely you noticed Blaney leading the race for 118 laps Sunday.

Third — and this is the unfortunate one — Blaney seemed to find himself in the middle of each of the big, multi-car crashes Sunday. First, on the final lap of Stage 1, Blaney’s car connected with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., triggering a nine-car pile-up. Then, with 19 laps to go in Stage 2, while Blaney led the race, Chase Elliott and Brad Keselowski made a charge to pass the No. 12, ultimately tangling and crashing. Finally, with two laps to go in the race, Kurt Busch lost his car just in front of Blaney, taking a total of 12 cars with him.

WATCH: Race Rewind for Daytona 500

While Blaney managed to salvage a seventh-place finish after the final crash, thumbs down for being in the wrong place at the wrong time — three times over.

Thumbs Up: Underdogs

Restrictor-plate racing is fun because anything can happen. The draft pack makes most cars virtually equal, plus there’s an element of luck (maybe that’s why race winner Austin Dillon carried a lucky penny in his car).

Unpredictability means strong finishes for teams that don’t typically run up front.

Chris Buescher finished fifth, his first top five since Bristol in 2016.

Michael McDowell finished ninth in his debut with Front Row Motorsports — and ninth-place finishes for underdogs once again support a trend we’ve observed.

Justin Marks finished an unlikely 12th driving Rick Ware’s No. 51.

David Gilliland, in his grand return, finished 14th racing for Ricky Benton — in a backup car.

Thumbs up for the unlikely heroes of restrictor-plate racing.

Thumbs Down: An unfortunate end for Danica

Danica Patrick ran her final NASCAR race Sunday, driving the No. 7 for Premium Motorsports, reunited with longtime sponsor GoDaddy, but the first leg of the “Danica Double” ended abruptly when she found herself caught up in a crash triggered by contact at the front of the pack between Brad Keselowski and Chase Elliott.

The crash also ended her former teammate Kevin Harvick’s shot at a Daytona 500 win.

Thumbs down for the bad luck that ended Danica’s final NASCAR race prematurely — but a thumbs up for a forward-looking, positive attitude on her stock car career.

Biggest Thumbs Up of the Week: Legendary Car Numbers

Have you heard? Austin Dillon won the Daytona 500, in case you somehow missed the news. Oh, and Darrell Wallace Jr. finished second. Yep, the Nos. 3 and 43 atop the scoring pylon, just like in the good old days.

It’s been a little while since the Nos. 3 and 43 cars finished 1-2 — over 30 years, in fact.

Interestingly, with Denny Hamlin’s third-place finish, the three winningest numbers in NASCAR — No. 11, No. 43, and No. 3 — all finished in the top three.

Thumbs up for reliving the old days a bit, from the RCR No. 3 in Victory Lane at Daytona, to Richard Petty’s famous No. 43 right there, too.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Daytona 500 results | Dillon wins Daytona 500

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — If Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Richard Childress Racing team decided to steal a page from the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates, it would be entirely appropriate.

The theme song of the world champion Pirates was “We Are Family,” a contemporaneous hit by Sister Sledge. In 1979, the close-knit underdog Pittsburgh team upset the Baltimore Orioles to win the World Series.

Coincidentally, 1979 also marked the first appearance of a rookie named Dale Earnhardt in the Daytona 500. The seven-time champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer would spend 19 years — with team owners Rod Osterlund, Bud Moore and Richard Childress — trying in vain to win the Great American Race.

Earnhardt’s breakthrough victory finally came in 1998, and when he celebrated in Victory Lane after the emotional win, Childress and his two grandsons, Austin and Ty Dillon, were there with him. Austin was seven years old at the time. Ty was five.

Twenty years and three days after Earnhardt triumphed at the 2.5-mile superspeedway, Austin Dillon returned to Victory Lane as the winner of a rough-and-tumble Daytona 500.

Dillon started from the rear of the field in a backup car and drove a patient race — until he tagged then-leader Aric Almirola on the final lap — sacrificing points for a chance to win the most important and prestigious prize, the Harley J. Earl trophy.

Childress and Earnhardt were best friends, but Dillon is flesh and blood, the son of Mike Dillon and Childress’ daughter Tina.

For Childress, comparing the two victories was difficult.

“They’re both so different,” Childress told the NASCAR Wire Service at the Daytona 500 Champion’s Breakfast at the speedway on Monday morning. “I knew how important ’98 was for Dale to win the Daytona 500. We had been so close so many times, and it wouldn’t have been right if he didn’t have it on his resume.

“That was one of the most special wins I’ve ever been involved with. And then last night, to see my grandson come across there 20 years later and win the Daytona 500, it’s hard to beat blood. …”

With a catch in his voice, Childress let the words hang and put his arm around Dillon’s shoulders.

RELATED: Childress: ‘It’s a storybook tale’

But this Daytona 500 was not simply about immediate family. Dillon is the first champion in recent memory to sit in the winner’s chair in the Bill France Room at the speedway and single out each of his team members by name and recite their specific racing histories. And make no mistake, they are all racers.

Rear tire changer Jake Lind, for example, is the son of Will Lind, the rear tire changer for the “Flying Aces” crew that dominated the sport with Earnhardt in the 1980s and 1990s.

As racers are wont to do, Dillon’s crew celebrated the Daytona 500 victory into the wee hours at Tijuana Flats, an establishment owned by one of Dillon’s friends. The large “extended family” of Dillon’s cohorts is called the “Wolfpack,” and after the party died down at Tijuana Flats, the entourage paid a visit to Daytona Hardcore Tattoo to get inked with the image of a wolf howling at the moon.

RELATED: Dillon, No. 3 team get tattoos

Dillon got a different tattoo.

“I got a tattoo last night,” Dillon acknowledged. “It says ‘Daytona 500 Champ’ on it—it’s pretty cool, and you’ll never be able to see it either. …

“It hurt. It feels OK this morning, but one of the boys smacked me on the butt when I came over here, and I said, ‘Easy, guys.’ ”

Crew chief Justin Alexander opted out of a tattoo but made a promise.

“If we win a championship, I’ll get one on my face, if you want,” Alexander told Dillon.

Given the momentum Dillon and his team carry out of Daytona, and given the cohesiveness of this tight-knit racing “family,” don’t be surprised if you see a crew chief on pit road with a “3” on his cheek when next year’s Daytona 500 rolls around.

Posted on by Pat DeCola

MORE: Strong Daytona showing for Blaney amid bad luck | Blaney wins Stage 2

Ryan Blaney is quickly establishing himself a favorite to win on the track — and a fan favorite off it.

The newest member of Team Penske was captured in a truly memorable photo on Sunday at Daytona International Speedway before he led a race-high 118 laps and finished seventh in the Daytona 500.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen the 24-year-old going above and beyond for fans this year, either.

Last month during a test at Texas Motor Speedway, Blaney made good on a promise to fans attending the event that he’d hang out with them during a pizza party thrown by track president Eddie Gossage.

MORE: Blaney makes good on ‘pizza’ word, hangs out with fans

Earlier during Speedweeks, he met up with a young fan at Hollywood Studios during an off-day who tweeted at him in a throwback shirt from his Wood Brothers Racing days.

https://twitter.com/mbell391/status/963451836035411970

https://twitter.com/mbell391/status/963468473656598528

The future of NASCAR is in great hands with drivers like Blaney.