Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Race results | Series standings | Detailed breakdown 

DOVER, Delaware – Veteran Johnny Sauter proved once again that the combination of guile and clean air trumped youthful enthusiasm and superior tires.

Despite racing on tires that were 54 laps older than those of his closest pursuer, 18-year-old GMS Racing teammate Kaz Grala, Sauter got 82 laps out of his last tank of fuel at Dover International Speedway and held on to win Friday’s Bar Harbor 200 presented by Sea Watch International.

The defending NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion and current series leader finished .270 seconds ahead of Grala, a Georgia Tech-bound engineering student who had received his high school diploma before the race.

For practical purposes, the outcome turned on crew chief Joe Shear Jr.’s decision to bring the 39-year-old Sauter to the pits under caution on Lap 118 of 200, after NASCAR Next member Todd Gilliland ended an impressive series debut performance with a brush with the outside wall to bring out the yellow.

“Joe Shear – what a call that was to try to make it on fuel!” Sauter said afterward. “We knew that we’d have to make a strategy play, because you just can’t pass. It wasn’t our best-handling truck, but we were able to get a win with it.”

After a restart on Lap 122, Sauter moved to the front of the group of trucks that had made pits stops on Lap 118. As green-flag pit stops cycled through late in the race. Sauter moved to the lead, and he maintained the top spot after caution flew for the eighth and final caution when the left-front tire on pole-sitter Chase Briscoe’s Ford rolled free after the jack dropped prematurely during a green-flag stop.

From that point on, Sauter hugged the bottom and kept Grala in dirty air. The victory, which followed three straight second-place finishes, was Sauter’s first of the season, his first at the Monster Mile and the 14th of his career.

“Johnny Sauter is a veteran and a champion for a reason,” said Grala, who took plenty of solace from his runner-up finish.

The winner of the season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway, Grala already had punched his ticket to the Truck Series playoffs.

RELATED: See every 2017 winner

“This was a big day for me, not only for my school life but for my racing life,” Grala said.

Christopher Bell fell out early after cutting a left-rear tire and trying to nurse it to the end of the first 45-lap stage, which Ryan Truex won, leading every lap from the second starting position. Bell hit the wall, finished 25th and dropped 52 points behind Sauter in the series standings.

Grant Enfinger ran third, followed by Ben Rhodes, who led a race-high 71 laps but had to pit for fuel under green on Lap 165 and ran out of time trying to work his way back to the front.

Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Austin Cindric finished fifth, a career-best result in the Truck Series. Brandon Jones, Regan Smith, Justin Haley, Noah Gragson and Truex completed the top 10. Two-time series champion Matt Crafton came home 11th and picked up his first playoff point of the season by winning the second stage.

 

Posted on by Pat DeCola

DOVER, Del. — Kyle Busch has shifted his focus to the Monster Mile, but he’s still facing questions about his emotional post-race press conference after last Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver won the Coors Light Pole for Sunday’s AAA 400 Drive for Autism (1 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Dover International Speedway on Friday. As is customary for the pole winner, Busch sat in the media center for a post-qualifying media session — his first official presser since answering one question, then dropping his microphone onto the table in front of him in Charlotte.

After putting down a blazing-fast lap of 158.954 mph to narrowly edge Martin Truex Jr.’s 158.877 mph, the first question asked of Busch was about being so emotional at Charlotte.

RELATED: Kyle Busch’s TV interview after Charlotte

“I sat in my car for a few seconds and kind of dwelled on the loss a little bit extra before the TV interview, then got to the media center and that time kind of grew and realized what we missed out on, and that was the opportunity of being able to win a Coke 600,” Busch said. “Driving as hard as you do for 600 miles and passing the 78 car (of Truex), I thought that was for the win. Watching the 48 car (of Jimmie Johnson) run out of fuel and then hearing that the 3 (of eventual race-winner Austin Dillon) was in front of us, you were hoping that he would run out for your own sake, but they didn’t and there’s nothing to take away from his win.

“That’s a marquee event and a big one to win. I’ve won two of them (Brickyard 400 and Southern 500). That would’ve been the third and (would have) only left me with the Daytona 500. The other thing was we won the All-Star Race and we were going for the sweep of Charlotte, so there was a lot of things kind of riding on the line that meant a lot to me, that would’ve been special to me, but I guess I should care less about those sorts of things and not show that sort of emotion.”

Earlier in the week, Busch met with a small group of media at an organizational test at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, noting similarities between himself and New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and their tendency to draw criticism for how they show emotion – or lack thereof, in Belichick’s case — after a tough loss.

MORE: Busch draws comparison to Bill Belichick

“Certainly, different people show their emotions in different ways,” he reiterated Friday. “Unfortunately for me, mine has never been very gracious and I don’t know that it ever will be. I’m kind of learning that as the days go on. When my son (Brexton) is 2 years old, I see where it came from. It’s genetic. I’m sorry, that’s just who I am. That’s what I was given. If there’s anyone to blame, it’s probably the guy upstairs.

“There’s haters in every form. Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. has haters, I do, Austin Dillon did,” added Busch, who is fifth in points but has yet to win a points-paying race this season.

Haters or not, don’t expect Busch to change any time soon.

“Those people that are close to me understand me and know me and know who I am outside the race track as a person and a friend, and that’s why I’m able to continue to have the relationships and the sponsorships that I do,” he said.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Buy tickets for Dover | Qualifying results | See every car in the field

DOVER, Delaware – If Joe Gibbs Racing isn’t back, it’s hard to say what “back” is.

 

Kyle Busch put his No. 18 JGR Toyota on the pole for Sunday’s AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover International Speedway (1 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), edging favorite son Martin Truex Jr. for the top starting spot by .011 seconds.

 

With JGR teammates Daniel Suarez (158.346 mph) earning a career-best third starting spot and Matt Kenseth (158.211 mph) qualifying fourth, the Gibbs cars appear ready to build on the momentum they gathered during Speedweeks at Charlotte, where Busch won the Monster Energy All-Star Race and finished second in last Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600.

 

“To sit on the pole here means a little bit for us – it gives us a really good pit selection for Sunday and, more importantly, just gives us the track position right off the bat,” said Busch, who won his first Coors Light Pole Award of the season, his first at Dover and the 20th of his career with a lap at 158.954 mph (22.648 seconds).

 

“We know the 78 car (Truex said) is going to be fast – they always are – and one of the guys we’re going to have to race against. There’s going to be many others that are starting farther back that we’ll be racing against, too, before the end of the day, but we’ll work on our Dogs Rule Pedigree Camry tomorrow in practice and make sure we get a good race setup underneath us, so we can hopefully stay up front.”

 

Truex (158.877 mph), the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series leader, qualified second by a razor-thin margin, even though he had an extra half-lap on his tires, having aborted his opening run in the first round of knockout qualifying after his car twitched off the corner.

 

“Yeah, I screwed up a little bit that first round and got loose going into (Turn 2) and aborted, and then we had to make a re-run,” Truex said. “Maybe cost us half a tenth eventually on our tires, but I don’t think it really did anything. So all in all it was good. Just trying to get it all out the last round.

 

“You’ve got be aggressive. You’ve got to charge and I just overcharged the entry to (Turn) 3 just a hair and lost a little time there, but all in all it was a good day for the Furniture Row Toyota.”

 

Kyle Larson was fifth fastest with the top Chevrolet in the final round, and Kurt Busch in sixth had the quickest Ford in the session. Austin Dillon, last week’s Coca-Cola 600 winner, qualified ninth, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. nailed down the 11th starting spot to lead the Hendrick Motorsports contingent.

 

Looking for his 11th victory at the Monster Mile, Jimmie Johnson will start 14th after failing to reach the final round.

 

“Today was pretty challenging in the practice session trying to find the right balance,” Johnson said. “Just got off a little there. We got it closer for qualifying here, but just not enough speed to transfer.

 

“We’re trying. Qualifying is very important to us. We’re very aware of that. It is just not suiting us this year. This is my favorite track, and I know come race time we will be just fine.”

 

 

Posted on by Pat DeCola

RELATED: See the races at Dover | XFINITY practice 1 results

DOVER, Del. — XFINITY Series drivers Joey Gase and Spencer Gallagher had a pair of run-ins during practice Friday morning at Dover International Speedway — one on the track, one off.

With a little more than 20 minutes remaining in opening practice for Saturday’s OneMain Financial 200 (1 p.m. ET, FS1), Gase’s No. 52 Chevrolet and Gallagher’s No. 23 Chevy made heavy contact in Turn 3, pinning significant damage on both rides.

Gase approached Gallagher in the “Monster Mile” garage area to hash it out, but the latter wasn’t interested in any sort of discussion.

“All he said was, ‘Get the hell away from me,’ ” Gase told the FOX Sports broadcast.

“He just flat-out spun me going into (Turn) 3 for some reason. We were struggling really bad and I gave him plenty of room and he just drove right into me. I think it just shows how bad of a driver he is. … I think that’s basically all I have to say. … He didn’t give me a reason or anything. … I just really hate it for my guys; we work the hardest in the garage out of anyone.”

Replays of the incident made it difficult to determine whose “fault” it was, but, of course, the onus was clear in each driver’s mind.

“What is he thinking?” Gallagher radioed his GMS Racing crew. “Unbelievable; I’m sorry guys.”

Both drivers are expected to compete in backup cars Saturday.

Posted on by Pat DeCola

RELATED: See the races at Dover

DOVER, Delaware — Jeffrey Earnhardt had his own Steve Urkel, “Did I do that?” moment in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Part of Earnhardt’s No. 33 Chevrolet broke on Lap 19, dropping fluid and debris on the track. The mess resulted in Chase Elliott and Brad Keselowski smacking each other, ending their respective days in a fiery heap.

MORE: Watch the incident

The malfunction wasn’t Earnhardt’s fault, but the 27-year-old — still looking to make a name in this sport, despite having the name — took it upon himself to reach out to both parties and apologize.

“Yeah, I mean, it sucks when you ruin someone’s day that early. Trust me, it sucked for us,” Earnhardt said Friday at Dover International Speedway, site of Sunday’s AAA 400 Drive for Autism (1 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). “I hated our day got shortened, but to take out some front-running guys like that is never something that you want to do. Accidents happen; it’s racing. They are going to happen at some point or another it’s just part of the sport and it sucks. I just felt like I at least owed them the apology.”

Elliott, Keselowski and Earnhardt finished 38th, 39th and 40th, respectively, the worst result of the season for each driver.

On his post-race Periscope, Jeffrey’s slightly-more-recognizable uncle and Elliott’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Dale Earnhardt Jr., mentioned that Jeffrey had reached out looking for contact info for Elliott and Keselowski. He didn’t know either of them well enough to have their cell phone numbers.

“I texted him and Brad both and just said I was sorry for shortening their day, but it’s not what we want to see as drivers,” Jeffrey Earnhardt said. “… We are not out here trying to take each other out and ruin each other’s day. When we do, the least you can do is give them the courtesy of a text and apologize. I feel like it’s going to go a long way with those guys and maybe they will return the favor in the future if something was to ever happen where we were racing hard. They will respect you a little more.”

Elliott certainly appreciated the gesture, and it’s little things like that which often go a long way for other drivers in the garage.

“Jeffery sent me a text after the race and he just apologized. And I told him, ‘Man it’s not your fault,’ ” Elliott said Friday in his press conference, which immediately preceded Earnhardt’s time with the media. “It’s just one of those incidents where I was just in a bad spot, he had a parts failure that was not his doing and I get it. I understand that stuff like that happens.

“I appreciate him reaching out and taking the time and effort to do that. It meant a lot to me just because I thought it showed a lot about his character and the kind of person he is. I don’t really know Jeffrey all that well, so it was kind of cool to see what kind of person he is and cares if nothing else. I appreciated it.”

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Full practice results

Propelling his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet at 159.915 mph, Kyle Larson topped the leaderboard in Friday’s opening Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Dover International Speedway.

A pair of Joe Gibbs Racing teammates — Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch — were next on the leaderboard; Kenseth was second-fastest with a top speed of 159.603 mph in his No. 20 Toyota, while Busch’s 159.398 mph lap in his No. 18 Toyota was third-best in the field. Kenseth is the reigning race winner at Dover, having won the spring race at the Monster Mile in 2016.

A late run moved Dover’s most recent winner Martin Truex Jr. into the fourth spot on the leaderboard, his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota clocking a 159.208-mph lap.

Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kurt Busch wheeled his No. 41 Ford at 159.039 mph around the short track to round out the top five.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was seventh-fastest in his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (158.688 mph).

Ten-time Dover winner Jimmie Johnson ranked 12th on the speed charts in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Johnson last won at the Monster Mile in May 2015.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is back on track at Dover for Coors Light Pole Qualifying at 3:50 p.m. ET (FS1).

Posted on by Pat DeCola

RELATED: See the races at Dover

DOVER, Delaware — Sometimes it just ain’t your day. For Chase Elliott, it just ain’t been his month.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver rolled into his sophomore Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series campaign picking up right where he left off, notching an elite average finish of 7.88 through the season’s first eight races.

In the four races since? A dismal 30.25, with zero laps led and a single finish on the lead lap.

“Yeah, it was a rough whole month of May really for us,” Elliott said Friday at Dover International Speedway, site of Sunday’s AAA 400 Drive for Autism (1 p.m. ET, FS1). “We are happy to see June here and just kind of a shot to try to improve and get some good solid finishes if nothing else or really just finish would be good.

“That is our goal this weekend; to try not to have anything stupid happen, finish and hopefully just try to move on down the road and try to get some just solid days, just good experience, execution and just exercise all the parts of the race that you have to do to run well and compete to win.”

Elliott’s Coca-Cola 600 run ended before even five percent of the 400 laps had been run, when a Jeffery Earnhardt malfunction on Lap 19 resulted in Brad Keselowski’s No. 2 Team Penske rear-ending his No. 24 Chevrolet, thus ending the day for both drivers.

MORE: Elliott, Keselowski wreck ends Coca-Cola 600 early for both

It’d be easy to chalk that up to a touch of “if it weren’t for bad luck …” and adopt a woe-is-me attitude, but the wise-beyond-his-years Elliott isn’t about to seek pity.

“You can’t really change it and what’s done is done and a lot of it has just been … I don’t like using the term bad luck, because I think a lot of your luck starts when you leave the race shop, but I guess just misfortune and kind of being at a bad spot at the wrong time,” said Elliott, who has seen his points standing sink from second to seventh over this stretch. “So, I don’t like using the term bad luck, but I guess some of it has been so to speak.

“I’m not real sure what you call it, but the big thing for us is you got to keep trying to stay high on what you have going on, try to run well. If you put yourself in good position long enough I think eventually good things will happen to you. I’m a pretty strong believer in what goes around comes around and I think everything in racing, that is one thing I have learned over my career I think everything in racing comes full circle at some point.”

No sympathy-seeking there from the 21-year-old.

Still, it can’t be easy to swallow the fact that in the midst of this month-long slump, the sport has anointed two more first-time winners while Elliott — who many pinned to be the first rising star to break through for a W in 2017 — has endured arguably the most challenging stretch of his Monster Energy Series career.

It would be easy, however, to exhibit jealousy. But guess who isn’t showing it?

“You always want to win and you always want to beat the next guy, but at the same time Ricky (Stenhouse, Jr.) did a great job at Talladega, had a strong car, did a great job missing all the wrecks and putting himself in good position. He has put in due time. He is a champion in NASCAR. He has had success here, he deserves to be here and why shouldn’t he deserve to win? Happy for him.

“Happy for Austin (Dillon), also another champion that has put in his time and had an opportunity to win and did a great job, executed a great race. I hope that people don’t say, ‘Ah it was a fuel mileage race, his first win.’ I just hate hearing that because the guy has been around he has run well at times, he has had other opportunities to win, so I’m happy for him, too. I hope we can do it at some point. That would be nice, but sure, I want to beat them, but I respect it and I’m happy for them and we will have our opportunity as well.”

Stenhouse was crowned XFINITY Series champion in 2011 and ’12, followed by Dillon in 2013.

The next season? Elliott.

That trend — though bucked by 2015 champ Chris Buescher winning at Pocono last year — suggests his first appearance in Victory Lane is coming soon, possibly even beginning this weekend at the “Monster Mile.” In a pair of Dover starts last year, Elliott raced to a pair of third-place finishes.

Hoping to see if his tide was indeed turning once the calendar showed June, Elliott spent part of Thursday with Denny Hamlin at the Dover Downs casino located at the DIS premises. It, uh, did not go well.

“Yeah, struggled,” said Elliott. “I was hoping May was over and June was going to turn a new page and if the blackjack table has any frame on June, it’s not good.”

Thankfully for him, he doesn’t put too much stock in luck.

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For his final full-time season as a driver, NASCAR.com will offer an analytical preview on Dale Earnhardt Jr. ahead of every remaining Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race.

Race: AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover International Speedway

Date: June 4, 1 p.m. ET (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Previous five results at Dover: 32nd, 3rd, 14th, 17th, 9th

Notable: Dale Earnhardt Jr. has seven top-five finishes at Dover. Up until last fall’s Citizen Soldier 400, Earnhardt had raced in every Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at the Monster Mile since joining the series full time in 2000. However, that came to an end last year when Earnhardt missed the second half of the season — including the Dover race — due to a concussion. Junior has an average finish of 16.2 at Dover, but perhaps he can bring back the magic from 2001 to the concrete track this weekend.

Memorable moment: Junior has one victory at Dover International Speedway, but it was a meaningful victory for the sport. On Sept. 23, 2001, he took the checkered flag at the MBNA Cal Ripken, Jr. 400, the first NASCAR event following the tragic Sept. 11 attacks. With American pride at a peak in the grandstands, Junior led nearly half the race — 193 of the 400 laps run to win and later circled the track in celebratory fashion in his then No. 8 stock car, hoisting the American flag.

Quotable: “This sport cycles around and I never lose faith that Hendrick Motorsports will find the speed we need,” Earnhardt said in a team release. “I’m ready for Dover.”

Posted on by Zack Albert

RELATED: Full Dover schedule | Series standings

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season hasn’t quite reached the quarter mark, but just five races in, there’s already a “can you top this?” vibe from the series’ two best drivers to date — Johnny Sauter and Christopher Bell.

Bell, a 22-year-old protégé at Kyle Busch Motorsports, has dazzled in the early stages of his second full truck season. The Oklahoma native, who prevailed earlier this season at Atlanta Motor Speedway, has led multiple laps in all five races this year and has three Keystone Light Pole Awards to date.

Yet Bell is still staring at a 15-point deficit in the standings to Sauter, a 39-year-old Wisconsinite who won his first series championship last year and holds a three-race streak of runner-up finishes this season.

“I feel like my team’s been executing every race, and my results I feel like have been pretty great throughout the year, and then all of a sudden this 21 truck (of Sauter) is still ahead of us in points,” Bell said after finishing third — again, one spot behind Sauter — in the series’ most recent race on May 19 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “As great as my year’s been, his year’s been even better.

“Happy with our team and we’ve been able to execute. They’ve just been executing a little bit better all season long.”

The two drivers will reprise their contest atop the points in Friday’s Bar Harbor 200 (5:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) at Dover International Speedway. The 200-mile event is another chance for Sauter and Bell to further separate themselves from the pack; Matt Crafton, their third-place competition, sits 51 points off Sauter’s advantage at the top.

The two have been in close quarters before. Both Bell and Sauter joined Crafton and Timothy Peters in the championship-eligible quartet in last year’s finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Though there’s plenty of racing left before this season’s playoff field is decided in September, Sauter surmised in Charlotte that the two could be booking a return engagement in the final four.

“Obviously, I knew coming into the season that Christopher was going to be one of the guys you’re going to be racing for the championship, there’s no doubt about it,” said Sauter, in his second year with the GMS Racing team. “He’s a very talented young driver and obviously with a great organization. I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see us racing each other down to the wire.”

The two have enjoyed success at Dover, though Sauter’s sample size is much greater. Bell finished third as a rookie last year in his only Monster Mile start. The veteran Sauter has four consecutive top-10 results at the concrete track in Delaware.

Bell is still learning, but at an advanced clip. In the midst of his second full-time season, Bell is returning to several tracks where he was a first-timer last year. And as his crew chief, Ryan “Rudy” Fugle, points out, he’s still finding a rhythm on asphalt to complement his extensive dirt-track background.

“It was one of his bright spots early, and I think it’s definitely an all-out kind of race track,” Fugle said of his driver’s return to Dover. “You’ve just got to survive and be there. Then we’ll go for it, and I think we’ll be good.”

Posted on by Track Release

WASHINGTON, DC and DAYTONA BEACH, FLA., – Today, the Professional Fighters League, together with Daytona International Speedway and NBC Sports Group, announced that Professional Fighters League: Daytona will take place on Friday, June 30, as part of the Coke Zero 400 Weekend Powered By Coca-Cola at the “World Center of Racing.” The event, which will be held in the UNOH Fanzone following the completion of the Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 NASCAR XFINITY Series race, will bring elite MMA talent and the excitement of televised fights to Daytona International Speedway, and will set the stage for the Professional Fighters League’s January 2018 debut in a showcase of what’s to come.

“In this first-of-its-kind partnership, the Professional Fighters League inaugural event at Daytona will bring fans of MMA
and stock car racing together – both of whom thrive on intensity and high-stakes competition,” said Carlos Silva, President, Event Production and Business Operations, Professional Fighters League. “This is the first in a series of innovative and groundbreaking league initiatives from the Professional Fighters League, and we’re proud to kick it all off at one of racing’s most iconic venues.”

NBCSN will televise the two-hour event live and admission for guests will be included in the Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 race ticket.

“Partnering with Professional Fighters League and NBC Sports brings added entertainment to the already busy Coke Zero 400 Weekend,” Daytona International Speedway President Chip Wile said. “Race fans have a contagious passion and dedication to the sport of NASCAR, and we are looking forward to bringing them the excitement, thrill, and talent of professional MMA at the renowned Daytona International Speedway.”

Professional Fighters League: Daytona will feature three three-round bouts and one five-round main event. Each
fight will factor into the league rankings when it officially begins in January 2018, and the winner of the main event will
be awarded the #1 seed for his weight class. The eight fighters competing at Daytona will be among the first fighters signed to compete in the inaugural 2018 Professional Fighters League season. The first Professional Fighters League championships will be awarded in December 2018 to the fighters who emerge victorious after the post-season tournament. The final champions of the World Series of Fighting will be honored at an event this fall.

Professional Fighters League: Daytona will feature the following match-ups:

  • JON FITCH (29-7-1) vs. BRIAN FOSTER (27-9) – 170 lb Welterweight Main Event (For the 2018 #1 seed)
  • SMEALINHO RAMA (10-2) vs. RONNY MARKES (16-5) – 205 lb Light Heavyweight Bout
  • JOAO ZEFERINO (21-8) vs. HERMAN TERRADO (14-3-1) – 170 lb Welterweight Bout
  • JASON HIGH (19-5) vs. CAROS FODOR (11-5) – 155 lb Lightweight Bout

“The road to the first Professional Fighters League playoffs and post-season $1 million purse begins this January, but the winners in Daytona could have a little smoother start,” said Ray Sefo, President, Fighting Operations, Professional Fighters League. “Recruitment for 2018 continues at a strong pace and we’re looking forward to welcoming more athletes into the Professional Fighters League in the coming weeks and months.”

There will be three additional Professional Fighters League events in 2017 leading up to the start of the regular season in January. Remaining 2017 events will be on Saturday, July 29 in Everett, Washington; Saturday, October 14 in Las Vegas, Nevada; and Thursday, November 4 in Washington, D.C.

Tickets for the June 29 – July 1 Coke Zero 400 Weekend Powered By Coca-Cola can be purchased online at www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com or by calling 1-800-PITSHOP. Fans can stay connected with Daytona International Speedway on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube and Snapchat, and by downloading Daytona International Speedway’s mobile app, for the latest Speedway news throughout the season.