Posted on by Staff Report



Matt Tifft underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor on Friday afternoon and the NASCAR XFINITY Series and Camping World Truck Series driver came out of surgery Friday night and is recovering, according to his personal Twitter account.

Tifft was supposed to drive the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota at Daytona International Speedway in Friday night’s Subway Firecracker 250 Powered by Coca-Cola but JGR announced early in the week that Tifft would not make the start as the 20-year-old will undergo surgery for removal of a low-grade glioma in the brain. David Ragan drove the No. 18 to the pole and the team kept Tifft’s name above the door.

Per JGR’s announcement on Tuesday, the slow-growing tumor was found during treatment and evaluation for a recent disc condition in his back. Tifft is expected to undergo surgery and rehabilitation soon and once cleared by physicians is expected to return to racing. The release noted the JGR rookie is anxious to return to the race track as soon as possible.

In six series starts this season, the driver has two top-10 finishes and earned the 21 Means 21 Pole Award at Talladega.


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RELATED: Live weather updates from Daytona

Inclement weather rolled into Daytona International Speedway on Friday, interrupting NASCAR XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying midway through the first of two scheduled rounds. Twenty-two cars attempted laps before NASCAR halted the session for lightning with David Ragan atop the leaderboard. Qualifying did resume shortly after 3:30 p.m. ET


NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying got underway at 4:50 p.m. ET (NBCSN, Live Extra).

Weather washed out most of Thursday’s on-track activity, as only one NASCAR XFINITY Series practice was completed. Two Sprint Cup practices and XFINITY final practice were canceled on Thursday.

The Sprint Cup cars were on the track Friday morning for a rescheduled practice, the only practice before Saturday’s Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola (7:45 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Brian Scottt led that practice, a 45-minute session during which Kyle Busch wrecked hard into the outside wall. Busch was evaluated and released from the infield care center, but he will have to go to a backup car.

The XFINITY Series’ Subway Firecracker 250 Powered by Coca-Cola is scheduled for Friday night at 7:30 p.m. ET (NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).


Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Full practice results

 

Brian Scott topped the charts with a speed of 199.349 mph in his No. 44 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford in Friday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, which also saw speeds for two cars in the top 10 disallowed.

The session at Daytona International Speedway was rescheduled for Friday after rain washed out most of Thursday’s action, and it represented the only Sprint Cup practice before Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola (7:45 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

David Gilliland initially finished fifth in the session, and Josh Wise initially finished ninth. Both cars were too heavy in the rear on the post-practice scales, so their times were disallowed. Wise was scored 40th in the session, Gilliland 41st.

During the 45-minute practice Kyle Busch cut a tire in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and made hard contact with the wall. Busch was released from the infield care center and will go to a backup car.

Right behind Scott was Austin Dillon in the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet at 199.344 mph.

Rounding out the top five were Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney and David Gilliland.

Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying is scheduled for 4:10 p.m. ET on Friday (NBCSN, Live Extra).

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Car No. Car Driver Team
1 35 * David Gilliland Shaw’s Southern Belle Frozen Food Ford
2 30 * Josh Wise Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet
3 32 Bobby Labonte Ford
4 83 Matt DiBenedetto Dustless Blasting Toyota
5 1 Jamie McMurray Credit One Chevrolet
6 42 Kyle Larson Target Chevrolet
7 47 AJ Allmendinger Kroger/Drumstick/Outshine Chevrolet
8 13 Casey Mears GEICO Military Chevrolet
9 7 Regan Smith Golden Corral Chevrolet
10 31 Ryan Newman Florida Lottery Chevrolet
11 4 Kevin Harvick Busch Beer Chevrolet
12 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Nationwide Chevrolet
13 78 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Toyota
14 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Toyota
15 19 Carl Edwards Subway Toyota
16 18 Kyle Busch Interstate Batteries Toyota
17 38 Landon Cassill Taco Bell Ford
18 20 Matt Kenseth DeWalt Toyota
19 24 Chase Elliott # SunEnergy1 Chevrolet
20 27 Paul Menard Duracell/Menards Chevrolet
21 46 Michael Annett Pilot Flying J Chevrolet
22 14 Tony Stewart Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet
23 5 Kasey Kahne Great Clips Chevrolet
24 41 Kurt Busch Monster Energy/Haas Automation Chevrolet
25 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s Patriotic Chevrolet
26 95 Michael McDowell KLOVE Radio Chevrolet
27 55 * Reed Sorenson RoyalTeakCollection.com Toyota
28 6 Trevor Bayne AdvoCare Ford
29 16 Greg Biffle Ford EcoBoost Ford
30 23 David Ragan Shriners Hospital Toyota
31 98 * Cole Whitt RTIC Coolers Toyota
32 15 Clint Bowyer AccuDoc Solutions Chevrolet
33 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Fifth Third Bank Ford
34 10 Danica Patrick Nature’s Bakery Chevrolet
35 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford
36 34 Chris Buescher # Love’s Travel Stops Ford
37 43 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford
38 21 * Ryan Blaney # Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford
39 2 Brad Keselowski Detroit Genuine Parts Ford
40 3 Austin Dillon Bass Pro Shops/NRA Museum Chevrolet
41 44 Brian Scott # Albertsons Co./Shore Lodge Ford

*Required to qualify on time


Posted on by Reid Spencer



RELATED: Results | Standings | Updated Chase Grid

SHOP: Almirola gear


DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Aric Almirola won his second NASCAR XFINITY Series race by much less than a nose.

 

But to the driver of the No. 98 Fred Biagi-owned Ford, that was a vast improvement over his first victory in the series — when he wasn’t even in the car when the race ended.

 

In Friday night’s Subway Firecracker 400 at Daytona International Speedway, Almirola was inches ahead of Justin Allgaier off the final corner in overtime when NASCAR called the eighth caution of the race and froze the field because of a wild wreck on the backstretch involving polesitter David Ragan.

 

Though Almirola was credited with a 2007 win at the Milwaukee Mile, where he started the race in place of Denny Hamlin, who was commuting from the Sprint Cup Series venue at Sonoma. But Hamlin took the checkered flag after taking over the car, and Almirola has never felt the win was rightfully his.

 

“I’m so glad to be back in Victory Lane here at Daytona,” Almirola said. “This is such a special place for me. I won my first Cup race here two years ago, and for me, this is my first XFINITY win. I know I have a win, but there’s always been an asterisk next to it…

 

“I hated the fact that I got credit for that. When they called me the winner, I didn’t want any of the credit. (Crew chief) Dave Rogers actually got the trophy. They tried to give me the trophy, but I didn’t want it. I didn’t think I deserved to win the race, because I wasn’t in the car when the race was over.

 

“But tonight I was. Tonight we went to Victory Lane, and I’m here, and I was in the car — so this is my first XFINITY win.”


RELATED: See all the 2016 winners


Almirola already was one of 26 drivers who have won at least one race in each of NASCAR’s top three series. Now he can feel good about it.

 

Allgaier, on the other hand was on the short end of the video that showed Almirola in the lead when the caution was called.

 

“When you lose ’em by that little bit, it’s frustrating,” said Allgaier, who estimated he lost the event by “a sixteenth of a foot.

 

“But when you’re disappointed with second, it’s still a good day… Man, when you’re that close, it’s really, really tough. We’ll keeping digging. At some point we’ve got to maybe pull one of these off.”

 

Ryan Sieg finished third, matching the career-best result he achieved in this race two years ago. Joey Logano led a race-high 46 of 103 laps but was shuffled back with fewer than 20 laps left and recovered to run fourth. Brendan Gaughan came home fifth.

 

Ragan led the field to green to start the overtime but quickly lost his drafting partner and surrendered the top spot. Subbing for Matt Tifft, who had come out of brain surgery for a tumor just before the race began, Ragan tried to block the outside lane on the final lap and finished 21st in a demolished Toyota.

 

“I was kind of a sitting duck,” Ragan said. “My teammate, Erik Jones, did a great job on that white-flag lap, but we just got separated. And I didn’t really know that third lane was coming as fast as they were, and I saw that the 98 (Almirola) and the 7 (Allgaier) had a decent run, but I thought I could block the very top, and you only have so much room.

 

“That was just a product of speedway racing.”

 

Points leader Daniel Suarez was the victim of a hard crash into the inside SAFER barrier on the backstretch on Lap 49 and finished 32nd but maintained a six-point lead in the standings over Elliott Sadler, who had to pit for fuel before the overtime and came home 18th.


Posted on by Reid Spencer



RELATED: Starting lineup | See all 40 cars


DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Greg Biffle came out of nowhere.

Winless since 2013 and without a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole since the fall Charlotte race in 2012, the driver of the No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford scorched Daytona International Speedway on Friday to claim the top starting spot for Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 (at 7:45 p.m. ET on NBC).

In the second and final round of knockout qualifying, Biffle toured the 2.5-mile restrictor-plate track in 46.643 seconds (192.955 mph) to wrestle the Coors Light Pole Award from former RFR teammate Carl Edwards (192.748 mph) by .050 seconds.

The pole was Biffle’s second at a plate track, the first coming when he led the field to green in the 2004 Daytona 500, not quite eight months after Biffle won the only plate race of his career — the 2003 Coke Zero 400. Both were career-firsts for the Biff.

All told, Biffle has won 13 poles in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, but Friday’s was particularly significant because of the boost it give his organization, which has been struggling for the past few years to find speed in the wake of the departure of veterans Matt Kenseth and Edwards to Joe Gibbs Racing.

“It is a huge confidence-builder, and coming out of here with a good finish, that’s a lot of momentum for the team,” Biffle said. “Qualifying on the pole, getting a good run and moving on to the next race — we need that.

“We need those good finishes and momentum and encouragement. Winning the pole is all smiles on those guys pushing the car up there and getting the pictures. They’re pumped right now. We’ll be ready to go tomorrow night.”

In a backup car with no practice laps because of a wreck in Saturday morning’s practice, Kyle Busch (192.336 mph) qualified third. Biffle’s teammate, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (192.320 mph), earned the fourth starting spot, followed by Brad Keselowski (192.254 mph) and Austin Dillon (192.254 mph), who lost the fifth spot to Keselowski on an owner points tiebreaker.

Defending race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. failed to make the top 12 and will start 16th. Jimmie Johnson (eighth) was the only Hendrick Motorsports driver to advance to the second round, just as Kurt Busch (10th) was the only Stewart-Haas Racing entry to do so.

Earnhardt, however, wasn’t particularly concerned about his starting position.

“I think we’ll be good,” he said. “We worked on our car to try and help it drive better. That might take some straight-line speed out of it, but it’s going to hopefully help us be able to make moves we need to make in the race. 

“It’s going to be slick in the race, and handling is going to be real important. I’m more concerned really with the car driving good. Might not be the fastest car out there, (but) that’s not the car that is going to win the race. I think (that’s going to be) the guy that’s got the best handling package. This place is going to be pretty slick.”

Biffle was fastest in both rounds of qualifying, pacing the first session at 192.629 mph.

“After that first session, I knew we had to be worried about (Greg),” Edwards said. “We ran a really good lap in the second session, but those guys were fast. They put the hard work in, they deserve it and I know how hard those guys work over there.

“And I guess in a way, it’s cool to see them have success. You hate to get beat by anyone, but knowing those guys and knowing how much they work, it’s good to see them have this day.”


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Tony Stewart is honoring one of Daytona Beach’s favorite sons this weekend — Dale Earnhardt.

 

“Smoke,” coming off his first win since 2013 last weekend at Sonoma Raceway, will sport a black helmet Saturday night for the Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola (7:45 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). A likeness of “The Intimidator” is on either side, with a quote on the back from Dale Earnhardt Jr.

 

No fire could burn his character. No stone could break it.

Earnhardt won three times at the 2.5-mile track during his career. Stewart has four Daytona wins, all in the summer.


Posted on by Nascar



DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The speed has been there. The results, in terms of wins, have not.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., considered perhaps the best restrictor-plate racer competing in NASCAR today, is 12th in points as drivers and teams arrived this week at Daytona International Speedway, site of Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola (7:45 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

His last victory came last November in Phoenix, 17 races ago. Not an extraordinarily long time, but notable just the same.

Notable, in part, because Saturday’s race kicks off a 10-race run leading up to this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Earnhardt Jr. plans on being one of the 16 drivers competing for the title.

“Obviously we need to get a win to put all that to bed but nothing is guaranteed,” Earnhardt said Thursday at DIS. “If we don’t get a win going into the Chase we’re going to have to do well in these next 10 races and just be real consistent.”

Consistency has been something of an issue for the No. 88 team, one of four fielded by Hendrick Motorsports, this season. And his involvement in on-track incidents has been more frequent.

Sixth in points after back-to-back runnerup up finishes earlier this year, Earnhardt has scored just one in the eight races that followed.

The month of May, he said, was both disappointing and frustrating.

“We’re a little frustrated with how we ran through the month of May,” Earnhardt said. “We’ve seen more speed out of our cars (but) had some bad finishes, wrecks … tore up a lot of cars this year, uncharacteristic, I think, for us to be in so many accidents.

“So where we are in points is very frustrating. It creates a lot of anxiety between me and Greg (Ives, crew chief). I think we are both not happy with where we are in the points.

“Wondering and worrying about trying to make the Chase shouldn’t be something that we’re concerned with. I think we’re way better than where we are. In the past several years, we’ve sat around the top five in points throughout the season. Things just came easier for us. They’re not coming so easy today and we’ve just got to keep working.”

Earnhardt has qualified for the Chase for five consecutive years and eight times since he made the move to Sprint Cup full-time in 2000. Recent efforts have been promising, in spite of the end result. He was 11th at Sonoma, “a place that I really don’t like to race and don’t really think I’m very good at,” he said.

He finished 39th a week earlier at Michigan, where he said the car was fast, but “we just didn’t get a chance to see it and get up there and see where we could go with it.

“So I’m not real worried about our speed because I feel like we’ve had good speed over the last couple of weeks; certainly in May we didn’t and that was hard to do and frustrating. Hopefully we just get to Richmond and we don’t have a lot of pressure about trying to make the Chase. We’ve just got to put a string of races together that will give us a cushion between us and the next guys fighting for those last few spots.”

That string could start this weekend. Ten of his 26 career victories in Sprint Cup have come in restrictor-plate races (four here at Daytona and six at Talladega Superspeedway), making him a favorite anytime the series visits the two mega-facilities. He’s the defending winner of this weekend’s race.

But this year it was rival Denny Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing) scoring the win in the season-opening Daytona 500 and some two months later Brad Keselowski (Team Penske) was celebrating in the Winner’s Circle at Talladega. Both races ended long after Earnhardt had exited the scene.

In order to contend for the win here, Earnhardt said, a driver needs a car that is nearly perfect in all aspects. With rain delaying the majority of Thursday’s practice sessions, just how good his No. 88 entry is this weekend remains an unknown.

“That really makes the driver’s job a lot easier when the car is a dominant car,” he said. “I’ve had plenty of dominant race cars down here. And when you’re out on the race track and you have such a good car, you gain more and more confidence as the weekend goes and your confidence really starts to create more opportunities.

“When you’re confident about your car, you’re trying more passes and trying to do more things. If you don’t feel confident in your car, you might second-guess a decision or not do something. Every little move you make out there sort of puts you in position to win.”


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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Joe Gibbs Racing officials have begun the process of replacing soon-to-be departed primary sponsor Dollar General, announcing an expanded program with DeWalt at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday for the organization’s No. 20 Toyota with driver Matt Kenseth.

The agreement, the length of which was described as “multiple years” by team owner Joe Gibbs, includes four of this season’s upcoming NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races — at Chicago, Dover, Kansas and Homestead. Those races were previously slated for Dollar General sponsorship.

Additionally, DeWalt will serve as the primary sponsor for the team in 15 Sprint Cup races next season.

Kenseth, 44, has 37 career Sprint Cup victories and won the Sprint Cup championship in 2003. The DeWalt announcement silences any talk of retirement shadowing the Cambridge, Wisconsin native.


RELATED: See all of Kenseth’s victories


“I made my first (Sprint) Cup start with DeWalt and I hope to make my last Cup start with DeWalt, not today of course but hopefully a few years down the road,” Kenseth said.

“We don’t talk (publicly) about our contracts and stuff with our drivers but I will say this, our plan is that Matt’s going to retire here (at JGR),” Gibbs said. “So that’s what we’d say.”

JGR fields four full-time Sprint Cup entries for Kenseth, Kyle Busch, the defending series champion, Denny Hamlin, winner of this year’s Daytona 500, and Carl Edwards, a winner of 27 races and two-time runner-up in the points battle. It’s NASCAR XFINITY Series program features three teams with drivers Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez and a third entry fielded for various JGR drivers.

The DeWalt agreement will include exposure on the XFINITY Series entries of Jones and Suarez for a combined six races as well.

Dollar General has been the primary sponsor for the No. 20 entry since 2013. Officials with the company announced earlier this season that it would not return for 2017.

DeWalt will use the opportunity to push its new FLEXVOLT branding of battery-operated tools and equipment.

“We feel good about where we are with that (No. 20) car for next year and this is a big step,” Gibbs said. “We feel confident that car will be fully funded for next year.”