Analysis: Milestone win the result of long journey for both Burton, Wood Brothers

Posted on August 25, 2024August 26, 2024 by Zach Sturniolo

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Long waits, low points and mighty struggles finally paid enormous dividends Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.

Elation overwhelmed both the legendary Wood Brothers Racing team and its young driver Harrison Burton as the 23-year-old claimed his first NASCAR Cup Series victory at the 2.5-mile superspeedway, notching the organization’s 100th Cup Series win in the process.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Daytona

NASCAR Hall of Famers Leonard Wood and the late Glen Wood were the patriarchs of a stock-car racing team that has gone on to become the family’s legacy and business, a group of tight-knit Virginians who simply love racing, kinship and winning. That combination and lineage, along with Burton’s last-lap dash past Kyle Busch to win the Coke Zero Sugar 400 and surge the No. 21 Ford into the Cup Series Playoffs, have now produced victories in seven consecutive decades of NASCAR racing.

“I think that’s what I’m most proud of,” said Len Wood, son of Glen and the team’s current chief operations officer.

For as storied as the team is and as triumphant it was through the sport’s early decades, their struggles through the new millennium increased. Burton’s victory marks the program’s fourth win since 2000, following the footsteps of Elliott Sadler (Bristol, 2001), Trevor Bayne (Daytona 500, 2011) and Ryan Blaney (Pocono, 2017).

MORE: From 1 to 100: All drivers to win for Woods

Jon Wood, a former driver across the Cup, Xfinity and Craftsman Truck series, now serves as the team president and co-owner. And as he sat in the media center into the wee hours of Sunday morning, he couldn’t reflect on the path that led to Saturday night’s highs.

“We sat in these seats, I don’t remember, maybe 2016 when we didn’t get a charter,” Jon Wood said. “And we were talking about it, and it was the lowest point of lows. And we had to do it. We had to come here, face the music, and say, ‘I think we’ll be OK.’ And we are. You’re gonna make me cry, and I don’t cry. You know, that’s the part that’s just so surreal in this is sitting in the same seat and thinking of where we were and where we are now. You go from the lowest of lowest to just on top of it, and I don’t know what else to say.”

Brittney Wilbur | NASCAR.com

For the past three seasons, Burton has experienced his woes of his own. The son of NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee and current NBC Sports analyst Jeff Burton, Harrison scored an impressive four NASCAR Xfinity Series wins driving for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2020 before moving up to Cup with the Wood Brothers for his rookie campaign in 2022. His tenure at the sport’s top level has not reflected that same success, with just one top five and five top-10 finishes in his prior 96 starts in the No. 21 Ford. In July, Wood Brothers Racing announced Josh Berry will drive the No. 21 Ford in 2025 as the team parts ways with Burton at year’s end.

Saturday night, Burton pushed all that aside to beat Busch, an all-time great, head-to-head in overtime for his first win and inaugural appearance in the postseason, now one of just 13 drivers locked into the playoff grid entering the regular-season finale at Darlington Raceway on Sunday (6 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

“I struggle to put it into words for me, just the circumstances,” Burton said. “Obviously, the way the last three years have gone has not been the way I wanted to represent myself, the way I wanted to represent this team. And then to have the walls closing in on, you know, there’s a definite end to my time to get to drive this historic car, and then to find a way to win while those walls are closing in, to me, is really, really special. It almost makes the last three years worth it, but I would’ve much rather won before now.

“It’s just been so hard, and that’s the way it should be. The Cup Series is really, really hard. But to get the Wood Brothers’ 100th win, get my very first Cup win, it’s just really, really hard to put in words.”

What spoke volumes was the vast number of competitors who visited victory circle to congratulate Burton and the No. 21 team for their win. Crashed just laps before Burton claimed the checkered flag, Team Penske teammates Blaney and Joey Logano were some of the first on the scene to soak in Burton’s moment, standing aside while Burton doused his team in Coca-Cola and Busch Light while atop the driver’s door. The Wood Brothers team has been an affiliate of Penske’s for a number of years, ingraining Burton with the pair of Cup champions as well as friend and 2022 Daytona 500 champion Austin Cindric.

Logano looked on as Jeff Burton soaked in the celebration with his son, striking a chord with the two-time Cup champ as Logano’s hands draped over the shoulders of his 6-year-old son Hudson.

“His (Harrison’s) attitude is better than anyone I’ve ever met,” Logano told NASCAR.com. “People think I smile a lot. No one is happier than Harrison. I’m pretty proud of him right now. It’s cool to see his dad here. This is really cool. It almost brings tears to your eyes to see it.”

Sean Gardner | Getty Images

Blaney’s first career win in 2017 at Pocono Raceway marked win No. 99 for the Wood Brothers. The time spent with the organization and crew chief Jeremy Bullins — who led Burton’s team back to the promised land Saturday at Daytona — has tied Blaney to the family for life.

“This team was my family for three years,” Blaney told NASCAR.com. “I got my first win. A lot of guys on this team were on my team when I won at Pocono — Bullins, the crew chief; Grant (Hutchins), the engineer; Kirk (Almquist), the car chief, and many more. So it’s just neat to be able to come back, share it with them. A lot of these guys were part of 99 and 100. We’ve been waiting for the Wood Brothers to get 100 with Harrison since Pocono. So happy for Eddie (Wood, team CEO) and Len, Leonard. I know Glen would be incredibly proud. It’s a shame he can’t see it.

“But it’s just a cool moment to come and just hang out. I’ve been waiting so long. This is history and I couldn’t think of a better group. They really deserve it and Harrison deserves it.”

It wasn’t just Burton’s Penske friends who believed that. Among others, Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain — both pinned just beneath the provisional playoff elimination line thanks in large part due to Burton’s win — came to offer sincere moments of congratulations, understanding the magnitude of the moment for a driver who’s struggled so mightily — and underscoring who Burton is as a person as so many competitors opted to cheer for his success rather than rooting against it.

“I mean, you can’t help but pull for him,” Jon Wood said. “Like, that’s the thing about Harrison that I think a lot of our fan base just doesn’t see when you’re running bad. You don’t get a lot of coverage, you don’t get the chance to have that exposure and opportunity to show people who you are, and this is a great time to do that. And you see the real Harrison sitting here, and we’re so stoked to be with him. Again, you just can’t help but want the best for him. It’s just, he’s not like most of them.”

Alongside Burton through all his trials, tribulations and jubilations has been fiancée Jenna Petty, who rushed through the infield grass of the speedway with the No. 21 cohort to greet her future husband under the bright lights of NASCAR’s biggest stage. Burton lifted her into the air in elation in Daytona’s tri-oval, an exclamation point on the journey they’ve trudged through together.

“Just so surreal. I mean, that’s a moment that you dream about,” Petty told NASCAR.com. “You watch people do it week in and week out, and you want it so bad. You want it so bad for him, for your family and for everybody else, just to see that and see how much we still want it, and how much that he’s still working so hard for it. We are hard workers at heart, and we have always celebrated each other’s successes and been there for each other’s hardest times, and so that’s just such a huge moment for us over these years to get to celebrate this monumental win together.”

That support has, of course, been mutual in their eight years together. But the emotion with which Burton spoke when reflecting upon their relationship was tangible Saturday night.

“I look back on the things that I have screwed up at or the things I haven’t done right,” Burton said. “I always try to do right, I always try to do the right thing. Just even the way my Cup career has gone. I’ve never had someone that’s been committed to me the way that she’s been since we were 15 years old. We’ve been together from really forever for me — my entire high school, her entire college — I didn’t go to college, but her entire college. Just been through the failures, through the successes together. She never has changed the way she looks at me because of my finishing position, good or bad.

“First off, when we first started dating, she didn’t care. Now that we’re engaged, she’s invested in me and she helps me, motivates me to do the right thing. To share that moment with her is just amazing.”

Sean Gardner | Getty Images

In the end, it all circles back to family with this family-owned team. On television, Jeff Burton and Dale Jarrett are teammates as analysts for NBC Sports’ NASCAR coverage. On the track, their sons are the teammates now: Harrison Burton uses the help of spotter Jason Jarrett to navigate each race. And to emphasize the full-circle aura, Dale Jarrett’s first career win came with the Wood Brothers back in 1991, while Jeff Burton scored the victory in the 2000 summer race at Daytona. In Victory Lane to congratulate his friend, Dale Jarrett told NASCAR.com this moment was “as special as anything I can remember in a long, long time.

“I mean to understand and know the Burton family and how much they put their heart and soul into this sport. I know how hard Harrison has worked to get to this. He’s an incredible young man, an incredible driver. And then of course the Wood Brothers, helping me get my first win and driving for them back in ’91, it’s just incredible to know that Harrison did this. And then my son Jason is the spotter for Harrison. We all have a stake in this in a little bit of a way, and it’s just so cool to see.”

From playing the role of neutral bystander in the TV booth to proud father, the smile couldn’t be wiped off Jeff Burton’s face from the time Harrison took to the checkered flag until the post-race press conference wrapped just after 1 a.m. ET on Sunday. In his 20-year career at the top level, “The Mayor” won 21 Cup races in his career, his last at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2008 when Harrison was 8 years old.

“It’s damn hard to get here,” Jeff Burton told NASCAR.com in Victory Lane. “And the last race I won was, hell, I don’t even remember how long ago it was. And to see what he’s gone through and how he’s conducted himself in what he’s been through is (what) I’m most proud of because you’ve never heard him once say a bad word about this team, about this group. Never once. Because that’s not who he is. He takes ownership.

“But he hasn’t quit fighting. And by the way, this team hasn’t quit fighting either. And it would be really easy to lay down and everybody quit on each other. Nobody’s done that. Here we are, and I’m so happy for him. It’s just a huge, huge night.”

The difficulty of accomplishing a single night of triumph in NASCAR is astonishing, evidenced by the loads of seemingly capable drivers who were never able to achieve that glory. The road to Harrison Burton’s first was grueling, but it was not without its lessons.

“This is shark-infested waters over here. He’s 23 years old,” Jeff Burton said. “This adversity will make him better. It’ll make him stronger. But sometimes, you’ve just got to go through it. And I told him this a few weeks ago — I said, ‘Harrison, you’re a better race-car driver than you’re allowing yourself to be at the moment.’ Nights like tonight are confidence-building and can change the game.”

Posted on August 25, 2024August 25, 2024 by Holly Cain

For the second straight day, a second-generation rising NASCAR star earned his first-career win. This time, it was 22-year-old Layne Riggs claiming the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory in Sunday’s playoff-opening LiUNAI 175! at the historic Milwaukee Mile.

Riggs, son of former NASCAR competitor Scott Riggs, took the lead from Ty Majeski with 53 laps remaining and pulled away to a solid 1.547-second victory over the Wisconsin native and a super motivated group of playoff drivers, making the rookie driver’s effort all the more impressive.

Riggs’ victory in the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford comes a day after 23-year-old Harrison Burton — son of former NASCAR star Jeff Burton — earned his first career win in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway.

“I don’t even know how to describe it,” said an emotional Riggs, making only his 23rd start in the series, saying he knew in practice his truck was going to be in contention. “It’s awesome.

“We’ve had a terrible year. It’s been an awful year, but I’ve learned so much though in my rookie season. After the start, I thought there’s no way we’re going to get a win, we’ll do the best we can and just learn for next year. But I knew in practice this thing [today] was awesome.”

Riggs was so happy and demonstrative that he dislocated his shoulder pumping his arms high in celebration. His team rushed over to help, and it certainly appeared Riggs was OK by the time he hugged his father trackside.

“Dislocated my shoulder I was celebrating so hard, but it was worth it,” Riggs said smiling.

Eight of the 10 playoff drivers finished directly behind Riggs, including Majeski, the defending race winner and polesitter who led 45 of the 175 laps in the No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford. McAnally-Hilgemann Racing’s Christian Eckes was third, leading a race-high 71 laps in his No. 19 Chevrolet. Rev Racing’s Nick Sanchez and Tricon Garage’s Taylor Gray rounded out the top five.

McAnally-Hilgemann’s Tyler Ankrum, Tricon Garage’s Corey Heim, McAnally-Hilgemann’s Daniel Dye and ThorSport Racing’s Ben Rhodes, the reigning series champion, rounded out the top nine finishers – all playoff drivers. Three-time series champion Matt Crafton was 10th.

“I was leading on the bottom and it shot up the race track and just couldn’t recover, I was way too tight,” said Eckes, who paced the field for much of the afternoon and collected a series-best ninth stage win.

He now holds a 16-point advantage over Majeski atop the playoff standings. Heim is third, only 19 points back.

“Proud of everybody but a pretty big missed opportunity,” Eckes said.

The other two playoff drivers, Grant Enfinger, driver of the No. 9 CR7 Motorsports Chevy, finished 13th and Rajah Caruth, driver of the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevy, rallied to an 18th-place finish after starting from the rear of the grid.

With two more races remaining in this opening round and eight of the 10 drivers advancing, Rhodes is two points behind Enfinger for that all-important eighth playoff position and Caruth is only four points back.

The second race of the Round of 10 of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs takes place Sept. 19 in a special Thursday night edition (8 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) from Bristol Motor Speedway, where Heim is the defending race winner.

NOTE: Post-race inspection in the Truck Series garage was completed without issue, confirming Layne Riggs as the winner.

Posted on August 25, 2024August 25, 2024 by Zack Albert

Another topsy-turvy Saturday night showdown at Daytona International Speedway left some drivers joyous and others with sinking fortunes as the NASCAR Cup Series regular season winds down.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

The fallout from Daytona’s summertime stunner tees up a tantalizing regular-season finale in next Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 (6 p.m. ET, USA, MRN, SiriusXM, NBC Sports App) at Darlington Raceway, where the 16-driver postseason field will be set. See who’s trending upward and who is going the wrong way after Daytona.

THREE UP ⬆️

1. Harrison Burton, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford

Started: 20th

Finished: 1st

What happened: The 23-year-old driver’s final-lap momentum in overtime pushed Burton to his first Cup Series win and the legendary Wood Brothers Racing team to its landmark 100th victory. The triumph in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 sparked a touching family celebration, all while reversing the fortunes of a team that sits 34th in the Cup Series standings.

What’s next: Josh Berry is still slated to take over the No. 21 Ford next season, but Burton will close out his three-year Wood Brothers tenure as a playoff driver as he auditions for a 2025 ride. For the Wood Brothers, it means an end to their seven-year stretch of sitting on win No. 99, and as Len Wood pointed out post-race, it’s an eighth decade of winning NASCAR races for the family business.

Logan Riely | Getty Images

2. Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford

Started: 13th

Finished: 10th

What happened: Buescher — who entered Saturday’s 400-miler as the defending race winner — led twice for 10 laps, mustering his second consecutive top-10 finish. Much has been made about the RFK Racing driver’s focus on wins over points, but finishes of third and ninth at the stage breaks helped him pocket 10 extra points — a buffer that offset some of the playoff-picture shake-up from Burton’s upset victory.

What’s next: Buescher enters the Darlington regular-season finale with a 21-point edge over Bubba Wallace as the last driver provisionally in the playoff field. It’s also a favorable track for the 31-year-old driver, who led 21 laps his last time there before a late-race collision with Tyler Reddick knocked him out of contention.

James Gilbert | Getty Images

3. Parker Retzlaff, No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet

Started: 29th

Finished: 7th

What happened: The 21-year-old driver gave the winning aerodynamic push to Burton down the backstretch on the white-flag lap, and he ran as high as second through the final set of corners. Retzlaff slipped back to a top-10 result in the last scramble to the finish, but the outcome still marked an impressive career-best in just his second Cup Series start.

What’s next: Retzlaff returns to his full-time role in the Xfinity Series, where he ranks 18th in the standings in his second year with Jordan Anderson Racing. Just four races remain before that circuit’s 12-driver postseason field is determined. For the plucky, part-time Beard Motorsports organization, its focus on the Cup Series’ superspeedway races netted its second straight top-10 result. The No. 62 team also ran sixth at Talladega in April with Anthony Alfredo behind the wheel.

Logan Riely | Getty Images

THREE DOWN ⬇️

1. Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota

Started: 25th

Finished: 28th

What happened: Reddick left Daytona with his lead atop the Cup Series standings intact, but his charmed run of seven straight finishes in the top six ended in a Lap 153 crash. The No. 45 Toyota driver has just two DNFs this season — both because of wrecks and both at Daytona.

What’s next: Reddick still has the Regular Season Championship — and its bounty of 15 playoff points — within reach, leading Kyle Larson by 17 points in the standings. He’ll head to Darlington with the aim of replicating his springtime performance there — pole position, 174 laps led — if not the ultimate result — 32nd place after a run-in with Chris Buescher.

James Gilbert | Getty Images

2. Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Started: 10th

Finished: 36th

What happened: Elliott’s otherwise spotless streak ended with his first DNF of the season Saturday night, when he was snagged in a multicar tangle in Stage 2. Dating back to last season, the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports driver was running at the finish in 37 consecutive races until this weekend’s mishap.

What’s next: Elliott’s postseason spot has been in hand since his win back in April at Texas Motor Speedway, but he has extra incentive at Darlington with a chance at the Regular Season Championship. He’s third in the standings, 18 points behind leader Tyler Reddick, and his last three Darlington finishes have been solid runs of 12th, eighth and third.

James Gilbert | Getty Images

3. Michael McDowell, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford

Started: 1st

Finished: 30th

What happened: McDowell’s fourth pole position of the season held promise in a race that he and his Ford mates mostly controlled. McDowell led 26 laps — second only to the race-high 34 laps led by fellow Ford pilot Joey Logano — but his No. 34 Mustang spun from the top spot after a bump gone wrong with nine laps to go in regulation.

What’s next: McDowell will need some Darlington mojo to make the Cup Series Playoffs for the third time in four years. The veteran’s only avenue to reach the postseason is a clinching victory, and he was 10th at the 1.366-mile South Carolina track in the spring.

James Gilbert | Getty Images

Posted on August 24, 2024August 26, 2024 by Cameron Richardson

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Saturday night’s finish to the Cup Series at Daytona was an amalgamation of the 2024 season for Kyle Busch and the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing team.

The leader on the overtime restart, Busch took the bottom line with former Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell dropping behind him to push for the remaining two laps.

While the No. 8 hot rod surged ahead on the final lap, Bell’s No. 20 Toyota got squirrely behind Busch, allowing for a big run from Harrison Burton to get out clear for the lead with the help of Parker Retzlaff, making just his second start at NASCAR’s top level.

Coming to the checkered flag, Busch bobbed left and right to find an opening to pass the third-year driver but it was to no avail as Burton scored his first Cup win and the 100th win for the historic Wood Brothers Racing.

“I mean, you’re wide open. You’re just doing everything you can,” Busch said. ”You’re relying on everything happening behind you and unfortunately, the 20, something happened off of (Turn) two where he got squirreled up and wasn’t to my rear bumper, and then he was below the yellow line, and I don’t know what was going on. Completely killed the bottom lane and the outside just rolled and once we got to Turn 4, there just wasn’t enough energy with enough cars from behind me. I was relying on my own draft to try to pass the 21 and that happens so slow …

“Besides wrecking him (Burton), nothing to do in that situation. I could have jumped up in front of the 21 and probably taken that, but I don’t know that he would have kept straight on me. I had more trust in the 20 there being a better ally, but didn’t work out.

With Saturday’s 164 laps seeing its fair share of attrition, Busch was surrounded by a handful of drivers he hasn’t raced up front with historically, with Burton and Retzlaff going for the win.

The final results board showed the likes of Cody Ware, Retzlaff, and Daniel Hemric, all of whom were surrounding the two-time series champions in the top 10.

“I don’t think I’ve ever raced with Parker,” Busch said. “I’ve seen him on the Xfinity side, but I don’t think I’ve ever run a race with him. But all things considered, it just doesn’t matter who they are. They’re just cars at that point.”

Having first pick of lane choice is premium for drivers on most weeks, but it could leave drivers vulnerable on superspeedways as they all get to react and set up their way to draft and get to the lead.

Busch’s crew chief Randall Burnett was confident in whichever way the rest of their competitors lined up, especially with Bell lining up behind the No. 8.

“It’s not a bad thing to have to pick first and start on the front row,” Burnett told NASCAR.com “We picked the bottom and the 20, we felt like he was going to be a good pusher. He picked behind us so we felt pretty good about that. It went OK the first lap and then we got gapped a little bit there, you know, and they built up a decent run. So we kind of lost all of our momentum there, but everybody did a great job tonight. Just (came) up a little short.”

Busch still has one more opportunity to win his way into the playoffs with next Sunday’s Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway (6 p.m. ET, USA, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) closing out the regular season.

It will be a tall task for the No. 8 team with how 2024 has gone thus far. With 11 races to go, a postseason berth and a 20-year streak of winning hang in the balance.

Tonight, however, might have been his best shot.

“It is what it is, bro. We got beat. We lost,” Busch said. “We didn’t make it to the finish line first. I’ve controlled I don’t know how many restarts here of late at the end of the races going into overtime and haven’t been able to complete the win. I don’t know what to do to make it better.”

Posted on August 24, 2024August 25, 2024 by Holly Cain

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – In one of the most dramatic races of the season, 23-year-old second-generation driver Harrison Burton made a last-lap pass on two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch in overtime at Daytona International Speedway to earn his first career NASCAR Cup Series win and deliver his legendary Wood Brothers Racing team its historic 100th victory.

Big wrecks, amazing passes, and ultimately one of the most memorable and popular victories of the year characterized a busy Coke Zero Sugar 400 on the Daytona high banks that had tremendous effect on the NASCAR Playoff outlook, now with only a single race left to decide which 16 drivers will advance to championship contention.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Daytona

Burton got a huge push on the backstretch from second-time NASCAR Cup Series starter Parker Retzlaff, allowing Burton’s No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford to pull alongside and ultimately past race leader Busch, who stayed on Burton’s bumper to the finish line, but was unable to pass him back.

The win is an automatic ticket for Burton into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs after he was not even among the top 20 in points coming into the race. It was a hugely popular victory for the young driver with many of his competitors coming by to congratulate him on pit road and in Victory Lane.

“That is what the sport is about,’’ Burton’s father, NBC Sports broadcaster and former NASCAR Cup Series standout Jeff Burton said after high-fiving his colleagues in the television booth, overcome with emotion watching his son claim his first major race victory.

Harrison Burton was equally as emotional, claiming his win by a fraction of a second – 0.047-second – over Busch.

“I cried the whole victory lap,” Burton said. “I obviously got fired from this job and wanted to do everything for the Wood Brothers I could, they’ve given me an amazing opportunity in life and to give them the 100th [win] on my way out is amazing. We’re in the playoffs now. Let’s go to Darlington and see what happens.’’

On Saturday night, the question, was “what didn’t happen?” The race featured 16 leaders and 40 lead changes. The winner only led a single lap. There were two multicar wrecks that eliminated one race leader after another. Only five cars took the checkered flag without being involved in some sort of incident.

Burton and Busch got the chance to settle the trophy after a mishap at the front of the field with only two laps of regulation remaining forced the overtime period.

MORE: All of Wood Brothers’ 100 wins, sorted by driver

Late-race leader, Team Penske’s Austin Cindric was pushed from behind causing his No. 2 Ford to move into Josh Berry’s No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford alongside him. The side impact launched Berry’s Mustang upward, sending it on a wild ride on the backstretch.

Berry — who led eight laps, earned his first stage win of the season and contended for the victory all night — climbed out of the upside-down car on the backstraight with the help of the safety team, then waved to the crowd and received a huge round of applause.

“I’m all good, actually it probably wasn’t as bad as it looked,” Berry said after being checked in the infield medical center. “But man, I’m bummed. We had a helluva night going. We were in position and really proud of the job I did tonight and the team did tonight. We were in contention.”

Only seven laps earlier there was a 14-car crash at the front of the field that eliminated another race leader – pole winner Michael McDowell, whose No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford launched airborne, turned sideways and came back down on all four tires, the melee collecting front-runners Joey Logano (who led a race-best 34 of the 164 laps on the night), Justin Haley, Kyle Larson and championship points leader Tyler Reddick among others.

Bubba Wallace, who is in a tight three-car battle for the final playoff points position also was involved, but his 23XI Racing team was able to make quick repairs and return to the track. He finished sixth but is still on the outside looking in for a playoff position.

With Burton’s win, Wallace now finds himself ranked 17th in the standings – 21 points off the pace of RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher, who is holding down that 16th and final playoff position after earning a 10th-place finish Saturday.

Ross Chastain, the third driver in tight contention for the final playoff berth based on points, rallied to finish 12th. He is ranked 18th, 27 points behind Buescher.

Busch, who now has top-five finishes in the last two races, is essentially in need of a victory next weekend in the regular-season finale at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. He is 106 points below the elimination line despite his brief recent string of strong finishes.

“Just frustrating, you know,” the Richard Childress Racing driver Busch said after just missing out on the win, which would not only have punched his playoff ticket but also extended his streak of 19 seasons with at least one victory.

“We win races here in Daytona going into the last restart but haven’t been able to pull off the victory, not sure what I’m doing wrong or missing,’’ Busch said, explaining, “I wanted to get up in front of the 21 [Burton] because I knew the momentum was coming there but I knew the 20 [former teammate Christopher Bell] was a better friend [behind], just didn’t work out. As usual.”

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver Bell finished third, followed by Rick Ware Racing’s Cody Ware, and JGR’s Ty Gibbs. Wallace was sixth. Brad Keselowski was seventh, followed by Retzlaff, Daniel Hemric and Buescher.

The first round of drama happened on Lap 61 when 17 cars were involved in an incident on the back straightaway.

Corey LaJoie’s No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet triggered the accident in tight-quarter racing. It collected Chastain and forced numerous pit stops for the Floridian, who is trying to earn one of the last points positions in the playoffs.

It also involved championship front-runners Reddick, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson in varying degrees.

Elliott and Hamlin had to retire their cars with the damage and were scored 36th and 38th respectively. Reddick still managed to finish 28th. Larson, who was involved in multiple incidents on the night, finished 21st.

Heading to the regular season finale next weekend, Reddick maintains a 17-point edge atop the standings over Larson. Elliott is now 18 points back. The regular season champion earns a valuable 15-point bonus to carry with him through the 10-race playoffs.

The Cup Series’ next race is next Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 (6 p.m. ET, USA, MRN, SiriusXM, NBC Sports App) at Darlington Raceway. The event is the regular-season finale, and the 16-driver postseason field will be settled after the 500-mile Labor Day classic.

Note: Post-race inspection at Daytona International Speedway was completed in the Cup Series garage without issue, confirming Burton as the race winner. NASCAR officials indicated that the No. 4 Ford driven by Berry will be taken back to the NASCAR Research & Development Center for further evaluation.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on August 24, 2024August 25, 2024 by Staff Report

A massive Stage 2 crash dropped several drivers from contention in Saturday night’s NASCAR Cup Series race, erupting midpack at Daytona International Speedway.

Contact between the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet of Corey LaJoie and the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford of Noah Gragson ignited a severe pileup in the 60th of 160 scheduled laps in Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400. Several cars stacked up in the backstraight tangle, including playoff-bubble hopeful Ross Chastain, Daytona 500 champ William Byron and three-time Daytona winner Denny Hamlin.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Daytona

NASCAR’s official count showed 16 drivers on the full list of drivers involved: Gragson, Chastain, Byron, Hamlin, LaJoie, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Preece, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Erik Jones, Tyler Reddick, Kyle Larson, Daniel Hemric, Ryan Blaney, Austin Dillon, Christopher Bell and John Hunter Nemechek. Drivers unable to continue were: Elliott, Gragson, Hamlin and Preece.

The melee figured to shuffle the chase for the circuit’s Regular Season Championship, with points leader Reddick and second-place Elliott and third-place Larson all involved.

“I’m not really sure,” Hamlin said after a check at the infield care center. “Everyone was saving gas, so I didn’t really think anyone was being too aggressive, but the first thing I saw was the 7 (LaJoie) got turned in front of me.”

Said Gragson: “I was trying to get away from the 1 (Chastain) in the middle line. I was pushing him, and I pushed him a couple times, and he just couldn’t take a push. He was super squirrely, and I didn’t feel comfortable pushing him just because he was out of shape by himself. I was trying to get out of that middle line. I haven’t seen what happened yet, but I don’t know if the 7 got into me or what. I can’t comment on it yet, but I’m just disappointed.”

The Daytona event is the next-to-last race in the Cup Series regular season. The 16-driver postseason field will be determined after next Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 (6 p.m. ET, USA, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) at Darlington Raceway.

Posted on August 24, 2024September 10, 2024 by Zach Sturniolo

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Trackhouse Racing announced Saturday that Shane van Gisbergen will compete in the NASCAR Cup Series next season as the organization expands to three full-time cars for 2025.

Van Gisbergen is set to drive the storied No. 88 Chevrolet in NASCAR’s top division next season. SVG, a New Zealand native who won three titles in the Australian Repco Supercars Championship, becomes a full-time teammate to fellow Trackhouse full-timers Ross Chastain in the No. 1 Chevy and Daniel Suárez, who re-signed with the No. 99 Chevrolet team earlier this month.

“This is obviously a huge moment,” team owner Justin Marks said Saturday at Daytona International Speedway. “Really, really thrilled and excited that Shane put the trust in us and made a huge commitment in leaving a very successful career in Australia and New Zealand and moved to a new country and sort of (started) over and put his faith and his trust in us. That means a lot to us. And he’s put in a tremendous amount of work. Great human being, very, very talented race car driver, and somebody with an incredibly, incredibly bright future. So we’re very excited to have them here.”

Van Gisbergen has excelled in NASCAR national-tour competition since making a splash by winning the inaugural Chicago Street Race event in his 2023 Cup Series debut. The 35-year-old transplant from the Supercars Championship ranks moved to a full-time ride in the Xfinity Series this year, and he has won three times in a joint effort between Trackhouse and Kaulig Racing.

“It’s been a pretty awesome 18 months,” van Gisbergen said. “Yeah, it’s been a huge life change, as Justin said, and everything he said was going to happen has happened. I never thought it would happen this quick and I’m very glad we’ve done the learning year this year in Xfinity. Kaulig Racing has been great to work with, and then also a lot more races to finish the year now. Been a huge learning experience but just excited to get full-time in the Cup Series next year.”

As part of Saturday’s introduction, Trackhouse announced it acquired a charter, which will guarantee SVG’s entry in all 36 Cup Series events next season. It’s the most recent expansion move by Trackhouse, which began as a single-car team with Suárez in the 2021 season before it grew to two teams with the addition of Chastain the next year.

The No. 88 also carries significance with a legacy of its own, most recently made famous by NASCAR Hall-of-Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr., who piloted the same numeral in 10 Cup campaigns for Hendrick Motorsports. Marks reached out to Earnhardt Jr., Kelly Earnhardt Miller and Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon for permission to use the number moving forward.

“It’s important for us to have the endorsement,” Marks said. “(Had) a great, great exchange with Dale Jr. saying, like, ‘Look, it’s not my number. I mean, I added to the legacy of it. It was important to me personally.’ But he was proud to see it in good hands, and that’s just something that’s super, super important to me and to this company.”

Trackhouse has run an additional third car as part of its Project 91 initiative, which team founder Marks envisioned as a part-time entry to showcase global motorsports stars. Former Formula 1 World Champion Kimi Räikkönen drove the No. 91 Chevy in two races (2022-23) before van Gisbergen took the car to Victory Lane in Chicago in one of last season’s biggest stories.

Expansion to a third full-time Cup entry may put further plans for Project 91 on pause, but Marks doesn’t expect it to fade into the ether any time soon.

“We’re having those discussions right now,” Marks said. “I think that Project 91 is something that, 100% in my mind, I would love to continue. I mean, it was just difficult to do it this year because we have so much on our plate with supporting other divers and other programs and just a lot of business development stuff that we’re working on. But I would expect Project 91 to be back sooner rather than later.

“We’re expanding. Our focus is on running three competitive Cup cars next year, but there’s a lot of interest in Project 91 both from drivers and from commercial partners. So yeah, I would 100% anticipate that to continue in some capacity.”

Van Gisbergen has competed in six Cup Series races in his NASCAR career. He’s scheduled for six more Cup starts this season in the Kaulig No. 16 Chevrolet – Daytona (Aug. 24), Darlington Raceway (Sept. 1), Atlanta Motor Speedway (Sept. 8), Watkins Glen International (Sept. 15), Talladega Superspeedway (Oct. 6) and Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Oct. 20).

MORE: 2024 Cup Series schedule | How to get notified for 2025 schedule

Van Gisbergen’s entry Saturday at Daytona will mark just his third Cup Series start on an oval track. The road-racing standout finished 28th in each of his Cup oval starts this spring (Talladega, Charlotte), and he has two top-five results on ovals (Atlanta, Indianapolis) so far this year in the Xfinity Series.

Zane Smith signed with Trackhouse Racing on a multiyear deal announced in the fall of 2023, driving the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet through an agreement between Trackhouse and Spire for the 2024 Cup Series season. However, Trackhouse announced Friday that it will part ways with Smith at the end of the 2024 campaign, allowing Smith to look for another ride at season’s end.

“I think when we decide the drivers, it’s a big picture, and we cast a wide net of sort of qualifications,” Marks said. “And it’s commercial support; it’s fitting the company; it’s personality, all that. And you know, we don’t have four cars; we have three, so that we had to make a decision. We’re excited about the decision that we made with SVG.”

Stephen Doran, who currently serves as Smith’s crew chief on the No. 71 Chevrolet, will crew chief SVG’s No. 88 Chevrolet in 2025.

Van Gisbergen’s addition to Trackhouse’s full-time fold provides the team with three drivers hailing from three separate countries, with SVG representing New Zealand, Suárez from Mexico and Chastain from the United States.

“I think (it) is a pretty amazing thing for the sport, amazing thing for where motorsports is today,” Marks said. “We’re thrilled and honored to be stewards of international diversity at the top level of motorsports. I mean, I’ve said this a couple times now, with our MotoGP lineup next year and our Cup Series lineup next year, Trackhouse has a roster of athletes that represent Mexico, New Zealand, the USA, Spain and Japan, which is a pretty incredible thing for a motorsports company. And we take a lot of pride in that.

“We just continue to tell a great story, try to get really great people in the house with diverse backgrounds, great stories to tell, compelling personalities, and the end of the day, just really, really dedicated, hard workers.”

Posted on August 24, 2024August 24, 2024 by Cameron Richardson

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Is the risk worth the reward?

That will be the question 40 teams and drivers ask every lap during Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, NBC Sports App, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

With two races left in the Cup Series regular season, little has been determined from a points perspective and half the field will be looking to score their first victory of the season to clinch a berth in the 16-driver playoff field.

Between the battle for the Regular Season Championship, drivers already locked in attempting to get more playoff points, and winless drivers trying to use Daytona as their Hail Mary into the postseason, agendas will vary within the close-quartered pack racing.

Carson Hocevar enters Daytona coming off back-to-back top 10s at Richmond and Michigan. A victory is the only path Hocevar has to make the postseason and the momentum for the Spire Motorsports rookie will certainly aid in the challenge to come Saturday.

“Everybody has their own agendas. That’s what makes it so difficult,” Hocever said during Saturday’s media availabilities. “But a lot of times what makes this race pretty good is there’s a handful of Chevys that need to try and win the regular-season champ. There’s some that are trying to get in the playoffs, and there’s some that have zero care for stage points and just have to win, and that’s it. So it makes it difficult to kind of work and choose and know what’s the right deal to do. But actually, it probably is what makes this race pretty exciting. It always shakes it up. It’s always different than Talladega, or the (Daytona) 500.”

Coming from the short-track scene, mainly before the jump to the national series, rookie Josh Berry is still learning the ropes around drafting tracks. However, a productive Friday afternoon in qualifying put seven Fords into the top 10 starting spots for the race, including Berry, who will start fifth in the No. 4 for Stewart-Haas Racing.

“It’s a really good improvement over what we had here in February and as well as Talladega,” Berry said. “So having the track position, having a better pit stall, all those things are definitely really helpful and exciting. So it’s always a balance. You run hard to stay up front, you use more fuel. So it’s hard to say how all that will work out.”

Saving fuel will once again be a factor Saturday evening. A 35-lap opening stage will allow for drivers to go all out for points if they need with the fuel window around 40 laps, but the final two stages are 60 and 65 laps, respectively, requiring at least one stop for fuel.

The goal for saving fuel? To have the shortest pit stop possible to gain track position and set up for the finish.

One of the drivers needing a win to make the playoffs and in one of the best positions to do so entering Saturday night’s race is Todd Gilliland. He and Front Row Motorsports teammate Michael McDowell locked out the front row with blistering qualifying laps in both rounds. Gilliland’s track position early on will be a good building block for the 160-lap thriller, but the No. 38 team will have some adversity to overcome as it lost pit-stall selection for failing pre-race inspection twice.

Even with the absence of one of the coveted pit stalls, Gilliland is still looking forward to staying out front during the race.

“It’s definitely really nice to at least have a good starting spot, right?” Gilliland said. “You can pass and I’m sure we’ll be at the front and the back throughout the whole race at some point, but at least being able to start up front right? The field is the deepest it’s going to be right when the green flag drops, and recently I guess we’ve kind of seen, I mean, at least in the 500, an early wreck. It’s just nice to be ahead of those first few incidents.”

Entering Saturday as the most recent race winner, superspeedway winner and on a hot streak of 10 top 10s in the last 11 races, Tyler Reddick should be among the favorites for another strong run. However, he’ll have to manage a clean race to hold his slim 10-point lead over Chase Elliott for the Regular Season Championship, a position the four-year veteran is in for the first time in at the Cup level.

There’s no crystal ball to see how the flow of Saturday night will shape, but while the No. 45 23XI Racing team doesn’t have a specific strategy locked in, they have provisional ideas for any scenario.

MORE: Cup standings

“It’s hard to look in the future and know how it’s going to play out,” Reddick said. “We just try to have a plan, and then a backup plan and then a plan when seemingly no other plans make sense. I’ll just do my part in the car, and I’ll let those guys figure it out. They can see a lot more of what’s going then me. Just focus on what’s going to be important for what I can control inside the car and that should give us some options.”

Posted on August 24, 2024August 24, 2024 by Cameron Richardson

Coke Zero Sugar 400

(⏰ Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET | NBC | Peacock | NBC Sports App | MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Weekend schedule | TV schedule | Weather tracker | NASCAR 101

Location: Daytona Beach, Florida
Track length: 2.5 miles
Race purse: $9,193,568
Race distance: 160 laps | 400 miles
Stages: 35 | 95 | 160
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Starting lineup: Michael McDowell on pole
Pit stall assignments: See where drivers will pit
Defending winner: Chris Buescher, August 2023

Key things to watch

Friday session

Front Row Motorsports swept the front row for Saturday night’s 400-miler as Michael McDowell claimed the pole with a blistering 183.165 mph lap in the final round of qualifying. Todd Gilliland wasn’t too far behind with a 182.801 mph hot lap.

Ford claimed seven of the top 10 starting positions for Saturday, including the top-five starting spots. Joey Logano (182.341 mph), Ryan Preece (182.312 mph) and Josh Berry grabbed coveted spots in the front five. | Friday recap

Big story line

It’s the hope that fuels you

Forty drivers have the opportunity to stake their claim as a Daytona winner Saturday night, and with that comes the need to balance keeping track position and saving fuel to have the shortest pit stops throughout the evening. Track position has taken on an important role in recent superspeedway races, but drivers know how to get to the front in these races. However, is it worth burning the extra fuel before the final push to the checkered flag?

Bubba Wallace, who sits one below the playoff elimination line to Ross Chastain, says the recent strategy addition comes with the growing on-track awareness of drivers.

“It’s not even, like this car. It’s just we’ve all gotten smart,” Wallace said. “Like 10 years ago, it’s like, why don’t we just save fuel? You’re like ‘yeah, we could have done that.’ I don’t know how you change that. I’m not smart enough to get into the details of it. It is what it is. It’s not fun riding around half speed here, you know, but you adapt quick. If that’s gonna put you in a spot to win, then you adapt, and you do it.”

In the Talladega spring race, a group of Toyotas shook up the strategy by pitting early in the final stage for fuel. While a chunk of them wrecked, Tyler Reddick made it through and eventually went on to take the checkered flag in that event. While it’s the shortest superspeedway race of the year, at least one stop for fuel will be required in the second and final stages. Pit stops aren’t historically known for determining a driver’s chances to win on a superspeedway, but a bad stop may determine whether or not he’ll compete for a championship.

History tells us…

First-time winners occur half the time in the summer race. Whether it occurred on Independence Day weekend or served as the regular-season finale, Daytona’s annual sequel has shook up the playoffs 40% of the time in the 10-year history of the NASCAR Playoffs. The fifth first-time winner was Justin Haley, who won a rain-shortened 2019 event but was ineligible for the Cup Series Playoffs. Austin Dillon is the most recent driver to win his way into the playoffs, doing so in a chaotic 2022 event that saw the driver of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet bob and weave his way through a big wreck to come out as the leader.

Aric Almirola (2014), Erik Jones (2018) and William Byron (2020) have also won their way into the playoffs at the 2.5-mile superspeedway, with Byron’s and Almirola’s being the first of each of their careers at the Cup level.

An interesting note regarding those who had already clinched a playoff spot is they are all well-known superspeedway connoisseurs with Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2015), Brad Keselowski (2016), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (2017), Ryan Blaney (2021) and Chris Buescher (2023) snagging the checkered flag in those events.

He may not be the betting favorite to win, but watch out for…

ZANE SMITH. Spire Motorsports knows how to get around superspeedways, and with an all-time underdog win with Justin Haley a half-decade ago, it wouldn’t be a surprise if another Spire driver can stun the Cup Series landscape and make the 2024 playoffs. Smith has made two Cup starts at Daytona and put on solid runs with a pair of 13th-place results in back-to-back Daytona 500s.

Seventy-to-one odds are quite the long shot at a superspeedway, but Spire as a whole enters Saturday night event with momentum with Smith and Carson Hocever both scoring top 10s at Michigan last week. | Daytona odds

Speed reads

Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles.

• Dillon penalty upheld: Appeals panel upholds No. 3 penalty; spotter suspension reduced | Read article
• No. 11 team penalized: Hamlin, No. 11 team receive L2-level penalty for violating engine inspection requirements | Read article
• Quite a reputation: How chaos has defined Daytona | Read article
• Stay aware: How to get notified for 2025 schedule release | Sign up!
• New part added to Cup car: NASCAR mandates air deflector to right side of car following Michigan flip | Read article
• Dye to Kaulig: Daniel Dye to pilot No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevy full-time in Xfinity Series for 2025 | Read article
• No. 48 Xfinity team penalized: Big Machine Racing team levied L1-level penalty after Michigan | Read article
• ‘We’re at the adult table’: Spire Motorsports’ co-owner Jeff Dickerson gives insight on the organization’s rise | Watch video
• Power Rankings: Will Buescher’s big breakthrough arrive at Daytona? | Photo gallery
• Turning Point: Will unpredictability reveal itself again at Daytona? | Read article
• Racing Insights: Full finishing order projections for Saturday-night showdown | Read article
• Field of 16: How the playoff picture shakes out with two races left in regular season | Read article
• 36 for 36: Check out this week’s survivor pool picks | Read article
• Fantasy Fastlane: Spin the wheel of fortune at Daytona | Photo gallery
• NASCAR Classics: Head into the video vault with vintage summer Daytona replays | Read article
• Paint Scheme Preview: Fresh designs dazzling for Daytona | Pick your favorite

Fast facts ⏩

Race-relevant statistics, brought to you by the experts at Racing Insights.

• Toyota is winless in the last eight Daytona races.
• The last four Daytona winners all started outside the top 10.
• The final green-flag stretch was two laps or less in 13 of the last 14 Daytona races.

Posted on August 23, 2024August 23, 2024 by Staff Report

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Parker Kligerman was two spots and two turns short of locking his way into the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs on Friday night.

The driver of the No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet took the yellow and checkered flags third at Daytona International Speedway, with the final of seven caution flags coming in overtime after contact between Kligerman and push-partner AJ Allmendinger sent Allmendinger spinning in Turn 1 to end the race under yellow on the final lap.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Daytona

In one respect, it was an excellent night for Kligerman, who entered the night in 11th out of 12 provisional spots in the Xfinity playoff grid, 16 points above the elimination line. After netting 11 stage points and a third-place finish, Kligerman now bumps down to the final provisional spot — 44 points to the good — with four races left in the regular season. In another respect, Kligerman was just shy of not needing to worry about points at all.

The latter appeared to drive the overriding emotion upon Kligerman’s exit from the vehicle, slamming his fist on the car’s roof and offering a parting expletive trying to process how his plan to score the victory unraveled.

“I knew the whole time without having that (overtime) restart, I wanted to be on the bottom in the last lap,” Kligerman said. “And if I could materialize being the lead car on the bottom, I was gonna take it. I pushed (Allmendinger) out to the 20, cleared the 98 in the bottom, and I thought, OK, I’m going, I don’t care. I moved. He tried to come with me. I was already there. It’s a late block. That happens.

“You know, I would love to see a finish under green, because even with that whole thing, we came through (Turns) 1 and 2 and I had the 98 right on my bumper. And I was like, holy — this is gonna work out. Like, this is exactly how I planned it. And then the caution came out. So I just, I don’t know. I feel like we did everything correct, and still something stupid happened.”

Brittney Wilbur | NASCAR Digital Media

Allmendinger’s disappointment was evident upon being evaluated and released from the infield care center.

“That was a fast Campers Inn RV Chevy and had a shot to win and didn’t,” Allmendinger told reporters. “I’m just proud of the team, man. That’s all I can say.”

Despite the contact, which sent Allmendinger sliding across the asphalt on entry to Turn 1, up the banking and into traffic, Kligerman didn’t believe much could be done differently to avoid the incident.

“I moved off his bump bumper, which maybe could have got him loose at the same time,” Kligerman said. “But the run was materializing. I was getting pushed, so I was gonna take it to bottom, and I could see that I cleared the 98. So I’m not gonna say like, hey, — maybe it’s a late block, but it takes two to tango and all this stuff, and so maybe … it’s probably something I did wrong.”

The better news for Kligerman, of course, is his newfound cushion — if slight — with four races remaining in the regular season. Up next is Darlington Raceway on Aug. 31 (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) ahead of Atlanta Motor Speedway, Watkins Glen International and Bristol Motor Speedway to conclude the regular-season slate.

MORE: Xfinity standings | Xfinity schedule

It’s a different position for Kligerman than last year’s summer race at Daytona, where points were constantly on his mind in his first full-time campaign with Big Machine Racing.

“That was the highest stress race in my life last year,” Kligerman said. “But the one thing I learned is … I had this whole theory of locking in for 100 laps, and today I can tell you that when I got to (driver) intros, I just shut everything out and then got in the car. And for 100 (laps), I can’t tell you half the stuff that I did in that race because I wasn’t doing it; I was just letting it happen subconsciously, and it was working great. So there’s something to be said about that. Something about Daytona in the summer for 100 laps.

“But it’s a big night for us, obviously, points-wise, and puts us in a good position to go after the next few races.”