Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Anthony Alfredo turned and dropped his jaw in pure elation. He fell into the arms of Brendan Gaughan, who ripped him into the air through joy.

With Alfredo behind the wheel, the No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet was the fastest non-chartered entry in Wednesday night’s Busch Light Pole Qualifying, locking into the 66th annual Daytona 500 for Monday afternoon (4 p.m. ET, FOX, FOX Deportes, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). David Ragan, piloting the No. 60 RFK Racing Ford, snagged the second guaranteed spot of the four available in the “Great American Race.”

Six non-chartered or “open” teams entered this year’s Daytona 500 alongside the 36 chartered teams, leaving 42 teams to vie for 40 positions. Alfredo and the Beard Motorsports team — an operation that has just one full-time employee, crew chief Darren Shaw — posted the 20th-fastest lap overall at 179.648 mph, relieving the No. 62 team of any worries ahead of Thursday night’s Bluegreen Vacations Duels that will set the starting lineup for the Daytona 500.

MORE: Joey Logano, Michael McDowell on front row for Daytona 500

“This is crazy,” Alfredo told NASCAR.com. “I mean, I was in the stands as a kid. This was my first race I came to. And to have the opportunity to race in it for a second time now is beyond a blessing. I can’t even put into words what this means to me, especially because as an open car, it’s just so much more stress on you. And there’s some really competitive cars here.

“And to know that we not only were (in) the top two but the best one — over Jimmie Johnson. I mean … I thought they were gonna be the ones to beat in qualifying.”

Indeed, seven-time Cup champion and Class of 2024 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Jimmie Johnson is one of the four drivers who will have to fight in Thursday’s duel qualifying race for the remaining two spots in the Daytona 500, joining JJ Yeley, BJ McLeod and Kaz Grala.

Linda Beard, team owner of Beard Motorsports, quickly joined the jubilant celebration on pit road, soaking in the moment as the team her late husband Mark built qualified for its sixth Daytona 500 appearance.

“It’s a wonderful feeling. It’s the greatest feeling there possibly is,” Beard told NASCAR.com. “Sometimes when you’ve done this before, you always wonder if it’s ever gonna happen again. It has, and I’m just so happy.”

The fun-loving, always-amped Gaughan serves Beard Motorsports as its vice chairman of racing operations and was the team’s driver from its inception in 2017 through 2020, never attempting more than four races per year after years of racing full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series. The emotions poured out Wednesday night after Alfredo locked into the Daytona 500.

“I mean, this is a little-bitty team,” Gaughan told NASCAR.com. “We always talked about it being the 62. It’s got one full-time employee with Darren Shaw, and we’ve talked about that for years. But this doesn’t happen in this sport anymore. That’s what I’ve always said is that you don’t see this sort of thing really. And when you’re talking about the world of $20 million charters and $40 million charters, here’s this team with one car. …

“You never know how good it feels to you miss one, right? And we’ve missed a couple.”

They won’t be missing this one.

In the No. 60 Ford, Ragan locked himself into the “Great American Race” with a lap at 179.283 mph. Ragan has been a mainstay in Ford’s camp since the start of his NASCAR career in 2004, joining RFK when it was still known only as Roush Racing in 2006. Now a part-time racer after 13 years racing full-time at the sport’s highest level, Ragan is back in the Daytona 500, a race in which he’s finished inside the top 10 in each of his last two starts (fourth, 2020; eighth, 2022).

“Initially I thought, ‘Man, we’re cutting this way too close,’ ” Ragan said of his lap. “I felt like we’d have a really fast race car, and we do. I really wasn’t expecting that lap from Anthony. That was a great lap for him and that team. Congratulations to those guys.

“I didn’t have a chance to beat Jimmie Johnson too often in my career when he and I were running week-in, week-out. I’ll take the small victories when I can.”

Posted on by Staff Report

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Two NASCAR Cup Series teams failed twice in Daytona 500 pre-qualifying inspection Wednesday, resulting in crew member ejections and the loss of pit-stall selection for Thursday’s 150-mile qualifying races.

The No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Alex Bowman and 23XI Racing’s No. 45 Toyota for Tyler Reddick both passed inspection, but on their third attempt. Bowman wound up 17th in Wednesday evening’s qualifying session, and Reddick was 36th on the speed chart in the first on-track action ahead of Monday’s season-opening Daytona 500 (4 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Each team’s car chief was ejected for Thursday’s qualifying races:

  • No. 45 Toyota: Michael Hobson
  • No. 48 Chevrolet: Ty Sipes

Both teams will also select pit stalls last for Thursday’s Bluegreen Vacations Duel qualifying races (7 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM), which will help determine the 40-car starting lineup for Monday’s 500-mile classic.

Bowman’s qualifying effort snapped his streak of Daytona 500 front-row starts, which ended at a record six in a row.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The new Ford Mustang Dark Horse lived up to its nomenclature in Wednesday night’s NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session for Monday’s Daytona 500 (4 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Running the fastest lap in both rounds of the time trials, Team Penske’s Joey Logano put his car on the pole for the “Great American Race,” as he and Front Row Motorsports’ Michael McDowell locked into the front row for the 500.

The Oxford Dictionary defines “dark horse” as “a candidate or competitor about whom little is known but who unexpectedly wins or succeeds.”

Logano secured his first Busch Light Pole Award at Daytona with a final-round lap of 181.947 mph, beating McDowell (181.686 mph) by 0.071 seconds. It is also the first Daytona 500 pole for Team Penske.

RELATED: Qualifying results | Daytona 500 pole winners

“This is all about the team,” said Logano, who scored the 29th pole of his career. “I’d like to take credit, but I can’t today. The guys have done such an amazing job working on these cars. Speedway qualifying is 100 percent the car.

“There’s only so much a driver can do, so I’m really proud of them. It’s a big win for our team. … Finally, someone else wins the pole — that part feels good. I’ve never even been close to a superspeedway pole before, so my first pole on a speedway couldn’t be at a cooler event than the Daytona 500.”

But was his pole-winning run unexpected? Consider that Chevrolets had won the previous 11 Daytona 500 poles, that cars sporting Hendrick Motorsports power had won the previous nine and that Hendrick drivers had claimed the top starting spot in eight of the last nine years.

So, yes, the Fords found success in a car that was unknown and untried on a superspeedway.

Hendrick drivers Kyle Larson (181.635 mph), Chase Elliott (181.178 mph) and William Byron (181.174 mph) qualified third, fifth and sixth, respectively, with Ford driver and 2022 Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric posting the fourth fastest final-round lap at 181.207 mph.

Richard Childress Racing teammates Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch were seventh and eighth fastest, followed by Ross Chastain and Harrison Burton.

But the only two drivers who know where they will start on Monday are Logano and McDowell, both former Daytona 500 winners. The rest of the field will be set in Thursday night’s Bluegreen Vacations Duel 150-mile qualifying races (7 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), with the odd-numbered qualifiers racing in Duel 1 and the even-numbered qualifiers competing in Duel 2.

MORE: Bluegreen Vacations Duels lineups | Full Daytona schedule

Among those trying to race into the 500 is seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, who failed to time into Monday’s race in his No. 84 Legacy Motor Club Toyota.

In fact, the Toyotas — also with a new body style this season — showed a jarring lack of speed in single-car runs, with Erik Jones leading the manufacturer’s effort with a 22nd-place run. Johnson was 35th fastest.

In the race among six unchartered cars for four available spots, Kaz Grala was unable to make a qualifying run because of a mechanical failure on his No. 36 Ford, locking Anthony Alfredo (20th fastest overall) into Monday’s race with a lap at 179.648 mph, fastest among the open cars.

“We’re in, and to not have to race in tomorrow and just remove ourselves for some of the sketchy circumstances and focus on Sunday is just an amazing, amazing feeling,” Alfredo said.

David Ragan claimed the second guaranteed starting spot on speed among the unchartered cars when Johnson failed to better Ragan’s lap at 179.283 mph.

“I didn’t have a chance to beat Jimmie Johnson too often in my career when he and I were running week-in and week-out,” said Ragan, who hasn’t raced a Cup car since the regular-season finale of 2022 at Daytona. “So, I’ll take the small victories when I can. Yeah, that just shows you how close the competition is.”

Driving the No. 84 Toyota, third fastest of the open cars at 178.845 mph, Johnson must race his way into the Daytona 500 field in the first of the two Duels.

SHOP: Gear up for the Daytona 500

“I had higher expectations for sure, but we are lumped right there with the other Toyotas,” Johnson said. “The 43 (Erik Jones) car got a little more out of it, so I wish we had a bit more out of ours, but it is what it is. We will go out and race hard tomorrow night and try to make the 500.

“I’ve never been in this position, so I don’t know. I came down here mentally prepared to race my way in if that was required. I’m well studied. I spent a lot of time working on the environment of the Duels and the way the race will unfold. Just get out there and race hard and see how it unfolds.”

BJ McLeod, J.J. Yeley and Grala will be competing with Johnson for the two remaining spots in the race.

Posted on by Staff Report

Each year, the NASCAR Cup Series kicks off the season with its pinnacle event — the Daytona 500. The 66th annual running is set for Monday, Feb. 19 (4 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). And, like any big event, some unique quirks are part of the build-up.

The most notable difference in the “Great American Race” compared to any other on the Cup schedule is how the starting lineup is set. Forty cars will make the Daytona 500 starting grid. Thirty-six teams are guaranteed starting spots thanks to their Charters, leaving only four spots available for Open teams.

RELATED: Daytona 500 schedule | Complete Daytona 500 winner history

The process begins with single-car qualifying on Wednesday, where the two fastest drivers — Joey Logano and Michael McDowell — secured the front-row starting positions for Monday’s race. Additionally, the two fastest Open cars — Anthony Alfredo and David Ragan — clinched a spot in Monday’s main event

The remaining results from single-car qualifying set the field for the two Bluegreen Vacations Duel races on Thursday. The duel races are 60-lap affairs, the results of which set the lineup for the Daytona 500 itself.

Drivers who are in odd-numbered positions on the speed chart from single-car qualifying make up the starting grid of Duel No. 1, while those who qualify in even-numbered positions make up Duel No. 2 (although NASCAR ensures an even number of Open cars in each race, so there may be slight adjustments). The highest-finishing Open car in each duel advances into the Daytona 500.

The results of Duel No. 1 set the inside row for the 2024 Daytona 500, while the results of Duel No. 2 set the outside row for Monday’s race.

Below are the results of the Duel races and the Daytona 500 starting lineup.

Official Bluegreen Vacations Duel No. 1 Results

* denotes Open, non-Charter team

Finishing PositionCar No.Driver
145Tyler Reddick
29Chase Elliott
348Alex Bowman
477Carson Hocevar
543Erik Jones
699Daniel Suárez
722Joey Logano
854Ty Gibbs
95Kyle Larson
1017Chris Buescher
111Ross Chastain
1284Jimmie Johnson*
1341Ryan Preece
1419Martin Truex Jr.
157Corey LaJoie
1644J.J. Yeley*
1738Todd Gilliland
183Austin Dillon
1962Anthony Alfredo*
2047Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2131Daniel Hemric

Official Bluegreen Vacations Duel No. 2 Results

* denotes Open, non-Charter team

Finishing PositionCar No.Driver
120Christopher Bell
22Austin Cindric
311Denny Hamlin
442John H. Nemechek
521Harrison Burton
671Zane Smith
76Brad Keselowski
824William Byron
914Chase Briscoe
1051Justin Haley
1123Bubba Wallace
1236Kaz Grala*
1316AJ Allmendinger
1478BJ McLeod*
1560David Ragan*
1634Michael McDowell
174Josh Berry
1812Ryan Blaney
198Kyle Busch
2015Riley Herbst
2110Noah Gragson

Projected Daytona 500 starting lineup

* denotes Open, non-Charter team.

** BJ McLeod and JJ Yeley did not qualifying for the Daytona 500

PositionCar No.DriverHow Spot is Determined
122Joey LoganoBusch Light Pole winner
234Michael McDowellSecond fastest in qualifying
345Tyler ReddickDuel No. 1 results
420Christopher BellDuel No. 2 results
59Chase ElliottDuel No. 1 results
62Austin CindricDuel No. 2 results
748Alex BowmanDuel No. 1 results
811Denny HamlinDuel No. 2 results
977Carson HocevarDuel No. 1 results
1042John H. NemechekDuel No. 2 results
1143Erik JonesDuel No. 1 results
1221Harrison BurtonDuel No. 2 results
1399Daniel SuárezDuel No. 1 results
1471Zane SmithDuel No. 2 results
1554Ty GibbsDuel No. 1 results
166Brad KeselowskiDuel No. 2 results
175Kyle LarsonDuel No. 1 results
1824William ByronDuel No. 2 results
1917Chris BuescherDuel No. 1 results
2014Chase BriscoeDuel No. 2 results
211Ross ChastainDuel No. 1 results
2251Justin HaleyDuel No. 2 results
2384Jimmie Johnson*Duel No. 1 results
2423Bubba WallaceDuel No. 2 results
2541Ryan PreeceDuel No. 1 results
2636Kaz Grala*Duel No. 2 results
2719Martin Truex Jr.Duel No. 1 results
2816AJ AllmendingerDuel No. 2 results
297Corey LaJoieDuel No. 1 results
304Josh BerryDuel No. 2 results
3138Todd GillilandDuel No. 1 results
3212Ryan BlaneyDuel No. 2 results
333Austin DillonDuel No. 1 results
348Kyle BuschDuel No. 2 results
3547Ricky Stenhouse Jr.Duel No. 1 results
3615Riley HerbstDuel No. 2 results
3731Daniel HemricDuel No. 1 results
3810Noah GragsonDuel No. 2 results
3962Anthony Alfredo*Qualifying speed
4060David Ragan*Qualifying speed
Posted on by Reid Spencer

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — If Michael McDowell should win a second Daytona 500 this year, he won’t know how much he’ll get from the record purse of $28,035,991 until the check arrives.

Suffice it to say that the winner’s share of the largest purse in motorsports history is enough to make a huge difference to McDowell and his Front Row Motorsports team.

McDowell, however, doesn’t plan to crunch the numbers before the race – he just knows it’s a lot.

“Obviously, it’s significant,” said McDowell, who scored his first NASCAR Cup Series victory in the 2021 edition of the “Great American Race.” “It’s the biggest race of the year for us and for the team from a payout standpoint. It does matter, especially for a team like us at Front Row. Winning the race and making the playoffs, financially what that does for you, it sets up the next few years — not just that year.

“If you’re going to win a race, this is the one you want to win, as far as the financial part of it goes.”

With the advent of the charter system in the Cup Series, individual payouts are no longer published. In the last Daytona 500 where prize money was revealed, Joey Logano won $1,586,503 for his victory in 2015.

It would make sense to extrapolate a higher first-place figure from a record purse in excess of $28 million. That sort of sum can be transformational for a driver or team.

“On the money side, it takes a lot of money to make this sport go around, and this race team,” said 2023 Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who drives the No. 47 Chevrolet for JTG-Daugherty Racing. “My wife and I are redoing our bathroom and bedroom and now a nursery, and that would go a long way. So, it’s kind of already spent—I hope we win.”

Posted on by Zack Albert

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Daniel Suárez enters a new NASCAR Cup Series season — his fourth with Trackhouse Racing’s No. 99 team — with aspirations for a rebound, a new crew chief, and (he insists) no extra pressure beyond the expectations he’s already set. His last contract update — a multiyear extension — was announced before last year’s Daytona 500 Media Day. In this year’s preseason availabilities, those contract questions touched on what his next steps might be beyond 2024.

Suárez’s quest for a return to the Cup Series Playoffs starts this week at Daytona International Speedway, with the season opening in earnest with Monday’s “Great American Race” (4 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). He’ll have new crew chief Matt Swiderski in place atop the pit box, in the hopes of providing a spark to a No. 99 group that notched just three top-five finishes and a 19th-place result in Cup Series points last year.

RELATED:  Power Rankings 2024 | Daytona weekend schedule

The crew chief swap is among a handful of recent changes to the Trackhouse stable, which has added plenty of promising talent to its driver-roster pipeline — with New Zealander standout Shane van Gisbergen, former Truck Series champ Zane Smith, and 17-year-old Connor Zilisch among those joining the fold. With prospects waiting for their big-league opportunity — either by expansion or promotion — Suárez said he hasn’t worried about his contract status, placing his preseason emphasis instead on improving performance.

“I think it’s too early for that, and honestly, for me, I don’t really like to talk about that stuff,” Suárez said. “I let my people talk about it, and they deal with that. My focus is on winning races and making my team competitive. That’s all I care about. I’m a big believer that if I take care of my thing and you take care of yours, things are gonna work out. But I have to focus on that. I cannot have my mind on an extension or what is going to happen in two years or whatever. My next contract, my mind has to be on performance, my mind has to be with the sponsors, my mind has to be on how we’re going to be able to make this team a winning team, and that’s what I’m thinking right now.”

Suárez missed the 16-driver postseason field, going winless one season after scoring his first Cup Series victory in a breakout 2022. He said the break with former crew chief Travis Mack was difficult, since he had cultivated a strong relationship with him in their three seasons together, but he noted that the new pairing was just part of the puzzle — with small changes in multiple facets of the team’s makeup.

“I’m seeing something different from this team, and I can already see what we’re gonna be able to do this year, and nobody else can see this yet but myself,” Suárez says. “Just in the same way that in 2021, I said Trackhouse is on their way because they are seeing this in a different way, and right now everyone sees what I saw three years ago. I’m seeing something different in the 99 team, and I believe that everything, all the work, all the adjustments that we did on the 99 team in the offseason, they’re going to be able to pay off, and I think that we’re gonna see the strongest season on the 99 team that we’ve ever had in the last few years.”

The season began with divided emotions for Suárez, who won in his return to the NASCAR Mexico Series at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, but failed to qualify for the Busch Light Clash main event on the Cup Series side. During time with reporters, Dustin Long of NBC Sports pointed out a connection to Suárez, noting that the last two Daytona 500 champions — Austin Cindric and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. — had failed to make the Clash field before winning the “Great American Race” two weeks later.

“Let’s make it happen,” Suárez said, recalling that he paid extra attention to the Harley J. Earl Trophy on display during his media rotations this year. “I can tell you that to me, it (would mean) as much as winning the championship. Winning this race as the first-ever Mexican driver to put your name on that list of legends. I mean, I was actually earlier, I was reading every single one of the years, all the drivers that have won this amazing race. It’s crazy, man. I can’t even think what it will mean. I don’t think I can describe it. I know we all have an opportunity. I know I’m going to have a fast car. I know I have a good pit crew. I know I have a very smart crew chief and I know how to prepare myself, so we’re ready.”

daniel suarez looks at trophy
James Gilbert | Getty Images
Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The last time he raced at Daytona International Speedway, Ryan Preece took a significant tumble down the back straightaway, his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford flipping wildly through the August air.

Preece is back at the 2.5-mile behemoth of a race track nearly six months later, this time eyeing a chance to win the 66th annual Daytona 500 on Monday (4 p.m. ET, FOX, FOX Deportes, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

MORE: Daytona Speedweeks schedule | Setting the lineup for the 2024 Daytona 500

The harrowing crash was visually dramatic and left Preece with two black eyes, but the hard-nosed competitor returned to the Central Florida coast with no trepidation ahead of a 500-mile test in the NASCAR Cup Series that could result in the same outcome.

“Honestly, I look at this race or this track no different than I did a year ago,” Preece said during Daytona 500 Media Day. “I think it … gave people more mixed feelings about this race track for my wife and my father than it did me. But as a racer, I’ll speak for myself: I’m numb to these things. Getting in the race car and having that happen? Crappy deal. I was pissed off more that we had such a fast race car and wasn’t able to finish the race.”

That mindset encompasses much of the tough exterior Preece exudes as a Connecticut native rooted in the fight-for-every-spot-you-want-natured NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour culture. It wasn’t until watching replays of his Daytona crash some 30 or 40 times, Preece estimated, that the severity of the crash truly set in.

“Things happen really fast,” Preece said. “So for your brain to really interpret everything that happened throughout that wreck, it certainly is something that comes — you just remember more and more.”

Ryan Preece gets airborne, flips at Daytona International Speedway.
Sean Gardner | Getty Images

Following Preece’s tumble, NASCAR officials examined what was left of the No. 41 Ford and researched the causes of the accident that led Preece airborne. As a result, more grass was removed from the backstretch in favor of more asphalt, with more pavement to come and extending to Turn 3 following the conclusion of the Daytona 500 weekend. That decision was met upon determination that the car became airborne after contacting the infield grass, creating even a brief separation between the tires, underbody, and surface.

“Right now, with our rules packages, with the limiters and the diffuser and everything that we have, that was the best alternative that we needed to do,” Preece said. “And certainly, I don’t want to see any other driver have to fly in the air like that. Because at the end of the day, I was certainly lucky. I understand that. You’re inches away from possibly not walking out of here or seeing your family again. So, for me, I’m happy they did it, and it was a step in what needed to be done to keep these cars on the ground.”

Daytona Speedweeks, meanwhile, is off to a solid start for the 33-year-old Preece, who won the tour-type modified feature race at the nearby New Smyrna Speedway on Tuesday night during the half-mile short track’s World Series of Asphalt.

MORE: Preece victorious at New Smyrna | Stewart-Haas Racing looks to improve in 2024

Despite a 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season that saw the four-car SHR group struggle, Preece is optimistic he and teammates Chase Briscoe, sophomore Noah Gragson and rookie Josh Berry are ready to turn the ship.

“I feel like there’s certain traits that I have that push them as well as certain traits that they have that push me,” Preece said. “So I feel like it complements each other as well. Us at Stewart-Haas, we hear everybody. We hear you guys. We’re not just ignoring it. And as you heard Tony (Stewart, team co-owner), mediocracy isn’t acceptable. I’m a race car driver. I’m somebody that’s very passionate about what I do. And I do it outside the Cup Series and I don’t accept mediocracy.

“I know within our 41 team, we didn’t have the year we wanted, but we set some of the foundation that we needed going into this year and now we’re gonna go do what we need to do. As a race car driver, to have a long-lasting career, you need to win races and I’m sick of talking about not winning.”

Posted on by Staff Report

What a way it would be for Ryan Blaney to start off his NASCAR Cup Series title defense if he could bag the biggest single-race prize of them all and win the Daytona 500. But that’s exactly what Racing Insights is predicting will happen when drivers line up to take part in the 66th running of the “Great American Race” on Monday at Daytona International Speedway (4 p.m. ET, FOX, FOX Deportes, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

In fact, looking at the Racing Insights’ prediction model, the numbers aren’t even close, with Blaney a clear favorite ahead of Team Penske teammate Joey Logano and Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott. Both of them are tightly bunched together in second and third place, respectively, but well behind the champ.

FANTASY LIVE: Set your roster | Weekend schedule

If Blaney pulls off the win, he’d become the first defending champion to win the Daytona 500 since Dale Jarrett accomplished the feat in 2000. That was Jarrett’s third win in the “Great American Race,” so he knew a thing or two about how to get the job done.

Blaney has been close, finishing eighth or better in five of the last seven Daytona 500s, including two runner-up finishes. His top-10 streak of two in a row leads all active drivers and exemplifies how unpredictable this race can be.

But Blaney has seemed to master drafting tracks in the Next Gen car with an average finish of 9.75 in the 12 races, the best of all active drivers. Plus, he won the most recent race at a drafting track last fall at Talladega Superspeedway.

Look for the champion’s celebration to continue in the new year as the Harley J. Earl Trophy goes to the driver of the No. 12 Ford.

OTHER DRIVERS TO WATCH

DENNY HAMLIN: The three-time winner of the Daytona 500 is always a threat. Hamlin has finished in the top five in eight of the last 12 Daytona 500s, with no other driver having more than four of those types of performances. Plus, Hamlin’s 480 laps led in the Daytona 500 rank him fifth all-time.

BRAD KESELOWSKI: Keselowski has led the most laps in the last two Daytona 500s, and though he hasn’t been able to take home the Harley J. Earl Trophy, his seven wins on drafting tracks lead all active drivers. Keselowski comes in hot on the drafting tracks, too, with four top 10s in the last five races.

WILLIAM BYRON: Byron has finished in the top 10 in the last four races on drafting tracks for the longest active streak. Meanwhile, Byron’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson has the longest active streak of top-10 starts on drafting tracks with 10. Look for Byron to be a factor and Larson possibly as well.

CHRIS BUESCHER: Want a sleeper pick? How about Buescher, who won the most recent race at Daytona in August 2023. In fact, Buescher finished in the top five in both Daytona races last year, so he’s clicking there in the Next Gen car.

KYLE BUSCH: Dale Earnhardt holds the record for most starts before getting a Daytona 500 victory, winning in his 20th start. Busch is making his 19th start and leads all drivers in laps led among those who are winless in the Daytona 500 with 330.

Projections as of Wednesday, Feb. 14.

RACING INSIGHTS’ PROJECTIONS FOR THE 66TH DAYTONA 500

Racing Insights’ advanced statistical formula includes current track, current track type, recent performance, team data and pit-crew data to arrive at a projected winner and full race results.

FinishCar NumberDriver
112Ryan Blaney
222Joey Logano
39Chase Elliott
420Christopher Bell
524William Byron
623Bubba Wallace
711Denny Hamlin
817Chris Buescher
95Kyle Larson
106Brad Keselowski
118Kyle Busch
121Ross Chastain
1345Tyler Reddick
1419Martin Truex Jr.
1548Alex Bowman
162Austin Cindric
1743Erik Jones
1899Daniel Suárez
1947Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
207Corey LaJoie
2116AJ Allmendinger
2214Chase Briscoe
2351Justin Haley
2441Ryan Preece
2554Ty Gibbs
2634Michael McDowell
2738Todd Gilliland
283Austin Dillon
294Josh Berry
3010Noah Gragson
3115Riley Herbst
3271Zane Smith
3321Harrison Burton
3478BJ McLeod
3584Jimmie Johnson
3642John H Nemechek
3731Daniel Hemric
3860David Ragan
3977Carson Hocevar
4036Kaz Grala
--62Anthony Alfredo
--44JJ Yeley
Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

With a podium finish already under his belt after the Busch Light Clash, Ryan Blaney is set to begin the defense of his 2023 NASCAR Cup Series championship.

The No. 12 Team Penske Ford hasn’t finished worse than third in the past four Cup events, and while the on-track success is what carried Blaney to title glory, it’s off the track where the meaning of being a NASCAR champion is hitting home.

After the dust settled in November at Phoenix Raceway — and after the banquet in December in Nashville — the thrills and frills largely quieted around the Blaney household. But January followed in a hustle, and with it arrived Blaney’s new fire suits for the 2024 season.

On the new fire suit is fashioned one notable difference: an embroidered badge that reads “CHAMPION” beneath the NASCAR Cup Series logo.

“It meant a lot,” Blaney said of seeing that label for the first time. “… It’s a nice little refresher for the new year when you pull out the fire suit from the bag and you see the champion logo beneath the NASCAR logo.”

RELATED: Blaney to have new spotter in title defense

It’s already been three months since Blaney took home the Bill France Cup, with the 30-year-old now on the precipice of chasing a Daytona 500 victory that will signal the true start of his title defense.

This year will mark his seventh as a full-time racer for Team Penske, though he’s essentially been in the pipeline since 2012 when Brad Keselowski hired the then-18-year-old to race part-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Blaney witnessed Keselowski bring team owner Roger Penske his first NASCAR Cup Series championship in 2012. Then, it was Joey Logano’s turn in 2018 and 2022.

Now, it’s Blaney’s turn to enjoy the glory and carry the responsibilities for those who are fortunate enough to taste victory at the top of the sport’s mountain. But he’s not only soaking it in for himself, it’s for the team, too.

“It’s nice to walk around and you’re like, ‘Man, I feel like I’ve done something really nice for the whole company and organization, right, for RP and everyone working there,” Blaney said. “And, I don’t want to say you feel validated in being there because everyone always believes in you, but (it’s) just like a personal confidence booster.”

Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney smile as they sit together at the driver's meeting before the 2023 Bristol Night Race.
Meg Oliphant | Getty Images

A staple at Team Penske since 2013, Logano is one of just two full-time multi-time champions racing today. He has seen Blaney’s ascension firsthand. There is a bitter sting the driver of the No. 22 Ford still feels after an early elimination from the playoffs in 2023. But watching Blaney — and the team around him — celebrate in Phoenix eased some of that nagging pain.

“It’s been cool to see it,” Logano said. “Obviously, you want to win the championship, right? Don’t get me wrong. But if we can’t win, you want to see one of your teammates win, and to see that team win again — that’s the team that I won with in 2018. Right? I mean, the crew chief’s different, but like a lot of those guys are the same guys from 2018.”

A third-generation racer behind his grandfather Lou, uncle Dale and father Dave, Ryan charged up the racing ladders with success but with the right mindset, too. Keselowski saw it early and quickly realized Blaney was capable of success. As Blaney rocketed to the Cup Series, he became teammates with Logano and Keselowski, sharing the stable for four seasons before Keselowski departed to become a co-owner/driver at RFK Racing.

RELATED: Ryan Blaney through the years

Though Keselowski has moved on to guide RFK to newfound success of its own, he still appreciates Blaney’s accomplishments.

“I mean, he was made for this moment in so many different ways from his upbringing to the people he surrounded himself with,” Keselowski said. “You know, if I’m NASCAR, it’s a dream for Ryan Blaney to win the championship because he’s willing to put in the work and effort and is just a good person.”

Brad Keselowski listens as Ryan Blaney talks to the media during the 2013
Streeter Lecka | Getty Images

Winning the title in 2022, Logano knows better than anyone recently what Blaney can expect as a champion, with added media asks and potential to shine under brighter spotlights around every corner. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Blaney is already taking those opportunities with open arms, heading to New York City ahead of The Clash with an appearance on “The Today Show,” a recording of “The Kelly Clarkson Show” and a sideline seat at a New York Knicks game at Madison Square Garden … even if he was cropped out of the picture with friend and competitor Bubba Wallace.

“He seems like he’s getting after it from what I see,” Logano said. “… You win the championship, then you’re that guy for a year, so make the most of it. You don’t know when it’s going to happen again.”

Penske was victorious with Blaney in last May’s Coca-Cola 600 and with Josef Newgarden in the Indianapolis 500, followed by the Cup title from Blaney in November. In January, Penske’s team claimed overall victory in the IMSA Rolex 24 at Daytona. While Blaney embraces the glory that comes with winning a championship, his mind is already focused on the next big goal — winning Monday’s Daytona 500 (4 p.m. ET, FOX, FOX Deportes, MRN Radio, SiriusXM Radio).

“Gotta win the 500. Gonna go try to win the 500,” Blaney said. “That’s what’s next, try to just keep getting milestones for RP and try to win historic races and bring more championships. That’s just the main goal. So yeah, them winning the 24 was great. And now it’s like, alright, well, we have to do it again in Daytona here in a couple of weeks.”

SHOP: Gear up for the Daytona 500

Posted on by Brandon White

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. — Before attempting to win his first Daytona 500 this week at Daytona International Speedway, Chase Elliott took a detour to New Smyrna Speedway on Tuesday evening to compete in the Clyde Hart Memorial.

The evening was a calm, yet uneventful one for the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion. After qualifying 10th, Elliott struggled to move his No. 9 Super Late Model through the field, but took advantage of some late attrition to earn a sixth-place finish.

Although Elliott wished he could have challenged race-winner Bubba Pollard in the opening race of the ASA STARS National Tour season, he took some solace over having made progress at New Smyrna in a Super Late Model.

“It was OK,” Elliott said. “I felt like I learned a little bit driving [this car], which is nice. We were better than we’ve ever been [at New Smyrna] since this has always been a really poor track for us.”

Tuesday’s 200-lap Super Late Model feature at New Smyrna Speedway was the first time Chase Elliott had raced at the track in over a decade. (Photo: Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)

Elliott’s last appearance at New Smyrna prior to Tuesday occurred during the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing in 2013. He competed in two Super Late Model events during that week, scoring finishes of fourth and sixth, respectively.

The efficiency Elliott displayed in Super Late Models during his youth helped propel him to his current position in the NASCAR Cup Series. Among the accomplishments on Elliott’s Super Late Model resume include two Snowball Derby victories at Florida’s Five Flags Speedway as well as triumphs in the Winchester 400 at Indiana’s Winchester Speedway and All American 400 at Tennessee’s Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.

Despite his past success, all the changes to Super Late Model racing during the past decade meant Elliott had minimal notes to rely on for his New Smyrna return. He had to find a perfect balance between re-learning the abrasive New Smyrna surface while also making a serious effort to win the race.

RELATED: Photos of Chase Elliott during the Clyde Hart Memorial

With each practice session, Elliott got more comfortable behind the wheel of his Super Late Model. Like it was during his development years, track time was pivotal and proved beneficial against a stout field of 32 cars.

“This is a craft,” Elliott said. “You’re always wanting to try and better that by breaking bad habits and building good ones. That’s what I’m after.”

The habits that made Elliott a champion in both the Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series were on display at New Smyrna. With the race being divided into three stages like the NASCAR Cup Series, Elliott knew there would be chances to adjust and did not make any rushed decisions while dealing with the drivers around him.

Being methodical could only help Elliott to a certain point Tuesday night. Passing proved to be a difficult task for Elliott throughout the 200-lap event and it took misfortune hindering Super Late Model veterans like Stephen Nasse and Ty Majeski for Elliott to start climbing his way closer to the top five.

Despite finishing outside the Top 5, Chase Elliott believes he made strides with his Super Late Model program at New Smyrna Speedway. (Photo: Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)

Elliott’s final pass of the evening came in the closing laps against Austin Nason. Dealing with aggressive defense as Nason pinched him down on the bottom groove, Elliott ran out of patience and lightly nudged Nason out of his way to take control of the sixth position.

The final showing was not what Elliott had envisioned in front of a packed house at New Smyrna, but he understands how difficult it is to be consistent in Super Late Models against the those who race them on a regular basis. Elliott intends to one day win another Super Late Model race and is optimistic Tuesday was a positive step towards achieving that goal.

“You always look back and feel like you could do something different,” Elliott said. “The cars are super different from the Cup side, but we’re going to keep working at it.

“Sixth is what it was [on Tuesday] and we’ll try again next time.”

Elliott hopes to run another Super Late Model event soon, but those plans remain fluid. His focus now turns towards rebounding from a challenging 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season by attempting to win his first Daytona 500 in his ninth try on Monday.