Posted on by Staff Report

The following article is brought to you by BetMGM.

There will be a NASCAR Cup Series points race on the Daytona International Speedway Road Course for the second straight year. That had never happened before unless, of course, you count the pre-1959 beach and road-course races at Daytona Beach, Florida.

With the challenges of COVID-19, the traditional second race of the season at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, had to be moved. A new venue had to be chosen. So all three NASCAR series will run on the Daytona Road Course this weekend, and Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 253 (3 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) promises to be a wild NASCAR Cup Series points race.

So, who is good here? While restrictor-plate race finishes are tough to forecast, road-course racing can be a bit more predictable. There are several veteran drivers who are pretty darn good at it, and there are veterans who quietly would rather skip road courses. It’s an acquired taste, so to speak.

How are things sizing up for this weekend? BetMGM takes a look.

RELATED: NASCAR Bet Center | See the betting odds for Sunday’s race from BetMGM

THE FAVORITE

Chase Elliott +200

Like father, like son. Right? Back in 1983, a 28-year-old Bill Elliott won his first NASCAR Cup Series race at Riverside International Speedway — a road-course track in Southern California that is no longer on the circuit. The elder Elliott went on to a 44-win career in NASCAR’s top division, and the driver is now in the sport’s Hall of Fame.

His son seems to have a similar skill set when it comes to his affinity for certain types of tracks. Chase Elliott has now won four straight road-course races at the top level, including both last year (the COVID-19 improvised races at the Daytona Road Course and Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, since Sonoma Raceway and Watkins Glen International couldn’t host races). The younger Elliott also captured the NASCAR Cup Series championship in 2020.

Summary? He’s pretty good at all kinds of NASCAR tracks, whereas some of his top competitors don’t enjoy road courses or superspeedways. But as any stock-car racing fan knows, you need to have Swiss Army knife talent if you want to conquer this level and win a Cup. Otherwise, it’s like you’re missing some chips, racing-wise.

Elliott isn’t missing any of those qualities. He’s the clear-cut favorite this weekend in Daytona at 2-1 odds.

OTHERS: Both Martin Truex, Jr. (+400) and Denny Hamlin (+1000) have had strong records at road courses. Since 2017, Truex has won three races at NASCAR’s typical road-course venues — Sonoma and Watkins Glen. Hamlin won at Watkins Glen in 2016 and has three top-five road-course finishes in the past two seasons.

RELATED: All-time road course winners in NASCAR

THE DARK-HORSE THREAT

AJ Allmendinger +1400

Who are we kidding? A.J. Allmendinger is in NASCAR Cup Series racing because of road courses. The man can just flat-out wheel a race car when it comes to turning left and right (not common in stock-car racing).

No, he won’t be a full-time racer in the series this year. Does that matter a lick? Absolutely not. His lone NASCAR Cup Series win came at Watkins Glen in 2014.

Of his 57 top-10 finishes in the top NASCAR series, nine have come at road-course tracks, and there is not an abundance of road-course tracks to collect top 10s from. His other strength is racing on superspeedways. That accounts for another nine of his career top 10s. When it comes to non-vanilla, quirky tracks? Allmendinger is one of the best. Superspeedways and road courses don’t scare him.

Keep an eye on the ‘Dinger this weekend. He may not be driving a big-name team’s equipment, but that has never hurt him before.

OTHERS: More established veterans like Kevin Harvick (+1200) and Joey Logano (+1400) are known commodities in the road-course racing universe. They’ve both proven they can win races in this format. William Byron (+2000) has three straight top 10s, too.

THE INTRIGUING LONG SHOT

Erik Jones +6600

Don’t be fooled by the odds. This kid can race. He’s especially effective when he’s away from the cookie-cutter oval tracks and can improvise. He finished 11th last year on the Daytona Road Course and had top-10 finishes in five road-course races before that. He’s in new equipment this year with Richard Petty Motorsports, but he’s good in whatever equipment he’s in.

While Petty’s equipment is new for Jones, it is not a bad ride to be in. Just ask former road-course ringer, Marcos Ambrose. He won two Cup road-course races in the past 10 years in Petty cars. If a driver has the talent, he or she can win a road-course race with Petty. Ambrose and Allmendinger know it well.

If you like long shots who have a track record (pun intended), how about 66-1 for a guy who has done some things on these tricky tracks?

OTHERS: Nobody expected Michael McDowell to win the Daytona 500, but it happened. Well, this weekend’s race is at Daytona, so maybe it could happen again. Alex Bowman (+2500) hasn’t been too shabby the past two years on road courses, averaging a 10th-place finish in five tries. Matt DiBenedetto (+5000) had two top 10s in 2019. And hey, don’t forget Chris Buescher (+12500) was fifth last year on the Daytona Road Course.

Posted on by Zack Albert

Sheldon Creed won the Camping World Truck Series’ first crack at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course last August, calling his Triple Truck Challenge bonus cash-in “rad.” The second go-round on the 3.61-mile circuit was gnarly in its own mixed-fortune way, but the defending series champion still contended for victory Friday night in the BrakeBest Brake Pads 159.

RELATED: Official race results | At-track photos: Daytona

Creed led a race-high 17 of 51 laps, finishing second in his GMS Racing No. 2 Chevrolet. The only driver placing in front of him was Ben Rhodes, who claimed his second straight victory to open the season. In doing so, he stoked the flames of a developing rivalry after their late-race contact and Rhodes’ clinching pass on Lap 45 prompted testy post-race remarks between the two.

“I was actually not very happy with that,” said Creed, who finished sixth in the Daytona season opener last weekend. “I feel like I passed him for the lead really cleanly and left him room and gave him room, and he just drove into me in (Turn) 1 on the restart. I don’t know. I’ll remember that down the road when we’re racing hard again, and he might be on the other end of that deal. I don’t know. Frustrated to run second, I guess.”

Brian Lawdermilk | Getty Images
Brian Lawdermilk | Getty Images

Rhodes was frustrated in his own right, and his radio communications to his ThorSport Racing No. 99 team sizzled for much of the night. Rhodes chalked some of the angst to a temper he inherited from his family, but he was also irked by what he perceived as Creed’s unwillingness to share the road and some history of confrontation between their camps.

“I’m going to choose my words carefully here for Sheldon because I’m not exactly sure what he meant by that because the guy did try to run me on the straightaway off of the race track, so I don’t know exactly what he means by that,” Rhodes said. “We’re all slipping and sliding out of control in Turn 1. I mean, two times down the chute from (Turns) 3 to 4, he tried to run me off the track and then did it from (Turns) 5 to 6. And let’s not forget that at Eldora (Speedway) in 2019, the guy did door-slam me into the wall and total a truck at Eldora for seventh place.

“So, this is a win, and I didn’t total his truck out, nor did I wreck him, so I don’t know what his problem is, but he can get over it.”

Creed experienced pitfalls before the conflict with Rhodes ever materialized. His lead was threatened by a significant bump as he placed Bobby Reuse’s No. 3 Chevy a lap down on Lap 16. He also made the unusual error of dropping from first to fifth during a Stage 3 yellow flag, failing to maintain proper pace in an effort to save fuel down the stretch.

That was the downside. On the positive part of the equation, his prospects for sponsorship were looking up once Camping World CEO Marcus Lemonis left word for Creed to reach out to talk about backing for his No. 2 GMS entry.

“That’s good to hear,” Creed said. “I’m gonna have to give him a call on Monday morning.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

Ben Rhodes wrapped up a perfect pair of race outings at Daytona International Speedway, answering his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory on the oval last week with a dramatic win Friday night on the infield road course.

It took three overtime starts to secure the victory over 2020 series champion Sheldon Creed, but Rhodes’ work in the No. 99 ThorSport Racing Toyota marked only the third time in series history a driver had opened the season with back-to-back wins. And it marked the 200th victory for Toyota in the series.

RELATED: Official results | At-track photos: Daytona

Rhodes, 23, of Louisville, Kentucky, crossed the finish line .320-seconds ahead of Creed — the running order froze, however, when a caution (one of 10 on the night) came out with a half-lap remaining in overtime.

John Hunter Nemechek, who won Stage 1 and led 14 laps on the night, finished third. Todd Gilliland, who started 31st, rallied to a fourth-place finish and Riley Herbst rounded out the top five.

Matt Crafton, Derek Kraus, Kaz Grala, Timmy Hill and Christian Eckes completed the top 10. Rookie Hailie Deegan was running in the top 10 until a spin on the final lap of overtime. She finished 28th.

“Unbelievable, I don’t even have words for it,” Rhodes said after climbing out of this truck just below the flagstand on the frontstretch. “I don’t even know what to say, this is so cool.

“I just have to thank my team. The Bombardier Tundra was fast all day. ThorSport Racing gave me a truck that handled this year and we were fast. Rich (Lushes) is a really good crew chief. It’s good to be paired up with him and all of the guys on my team. I’m just thrilled. I don’t know what to say. I’ve been on cloud nine all week, so it’s above that. I’m just so happy.”

Certainly, Rhodes was in a celebratory mood following the race, but it was a tense finish. He was about 50 yards shy of the flagstand on the first overtime period when a caution came out, extending the race instead of earning him the trophy then.

He and Creed — who led a race-best 17 laps — dueled for the lead multiple times in the closing laps, often exchanging the point during the infield series of turns of the road course.

“Never fun being the first loser,” Creed said. “But my guys brought a fast truck and I felt like we were on top of the strategy there going to slicks early. Man, got hit by a lapper there leading and I don’t think that did us any favors — and got to the lead, saving fuel and then worked my way back to the lead and got pushed out the way on the restart, just doing everything I could there. Wished it could have stayed green.”

The race started under wet conditions with teams having to decide when the track was dry enough to switch from rain tires to slicks or “dry” tires. Nemechek was the early leader — pacing the field for the opening 14 laps until his No. 4 Toyota suffered an oil-pressure and fuel-pickup problem, leaving the Tundra on track and necessitating a caution. Later he ran out of gas and at one point was a lap down to the leaders before racing back to the front in the closing laps.

Rhodes had to deal with Creed and then ultimately Nemechek’s comeback in order to earn his fifth career victory.

“It was the most stressful race of my life for sure,” Rhodes said. “There’s been stressful races, but this was really stressful. I thought it was going to be taken away from us for sure.

“I’m not sure if they showed me throwing my hands up, I hope they didn’t. Hope they didn’t listen to the radio either. I was a little frustrated. Gosh, it all worked out now. So stressful, so stressful. I don’t think I’ve had one that stressful before.”

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series next race is March 5 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (9 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Note: Inspection in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series garage revealed no issues, verifying Ben Rhodes’ victory.

Posted on by Terrin Waack

Alvin Kamara hesitated.

The 5-foot-10, 215-pound NFL running back wasn’t sure whether he belonged at a NASCAR race. His interest in stock-car racing only recently piqued due to the COVID-19 shutdown, as it was the first professional sport to return to action. But old reservations kicked in when he arrived at Homestead-Miami Speedway as an invited guest.

“I was kind of like, let me stay on my side, I’ll introduce myself,” Kamara said Friday on his first NASCAR teleconference. “But everyone was so welcoming. They’re like, ‘Man, we love that you’re here. Are you really interested?’ I’m like yeah, and we had conversations going and flowing. I’m meeting fans and interacting with people. I’m like oh, this is a safe space. It’s not what I thought it was. I was pleasantly surprised.”

Kamara’s first in-person race happened in June 2020. On Wednesday, Kamara announced his Louisiana-based juice bar, The Big Squeezy, will sponsor Ryan Vargas’ No. 6 JD Motorsports Chevrolet in the NASCAR Xfinity Series next Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

RELATED: Alvin Kamara partners with JD Motorsports

The three-time Pro Bowler went from brand-new fan to financially invested partner in less than a year.

“It means the world to me,” said Vargas, one of NASCAR’s few Hispanic drivers. “This is one of those opportunities that doesn’t come along often, and that’s kind of been my whole career. I was a part of the Drive for Diversity program in 2018, and they opened the door for me to get into the sport. One thing I will always say is this sport has welcomed me with open arms. I’ve always had great experiences.”

In the past, certain stereotypes surrounded NASCAR. That’s why both Kamara and Vargas clarify that the league does feel more welcoming now.

Last year the sanctioning body prohibited Confederate flags from all NASCAR venues, and as Kamara acknowledged: better late than never. In that same year, the industry backed Bubba Wallace — the only Black driver at the Cup Series level — as he spoke out about social-injustice issues the nation continues to battle. Conversations on how to further improve were brought into 2021, too.

Steps have clearly been made toward a better, more inclusive future.

“There are people in the African American community that are obviously interested,” Kamara said. “I think it’s more so on our radar now because of what’s been happening over the past, I guess, nine or 10 months. Bubba, the news of him has been everywhere. Obviously with NASCAR making the move to ban the flag from their events and from basically their culture and their footprint, that was one huge thing. I probably couldn’t bring myself to a race if that was something I felt like they were supporting. With that being gone, I think that there will be more African American fans and people that are interested.”

Kamara isn’t the only big name outside of the NASCAR realm seeing and supporting its push for change. NBA legend Michael Jordan and Grammy-winning superstar Armando Perez, a.k.a. Pitbull, are both team co-owners at the top level. Jordan helps field 23XI Racing with Wallace as its driver. Pitbull is with the Trackhouse Racing Team and its pilot, Daniel Suarez, the first Mexican-born driver to win a NASCAR national-series event.

This goes beyond brand promotion.

“We’ve been hitting it on the head: It’s about diversity,” Kamara said. “Just opening the gates to welcome in new fans and new people that may have had interest but didn’t feel comfortable or people that don’t even understand the sport and may be indifferent about it but willing to give it a chance. I think there’s a whole new set of possibilities that can come with what’s going on right now.”

Posted on by Jason Christley

The world of Super Late Models is undoubtedly centered in the South, with drivers like Bubba Pollard and Stephen Nasse gobbling up the big prizes.

But for the last two years, it’s been New Englander Derek Griffith who’s been on top of the division at the World Series of Asphalt at New Smyrna.

After locking up his second straight SLM title at the World Series, Griffith joined a very select group of drivers to win at least two straight championships at New Smyrna in that division since New Smyrna began hosting the event in 1968 (Pete Hamilton, Junior Hanley, Dick Trickle, Pete Orr).

The week was a dominant one for Griffith. He picked up three wins and finished no worse than ninth in seven races, winning the title by 28 points over Ryan Moore.

From racing at Hudson Speedway in his hometown of Hudson, New Hampshire, Griffith has made it to the top over some of the best Late Model competition in the country.

“If you told me when I was 12 years old, when I was first starting off, that I even would be racing a Super Late Model, I’d have been like ‘Yeah, right. Whatever. Get out of here…’ I would never have projected myself to be in this position when I first started,” Griffith said.

In fact, Griffith’s career has gone nowhere but up the last couple of years. Driving the ARCA Menards Series in a part-time role with Chad Bryant Racing in 2020, Griffith picked up a pair of top fives and seven top-10 finishes in eight starts.

RELATED: Derek Griffith Career Stats | Watch: All 9 Nights of 2021 New Smyrna World Series

Only 24, Griffith’s stock has risen to the point where he’s one of the most sought-after Super Late Model drivers in the country. This past week, Griffith was being asked for advice on finding speed by young local drivers.

“It’s funny. I’m considered, like, an old guy now,” he said. “I’ve had some of the kids [in Florida] asking me questions, talking to me about stuff.”

Something Griffith has always been proud of has been that he’s very much a part of doing work on his cars. “The hard way,” as he calls it, began when he was a teenager, racing at his hometown track and it adds a bit more satisfaction each time he gets to Victory Lane.

“It’s a fulfillment level I can’t put into words,” Griffith says. “We’re just some little team from New Hampshire. It’s crazy to think that just because we’ve hustled, and put our time in, that it’s earned us the spot that we’re at right now.”

This year, Griffith has plans to run more ARCA races, along with short track events across the Northeast. Despite all the success and all the accolades that have gone his way to this point in his career, Griffith makes sure not to let the winning go to his head.

“I like to try to stay as humble as I possibly can,” Griffith says. “It’s so important for me to kind of keep my head in check and make sure I’m not overstepping where I think I need to be.”

“I’m always going to remember myself as that kid at Hudson Speedway that ran a Volkswagen Golf GTI for some fun on the weekends.”

With that in mind, Griffith continues winning—hopefully, with plenty more to come in 2021.

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Derek Griffith won three times en route to the Super Late Model championship at New Smyrna’s World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing. (Jim Dupont/NASCAR)
Posted on by Terrin Waack

As of Friday morning, Team Penske teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski have not discussed the last-lap crash in the Daytona 500 that ended both of their chances at winning the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season opener.

But they’re going to talk before Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 253 on the Daytona International Speedway Road Course (3 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). And Logano expects everything is going to be OK.

“The analogy I used on Sirius a minute ago: It’s a marriage,” Logano said Friday on a Zoom teleconference. “When you’re married to somebody, you have to figure it out. You’re married. You don’t just leave. You get married, it’s supposed to be forever. So when you have conflict or you have a difference of opinion or whatever, you have to talk about it. You’re forced to. You can’t just roll it up under the rug, right? It’s just not going to work. It’s not healthy. People do that, it’s just not healthy to do.

“So that’s kind of the situation here, where I will be forced and he will be forced to work with me. We’re still teammates. We will have to figure this out. We may not have to agree on everything, but we at least have to find a way to move forward. And that is going to be the approach for me to do because going back to the 400 men and women that work at Team Penske, we owe it o them to figure this out. And we will fix it.”

RELATED: Joey Logano-Brad Keselowski crash ends Team Penske’s Daytona 500 bid

Keselowski has not made a public comment since the incident, other than his post-race interview.

Logano took the white flag last Sunday night at the World Center of Racing. Keselowski ran right behind him, followed by Michael McDowell in the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford. With less than half a lap left to go around the 2.5-mile oval, Keselowski’s No. 2 Ford bumped the left rear of Logano’s No. 22 Ford after a push from behind by McDowell. Logano and Keselowski both went spinning and collected multiple cars in the process, all while McDowell went on to win his first career Cup race in 358 starts.

“Honestly, I’m happy for McDowell,” Logano said. “The guy’s a grinder, man. He’s been grinding his whole career, and he finally won one and it’s the biggest race ever. I’m ecstatic for him, and he should be over the moon. And yes, we’ve talked to each other quite a bit here in the last few days, texting back and forth. He brought it up. He was concerned, like, ‘Did I do something wrong? Is everything OK?’ Yeah, go for the win, I get it.”

RELATED: Where do Team Penske’s odds stack up for Sunday (3 p.m. ET, FOX)?

Logano was hoping to score his second win in The Great American Race. Keselowski was looking for his first. Instead, Logano finished 12th and Keselowski was 13th.

“The goal is to move on and not say, ‘You raced me hard, so I’m going to race you hard,’ and now we’re beating the doors off each other every week, and it grows and grows and grows and grows,” Logano said. “That’s the goal, that you can’t seek revenge or seek, well, you made my life hard so I’m going to make your life hard. That’s childish. We’re adults. We’re not doing that. I’m not going to do that for multiple reasons. For one, like I’ve been saying over and over again, if you do this, that’s the most selfish thing you can do because you’re not just hurting yourself or hurting him, you’re hurting all the people that work on that car. What’d they do to you? And they’re the same people that work on my car, by the way.”

Logano and Keselowski – both former champions – are just one race into the 36-race 2021 season, their ninth as teammates. Logano joined Team Penske in 2013. Keselowski has been with the organization since his full-time Cup Series career began in 2010.

This isn’t their first on-track-turned-off-track feud – see last year’s Busch Clash – and everything turned out just fine.

“To me, the biggest heartbreak of this whole thing is that there are 400 people at Team Penske asking where their Daytona 500 bonus is,” Logano said, “and it’s up in a ball of flames up in Turn 3 right now.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

Michael McDowell always goes into a NASCAR Cup Series road-course event feeling confident and prepared to win, and for the first time in his career, he’ll bring a huge trophy with him.

McDowell earned his first Cup career victory in the Daytona 500 last weekend, and the road-course specialist arrives for Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 253 (3 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) on the Daytona International Speedway Road Course absolutely ready to make it two-in-a-row.

DAYTONA ROAD COURSE: Weekend schedule | Starting lineup

Should he pull off the back-to-back wins, McDowell would be only the sixth driver in history to win the season’s opening two races. The last to do so was Matt Kenseth in 2009. But McDowell has good reason to be optimistic. He is a former IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Series road-course race winner and has a best finish of third in seven Rolex 24 races on the Daytona Road Course.

“We feel really optimistic and confident,” said McDowell, who finished 10th in the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford at the Daytona Road Course last summer. “We had a top-five car most of the day last year. (Crew chief) Drew (Blickensderfer) and I went for it near the end with taking tires, but we didn’t get a late race caution so the strategy didn’t work like we wanted.”

McDowell acknowledged he and his team carry high expectations into the upcoming road-course affair.

“Even without the Daytona 500 win, we would still feel confident coming back this weekend,” McDowell said. “We have really worked hard on our road-course program this offseason and we are getting better. It’s another good opportunity for us.”

Of course, McDowell will have to beat the same driver he edged in the Daytona 500. Reigning Cup champion Chase Elliott has won the last four road-course races dating back to 2019. Five of Elliott’s 11 career series wins have come on road-course venues, including the 2020 race on the 3.61-mile, 14-turn Daytona Road Course.

PHOTOS: Top road-course winners in NASCAR

Elliott’s 8.92 career average finish on road courses in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet is best among active drivers. His crew chief, Alan Gustafson, a Daytona Beach, Florida, native, is the winningest active crew chief on road courses with five wins.

Last summer, Elliott held off Denny Hamlin by .202 seconds to earn the series’ inaugural race victory on the Daytona course – leading a race-best 34 of the 65 laps. Elliott won both road courses last season (at Daytona and Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Roval) and was leading on the Daytona infield in the non-points Busch Clash event last week before contact with Ryan Blaney on the final turn of the final lap. He recovered to finish second.

DAYTONA ROAD COURSE: Paint schemes | Betting odds

“Road courses have been good to us the past few trips, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to go good every time,” Elliott said. “There has not been one part of me that watched the schedule change, saw seven road courses and thought, ‘Yeah, we’ve got it now.’ That’s just not how I am. At the end of the day, you have to be good everywhere and I want to be good everywhere. We as a team want to get to the point where we can win on any given week; road course, circle track, intermediate, dirt … whatever it is, we want to be able to win at any time. The great teams and the great drivers are capable of doing that and I think we are capable of doing that. So that’s where my head’s at – trying to be good everywhere.”

Elliott and McDowell will start on the front row Sunday, just ahead of Austin Dillon, who leads the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings for the first time in his career. He finished just behind McDowell and Elliott in the Daytona 500. With two top-five finishes in the race’s opening stages plus his third-place at the checkered and his win in the second Bluegreen Vacations Duel at Daytona, Dillon holds a six-point advantage over Denny Hamlin in the championship standings.

Posted on by Staff Report

The NASCAR Cup Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 253 at the Daytona Road Course begins Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Ahead of this weekend’s road racing, take a look at some important highlights and information you need to know.

SCHEDULE

The exciting pre-race coverage starts this Sunday at 11 a.m. ET with an all-new NASCAR Race Hub: Best of Radioactive on FS1 — featuring behind-the-scenes highlights from previous road course races. Setting the stage for the showdown, NASCAR RaceDay airs on FS1 at 1:30 p.m. ET and switches over to FOX at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Driver introductions begin at 2:45 p.m. ET followed by the national anthem and Netflix’s ‘The Crew’ star Kevin James giving the command to start engines at 3:08 p.m. ET.

The green flag for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 253 is scheduled to wave at 3:20 p.m. ET. Stage 1 is set to end at Lap 16, Stage 2 at Lap 34 and the checkered flag waved at the conclusion of Lap 70.

RELATED: Daytona Road Course weekend schedule 

ODDS

It’s no surprise seeing reigning Cup Series champion Chase Elliott opening as favorite to win at the first road course race of the season, closing in on the weekend with 2-1 odds.

Martin Truex Jr. trails just behind at 4-1, followed by Denny Hamlin at 10-1 and Kevin Harvick, Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch each breaking in at 12-1 to round out the top six.

Where does your favorite driver land? Check out the full list of BetMGM odds.

BUY TICKETS

COVID-19 restrictions remain in place for this weekend, therefore limited seating options will be available to fans who wish to attend. Tickets for seating on the frontstretch can be purchased at the Daytona International Speedway event site.

WHO’S ON THE POLE THIS SUNDAY?

Elliott has won the Busch Pole Award, landing the No. 9 crew at the front of the pack to start Sunday’s race where he will be joined by Daytona 500 champion Michael McDowell. Austin Dillon, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick all start inside the top-five starting positions in Sunday’s 40-car field.

DAYTONA ROAD COURSE 2020 — INAUGURAL RACE

Elliott dominated the inaugural Cup Series race on the Daytona Road Course, leading a race-high 34 laps and fending off a hard-charging Hamlin after a late restart in the final stage. The No. 9 wheelman has starred at road courses throughout his career and has won at each of the last four road circuits dating back to the Charlotte Roval in September 2019.

RULES PACKAGE

This weekend’s race will feature a reduced-downforce aero package combined with a 750-horsepower engine and 2.75-inch rear spoiler (down from the 8-inch height used at tracks over one mile). This change came into effect during the 2020 season and is scheduled to be used at all road courses and short tracks. 

GOODYEAR TIRES

Each Cup team will receive seven sets of Goodyear Eagle Road Course Radials for the race. For race setup, the minimum recommended tire inflation is 28 psi for the left front, 30 psi for right front and 22 psi for each rear tire. In case of inclement weather, Goodyear will bring the Wet Weather Radials — last used at the Charlotte Roval in October 2020 — should NASCAR decide that the conditions warrant the change.

STATS AND STREAKS

— The Daytona Road Course is the first of seven road courses on the Cup Series schedule, the most ever in a single season.

— Jeff Gordon holds the longest streak of road course wins with six, spanning from August 1997 to June 2000. He also holds the all-time total wins record with nine.

— Either Martin Truex Jr. or Chase Elliott has visited Victory Lane at eight of the last nine road courses. Truex picked up his most recent road course win in 2019 at Sonoma Raceway.

— Four active drivers finished in the top 10 in both road course races in 2020: Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano and William Byron.

Stats provided by Racing Insights

FANTASY LIVE

It’s not too late to join in on the fun! NASCAR Fantasy Live is your chance to manage a team, take risks and earn bragging rights. Learn how to play at fantasygames.nascar.com.

2021 fantasy points leaders: Denny Hamlin (52), Austin Dillon (48), Michael McDowell (44). 

ALSO ON NASCAR.COM

Get additional camera views by logging on to NASCAR Drive, where each week a select number of in-car cameras will be available – as well as a battle cam and an overhead look.

New for this season, NASCAR has partnered with LiveLike to add fan engagement in the NASCAR Mobile App. Log in to the mobile app during the race for polls, quizzes, the cheer meter and more — and see instant results from NASCAR fans like you.

Posted on by Holly Cain

A typically action-packed season-opening NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on the Daytona International Speedway oval last week takes a new turn – 14 turns actually – when the series races on the 3.61-mile infield road course in Friday night’s BrakeBest Brake Pads 159 (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Reigning champion Sheldon Creed won the Daytona Road Course event last year, taking a comfortable .743-second win over veteran Brett Moffitt – the two drivers leading 32 of the 46 laps with Creed leading the last 12. Raphael Lessard, Matt Crafton and Austin Hill rounded out the top five in order.

DAYTONA ROAD COURSE: Weekend schedule | Starting lineup | Paint schemes

It was the only road-course Truck race of the 2020 COVID-19 affected schedule. Typically, the series races at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville, Ontario. Among those full-time drivers entered this weekend, only John Hunter Nemechek (2016) and Moffitt (2019) have recent road-course wins there.

Ben Rhodes, a championship contender in 2020, earned the season-opening win at Daytona last weekend, edging Jordan Anderson by .036 seconds. Chandler Smith led the most laps. Rhodes holds a slim four-point edge on the defending champ Creed and Nemechek coming into this weekend’s race.

Hailie Deegan, driver of the No. 1 Team DGR, will be making only her second start in the series as a full-time championship contender. She ran briefly among the top five last weekend on the Daytona oval but was caught in a crash and finished 24th.

Deegan, who was encouraged with her work Sunday, told the media this week she has really benefitted from having former NASCAR Cup Series driver David Ragan as a “tutor” of sorts for the 2021 season.

“He has been crucial for my development,” Deegan said. “Just the level of experience he has and all the knowledge he has that he has been able to feed to me has been so great.

“Ford saw how much he was helping me and the information he was giving me. I think going into the Truck Series this year, Ford stuck him with me with the mindset of working together and doing the best we can together.”

Deegan said the former Cup winner has been able to help the learning curve with all the new tracks she’s encountering. She does have some experience on the Daytona Road Course, finishing sixth in an ARCA Menard Series race there last year.

“His experience and knowledge,” Deegan said. “Everything he knows about every single track. I think going to all these tracks, I am very new to them. A lot of them I haven’t raced at before. Him having experience there and a lot of notes that he can give me is crucial.”

Rhodes will start from the pole this weekend, and Ryan Truex, who finished fourth in last week’s season-opener, will start on the outside front row for Friday’s race.

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR has tweaked the Daytona International Speedway Road Course’s bus stop chicane before this weekend’s national series tripleheader, following driver feedback from the season-opening Busch Clash.

The sanctioning body added rumble strips to the Turn 9 and Turn 10 chicane on the backstretch to prevent cars from getting into the grass and spraying dirt onto the racing surface and other cars.

RELATED: Daytona Road Course schedule | Turn-by-turn look at Daytona Road Course

The rumble strips will be the same as the front chicane. The one to the driver’s right on entry is approximately 36 feet long, and the other is approximately 30 feet long.

Chicane Daytona 2

Such as several drivers broached the idea to NASCAR leadership, with Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Kyle Larson and Chase Briscoe among the group contributing specific ideas. Among the ideas was the addition of a temporary Musco lighting tower to help with visibility, which NASCAR added in advance of this weekend.

“It looked like a good fix to me in short order,” said Alan Gustafson, crew chief for Chase Elliott. “Should be good. I don’t really have any issues with guys straightening that bus stop. That’s their job. That’s what they’re supposed to do. Just the dirt was a problem.”

Elliott will attempt to win his fifth straight NASCAR Cup Series road-course race in Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 253 at Daytona (3 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). He will start on the pole with Daytona 500 champion Michael McDowell next to him on the front row.

Elliott won last year’s inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race on the course layout, and he nearly won the Busch Clash event, too. An aggressive move for the win resulted in both Elliott and race leader Ryan Blaney spinning out of contention, allowing Busch to drive by for the win.