Jae Powis

I am a 26-year-old motorsport and automotive journalist. I grew up being an all round motorsports fan watching the BTCC, WRC, NASCAR, and F1. Since then, I have become a NASCAR fanatic, and a huge IndyCar fan whilst taking interest in other motorsport series such as IMSA, Supercars, Turismo Carretera and Stock Car Pro Series. I am now the NA Editor & NASCAR Writer for ThePitCrewOnline.
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Hendrick déjà vu: Byron beats Larson in overtime finish again to win Phoenix Cup race

Sunday saw William Byron, for two-weeks in a row, beat Kyle Larson in a overtime restart to win the Cup Series race, this time at Phoenix Raceway in the United Rentals Work United 500. Kevin Harvick had overtaken Larson for the lead with 43 laps to go but a caution with 11 laps to go for Harrison Burton blowing a tyre, saw Harvick lose the lead on pit road and fall back to seventh, having taken four tyres, while Larson and Byron came off pit road first and second on just two tyres. 

  • Race summary
  • Rest of race recap
  • Full race results
  • Point standings

William Byron had taken the lead away from pole-sitter Kyle Larson on lap two and went on to win stage one but Kyle Larson took the lead back on pit road during the stage break and won stage two.

Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet, Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Shingrix Toyota, and Christopher Bell, driver of the No. 20 Rheem Toyota, race during the NASCAR Cup Series United Rentals Work United 500 at Phoenix Raceway (Photo by Chris Graythen | Getty Images)

Heading towards the white flag, Tyler Reddick gave a helpful push to Byron coming down the backstretch heading, as Blaney, Larson and Byron were three-wide for the lead with Byron on the outside, helping Byron clear Larson and Blaney going into turn four to take the white flag and the checkered flag.

It’s Byron sixth career win and his first at Phoenix in the Cup Series.

William Byron celebrates his 6th career win by burning it down at the start finish line at Phoenix Raceway, March 12 2023 (Photo by Meg Oliphant | Getty Images)

Byron thanked crew chief Rudy Fugle for the win saying: “Owe the last couple weeks to him. He’s done a really good job strategy-wise, and execution-wise we’ve done a good job to put ourselves in those positions on the front row with a shot at the end.”

AVONDALE, ARIZONA – MARCH 12: William Byron, driver of the #24 Valvoline Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series United Rentals Work United 500 at Phoenix Raceway on March 12, 2023 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)

Kyle Larson led 201 of the 312 laps so was not too pleased to come in fourth after losing the win to Byron in the same fashion for two-weeks running, being beat in last week’s overtime restart in Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s 400-mile race, saying: “Restarts are just tough. [Byron] did a really good job of holding it to my outside, clearing me down the back. Yeah, I’m pissed off.”

Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, reacts after finishing fourth in the NASCAR Cup Series United Rentals Work United 500 at Phoenix Raceway (Photo by Susan Wong | NASCAR Studios)

Kevin Harvick aka “The Closer” was looking to become a 10-time Phoenix Cup Series winner. Having started 15th, he finished eighth and third in stages one and two respectively before in the final stage on a long green flag run passed Larson for the lead with 43 laps to go.

Harvick was clear sailing prior to the caution with 11 laps to go and was not able to gain any positions when the field went back to green with three laps to go before Noah Gragson, AJ Allmendinger, and Ty Gibbs wrecked in turns one and two sending the race into overtime.

Harvick said: “That’s the way it goes. Just smoked ’em up until the caution. They did a great job with our Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang. Didn’t need the caution at the end.”

It was Harvick’s 20th straight top-10 finish at Phoenix Raceway in the Cup Series.

Ryan Blaney had a strong race from start to finish coming home in the runner up spot. Blaney finished sixth and eighth in stage one and two respectively. The Team Penske driver was running sixth at the time of Burton blowing his tyre.

Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Dent Wizard Ford, races during the the NASCAR Cup Series United Rentals Work United 500 at Phoenix Raceway (Photo by Cameron Richardson | NASCAR Studios)

Ford and former Penske teammate Brad Keselowski also had a strong race prior to the overtime finish, being ninth and fourth in stages one and two respectively before finishing eighteenth.

Josh Berry, subbing for the injured Chase Elliott, drove the No. 9 Kelley Blue Book Chevrolet to an impressive 10th place finish. Berry was getting used up in stage one struggling to get inside the top 25. The full-time JR Motorsports Xfinity driver worked his way into the top 15 in the final stage before finishing one place behind Hendrick teammate Alex Bowman, placing all four Hendrick Chevrolet’s in the top-10.

Rest of race recap

The United Rentals 500 marked the debut of the new short track package, seeing a 30% reduction in downforce compared to last year’s short track package, due in part to halving the spoiler from four inches to two.

The cars were permitted to race in wet conditions  if they occurred during the race as part of NASCAR’s expansion to allow wet-weather racing at one mile or less sized oval tracks in addition to the road course races.

2021 Phoenix winner Kyle Larson led the field to green flag before Byron released Larson of the lead getting by on the inside of turn one on lap two.

Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, leads the field to the green flag to start the NASCAR Cup Series United Rentals Work United 500 at Phoenix Raceway on March 12, 2023 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

With under ten to go in stage one, BJ McLeod retired with a fuel pump issue before Ricky Stenhouse Jr. tagged the turn one wall running 25th but was able to continue. Byron led the rest of the laps to win stage one.

During the stage one caution break, Kyle Larson was able to win back the lead on pit road in part to having the number one pit stall at the end of pit road.

Aric Almirola brought out the caution on lap 139 after his wheel hub and tyre broke free. Larson was first off pit road again and went on to win stage two.

Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 GoBowling.com Ford, breaks a right-front wheel during the NASCAR Cup Series United Rentals Work United 500 at Phoenix Raceway (Photo by Susan Wong | NASCAR Studios)

Harvick started the final stage side-by-side with Larson on the restart but Larson quickly pulled away to a 2.5 second gap by lap 207.

Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series United Rentals Work United 500 at Phoenix Raceway, with Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Hunt Brothers Ford Mustang behind, on March 12, 2023 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

During the rest of the final stage, the whole field split the 127-lap stage in half except Erik Jones who stayed out in the lead on old tyres until Kyle Larson caught and passed him for the lead on much fresher tyres with 52 laps to go. Jones was hoping for a caution to force everybody else down pit road again while with the lead but one didn’t come before having to pit. Jones finished 21st.

As the run went on Harvick closed back down the gap to Larson to just 0.3 seconds and cleared him coming out of turn three with 43 laps to go.

The crash that led to the overtime finish came from Gragson and AJ Allmendinger colliding into the turn two wall together, while Gibbs piled into the back of them after getting tangled with Corey Lajoie on the high lane in turn one.

Ty Gibbs, driver of the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, drives his damaged car back to pit road during the NASCAR Cup Series United Rentals Work United 500 at Phoenix Raceway (Photo by Susan Wong | NASCAR Studios)

The 2022 Hamlin-Chastain clash was revived on the final lap when Denny Hamlin washed up the race track in turn two dragging Chastain into the wall. Hamlin had spent most of the day in the top five but would only come home 23rd in the end, with Chastain 24th. Both had a long conversation with each other on pit road post-race.

The next race for the NASCAR Cup Series is the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway this Sunday, with the race starting at 3pm ET.

Featured image: William Byron, driver of the #24 Valvoline Chevrolet, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series United Rentals Work United 500 at Phoenix Raceway on March 12, 2023 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)

Full race results 

  1. William Byron
  2. Ryan Blaney
  3. Tyler Reddick
  4. Kyle Larson
  5. Kevin Harvick
  6. Christopher Bell
  7. Chase Briscoe
  8. Kyle Busch
  9. Alex Bowman
  10. Josh Berry
  11. Joey Logano
  12. Ryan Preece
  13. Michael McDowell
  14. Bubba Wallace
  15. Chris Buescher
  16. Austin Dillon
  17. Martin Truex Jr.
  18. Brad Keselowski
  19. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  20. AJ Allmendinger
  21. Erik Jones
  22. Daniel Suarez
  23. Denny Hamlin
  24. Ross Chastain
  25. Austin Cindric
  26. Corey LaJoie
  27. Justin Haley
  28. Ty Gibbs
  29. Noah Gragson
  30. Ty Dillon
  31. Zane Smith
  32. Todd Gilliland
  33. Aric Almirola
  34. Cody Ware
  35. Harrison Burton
  36. BJ McLeod

Stage one 

  1. William Byron
  2. Kyle Larson
  3. Christopher Bell
  4. Denny Hamlin
  5. Tyler Reddick
  6. Ryan Blaney
  7. Ross Chastain
  8. Kevin Harvick
  9. Brad Keselowski
  10. Kyle Busch

Stage two 

  1. Kyle Larson
  2. William Byron
  3. Kevin Harvick
  4. Brad Keselowski
  5. Tyler Reddick
  6. Denny Hamlin
  7. Christopher Bell
  8. Ryan Blaney
  9. Ross Chastain
  10. Chase Briscoe

Points standings after 4 of 36 races 

  1. Alex Bowman – 154
  2. Kevin Harvick – 151
  3. Ross Chastain – 148
  4. William Byron* – 144
  5. Kyle Larson – 137
  6. Christopher Bell – 137
  7. Denny Hamlin – 125
  8. Ryan Blaney – 124
  9. Kyle Busch* – 122
  10. Martin Truex Jr. – 122
  11. Daniel Suarez – 119
  12. Joey Logano – 118
  13. Brad Keselowski – 115
  14. Chris Buescher – 112
  15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.* – 104
  16. Bubba Wallace – 92
  17. Austin Cindric – 81
  18. Corey Lajoie – 79
  19. Michael McDowell – 76
  20. Tyler Reddick – 72
  21. AJ Allmendinger – 71
  22. Austin Dillon – 63
  23. Ty Gibbs – 62
  24. Justin Haley – 60
  25. Chase Briscoe – 59
  26. Aric Almirola – 56
  27. Ryan Preece – 54
  28. Erik Jones – 53
  29. Chase Elliott – 49
  30. Harrison Burton – 48
  31. Todd Gilliland – 46
  32. Noah Gragson – 43
  33. Cody Ware – 38
  34. Travis Pastrana – 26
  35. BJ McLeod – 26
  36. Ty Dillon – 17
  37. Jimmie Johnson – 10
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William Byron hits the jackpot at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

William Byron dominated Sunday’s Pennzoil 400, leading 176 of the 267 laps, sweeping all three stages, and passing Martin Truex Jr. in overtime to take his first Cup win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Byron had battled hard with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson all race long for control of the lead and just pipped the Larson to the pit road exit line, seeing him line-up alongside Truex Jr. for the overtime restart, who gambled to stay out on old tyres.

  • Race summary 
  • Full race results
  • Points standings 

Byron said: “Yeah, just happy with getting the first win of the year. It’s been a while since we’ve won. It’s been almost a year, and it’s nice to kind of just get back to what I feel like we’re capable of.”

William Byron, driver of the #24 RaptorTough.com Chevrolet, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 05, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)

Byron was part of Hendrick Motorsports’ third one-two-three finish in the teams Cup Series career with Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman finishing second and third respectively, finishing the race how they ended stage two. Hendrick’s previous one-two-three finish came in the 2021 spring Dover race where it was also Hendrick’s first one-two-three-four finish with Byron finishing fourth and Alex Bowman taking the spoils that day.

Race summary

Byron first took the lead on lap 10 from pole-sitter Joey Logano. From then on it was mostly smooth sailing for the first stage with Larson keeping tabs on the Charlotte, North Carolinian finishing just under a second behind him.

Stage two was a carbon copy for both drivers with Larson once again finishing second in stage two under a second behind Byron. The final stage saw the roles reversed with Byron losing places on pit road under caution on lap 184, and starting fourth on the restart with Larson in third.

William Byron, driver of the #24 RaptorTough.com Chevrolet, and Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, race during the NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 05, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Larson was all over Denny Hamlin, who had stayed out on older tyres, for the lead and finally claimed top spot in the running order with 71 laps to go. Larson pulled out a five second-plus gap to Byron over the course of the final stage but this was eradicated when the caution came out with four to go in response to Aric Almirola sliding into a spin against the turn four wall.

At the time of caution Byron had halved the gap down to 2.4 seconds but it looked like a tall-order to have caught Larson without the Californian making a mistake or traffic getting in the way before they yellow flags waved.

Larson was only able to clear Truex Jr. with half a lap to go on the backstretch to finish runner-up.

Larson commented: “It seems like kind of laps down, lap by lap, and then, sure enough, the yellow lights come on. I had a gap to William behind me, and their pit crew must have just done a really good job and got out in front of us, and that gave up the front row. I knew I was in trouble with the 19 staying out.”

William Byron held off teammates Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson at the end of Sunday’s Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, sealing a 1-2-3 sweep for the organization on March 5, 2023 (Photo by Getty Images)

A dominant display by Hendrick comes on the week of teammate and 2020 NASCAR Cup champion Chase Elliott being forced to sit out indefinitely after fracturing his tibia in a snowboarding accident in Colorado last Friday.

Team owner Rick Hendrick speaking on Friday about NASCAR’s most popular driver said: “Chase’s health is our primary concern. He’s understandably disappointed to miss time in the car.”

JR Motorsports driver Josh Berry stood in for Elliott on Sunday, finishing 29th, two laps down, in his first race in the Next Gen car.

Josh Berry leans on No. 9 Chevrolet at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Photo by Zack Albert | NASCAR Studios)

Bubba Wallace had a stand-out day running inside the top ten for most of the race, taking sixth in stage two and eighth in stage one, and coming home fourth. After not finishing either of the first two races of the season, it’s a much needed boost of confidence and points for the No. 23 team.

Wallace said: “Never stop fighting. You never give up. I almost come over the radio and said, hey, good job, we finished sixth, then the caution came out, and I perked up again and got some.”

Wallace’s teammate Tyler Reddick had a wild day after marching up to 19th, just 11 laps after starting the race in the rear. Reddick nearly let a good points day get away when inside of 65 laps to go,  he ripped the turns three and four wall running sixth, sending him back to tenth. Reddick would finish 15th, after coming into the weekend with just four points after being wrecked out of the first two races.

Sunday’s pole-sitter Joey Logano and last week’s Auto Club finale winner Kyle Busch both difficult races.

Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Pennzoil Ford, leads the field during the NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 05, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

After losing the lead on lap 10 to Byron, Logano fought a tight handling race car for the first half of the race, clinging onto the top 15.

The two-time Pennzoil 400 winner asked a little too much of his No. 22 Pennzoil Ford Mustang on lap 182, when while he was battling three-wide on the outside with Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch  coming off turn four over 14th place, he ran out of real estate, colliding with the wall before spinning across the track into the infield grass. Logano’s team were not able to fix the car under the damage vehicle policy in time, forcing him to retire.

Kyle Busch made contact with the yellow outside walls several times during the race including twice in stage one, once clattering the turn two wall hard, bending the steering angle whilst challenging Hamlin for ninth place, but was able to continue.

 

The Las Vegas native wound up 14th in a weekend where he had attempted to sweep all three national series races taking place at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, trying to replicate his Bristol Motor Speedway’s 2010 and 2017 weekend sweeps. 

Busch won the Craftsman Truck Series race on Friday driving for his own Kyle Busch Motorsports team but could only manage fourth in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race driving for Kaulig Racing.  

Kyle Busch, driver of the #51 Zariz Transport Chevrolet, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 03, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

The next race for the NASCAR Cup Series is the United Rentals Work United 500 at Phoenix Raceway this Sunday, with the race starting at 3:30pm ET.

Featured Image: William Byron, driver of the #24 RaptorTough.com Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 05, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images) 

Full race results

  1. William Byron
  2. Kyle Larson
  3. Alex Bowman
  4. Bubba Wallace
  5. Christopher Bell
  6. Austin Cindric
  7. Martin Truex Jr.
  8. Justin Haley
  9. Kevin Harvick
  10. Daniel Suarez
  11. Denny Hamlin
  12. Ross Chastain
  13. Ryan Blaney
  14. Kyle Busch
  15. Tyler Reddick
  16. Aric Almirola
  17. Brad Keselowski
  18. AJ Allmendinger
  19. Erik Jones
  20. Corey LaJoie
  21. Chris Buescher
  22. Ty Gibbs
  23. Ryan Preece
  24. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  25. Michael McDowell
  26. Harrison Burton
  27. Austin Dillon
  28. Chase Briscoe
  29. Josh Berry
  30. Noah Gragson
  31. Todd Gilliland
  32. BJ McLeod
  33. JJ Yeley
  34. Ty Dillon
  35. Cody Ware
  36. Joey Logano

Stage one 

  1. William Byron
  2. Kyle Larson
  3. Ross Chastain
  4. Christopher Bell
  5. Denny Hamlin
  6. Martin Truex Jr.
  7. Alex Bowman
  8. Bubba Wallace
  9. Kyle Busch
  10. Brad Keselowski

Stage two 

  1. William Byron
  2. Kyle Larson
  3. Alex Bowman
  4. Martin Truex Jr.
  5. Christopher Bell
  6. Bubba Wallace
  7. Ross Chastain
  8. Denny Hamlin
  9. Brad Keselowski
  10. Kevin Harvick

Points standings 

  1. Ross Chastain – 129
  2. Alex Bowman – 126
  3. Kevin Harvick – 108
  4. Daniel Suarez – 104
  5. Martin Truex Jr. – 102
  6. Denny Hamlin – 99
  7. Christopher Bell – 94
  8. Kyle Busch* – 92
  9. Joey Logano – 92
  10. Chris Buescher – 90
  11. Brad Keselowski – 87
  12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.* – 86
  13. William Byron* – 85
  14. Kyle Larson – 85
  15. Ryan Blaney – 81
  16. Bubba Wallace – 69
  17. Austin Cindric – 69
  18. Corey LaJoie – 68
  19. AJ Allmendinger – 54
  20. Ty Gibbs – 53
  21. Aric Almirola – 52
  22. Michael McDowell – 52
  23. Justin Haley – 50
  24. Chase Elliott – 49
  25. Harrison Burton – 46
  26. Austin Dillon – 42
  27. Todd Gilliland – 41
  28. Erik Jones – 37
  29. Cody Ware – 35
  30. Noah Gragson – 35
  31. Ryan Preece – 29
  32. Chase Briscoe – 28
  33. Travis Pastrana – 26
  34. Tyler Reddick – 26
  35. BJ McLeod – 25
  36. JJ Yeley – 18
  37. Ty Dillon – 10
  38. Jimmie Johnson – 10
Posted on

Kyle Busch wins final Auto Club Speedway Cup race in Rowdy fashion

Sunday’s Pala Casino 400 saw Kyle Busch outrun Chase Elliott’s late race charge to win NASCAR’s final Cup race at Auto Club Speedway in its two-mile superspeedway format before being taken off the schedule to be reconfigured most likely into a short track of one mile or less.  

  • Race summary
  • Rest of race recap
  • Full race results
  • Point standings

Kyle Busch’s first win of the 2023 Cup Series season, in just his second points paying race with Richard Childress Racing, sees him go above Richard Petty for the most consecutive seasons with at least one win, making it 19-consecutive seasons, starting in 2005.

Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 8 Lucas Oil Chevrolet, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Pala Casino 400 at Auto Club Speedway (Photo by Meg Oliphant | Getty Images)

Busch mirrored his previous triumph here when he won the 2005 Auto Club Cup race, his first Cup win, in just his fourth start for Hendrick Motorsports.

Talking on the frontstretch after the race Busch said: “I death gripped that wheel throughout the second half of that race, we held on man, we got it today.”

The four-time Fontana winner teared back through the field in what seemed like a handful of laps, after being penalised and sent to the rear for speeding on pit road on lap 43 under caution, after running inside the top 10.

Busch took the lead of the race for the first time with 63 laps to go, then again with 36 laps to go after passing Chastain through the green flag pit cycle and then again following green flag pit stops on lap 180 of the 200-lap race where he would stay.

Busch added: “I’ve worked with a lot of great people who’ve given me a lot of great opportunities in my career. It’s awesome to be able to reward them.”

Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 8 Lucas Oil Chevrolet, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Pala Casino 400 at Auto Club Speedway (Photo by Meg Oliphant | Getty Images)

It was Busch’s 61st Cup career win, ninth-all time.

The track proved to entertain much like last year with drivers using all five lanes to race and search for clean air, but this time without any sudden tyre failures.

It was Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain that spent the most time upfront, winning both stages convincingly, leading the most laps with 91 and coming home third. He has won three of the four stages this year, including winning stage two of last week’s Daytona 500.

Chastain’s teammate Daniel Suarez showed speed, racing in the top 10, and was looking for a way past Chastain for the lead on the opening laps of a stage one restart. Suarez finished fourth.

Daniel SuĂĄrez, driver of the No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet, pits during the NASCAR Cup Series Pala Casino 400 at Auto Club Speedway (Photo by Meg Oliphant | Getty Images)

Chase Elliott was in the mix during the second half of the race, slowly working his way through the top 10 until he got past Chastain for second with 21 laps to go and narrowed the gap to Busch down to 3.4 seconds before the gap levelled out. Elliott finished 2.998-seconds behind Busch.

Joey Logano had been a contender for most of the race, taking the lead multiple times from Chastain and Hamlin, until the final stint following green flag pit stops with under 40 laps to go, where he dropped back throughout the final run to finish 10th.

It had been the Chastain-Logano-Busch show previous to final green flag pit stops. With 55 laps to go, Chastain threw an aggressive block on Logano when he and Busch got stalled out side-by-side for the lead, but Logano swept down to the apron and cleared both going into turn one.

Rest of race recap

Saturday’s qualifying was cancelled due to a historic weather event that swept the racetrack including blizzard-like conditions of snow, sleet and wind, hitting Fontana and the surrounding LA area Friday and Saturday.

A five-wide salute was shown to the sell-out crowd on the warm-up laps in appreciation of their continued support and love given to Auto Club Speedway.

Christopher Bell, driver of the #20 Sirius XM Toyota, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, driver of the #47 Ralphs/Tree Top Chevrolet, Joey Logano, driver of the #22 AAA Southern California Ford, Alex Bowman, driver of the #48 Ally Chevrolet, and Chris Buescher, driver of the #17 Pala Casino Ford, in a five-wide salute to the fans prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Pala Casino 400 at Auto Club Speedway on February 26, 2023 in Fontana, California. (Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images)

It was Bakersfield, California’s Kevin Harvick 750th straight Cup start, only behind Jeff Gordon and Ricky Rudd for all-time.

JGR’s Christopher Bell led from the off after being awarded the pole due to having the best fastest lap speed and finishing position combination from last week’s Daytona 500.

Christopher Bell, driver of the #20 Sirius XM Toyota, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr, driver of the #47 Ralphs/Tree Top Chevrolet, lead the field to start the NASCAR Cup Series Pala Casino 400 at Auto Club Speedway on February 26, 2023 in Fontana, California. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)

Alex Bowman, who finished eighth, took the lead on lap two going into turn one and went straight to the top groove while the rest of the field searched all over the race track for grip.

A lack of rubber being laid down prior to the race due to the weather, saw everyone run the top groove following Bowman but before long drivers throughout the field were diving to the middle and bottom lanes again to find extra speed and clean air while the top was still preferred.

A general view of racing during the NASCAR Cup Series Pala Casino 400 at Auto Club Speedway on February 26, 2023 in Fontana, California. (Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images)

On lap 13, Kyle Larson, last year’s Fontana winner, came down pit road and went to the garage to fix an electrical problem. Larson did go back out but was not operating under full power. The Cali kid finished 29th, 15 laps down.

Chastain took over the lead on pit road during the competition caution period on lap 17.

Team Penske’s Logano and Ryan Blaney traded the lead after surpassing Chastain before Brad Keselowski was sent spinning down the back straightaway after Corey LaJoie tagged his left rear on lap 42.

Keselowski was running 13th place at the time and came back to finish seventh, in what was a solid day for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing with teammate Chris Buescher running inside the top 10 throughout the race before finishing 13th.

Blaney and Suarez kept Chastain honest at the end of the first stage but it wasn’t enough to beat the eighth-generation watermelon farmer to the finish line.

Denny Hamlin passed Chastain for the lead on lap 72 before he threw an aggressive block three-laps later on Logano, much like Chastain would later on in the race, but Logano dived to the inside to take the lead on the frontstretch.

Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 AAA Southern California Ford, and Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota, race during the NASCAR Cup Series Pala Casino 400 at Auto Club Speedway (Photo by Meg Oliphant | Getty Images)

Austin Dillon and Noah Gragson briefly led during stage two after staying out on older tyres before Logano seized back the lead.

Corey LaJoie continued to find himself in trouble. On lap 76, he clipped AJ Allmendinger trying to avoid Blaney and Stenhouse Jr. in front, sending the Californian skidding into the inside wall on the backstretch.

LaJoie became the victim of the next caution several laps later when Tyler Reddick ran into the back of him sending him into the infield grass.

The biggest incident of the day was yet to come. On the lap 86 restart a 10-car crash occurred when the field stacked up sending Ty Dillon spinning into the grass, and Bell, Reddick, Preece, and Almirola crashing into the pack among others.

All four except Ty Dillon would retire from the race, only for Dillon to retire later with 61 laps to go due to engine trouble. Blaney received heavy damage from the crash and had to settle for 26th.

Kyle Busch would take second away from former teammate Hamlin on lap 93 while Chastain led. Busch was filling Chastain’s mirrors inside of 20 to go in stage two; a blanket could be thrown over second to sixth place in the closing laps. Chastain won stage two with a six second lead over Busch.

Kevin Harvick, in his final season before retiring, got the lead on pit road during the stage break before Kyle Busch took the lead for the first time on lap 138.

Michael McDowell led for a handful of laps during the final green flag run as he held out for a caution compared to most of the field pitting 10+ laps earlier. On fresher tyres following his final pit stop, McDowell managed to finish 18th.

Bubba Wallace spent the first half of the race inside the top 15, often inside the top 10, but overheating issues would force him out of the race on lap 172.

The third race of the season sees the Cup Series go to the 1.5 mile speedway Las Vegas Motor Speedway this Sunday, Kyle Busch’s home track, for the Pennzoil 400 with the race starting at 3:30pm ET.

Full race results 

  1. Kyle Busch, 200
  2. Chase Elliott, 200
  3. Ross Chastain, 200
  4. Daniel Suarez, 200
  5. Kevin Harvick, 200
  6. Denny Hamlin, 200
  7. Brad Keselowski, 200
  8. Alex Bowman, 200
  9. Austin Dillon, 200
  10. Joey Logano, 200
  11. Martin Truex Jr., 200
  12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 200
  13. Chris Buescher, 200
  14. Corey LaJoie, 200
  15. Harrison Burton, 200
  16. Ty Gibbs, 200
  17. Todd Gilliland, 200
  18. Michael McDowell, 200
  19. Erik Jones, 200
  20. Chase Briscoe, 200
  21. Justin Haley, 199
  22. Noah Gragson, 199
  23. JJ Yeley, 199
  24. BJ McLeod, 199
  25. William Byron, 198
  26. Ryan Blaney, 196
  27. Cody Ware, 195
  28. Austin Cindric, 194
  29. Kyle Larson, 185
  30. Bubba Wallace, Engine, 172
  31. Ty Dillon, Engine, 140
  32. Christopher Bell, Accident, 88
  33. Ryan Preece, Accident, 87
  34. Tyler Reddick, Accident, 87
  35. Aric Almirola, Accident, 86
  36. AJ Allmendinger, Accident, 75

Stage 1 

  1. Ross Chastain
  2. Ryan Blaney
  3. Daniel Suarez
  4. Alex Bowman
  5. Denny Hamlin
  6. William Byron
  7. Joey Logano
  8. Kevin Harvick
  9. Martin Truex Jr.
  10. Chase Elliott

Stage 2 

  1. Ross Chastain
  2. Kyle Busch
  3. Joey Logano
  4. Kevin Harvick
  5. Daniel Suarez
  6. Denny Hamlin
  7. Chase Elliott
  8. Alex Bowman
  9. Brad Keselowski
  10. Corey LaJoie

Points standings 

  1. Ross Chastain – 92
  2. Joey Logano – 91
  3. Alex Bowman – 80
  4. Kevin Harvick – 79
  5. Daniel Suarez – 77
  6. Chris Buescher – 74
  7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.* – 73
  8. Kyle Busch* – 67
  9. Denny Hamlin – 64
  10. Brad Keselowski – 64
  11. Martin Truex Jr. – 60
  12. Ryan Blaney – 57
  13. Corey LaJoie – 51
  14. Chase Elliott – 49
  15. Christopher Bell – 49
  16. Michael McDowell – 40
  17. Ty Gibbs – 38
  18. Austin Cindric – 38
  19. AJ Allmendinger – 35
  20. Harrison Burton – 35
  21. Todd Gilliland – 35
  22. Cody Ware – 33
  23. Austin Dillon – 32
  24. Kyle Larson – 32
  25. Aric Almirola – 31
  26. Bubba Wallace – 28
  27. Noah Gragson – 28
  28. Travis Pastrana – 26
  29. William Byron – 25
  30. Justin Haley – 21
  31. BJ McLeod – 20
  32. Erik Jones – 19
  33. Chase Briscoe – 19
  34. Ryan Preece – 15
  35. J.J. Yeley – 14
  36. Jimmie Johnson – 10
  37. Ty Dillon – 7
  38. Tyler Reddick – 4

Featured Image: Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 8 Lucas Oil Chevrolet, celebrates with the checkered flag after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Pala Casino 400 at Auto Club Speedway (Photo by Meg Oliphant | Getty Images)

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Mississippi Ricky wins 65th Daytona 500 in double overtime finish

Sunday saw JTG Daugherty Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr. win the 65th Daytona 500 in a double overtime finish beating Team Penske’s Joey Logano to the caution flag as the field wrecked behind them. It was the longest Daytona 500 being 212 laps (530 miles) compared with 2020’s 209 lap race. The two Kyle’s of Busch and Larson missed out again while Travis Pastrana came home 11th in his first Daytona 500.  

  • Key moments
  • Rest of race recap
  • Full results
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the #47 Kroger/Cottonelle Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series 65th Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 19, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

After starting 31st with 20 laps to go after receiving a penalty for speeding exiting pit road, Stenhouse Jr. methodically worked his way back through the field to take the lead away from Kyle Busch during the first of two overtimes.

In the final overtime, he held off Kyle Larson and inched in front of Joey Logano on the white flag lap at the time of caution as nearly the entire field wrecked behind them after Almirola turned Pastrana down into the pack.

Two minutes later, NASCAR declared Ricky Stenhouse Jr., of Olive Branch, Mississippi, the winner of the 65th running of the Daytona 500; his 12th attempt at winning the Great American Race.

It ends a 199-winless streak and earned the Mississippi native his third career win, all coming at restrictor plate tracks, including the 2017 summer Daytona race. This was Stenhouse’s first season back with his old crew chief Mike Kelly, who he won the 2011 and 2012 Xfinity Championships together with.

Stenhouse Jr. said: “everything played out perfectly for us at the end of that. It’s the Daytona 500. It’s a long race. You’re going to have good parts and bad parts, but we just kept pushing through.”

For most of the race the pack was tightly strung together two-wide 15-plus rows deep. While any aggressive maneuvers and sudden movements often came close to causing the big one, there was perpetual energy changes in the two lanes leading to 52 lead changes in the race shared amongst 21 drivers. Prior to overtime, there was only four cautions for cause.

Joey Logano had been upfront throughout the race including leading the pack for most of the final 18 laps of stage two. Logano retook the lead with 13 laps to go before losing it to AJ Allmendinger two laps later.

Logano circled around the top five for all of overtime including in the first before the big one happened when William Byron and Austin Dillon spun back into the pack in turn three after Byron had sent Dillon into a spin.

The first overtime pile-up- Todd Gilliland, driver of the No. 38 gener8tor Skills Ford, Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 84 Carvana Chevrolet, Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 42 Wendy’s Chevrolet, Austin Dillon, driver of the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Club Chevrolet, Harrison Burton, driver of the No. 21 Motorcraft/DEX Imaging Ford and William Byron, driver of the No. 24 RaptorTough.com Chevrolet, during the NASCAR Cup Series 65th Annual Daytona 500 (Photo by Mike Ehrmann | Getty Images)

In the final overtime finish Logano was ahead of Stenhouse Jr. when the field began wrecking behind them but by the time the caution was thrown five seconds later, Stenhouse Jr. had surged back ahead.

Logano, speaking about his decisions afterwards said: “Second is the worst, man. You’re so close. Leading the white flag lap there, I was up front. Kyle gave me a good push. I knew if I went to the bottom my car didn’t handle good enough. I already got pushed off the bottom once and I thought, if I go down there, I’m probably going to get wrecked, and I don’t know if I can get down there in time to throw the block [on Stenhouse] and so I didn’t want to wreck my car either.”

Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch had taken over the lead with teammate Austin Dillon in tandem inside of three laps to go, slingshotting around the Roush Fenway Keselowski Ford’s of Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher.

Kyle Busch, driver of the #8 3CHI Chevrolet, Austin Dillon, driver of the #3 Bass Pro Shops Club Chevrolet, and William Byron, driver of the #24 RaptorTough.com Chevrolet, race during the NASCAR Cup Series 65th Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 19, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

The RCR camp offered Stenhouse an olive branch on the restart when a drop to the bottom lane from the top by Busch to allow Dillon in to push saw Logano’s and Stenhouse Jr.’s outside led lane out-drag them down the backstretch. Busch would be collected in the final wreck sending him tumbling down the finishing order to 19th.

Busch had a stereotypically rowdy race. In his 18th attempt to win the Daytona 500, he had to start in the rear due to going to a backup car after Thursday night’s duel crash but worked his way up to the top-10 after the first green flag pit stops. Busch was caught speeding on pit road on lap 107 and served his drive through penalty under green, consequently being caught by the pack laps later.

After being the lucky dog on lap 132, putting himself back on the lead lap, Busch worked his way up to inside the top five with 15 laps to go, only to wreck out of the Daytona 500 again when Kyle Busch spun off of Bubba Wallace’s nose in the final wreck.

Rest of race recap

Kyle Larson led the opening lap of the race, pipping polesitter Alex Bowman to the line. Larson, while staying in contention, would only be at the front again in the second overtime, lining up alongside Stenhouse Jr. for the restart. Larson would finish 18th after being taken out in the final crash.

Alex Bowman, driver of the #48 Ally Chevrolet, and Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, lead the field to start the NASCAR Cup Series 65th Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 19, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

The first stint of the race was smooth sailing apart from a spinning Riley Herbst in the infield grass on lap 38, but the race stayed caution free. After the first green flag pit stops were complete on lap 45, the four Toyota’s found themselves in the top-five in 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace leading with teammate Tyler Reddick followed by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell. Wallace had to come to pit road from the lead after a light bump from Truex Jr. sent him into the wall and would go down a lap. 

With six to go in stage one it was a JGR one-two-three in Martin Truex Jr, Hamlin and Ty Gibbs but were sitting ducks to the RFK and Stewart-Haas Racing Ford’s of Brad Keselowski, Ryan Preece, Chris Buescher and Kevin Harvick. The blue ovals pounced on the final lap with Keselowski winning the stage.

Keselowski also led much of the halfway part of the race. At lap 100 Erik Jones, in his striking Guns N’ Roses sponsored No. 43, was up to fifth, and Jimmie Johnson, the two-time Daytona 500 winner who finished eighth in stage one, was up to sixth.

Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 6 Nexlizet Ford, Chris Buescher, driver of the No. 17 Fastenal Ford, Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 8 3CHI Chevrolet and Austin Dillon, driver of the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Club Chevrolet, race during the NASCAR Cup Series 65th Annual Daytona 500 (Photo by Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images)

Lap 118 saw the first major incident of the race when Harvick gently pushed outside leader Reddick into a spin down into Blaney and Truex Jr. before careering into the turn four wall causing the field to check up behind. Blaney would whack the outside wall also but would continue after repairs while Jones would spin into Chase Elliott taking both, along with Reddick, out of the race. Wallace ironically would get the free pass following his teammate’s crash.

A six-lap shootout to end stage two saw Ross Chastain drag-race Alex Bowman to the green chequered flag to take the stage win.

Wallace would lead the start of the final stage after staying out under yellow. Wallace had no top-end pace on the restart and quickly fell back through the pack as Aric Almirola took over the lead.

A seven-car crash came just after the final scheduled green flag pit stop’s with 19 laps to go when part of the mid-field stacked up behind Keselowski leading to 14th place running Preece, the fifth car in line, spinning out from Michael McDowell’s rear contact, taking out himself and SHR teammate Chase Briscoe from the race.

Harrison Burton and Logano briefly led at the front before Kaulig Racing’s AJ Allmendinger took over the lead from Logano while Burton squeezed Busch into the frontstretch wall. The RFK Ford’s of Keselowski and Buescher took back the lead with 10 to go before an eight-car breakaway developed inside of five to go, with Busch and Dillon tucked in behind the RFK Ford’s.

A spinning Daniel Suarez coming off turn four into the infield grass helped lead to the double-overtime finish that saw Ricky Stenhouse Jr. win his first Cup race since 2017 and Chevrolet win their first Daytona 500 since RCR’s win with Austin Dillon in 2018.

The mayhem at the end and good incident avoidance led Rick Ware Racing’s Riley Herbst to come home in 10th in his first Daytona 500 start, despite being a part of the first overtime crash, and X-Games gold medallist Travis Pastrana finish 11th in his first Daytona 500. Jimmie Johnson was forced to retire from the race after being caught up the first overtime pile-up and would finish 31st.

This Sunday sees the NASCAR Cup Series travel to Fontana, California for the second race of the season, the Pala Casino 400 at Auto Club Speedway starting 3:30pm ET.

Featured Image: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the #47 Kroger/Cottonelle Chevrolet, and crew celebrate in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series 65th Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 19, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Full race results 

  1. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 212.
  2. Joey Logano, Ford, 212.
  3. Christopher Bell, Toyota, 212.
  4. Chris Buescher, Ford, 212.
  5. Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 212.
  6. AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 212.
  7. Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 212.
  8. Ryan Blaney, Ford, 212.
  9. Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 212.
  10. Riley Herbst, Ford, 212.
  11. Travis Pastrana, Toyota, 212.
  12. Kevin Harvick, Ford, 212.
  13. Zane Smith(i), Ford, 212.
  14. Cody Ware, Ford, 212.
  15. Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 212.
  16. Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 212.
  17. Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 212.
  18. Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, Accident, 211.
  19. Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, Accident, 211.
  20. Bubba Wallace, Toyota, Accident, 211.
  21. Aric Almirola, Ford, Accident, 211.
  22. Brad Keselowski, Ford, Accident, 211.
  23. Austin Cindric, Ford, Accident, 210.
  24. Noah Gragson, Chevrolet, 210.
  25. Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 210.
  26. Harrison Burton, Ford, 210.
  27. Todd Gilliland, Ford, Accident, 208.
  28. Michael McDowell, Ford, 208.
  29. Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 206.
  30. BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 204.
  31. Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, Accident, 203.
  32. Justin Haley, Chevrolet, Accident, 203.
  33. Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, Accident, 202.
  34. William Byron, Chevrolet, Accident, 202.
  35. Chase Briscoe, Ford, Accident, 182.
  36. Ryan Preece, Ford, Accident, 182.
  37. Erik Jones, Chevrolet, Accident, 118.
  38. Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, Accident, 118.
  39. Tyler Reddick, Toyota, Accident, 117.
  40. Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, Engine, 26.

Stage results 

Stage 1 –

  1. Brad Keselowski
  2. Ryan Preece
  3. Chris Buescher
  4. Kevin Harvick
  5. Michael McDowell
  6. Ty Gibbs
  7. Aric Almirola
  8. Jimmie Johnson
  9. Martin Truex Jr.
  10. Todd Gilliland

Stage 2 –

  1. Ross Chastain
  2. Alex Bowman
  3. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  4. Joey Logano
  5. Austin Cindric
  6. Martin Truex Jr.
  7. William Byron
  8. AJ Allmendinger
  9. Chris Buescher
  10. Christopher Bell
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2023 Daytona 500; starting lineup, paint schemes, schedule

This Sunday the NASCAR Cup Series’ regular season gets underway at Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida, for the 65th running of the Daytona 500 on its 75th anniversary. 40 cars will compete in the Great American Race in front of a sold out crowd for 200 laps (500 miles), in a bid to win one of NASCAR’s most prestigious prizes, the Harley J. Earl Trophy and forever immortalise themselves in the history books on stock car racing’s biggest day. 

  • Schedule
  • Starting lineup/paint schemes
  • Starting lineup summary

Schedule

Multi-platinum American country singer Dierks Bentley will host this year’s pre-race concert starting at 1:30pm ET.  Pre-race ceremonies for Sunday’s Great American Race begin at 2:45pm ET, with the green flag flying at 3:14pm ET.

For viewers in the UK, the race programme will be shown on ViaPlay Sports starting 6:30pm UK time.

Daytona 500 starting lineup

Here is how the 40-car field will lineup for the 2023 Daytona 500.

1st. On pole is Alex Bowman after setting a blistering lap speed of 181.686mph to secure his third career Daytona 500 pole. The Hendrick Motorsports driver started second in last year’s race. The No. 48 Ally Chevrolet driver will try to get Mr. Hendrick his first Daytona 500 win since Dale Earnhardt Jr’s 2014 win; NASCAR’s most popular driver from 2003-2017 and son of the late seven-time Cup champion Dale Earnhardt Sr.

DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 15: Alex Bowman, driver of the #48 Ally Chevrolet, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

2nd. Joining Bowman on the front row will be Hendrick teammate Kyle Larson. The 2021 Cup Series champion, and last year’s Daytona 500 pole winner will be piloting the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet.

Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

3rd. Starting third is the reigning two-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano after winning the Bluegreen Vacations Duel 1 on Thursday night. The 2015 Daytona winner will drive the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford for Team Penske.

Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

4th. Starting fourth is the 2014 Daytona Summer winner (Coke Zero 400), Aric Almirola after winning the second Bluegreen Vacations duel. Almirola was due to retire at the end of last season but was persuaded to stay on at Stewart-Haas Racing. He will drive the No. 10 Smithfield Ford.

DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 15: Aric Almirola, driver of the #10 Smithfield Ford, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

5th. Starting fifth is the Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell making his fourth Daytona 500 start. While not having won a race on the Daytona oval in NASCAR’s national series, Bell did get his first Cup win at Daytona in the Daytona Road Course in 2021.

DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 15: Christopher Bell, driver of the #20 DeWalt/Rheem Toyota, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

6th. The reigning Daytona 500 champion Austin Cindric will start sixth. Cindric, now in his second full-time season will pilot the No. 2 Discount Tire Ford for Team Penske.

Austin Cindric, driver of the #2 Discount Tire Ford, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

7th. Starting seventh is Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney. The 2018 Daytona duel one winner and two-time Daytona 500 runner up will drive the No. 12 Menards/Blue DEF/PEAK Ford.

Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 Menards/Blue DEF/PEAK Ford, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

8th. Joining Blaney on the fourth row is the 2020 Cup Series champion and 2018 Daytona duel two winner Chase Elliott. He will drive the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.

DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 15: Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

9th. Starting from the fifth row in ninth place is last year’s Daytona duel two winner Chris Buescher. The Texas native will drive the No. 17 Fastenal Ford for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing.

DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 15: Chris Buescher, driver of the #17 Fastenal Ford, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

10th. Rounding out the fifth row in tenth is the 2016 Coke Zero 400 winner Brad Keselowski. Still looking for his first Daytona 500 win, Keselowski will pilot the No. 6 Nexlizet Ford.

Brad Keselowski, driver of the #6 Nexlizet Ford, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

11th. Starting 11th is the 2021 Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell. He will drive the No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops for Front Row Motorsports.

Michael McDowell, driver of the #34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

12th. Starting 12th in his eighth Daytona 500 is Corey LaJoie. LaJoie has a best finish of eighth in the 2020 Daytona 500. He will pilot the No. 7 Celsius Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports.

Corey LaJoie, driver of the #7 Celsius Chevrolet, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

13th. Starting 13th is the 2007 Daytona 500 winner and 2014 Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick. He will drive the No. 4 Busch Light Ford.

Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Light Ford, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

14th. Starting 14th, making his second Daytona 500 start is Todd Gilliland. He will drive the No. 38 gener8tor Skills Ford for Front Row Motorsports.

Todd Gilliland, driver of the #38 gener8tor Skills Ford, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

15th. Starting 15th is the 2018 and 2022 Daytona 500 runner up Bubba Wallace. Wallace won the rain shortened autumn Talladega race in 2021, becoming the first African-American driver to win a Cup race since Wendell Scott in 1963. Wallace will drive the No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota for 23XI Racing.

Bubba Wallace, driver of the #23 McDonald’s Toyota, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

16th. Starting 16th is the 2016 Daytona 500 runner up Martin Truex Jr. The 2017 Cup Series champion will drive the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.

DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 15: Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

17th. Starting in 17th place is the reigning Craftsman Truck Series Champion Zane Smith, making his second Daytona 500 start. He will be piloting the No. 36 Wellcare Ford for Front Row Motorsports.

Zane Smith, driver of the #36 Wellcare Ford, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

18th. Starting 18th is the three-time Daytona 500 champion (2016, 2019, ’20) Denny Hamlin. He will be joining Cale Yarbrough for second-all time Daytona 500 wins if he takes the chequered flag on Sunday.  Hamlin will drive the No. 11 FedEx 50 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.

DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 15: Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx 50 Toyota, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

19th. Starting 19th is Harrison Burton, making his second Daytona 500 start in his second full-time season. The son of 21-time Cup winner Jeff Burton will drive the famed Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 Motorcraft/DEX Imaging Ford.

Harrison Burton, driver of the #21 Motorcraft/DEX Imaging Ford, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

20th. Making up the tenth row in 20th, in his fourth Daytona 500 start is Ryan Preece. Preece has a best finish of sixth coming in the 2021 Daytona 500. Preece will drive the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing.

Ryan Preece, driver of the #41 HaasTooling.com Ford, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

21st. Starting 21st is the last of the Hendrick Chevrolet’s in William Byron. The 2020 Coke Zero 400 winner was third fastest in single-car qualifying ahead of Thursday’s duels. He will drive the No. 24 RaptorTough.com Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.

William Byron, driver of the #24 RaptorTough.com Chevrolet, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

22nd. Starting 22nd is the first of the Legacy Motor Club cars in Noah Gragson, in his full-time rookie season and second Daytona 500 start. He will drive the No. 42 Wendy’s Chevrolet.

Noah Gragson, driver of the #42 Wendy’s Chevrolet, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

23rd. Starting 23rd is the Hail Melon man, Ross Chastain, making his fifth Daytona 500 start. He has a best finish of seventh from the 2021 Daytona 500 race. The Florida native won last year’s spring Talladega race. He will drive the No. 1 AdventHealth Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing.

Ross Chastain, driver of the #1 AdventHealth Chevrolet, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

24th. Starting alongside Chastain in 24th is his Trackhouse Racing teammate Daniel Suarez. The Mexican-born driver will be making his sixth Daytona 500 start. Suarez made history last year when he became the first Mexican to win a NASCAR Cup Series race when he took the chequered flag at Sonoma Raceway. He will pilot the No. 99 Tootsies Orchid Lounge Chevrolet.

Daniel Suarez, driver of the #99 Tootsies Orchid Lounge Chevrolet, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

25th. Starting 25th is the 2018 Coke Zero 400 and 2020 Daytona Clash winner Erik Jones. He will drive the No. 43 Guns N’ Roses Chevrolet for Legacy Motor Club, who of which is co-owned by seven all-time Daytona 500 winner Richard Petty.

Erik Jones, driver of the #43 GUNS N’ ROSES Chevrolet, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

26th. Starting 26th is the 2018 spring Daytona Xfinity Series race winner Tyler Reddick. He will drive the No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota for 23XI Racing.

Tyler Reddick, driver of the #45 Monster Energy Toyota, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

27th. Starting 27th is the 2018 Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon. He will drive the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing.

Austin Dillon, driver of the #3 Bass Pro Shops Club Chevrolet, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

28th. Starting 28th in his third Daytona 500 start is Justin Haley. Haley won the rain shortened Coke Zero 400 in 2019 when his team gambled correctly to stay out.

Justin Haley, driver of the #31 Cirkul Chevrolet, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

29th. Starting 29th in his 10th Daytona 500 start is AJ Allmendinger. Allmendinger, driving full-time since 2018, for Kaulig Racing, will pilot the No. 16 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet.

AJ Allmendinger, driver of the #16 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

 

30th. Rounding out the fifteenth row in 30th is Stewart-Haas Racing driver Chase Briscoe. Briscoe finished third in last year’s Daytona 500. He will drive the No, 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford.

DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 15: Chase Briscoe, driver of the #14 Mahindra Tractors Ford, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

31st. Starting 31st is the 2017 Coke Zero 400 race winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. He will drive the No. 47 Kroger/Cottonelle Chevrolet for JTG Daugherty Racing.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the #47 Kroger/Cottonelle Chevrolet, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

32nd. Starting 32nd in his fifth Daytona 500 start is BJ McLeod. He will drive the No. 78 Power Slap Rumble Chevrolet for Live Fast Motorsports.

BJ McLeod, driver of the #78 Power Slap Rumble Chevrolet, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

33rd. Starting 33rd is the reigning Xfinity Series champion Ty Gibbs, driving in his first full-time for his grandfather Joe Gibbs, making his first Daytona 500. He will drive the No. 54 Monster Energy/Interstate Batteries Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.

DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 15: Ty Gibbs, driver of the #54 Monster Energy/Interstate Batteries Toyota, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

34th. Starting 34th is Conor Daly, after dramatically qualifying his way into the Daytona 500 during the second duel race where he kept out of trouble enough to make the race. Daly, who led laps in last year’s Indy 500, in his first Daytona 500 start will pilot the No. 50 BitNile.com Chevrolet for The Money Team Racing.

35th. Starting 35th in his fourth Daytona 500 is Cody Ware. He will drive the No. 51 Biohaven/Jacob Co. Ford for Rick Ware Racing.

DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 15: Cody Ware, driver of the #51 Biohaven/Jacob Co. Ford, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

36th. Originally starting 36th is the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch. Busch had to go to a backup car after spinning out off of the front of Suarez’s car during the duel race . Following NASCAR procedure for going to a backup car, he will move to the back for the start of the race. The Daytona 500 victory has eluded Kyle Busch, having won the 2008 Coke Zero 400, three Daytona duels and the 2012 Daytona clash. He will drive the No. 8 3CHI Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing.

Kyle Busch, driver of the #8 3CHI Chevrolet, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

37th. Starting 37th in his eighth Daytona 500 start is Ty Dillon. Dillon has a best place finish of sixth from the 2019 Daytona 500. Dillon will pilot the No. 77 Ferris Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports.

Ty Dillon, driver of the #77 Ferris Chevrolet, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

38th. Starting 38th in his first Daytona 500 start is Riley Herbst. Herbst will drive the No. 15 Sunny D Ford for Rick Ware Racing.

DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 15: Riley Herbst, driver of the #15 SunnyD Ford,poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

39th. Making up the first of two cars on the back is no other than seven-time Cup champion and the 2006 and ’13 Daytona 500 winner Jimmie Johnson. Johnson locked himself in during single-car qualifying and is driving for his co-owned team Legacy Motor Club. He also topped the speed charts in the first of two practice sessions. He will drive the No. 84 Carvana Chevrolet.

Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #84 Carvana Chevrolet, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

40th. Last, but certainly not least is X-Games gold medallist and Hoonigan stunt driver Travis Pastrana. Pastrana, who also locked himself into the race through single-car qualifying will be making his first Daytona 500 start. He will pilot the No. 40 Black Rifle Coffee Toyota for 23XI Racing.

Travis Pastrana, driver of the #67 Black Rifle Coffee Toyota, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Starting lineup summary

  1. Alex Bowman
  2. Kyle Larson
  3. Joey Logano
  4. Aric Almirola
  5. Christopher Bell
  6. Austin Cindric
  7. Ryan Blaney
  8. Chase Elliott
  9. Chris Buescher
  10. Brad Keselowski
  11. Michael McDowell
  12. Corey LaJoie
  13. Kevin Harvick
  14. Todd Gilliland
  15. Bubba Wallace
  16. Martin Truex Jr.
  17. Zane Smith
  18. Denny Hamlin
  19. Harrison Burton
  20. Ryan Preece
  21. William Byron
  22. Noah Gragson
  23. Ross Chastain
  24. Daniel Suarez
  25. Erik Jones
  26. Tyler Reddick
  27. Austin Dillon
  28. Justin Haley
  29. AJ Allmendinger
  30. Chase Briscoe
  31. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  32. BJ McLeod
  33. Ty Gibbs
  34. Conor Daly
  35. Cody Ware
  36. Kyle Busch
  37. Ty Dillon
  38. Riley Herbst
  39. Jimmie Johnson
  40. Travis Pastrana

The 65th running of the Daytona 500 starts at 2:30pm ET!

Featured Image: Austin Cindric, driver of the #2 Discount Tire Ford, and Bubba Wallace, driver of the #23 McDonald’s Toyota, race to the finish of the NASCAR Cup Series 64th Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 20, 2022 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

 

 

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Alex Bowman secures third Daytona 500 pole, Johnson and Pastrana lock themselves in

Alex Bowman set a blistering lap speed of 181.686mph to secure his third career Daytona 500 pole. Jimmie Johnson and Travis Pastrana locked themselves into Sunday’s race.

Bowman was the last car to go out in single- car qualifying’s final round and had to beat Hendrick Motorsport teammate Kyle Larson’s lap speed of 181.057mph. Both Bowman and Larson make up the front row for the Great American Race for two years in a row except it was Larson on pole for last year’s race.

Bowman, who announced a contract extension earlier in the day that sees him through to 2026 with Hendrick said: “This Ally 48 Camaro is obviously really fast. I don’t really have a lot to do with qualifying here, so just fortunate to qualify some really fast race cars.”

Hendrick drivers have won eight of the last nine Daytona 500 poles, and Chevrolet drivers have won the last 11.

Pole Award winner, Alex Bowman, driver of the #48 Ally Chevrolet, (L) and Front Row winner, Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, pose for photos after the the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

It was a Hendrick one-two-three at the end of qualifying with William Byron coming in third with a lap speed of 180.727mph. Unlike his teammates, his starting position for the Daytona 500 will be decided in the duel races as only the front row is locked in for the Daytona 500 ahead of the duels.

It was all Ford’s from fourth to ninth in Almirola, Logano, Briscoe, Blaney, Cindric and Burton. Kyle Busch had his initial top-five time disallowed for dipping his Richard Childress Chevrolet below the double yellow lines on the frontstretch, having to settle for 10th out of the 10 cars in the final round.

Jimmie Johnson and Travis Pastrana were the top two non-chartered cars, qualifying 23rd and 25th with near equal lap speeds; 179.276mph and 179.254mph respectively. There’d been no practice prior to qualifying so it was all the more impressive to see Johnson, the seven-time Cup champions’ first qualifying session with the New Gen Car and Pastrana, making his first Daytona 500 run, lay down competitive lap speeds.

Pastrana said: I just can’t say enough about this 23XI team. And this TRD motor and being able to get on the [simulator], that was everything. Can’t give them enough credit for this opportunity.”

Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #84 Carvana Chevrolet, (R) and Travis Pastrana, driver of the #67 Black Rifle Coffee Toyota, speak during the NASCAR Cup Series 65th Annual Daytona 500 Media Day at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

It means that Conor Daly, Chandler Smith, Zane Smith and Austin Hill will have to race their way into the Daytona 500. Daly, who led laps in last year’s Indy 500, was unable to go out to qualify due to a broken oil line. The Money Team Racing car was completely disassembled during qualifying while they awaited the arrival of a replacement oil heater. He consequently qualified 42nd.

Front Row Motorsport’s Zane Smith was the best of the rest of the non-chartered cars qualifying 29th with a lap speed of 178.862mph. Austin Hill and Chandler Smith qualified 32nd and 41st.

The single-car qualifying results decide where each driver will start in the Blue Vacations Duel 60-lap qualifying races to determine the starting positions for the Great American Race. The qualifying field will be split into two duels, with the odd numbered qualified cars racing in duel one and even numbered qualified cars in duel two.

The highest finishing non-chartered car from each duel that isn’t locked in from single-car qualifying will lock themselves into Sunday’s race.

The Blue Vacation Duels begin 7pm ET time Thursday night.

Full qualifying results

  1. (48) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 181.686 mph.
  2. (5) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 181.057 mph.
  3. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet, 180.727 mph.
  4. (10) Aric Almirola, Ford, 180.723 mph.
  5. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 180.712 mph.
  6. (14) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 180.661 mph.
  7. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 180.054 mph.
  8. (2) Austin Cindric, Ford, 180.014 mph.
  9. (21) Harrison Burton, Ford, 179.748 mph.
  10. (8) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
  11. (23) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 180.011 mph.
  12. (99) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 179.921 mph.
  13. (17) Chris Buescher, Ford, 179.888 mph.
  14. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 179.881 mph.
  15. (1) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 179.863 mph.
  16. (41) Ryan Preece, Ford, 179.849 mph.
  17. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 179.684 mph.
  18. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 179.673 mph.
  19. (54) Ty Gibbs #, Toyota, 179.616 mph.
  20. (45) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 179.612 mph.
  21. (20) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 179.497 mph.
  22. (19) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 179.347 mph.
  23. (84) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 179.276 mph.
  24. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford, 179.265 mph.
  25. (67) Travis Pastrana, Toyota, 179.254 mph.
  26. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 179.154 mph.
  27. (43) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 178.998 mph.
  28. (42) Noah Gragson #, Chevrolet, 178.941 mph.
  29. (36) Zane Smith(i), Ford, 178.862 mph.
  30. (16) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 178.813 mph.
  31. (31) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 178.763 mph.
  32. (62) Austin Hill(i), Chevrolet, 178.660 mph.
  33. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 178.525 mph.
  34. (38) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 178.204 mph.
  35. (47) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 177.925 mph.
  36. (78) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 177.834 mph.
  37. (51) Cody Ware, Ford, 177.169 mph.
  38. (15) Riley Herbst(i), Ford, 176.849 mph.
  39. (77) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 176.315 mph.
  40. (7) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 176.287 mph.
  41. (13) Chandler Smith(i), Chevrolet, 175.022 mph.
  42. (50) Conor Daly(i), Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.

Featured Image: Alex Bowman, driver of the #48 Ally Chevrolet, poses on the track during qualifying for the Busch Light Pole at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

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2023 Daytona 500 Preview

This Sunday the NASCAR Cup Series’ regular season gets underway at Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida, for the 65th running of the Daytona 500 on its 75th anniversary. 40 cars will compete in the Great American Race in front of a sold out crowd at speeds over 200mph, inches apart from each other for 200 laps, in a bid to win one of NASCAR’s most prestigious prizes, the Harley J. Earl Trophy and forever immortalise themselves in the history books on stock car racing’s biggest day. 

  • Schedule
  • Drivers to watch 
  • Schedule summary
Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion celebrating with the Harley J. Earl Trophy after winning the 2015 Daytona 500 on February 22nd, 2015, at Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images)

42 drivers have entered  into the 500-mile 200 lap race around the 2.5-mile superspeedway with seven part-time entries including seven-time Cup Series champion and Legacy Motor Club co-owner Jimmie Johnson and X Games gold medallist and Hoonigan driver Travis Pastrana.

Last year saw Team Penske rookie Austin Cindric win the Daytona 500 on his full-time debut. It was the first time a rookie has won the Daytona 500 since Trevor Bayne in 2011, driving for Wood Brothers Racing.

Schedule  

There are 36 chartered cars in this year’s Daytona 500 meaning they are guaranteed a spot in the race regardless of where they qualify. There are four spots available for non-chartered cars to claim with six entering meaning two will fail to qualify for this year’s race. Two cars will able to secure their spot from single car qualifying while the remaining two spots will be decided in the duels.

The NASCAR Cup Cars will run single car qualifying on Wednesday at 8pm ET where in round one they will run a single timed lap attempting to lay down a top-10 lap to get through to the final round where they will set another single timed lap in an attempt to secure the pole for the Great American Race.

The top two from single car qualifying will keep their starting positions on the front row for the Daytona 500 regardless of where they finish in their duel race. Hendrick Motorsport’s Kyle Larson scored the pole in last year’s event with teammate Alex Bowman qualifying second.

16: Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet, and Alex Bowman, driver of the #48 Ally Chevrolet, pose in Ruoff Victory Lane after qualifying on the front row for the NASCAR Cup Series 64th Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 16, 2022 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

The Bluegreen Vacations Duels, the two qualifying 60-lap races, will be run on Thursday starting at 7pm ET. The finishing positions determine where the drivers will start the Daytona 500, and which two non-chartered cars will go home. Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher won last year’s duels.

As and added incentive, the top 10 in each duel race will receive points; 10 for finishing first, nine for second and so on all the way down to receiving one point for finishing 10th.

Brad Keselowski, driver of the #6 Kohler Generators Ford, Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 Menards/Blue DEF/PEAK Ford, and Austin Cindric, driver of the #2 Discount Tire Ford, race during the NASCAR Cup Series Bluegreen Vacations Duel #1 at Daytona at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2022 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

On Friday the Cup Series will have the first of two 50-minute practice sessions starting at 5:35pm ET before the NextEra Energy 250, the Craftsman Truck Series 100-lap night race, starting at 7:30pm ET.

18: John Hunter Nemechek, driver of the #4 Pye-Barker Fire & Safety Toyota, Tyler Ankrum, driver of the #16 LiUNA! Toyota, andDerek Kraus, driver of the #19 Shockwave Chevrolet, spins after an on-track incident as Zane Smith, driver of the #38 Love’s Travel Stops Ford, Christian Eckes, driver of the #98 AHI Facility Services/Curb Records Toyota, and Ben Rhodes, driver of the #99 EXT Extreme Hair Therapy Toyota, lead the field during the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series NextEra Energy 250 at Daytona International Speedway on February 18, 2022 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

Saturday sees the Cup Series have its final 50-minute practice session starting at 10:30am ET before the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner 300, the Xfinity Series 120-lap race, starting at 5pm ET.

Daniel Hemric, driver of the #11 AG1 Athletic Greens Chevrolet, leads the field during the NASCAR Xfinity Series Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. 300 at Daytona International Speedway on February 19, 2022 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

Sunday sees the biggest day in stock car racing with the 65th running of the Daytona 500 starting at 2:30pm ET in front of a sold out crowd for the eighth year running. The 200-lap race will be broken down into three stages of 65,65 and 70 laps respectively.

Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Toyota, leads the field during the NASCAR Cup Series 63rd Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 14, 2021 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images)

Drivers to watch

Jimmie Johnson

Two-time Daytona 500 champion Jimmie Johnson will attempt to win the Daytona 500 for a third time to join the likes of three-time Daytona 500 champions Denny Hamlin and old Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon in the history books. He will drive the No. 84 Carvana Chevrolet for Legacy Motor Club. He has to qualify his way into the race due to having an non-chartered car.

Travis Pastrana

Travis Pastrana, the legendary Hoonigan stunt performer and Nitro RallyCross series founder will attempt to qualify for his first Daytona 500 as a third entry for 23XI Racing driving the No. 67 Black Rifle Coffee Toyota.

Pastrana said: “I’m thrilled at the chance to race in the Daytona 500. It’s the one event every year that all my friends and family come together to watch at our buddy Dale’s house and it’s an event I’ve wanted to race my entire life.”

He has competed in five Craftsman Truck Series races and 42 Xfinity Series races and has raced at Daytona three times before in NACAR’s national series including finishing 10th in the 2013 Xfinity Series Daytona season-opener.

Conor Daly

Conor Daly, who competes full-time in the NTT IndyCar Series, will also attempt to qualify for his first Daytona 500 with The Money Team Racing which is co-owned by boxing legend Floyd Mayweather, sporting the No. 50 BitNile.com Chevrolet. Daly has one Cup start to his name, competing in last year’s Charlotte Roval race where he finished 34th.

Ty Gibbs

Rookie Ty Gibbs will make his first start for his grandfather’s team Joe Gibbs Racing competing full-time, replacing two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch. The reigning Xfinity Series champion will be driving the No. 54 Monster Energy/Interstates Batteries Toyota.

Ty Gibbs is racing with a heavy heart after his dad, a member of the Joe Gibbs Racing family, Coy Gibbs, suddenly passed away the day after he won the Xfinity Series title last November. Ty made 15 Cup starts last year after subbing for Kurt Busch where he earned one top-10 at Michigan.

Noah Gragson

Rookie Noah Gragson will drive the No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Wendy’s Chevrolet in what will be his second Daytona 500 start. Gragson is in his first full-time Cup season, after 18 Cup races last year with the majority being with Kaulig Racing. The 13-times Xfinity Series winner was runner up to Ty Gibbs last season championship finale in Phoenix.

Denny Hamlin

Denny Hamlin will be going for a fourth Daytona 500 victory with Joe Gibbs Racing, sporting the FedEx 50 Toyota. Hamlin won the 2016, ’19, and 2020 Daytona 500’s with JGR.

Bubba Wallace

Bubba Wallace will compete in his sixth Daytona 500, racing the No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota for Denny Hamlin’s and Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing. The Alabama native will hope to finish one place better after being the 2018 and 2022 runner-up. If Wallace wins this year’s race, he would become the first African-American to have done so.

Austin Cindric, driver of the #2 Discount Tire Ford, and Bubba Wallace, driver of the #23 McDonald’s Toyota, race to the finish of the NASCAR Cup Series 64th Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 20, 2022 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Kevin Harvick

This will be Kevin Harvick’s final Daytona 500 driver as a full-time Cup driver after announcing his retirement in the off-season. Harvick won the 2007 Daytona 500 when he pipped fan-favourite Mark Martin at the finish line. Harvick will drive No. 4 Busch Light Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing.

Kevin Harvick beats Mark Martin by two-hundreths of a second to win the Daytona 500 (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)

Austin Hill

Austin Hill, the 2022 Daytona Xfinity Series race winner, will attempt to qualify for his first Daytona 500 for Beard Motorsports and will pilot the No. 62 Bennett Transportation and Logistics Chevrolet. He made his Cup debut at last August’s Michigan race in the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Bennett Transportation and Logistics sponsored Chevrolet where he impressively finished 18th.

Zane Smith

23-year-old Zane Smith, the 2022 Craftsman Truck Series champion, will attempt to qualify for his first Daytona 500 with Front Row Motorsports driving the No. 36 Wellcare Ford. Smith impressed the NASCAR garage when he subbed for RFK’s Chris Buescher last season, finishing 17th on his Cup debut at World Wide Technology Raceway.

Chandler Smith

Rookie Chandler Smith, the five-time Craftsman Truck Series winner, will attempt to qualify for his first Daytona 500 with Kaulig Racing driving the No. 13 Quick Tie Inc. Chevrolet. The 20-year-old is racing full-time in the Xfinity Series for Kaulig Racing this season.

Austin Cindric

Austin Cindric will hope to go back to back in this year’s edition of the Great American race, joining Denny Hamlin and Sterling Marlin who did it in 2019 and 2020, and 1994 and ’95 respectively. Cindric will drive the No. 2 Discount Tire Team Penske Ford.

Austin Cindric, driver of the #2 Discount Tire Ford, celebrates in the Ruoff Mortgage victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series 64th Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 20, 2022 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Riley Herbst

Rookie Riley Herbst will race in his first Daytona 500 and first Cup start with Rick Ware Racing, sporting the No. 15 Sunny D Ford. The Las Vegas native has competed in 109 Xfinity races, bagging 54 top-10 finishes.

Herbst said: “It’s such a big event and for it be my first Cup start will be a crazy experience. I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do behind the wheel.”

Catch the 65th running of the Daytona 500 this Sunday at 2:30pm ET!

Schedule summary 

Wednesday 8:15pm ET – Cup Series single car qualifying

Thursday 7pm ET –  Bluegreen Vacations Duels (Cup Series two 60-lap qualifying races)

Friday 5:35pm ET – 1st Cup Series 50 minute practice session

Friday 7pm ET – NextEra Energy 250 (Craftsman Truck Series 100-lap race) 

Saturday 10:30am ET – 2nd Cup Series 50 minute practice session 

Saturday 5pm ET – Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. 300 (Xfinity Series 120-lap race) 

Sunday 2:30pm ET – 65th running of the Daytona 500 (Cup Series 200-lap race)

2023 Daytona 500 logo (Provided by NASCAR)

 

Featured Image: 20: Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, leads the field to the green flag to start the NASCAR Cup Series 64th Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 20, 2022 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

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NASCAR 2023 Season Preview: Always Forward

NASCAR is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year and is meshing the old with the new, bringing back the iconic and beloved North Wilkesboro Speedway for its All-Star Race, while introducing its first ever street course in downtown Chicago this summer. There has also been exciting changes made to the rulebook including the introduction of wet weather tyres for short oval tracks. With a revised Next Gen car coming off its maiden voyage last season, and plenty of significant driver changes, this year’s NASCAR season is set to bring the thunder.

DAYTONA BEACH, FL – December 14th 1947, Founder’s Day: NASCAR’s early leaders meet in the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach. Seated (L-R): Bob Richards, Freddie Horton, Jack Peters, Ed Bruce, Chick DiNatale, Harvey Tattersall Jr., Tom Galan, Alvin Hawkins, Bill Tuthill, Bill France Sr., Mildred Ayres, Joe Littlejohn, Jimmy Cox, Eddie Bland, Joe Ross, Sam Packard, Bill Streeter, Lucky Sauer. Standing (L-R): Larry Roller, Fred Dagavar, Bob Osiecki, Jimmy Quisenberry, Ed Samples, Marshall Teague. (Photo by ISC Archives/CQ-Roll Call Group via Getty Images)

Discussing the 75th anniversary, NASCAR President Steve Phelps said: “I think anyone who is involved in this sport at all, whether you work at NASCAR, or you work at a race team or for a racetrack, or our fans, it’s just a moment in time for us to take a step back and really celebrate and honor the past which is what we’re going to do. And I think the unique thing is we also need to celebrate what’s happening today in this sport and then a look forward. That’s what we’re going to do. We’re talking about this, our “75th” and we have a tagline, “always forward”. That’s going to represent what we’re going to do.”

  • Schedule changes
  • Driver changes
  • Driver updates
  • Rule changes
  • Safety changes
  • 75th anniversary

Schedule changes

North Wilkesboro Speedway

North Wilkesboro Speedway returns to the NASCAR Cup Series schedule for it’s All-Star Race, after being removed from the schedule following the conclusion of the 1996 season after NASCAR had to replace some Southeast tracks in order to expand further into new markets across America such the Midwest. Wilkes County historically, was NASCAR’s heartland for both team and fans with much of their fanbase still found there and in the surrounding region today.

NASCAR have rightly brought one of NASCAR’s most legendary tracks back into the limelight where it will shine again on May 21st. It makes North Wilkesboro Speedway officially the oldest track on the schedule, having being opened in 1947. It saw on-track racing again last August including Late Model racing, after being closed since 2011. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will also have a 250-lap points-paying race on May 20th.

Chicago Street Course

NASCAR is in with the old and new this year, introducing it’s 220-mile street course in the downtown Chicago area. Chicago continually proves to be one of NASCAR’s largest market, with a much needed return to the region after cutting Chicagoland Speedway from the schedule in 2021.

The new street course debuted virtually in iRacing in 2021.

Atlanta Motor Speedway

The July Atlanta race has been converted into a night race with all races since the 2021 reconfiguration, where it was turned into a superspeedway, taking place in the daytime. They have not had a night race in the Cup Series there since 2014.

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet, and Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Panasonic Chevrolet, lead a pack of cars during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Oral-B USA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on August 31, 2014 (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images)

World Wide Technology Raceway & Bristol Motor Speedway

The 300-mile race at World Wide Technology Raceway returns for a second year after the Cup Series’ inaugural race there last season, where Joey Logano took his second points-paying win on his way to his second Cup Series championship.

We will also see a third rendition of the Bristol Dirt Race, hoping to capitalise on last year’s dramatic race ending that saw Chase Briscoe collide with Tyler Reddick on the final lap allowing Kyle Busch to beat both to the finish line.

Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 Mars Crunchy Cookie Toyota, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Cup Series Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 17, 2022 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images)

Auto Club Speedway

NASCAR is taking its 75th anniversary tagline “Always Forward” to the construction site as well as it will sadly be the last race for Auto Club Speedway on February 26th in its two-mile configuration before being temporarily taken off the schedule to be reconfigured into a half-mile track on the same site with the race venue not set to return to the NASCAR schedule until after 2024.

FONTANA, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 27: Austin Cindric, driver of the #2 Menards/Quaker State Ford, leads Daniel Hemric, driver of the #16 Poppy Bank Chevrolet, Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Ground Toyota, Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, and Erik Jones, driver of the #43 FOCUS factor Chevrolet, in a five-wide salute to the fans prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Wise Power 400 at Auto Club Speedway on February 27, 2022 in Fontana, California. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

Driver changes

Kyle Busch

By far the biggest driver change this season is the switch of two-time Cup champion Kyle Busch from leading Toyota team Joe Gibbs Racing after racing for “The Coach” for 15 years, to Richard Childress Racing’s Chevrolet team.

Busch was unable to secure new sponsorship with Gibbs after M&M’s announced in the 2021 off-season that they were pulling out of the sport. Busch replaces RCR hotshot Tyler Reddick after he controversially signed a contract with Denny Hamlin’s 23XI Racing to drive for them starting in 2024 without consulting with Childress. This resulted in Childress removing Reddick from his seat early as he was due to race for RCR still for the 2023 season.

Kyle Busch returns to Chevrolet after starting his Cup Series career with them in 2004 with Hendrick Motorsports until 2008 when he went to Toyota’s JGR. It is a huge loss for Toyota, having lost their most successful NASCAR driver, with Busch winning the first Cup Series race with them in 2008 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and having won the 2015 and 2019 Cup Series championships with them.

Tyler Reddick

Luckily for Reddick, Denny Hamlin, who ironically drives for JGR, had the contract brought forward to have him race for him this season instead of having to sit the year out. This became possible after 2004 Cup Series champion Kurt Busch announced he would no longer be racing full-time after not being able to return to race for 23XI Racing following a serious injury he received during qualifying for the M&M’s Fan Appreciation 400 at Pocono Raceway last July. Kurt Busch remains a key part of the 23XI Racing operation.

Ty Gibbs

Ty Gibbs, the grandson of Joe Gibbs, replaces Kyle Busch at Joe Gibbs Racing and will compete full-time this season after he filled in for Kurt Busch last season competing in 15 Cup races for 23XI Racing. Ty Gibbs won last year’s Xfinity Series Championship after controversially spinning out teammate Brandon Jones at Martinsville Speedway the week before, preventing him from having the chance to make the Final 4 at Phoenix to compete for a championship.

Ty Gibbs, driver of the #54 Monster Energy Toyota, embraces the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship trophy in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on November 05, 2022 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Tragically, Ty’s dad Coy Gibbs, a much beloved long-time member of the Joe Gibbs Racing family, suddenly passed away the day after he watched his son win the championship and be loudly booed by fans. Ty Gibbs has been through an incredibly difficult time but is now all set to go for the 2023 season.

Ryan Preece

Ryan Preece returns to the Cup Series full-time after he was left without a ride after the 2021 season. He replaces Cole Custer who’s performance was mediocre at best across his three seasons with Stewart-Haas Racing, only bagging one victory at Kentucky Speedway in 2020. It’s not all doom and gloom for Custer however, as he will still race part-time for Stewart-Haas Racing in the Xfinity Series.

Jimmie Johnson

Seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, to the world’s excitement announced in the off-season he had become a co-owner at Petty GMS Motorsports, now renamed to Legacy Motor Club, and would also race on a part-time schedule for them including the Daytona 500 and the Chicago street course.

Jimmie Johnson will also compete in this year’s Le Mans 24 Hour race as part of NASCAR’s Garage 56 program alongside the 2009 Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button and 2010 Le Mans 24 winner Mike Rockenfeller.

Drivers Jimmie Johnson, Mike Rockenfeller, and Jenson Button pose for a photo after a press conference announcing the NASCAR Garage 56 driver lineup for entry in 2023 Le mans before the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway on January 28, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

AJ Allmendinger

Kaulig Racing have promoted AJ Allmendinger to a full-time Cup ride this season alongside Justin Haley after competing part-time only in the Cup Series after the 2018 season when he then raced for JTG Daugherty Racing and joined Kaulig’s Cup program the following year. He brought Kaulig success when he won the Cup Series race at the Indy Road Course in 2021. This was his second Cup win after earning his first at Watkins Glen in 2014.

AJ Allmendinger, driver of the #16 Hyperice Chevrolet, celebrates after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Verizon 200 at the Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on August 15, 2021 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

Noah Gragson

Noah Gragson, the 13-time Xfinity Series winner, replaces Ty Dillon at Legacy Motor Club after competing for JR Motorsports in the Xfinity series from 2019-2022. Gragson is another fresh driver like Ty Gibbs that we could see some outstanding performances from this year. The Las Vegas native has already competed in a handful of Cup races for Beard Motorsports and Kaulig Racing over the last two seasons.

Ty Dillon

Ty Dillon, while having one of his strongest season performances last year, including at Talladega and the Bristol Dirt Race, did not perform consistently enough compared with teammate Erik Jones but has found himself a new home at Spire Motorsports with new teammate Corey LaJoie, joining the teams ambition to become a more competitive car this year. Ty is more motivated than ever to prove to everyone he belongs in the Cup Series and at the front. He will also race a part-time schedule for his grandfather Richard Childress in the Xfinity Series racing the infamous No. 3 car.

 

Josh Bilicki

Ty Dillon replaces Josh Bilicki who will now race part-time for Live Fast Motorsports who have switched from Ford to Chevrolet. It will be Bilicki’s seventh year in Cup.

Zane Smith

Zane Smith will run a select number of races this year for Front Row Motorsports with six of his seven starts replacing Todd Gilliland, who is good friends with the 2022 Craftsman Truck Series Champion, forcing Gilliland to find new rides for those races in order to compete full-time this season and be eligible for a championship run. The two will race alongside each other as teammates for Front Row for the Daytona 500.

Austin Hill

Austin Hill will attempt six Cup Series races with Beard Motorsports for 2023 including the Daytona 500 and Chicago street course.

Driver Updates

Kevin Harvick

In the off-season Kevin Harvick announced that 2023 would mark his final season in the NASCAR Cup Series before retiring following a 23-year run in the Cup Series. He will join the FOX Sports Booth NASCAR alongside former Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Clint Bowyer.

Harvick has accomplished a lot, including taking the 2014 Cup Series championship, winning the 2007 Daytona 500, and helping take the sport out of a tragically difficult time when he took over the Richard Childress Racing seat, making his Cup debut in 2001, following the passing of seven-time Cup champion Dale Earnhardt Sr. after a serious crash in the 2001 Daytona 500. Harvick, a highly respected voice in the garage, will surely continue to voice his opinion about all things NASCAR this season too.

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Ford Ecoboost 400 and championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 16th, 2014 in Homestead, Florida (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images)

Joey Logano  

The Team Penske driver from Connecticut, will attempt to go back-to-back for Cup championships this year after becoming a two-time Cup champion last season. He took four wins on his way to his second title, in addition to winning the inaugural LA Clash at the Coliseum exhibition race at the start of the season, including the inaugural World Wide Technology Raceway Cup race and winning the Championship 4 race at Phoenix. The 2015 Daytona 500 winner earned his first Cup championship in 2018.

2022 NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano poses for a photo on the Shelby Street pedestrian bridge on December 01, 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

Harrison Burton

Harrison Burton, son of former NASCAR Cup Series driver and now NBC Sports commentator Jeff Burton, comes off his rookie season with only two-top 10’s with him struggling to be seen in his first campaign in the Cup Series. Driving for the famed Wood Brothers, who have a technical alliance with Team Penske, Burton will be expected to step up this season and deliver a more competitve performance.

Harrison Burton, driver of the #21 Motorcraft/DEX Imaging Ford, drives during practice for the NASCAR Cup Series 64th Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2022 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Rule changes

Wet weather tyres

There is a whole roster of rule changes that aims to improve the racing and keep the cars on track. No more exciting is the addition of wet-weather tyres being permitted at several tracks of one mile or less including the LA Coliseum, Martinsville Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, North Wilkesboro Speedway, Phoenix Raceway, and Richmond Raceway.

Officials tested wet weather tyres at Martinsville’s 0.526-mile short track in March 2021 and June 2022. Windshield wipers will also be required on the cars for these tracks but only starting with the Phoenix Raceway race in March.

Stage breaks

Road course races will no longer have mandatory caution periods during stage breaks. Instead, the race will continue under green at the stage break with stage points being given out as normal at the end of the stage-ending lap. With the removal of mandatory stage break cautions, this brings back the prospect of having entire green-flag races with only organic strategies influencing them.

Daniel Suarez, driver of the #99 CommScope Chevrolet, spins after an on-track incident during the NASCAR Cup Series Echopark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas on March 27, 2022 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images)

Loose wheels

Loose wheels became a thorn in teams’ sides last season. Thankfully, there will no longer be any four-race crew chief suspensions for loose wheels. Instead, pass through penalties under green or being sent to the tail end of the longest line under yellow will be given out with however NASCAR have said: “If the wheel breaks free outside of pit road, the new rules guidelines mandate a two-lap penalty, plus a two-race suspension for two crew members.”

Choose rule

Drivers will now be able to choose which lane they restart on during races at superspeedways and dirt tracks. This adds Daytona International Speedway, Talladega Speedway, and the Bristol Dirt Race to the list of eligible tracks.

Hail Melon move

Ross Chastain’s “Hail Melon” move at Martinsville Speedway last season, where he wall-rided around turns three and four like it was an EA Sports NASCAR video game to gain enough positions to qualify for the championship 4 in Phoenix, has been clamped down by NASCAR due to safety concerns.

There will be a time penalty handed out to anyone who tries to make the move. Still, it became one of NASCAR’s most iconic moments in history becoming the most viewed moment of NASCAR in a matter of days via social media.

Playoffs

Little has changed to the playoff structure despite calls from fans to have it changed, such as cycling the championship 4 race destination, other than making it so that drivers will no longer be required to be in the top 30 in points to be eligible for the playoffs.

Damaged Vehicle Policy

Teams will now be see a seven-minute repair clock instead of five for working on the car on pit road under the damage vehicle policy.

Safety changes

Safety became a huge talking point last season after serious concussions caused by crash impacts fell upon the drivers Kurt Busch, while qualifying at Pocono, and Alex Bowman during the Texas Motor Speedway race, as well as serious car fires experienced by Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski due to rubber build up in the wheel well. In addition, many drivers complained of hard impacts during crashes throughout the season with driver such as Harvick, Kyle Busch, and Noah Gragson concerned for their own safety.

Chassis

This season, teams will use new centre and rear clips on the car chassis, with both sections modified to better absorb rear impacts.

NASCAR stated: “The improved 2023 design features the removal of some bars, a reduction in the thickness of some tubing and adding pivot points called “triggers” in the structure to encourage deformation while protecting both the oil tank and fuel cell.”

Data collection

NASCAR are mandating new incident data collection systems on all Cup cars for 2023. Dr. John Patalak, NASCAR’s Vice President of safety engineering said: “It is a completely new system from the ground up. This will give us more data channels, will give us dedicated GPS data as far as the speed of the vehicle, and we’ll have a lot of those things all synchronized in time.”

Some drivers will also voluntarily wear mouthpiece sensors this season, continuing from 2022, which provide vital information about the driver’s bodies during the crashes as well as the race in general.

Foam

The SFI-approved foam that surrounds the driver’s head has been improved to better protect the drivers from injury, addressing the most significant heights, positioning and gaps that best protect the driver’s head in a crash.

75th anniversary

Longtime NASCAR executive Mike Helton, talking about the 75th anniversary 2023 season said: “It’s kind of indicative going into 2023, [that] our 75th anniversary, with the uniqueness of the LA Coliseum for the Clash and then the Chicago Grant Park race because it all signals we’ve been doing this for 75 years, but one of the ways we figured out how to do it for 75 years was to stay fresh and current.”

NASCAR 75th Anniversary Icon Logo (Photo by NASCAR)

NASCAR President Steve Phelps furthered the sentiment by saying: “Our fans have told us again and again and again, they want schedule variation. So, whether we’re going to North Wilkesboro for the All-Star race, or to the Chicago street course, in our 75 years we’ve never raced on the street ever, so you’re talking about milestones.”

NASCAR 2023 has the most diverse schedule ever seen for a season in decades, with arguably the most competitive driver line-up to date. In the modern era, and most certainly in the playoff era, it’s not just an exciting time to be a NASCAR fan on it’s 75th anniversary, it’s the best time to be a NASCAR fan.

We cannot wait to cover the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season for you here at ThePitCrewOnline!

Featured Image: NASCAR’s 75th Anniversary logo (Photo by NASCAR)

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Martin Truex Jr. wins caution-filled Clash at the Coliseum

Martin Truex Jr. led the final 25 laps holding off the chasing Richard Childress Racing duo of Austin Dillon and former teammate Kyle Busch to win the 150-lap Clash at the LA Coliseum under the lights.

Truex Jr. spent most of the race up front alongside Toyota teammate Bubba Wallace who led 40 laps including leading going into the halftime break after a two-lap shootout holding off Dillon. With seven laps to go Dillon dumped Wallace in turn one fighting over second place as Truex pulled away. Wallace ended up finishing 22nd.

 

Truex stated that there was a “lot of fire in my belly to change what we did last year” in reference to going winless in the 2022 season and just missing making the playoffs.

Martin Truex Jr., driver of the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, celebrates after winning the Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum  (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

It’s a complete reversal of last year’s inaugural clash at the LA Coliseum where the 2017 Cup champion barely made the main event, was unable to pass and spun on his own on the final lap. Truex said Sunday’s race day from winning heat two before the main race onwards has been “a huge confidence booster” now going into Daytona.

A new and unexpected addition for NASCAR fans to this year’s Clash at the LA Coliseum was the top three drivers receiving honorary “Clash” medals post-race, in what was a nod to the 1932 and 1984 Olympic Games previously held at the Coliseum, as opposed to just the race winner receiving a trophy. Truex additionally was awarded with a separate Clash trophy.

Martin Truex Jr., driver of the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, (centre) winner, Austin Dillon, driver of the No. 3 Get Bioethanol Chevrolet, (right) second place and Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 8 BetMGM Chevrolet, (left) third place pose for photos on the podium after the Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Dillon’s new teammate and two-time champion Kyle Busch experienced getting moved himself when with 65 laps to go, reigning champion Joey Logano drove deep into turn three and tagging Busch, spinning him around. Not at all pleased with the Team Penske driver’s actions Busch said post-race “Logano didn’t get hit by nobody. He just flat-out drove through me, so he’s got another one coming. I owe him a few.” Busch then impressively drove back up through the field from 25th to second before relinquishing the position to Dillon with four laps to go.

Kyle Busch, driver of the #8 BetMGM Chevrolet, spins after an on-track incident as Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, and Ross Chastain, driver of the #1 Worldwide Express Chevrolet, pass during the NASCAR Clash at the Coliseum at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

Busch’s climb back through the field was all the more impressive given that this year’s race at the Coliseum dealt out 16 cautions, over three times as many compared with last year’s five, including being bombarded with yellows during the middle third of the race with many cars spinning out including AJ Allmendinger, Denny Hamlin, Ty Gibbs, and Kevin Harvick after being tagged, attempting to race around the extremely tight quarters arena.

Busch post-race said “we were spoiled” by last year’s race with Dillon adding there was “much more parody” this time around with the teams and drivers being more familiar with the track. Most of the race was also ran under the lights increasing the overall grip for the drivers compared to last year’s daytime running of the event.

A general view of confetti after the conclusion of the NASCAR Clash at the Coliseum at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on February 05, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Busch went on to say that if they had used the old generation car in Sunday’s race, half of the radiators would have been knocked out with Hendrick Motorsport’s Kyle Larson adding that the current generation car is much stiffer and stronger in comparison.

It was actually New England’s Ryan Preece “Lightning” who led the most laps with 43 but shortly after getting bumped out of the way for the lead by Truex Jr. with 25 to go, his car experienced a temporary electrical problem and quickly fell back to fifth; Preece finished seventh. Preece had been Stewart-Haas Racing’s reserve driver in 2022 after competing full-time for three seasons for JTG Daugherty Racing.

Ryan Preece, driver of the #41 United Rentals Ford, drives during the NASCAR Clash at the Coliseum at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Preece climbed through the stock car ranks by dominating on the short tracks in the New England region so Truex was “not shocked at all” to see him leading at the quarter-mile mile track despite being out of a full-time Cup ride last year.

Pole-sitter Aric Almirola led the opening 16 laps before being overtaken by Denny Hamlin. By lap 67 however he found himself being lapped by then leader Bubba Wallace.

It was a short lived race for Legacy Motor Club’s Erik Jones, previously known as Petty GMS Racing in 2022, after he made contact with Kevin Harvick, damaging the toe link, forcing him to retire.

Martin Truex Jr., driver of the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, and Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford, race during the Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (Photo by Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images)

Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney had a rough ride of a race after being spun out twice, the first time in turn one in the opening stage of the race, with the second incident seeing him end up backwards in the turn two wall while running ninth.

Ty Gibbs and Todd Gilliland crossed swords for several laps knocking into each other’s fenders before on lap 43 AJ Allmendinger, an innocent bystander, would get wiped out by Gilliland after Gibbs ran into the back of him. Gilliland would then spin out Harvick on lap 72 before having the favour returned with 69 laps to go. Gibbs would retire with suspension damage.

Another draw for fans attending the Clash was the pre-race entertainment as well as the Clash’s halftime show. Cypress Hill performed ahead of pre-race ceremonies that had many bobbing their heads to the multi-platinum hip hop group.

The halftime show lived up to expectations with Wiz Khalifa performing a selection of his best hits including “Black and Yellow.”

As NASCAR celebrates its 75th anniversary, the biggest race of the season, the 65th running of the Daytona 500 is less than two weeks away, with the Daytona Duels taking place on February 16th starting at 7pm ET and the green flag for the Daytona 500 flying on February 19th at 2:30pm ET. You don’t wanna miss it!

Full race results  

  1. Martin Truex Jr.
  2. Austin Dillon
  3. Kyle Busch
  4. Alex Bowman
  5. Kyle Larson
  6. Tyler Reddick
  7. Ryan Preece
  8. Ross Chastain
  9. Denny Hamlin
  10. William Byron
  11. Justin Haley
  12. Kevin Harvick
  13. Christopher Bell
  14. Noah Gragson
  15. Chase Briscoe
  16. Joey Logano
  17. Ryan Blaney
  18. Aric Almirola
  19. Daniel SuĂĄrez
  20. AJ Allmendinger
  21. Chase Elliott
  22. Bubba Wallace
  23. Todd Gilliland
  24. Michael McDowell
  25. Austin Cindric
  26. Ty Gibbs
  27. Erik Jones

Heat Winners

Heat 1 winner – Aric Almirola

Heat 2 winner – Martin Truex Jr.

Heat 3 winner – Denny Hamlin

Heat 4 winner – William Byron

First last chance qualifying race – Michael McDowell

Second last chance qualifying race – Chase Elliott

Featured Image: Martin Truex Jr., driver of the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, celebrates with the Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum trophy in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Clash at The Coliseum at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

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Will Power surges to second IndyCar championship; Palou wins Firestone GP in dominant display

Will Power ran an intelligent race allowing title rival and teammate Josef Newgarden past on lap 46, settling for third place in the race to ensure locking up the championship by 16 points while Álex Palou stormed out to a 30 second lead over Newgarden by the end to win the Firestone Grand Prix at Laguna Seca.

Will Power managing his race (Photo by Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment)

Will Power led the opening 14 laps before a roulette of strategies began playing out on pit road. Palou took the lead away from Power on lap 27 while Newgarden squeezed past Power for second heading into the corkscrew on lap 46.

In the closing stages a train of cars threatened to undo Power’s championship hopes with Arrow McLaren SP’s Felix Rosenqvist leading it but Power held on and created enough distance to ward off any threat and take the last spot on the podium and earn his second IndyCar championship.

Will Power (front) running 2nd trying to hold off Felix Rosenqvist, Pato O’Ward and Josef Newgarden in the corkscrew (Photo by James Black/Penske Entertainment)

Power post-race said: “I just knew I had to absolutely get the most out of those stints and not lose any more positions.”

The 41-year-old Australian won just one race this season, that being the final Detroit Grand Prix at Belle Isle compared with championship runner up Josef Newgarden’s five wins but his 12 top-five finishes, being three more than any other driver, bolstered him to his second NTT IndyCar Series championship, giving Team Penske their 17th IndyCar championship. 

Roger Penske (left) and Will Power (right) celebrating Team Penske’s 17th IndyCar Championship and Power’s 2nd (Photo by Chris Owens/Penske Entertainment)

Power speaking to NBC said: “I had to drive the thing today. It was on the edge, very loose. Man, what a relief. What a relief to get that done.”

Will Power won his first championship in 2014 also with Team Penske. 

Will Power celebrating his second NTT IndyCar Series Championship with the Astor Cup trophy (Photo by James Black/Penske Entertainment)

Newgarden did nearly all he could to steal the championship away from Power on the final weekend but a crash in qualifying saw him start 25th compared to Power taking his 68th pole position, gaining a bonus championship point, and surpassing Mario Andretti’s record for all-time poles.

Newgarden started off aggressive gaining five positions on the opening lap before going long and switching to the softer red tyre that saw him move all the way up to seventh by lap 34. On pit strategy, Newgarden briefly took the lead for a few laps on lap 69 when Palou pitted but could not match Palou’s overall pace.

Post-race Newgarden said: “Even yesterday, with the heartache there, we came back, we fought, and we nearly got there. I’m proud of the effort. We’re going to come back stronger next year.”

Josef Newgarden racing in the Firestone Grand Prix at Laguna Seca (Photo by James Black/Penske Entertainment)

Palou had blistering pace all race long but narrowly escaped trouble when leaving his pit box on his second stop as he scraped the rear of Rosenqvist’s car as  he left his pit box.

IndyCar, despite it appearing to be an unsafe release, declared no action would be taken. This otherwise would have led to a penalty that could have unraveled Palou’s race. He had already overcome a six-place grid penalty for an unapproved engine change that saw him start the race 11th.

Apart from making contact with Rosenqvist on pit road, Palou seem unfazed that he was still being sued by his own team owner, unsure where he will be racing next year.

Palou had a 20 second lead over Newgarden with 20 laps to go and led 67 of the 95 laps in total to earn his fourth career win and first win of the season for Chip Ganassi Racing.

Álex Palou out front in the Firestone Grand Prix at Laguna Seca (Photo by Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment)

Palou said: “Today was awesome. Strategy was on point. It’s good to finish a season with a win. We had some power there and good fuel mileage.”

Álex Palou celebrating in victory lane with his team (Photo by Travis Hinkle/Penske Entertainment)

Palou’s and Power’s teammates and remaining championship contenders did not appear to have anything for them and Newgarden.

Dixon and Ericsson struggled to keep from dropping out of the top 15 and attempted to work their way up the order by going off strategy but Dixon found himself down in 23rd after pitting while Ericsson came out 15th just past the 30 lap mark.

Scott Dixon racing in the Firestone Grand Prix at Laguna Seca (Photo by Chris Owens/Penske Entertainment)

The same can be said for Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin as he found himself in 20th after pitting on lap 53 while Dixon was 24th.

Their strategy and pace did come to some fruition as McLaughlin, Ericsson, and Dixon found themselves nose to tail by lap 63 with McLaughlin playing defence for his Penske teammates up front.

Scott McLaughlin (left) keeping Scott Dixon (right) at bay (Photo by Travis Hinkle/Penske Entertainment)

By the end, McLaughlin impressively worked all his way up to finish sixth but not before having multiple scraps with Ericsson that saw the Swede take to the sand on multiple occasions. Ericsson also made an incredible save in the corkscrew after contact with Colton Herta. Ericsson finished ninth while Dixon finished 13th.

Dixon, McLaughlin, and Ericsson would finish third, fourth, and sixth respectively in the championship.

Dixon will have to wait to another year to attempt to become a seven-time IndyCar champion tying A.J. Foyt for the most championships, while McLaughlin has excelled in just his second season with three wins this year while Marcus Ericsson won this year’s Indianapolis 500, an outstanding achievement that has changed his life forever.

Scott McLaughlin travelling down the hill at the corkscrew (Photo by Travis Hinkle/Penske Entertainment)

Away from the championship battle, it was a bittersweet day for British rookie Callum Ilott who had qualified second for the race and for the opening laps held his position. He was still running inside the top 10 after the first stint but as he was leaving the pit exit he a mechanical failure and stopped just past the Andretti hairpin, ending his day and brought out the only full course yellow of the race on lap 39.

Will Power (front) and Callum Ilott (left behind Power) lead the field to green for the Firestone Grand Prix at Laguna Seca

It would be Denmark’s Christian Lundgaard who would be the highest finishing rookie in fifth. Lundgaard also wins the Rookie Of The Year competition finishing on 323 points, beating David Malukas by 18 points who finished 13th in the race.

Christian Lundgaard entering the corkscrew during the Firestone Grand Prix (Photo by Travis Hinkle/Penske Entertainment)

Jimmie Johnson had a breakout day for his IndyCar road course programme being competitive all race-long, including making aggressive passes in the corkscrew and would finish 16th.

Jimmie Johnson racing in the Firestone Grand Prix at Laguna Seca (Photo by Chris Owens/Penske Entertainment)

Full race results: 1st Álex Palou, 2nd Josef Newgarden, 3rd Will Power, 4th Felix Rosenqvist, 5th Christian Lundgaard, 6th Scott McLaughlin, 7th Romain Grosjean, 8th Pato O’Ward, 9th Marcus Ericsson, 10th Alexander Rossi, 11th Colton Herta, 12th Scott Dixon, 13th David Malukas, 14th Rinus VeeKay, 15th Devlin DeFrancesco, 16th Jimmie Johnson, 17th Simon Pagenaud, 18th Graham Rahal, 19th Helio Castroneves, 20th Jack Harvey, 21st Kyle Kirkwood, 22nd Simona de Silvestro, 23rd Takuma Sato, 24th Conor Daly, 25th Dalton Kellett, 26th Callum Ilott.

Top 10 in championship standings: 1st Will Power (560), 2nd Josef Newgarden (544), 3rd Scott Dixon (521), 4th Scott McLaughlin (510), 5th Álex Palou (510), 6th Marcus Ericsson (506), 7th Pato O’Ward (480), 8th Felix Rosenqvist (393), 9th Alexander Rossi (381), 10th Colton Herta (381).

Featured Image: Will Power and his No. 12 Team Penske celebrating the championship title with the Astor Cup trophy (Photo by Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment

 

 

 

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