This Weekend in NASCAR – Storylines – Daytona Road Course

• Next Race: O’Reilly Auto Parts 253 At Daytona
• The Place: Daytona Road Course
• The Date: Sunday, February 21
• The Time: 3 p.m. ET
• TV: FOX, 2:30 p.m. ET
• Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
• Distance: 252.7 miles (70 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 16), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 34), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 70)

2021 NASCAR Cup Series Season embraces road racing

For the first time in a NASCAR Cup Series season (1949-2021) the schedule calls for the series to visit seven different road course tracks – Daytona International Speedway Road Course, Circuit of The Americas (COTA), Watkins Glen International, Sonoma Raceway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course (ROVAL) and Road America. The previous most the NASCAR Cup Series competed on in one season was four back in 1964 and 1957.

The first of the seven road courses on the 2021 schedule is this weekend’s Daytona International Speedway Road Course. The series made its debut at the Daytona Road Course last season with the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion taking the checkered flag. This weekend’s race, the O’Reilly Auto Parts 253 At DAYTONA is scheduled for 70 laps or 252.7 miles (3 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The starting lineups for this weekend’s race was determined by Metric Qualifying and as a result Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott will start from the pole and 2021 Daytona 500 champion Michael McDowell will start on the outside front row (second).

Michael McDowell looks to join elite company to win first two races of the season

After bagging the biggest race in NASCAR, the Daytona 500, Front Row Motorsports’ Michael McDowell must come back down from the Cloud-9-type celebration all week and return his focus to battle it out on the 3.61-mile, 14-turn Daytona International Speedway Road Course in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 253 At DAYTONA this Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio in hopes of becoming just the sixth different driver to win the first two races of a NASCAR Cup Series season.

If McDowell can accomplish the feat, he will join some elite company: Matt Kenseth (2009: Daytona, Auto Club), Jeff Gordon (1997: Daytona, Rockingham), David Pearson (1976: Riverside, Daytona), Bob Welborn (1959: Champion, Daytona), Marvin Panch (1957: Lancaster, Concord).

The Glendale, Arizona native, McDowell, made his series debut at the Daytona Road Course last season; he started 30^th and finished 10th.

King of the Road: Elliott looking for his sixth career road course victory

No active driver has more wins on road courses in the NASCAR Cup Series than Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott. What’s even more impressive is Elliott’s ascension to the ‘King of the Road’ in the series has all happened since 2018. In the last seven NASCAR Cup Series road course races, Elliott has won five including the last three consecutively.

Chase Elliott’s road course dominance has garnered him five wins which has him tied for seventh on the NASCAR Cup Series all-time road course wins list with Dan Gurney, Darrell Waltrip and Tim Richmond.

If the defending winner of the Daytona Road Course, Elliott, wins this weekend, he will join Bobby Allison, Richard Petty, Ricky Rudd and Rusty Wallace in a tie for third-most series road course wins with six each.

Jeff Gordon leads the series in road course wins with nine (five at Sonoma, four at Watkins Glen). Tony Stewart has the second-most road course wins with eight (four at Sonoma, four at Watkins Glen).

In the inaugural Daytona Road Course race, the Dawsonville, Georgia native started seventh and raced his way up to the front leading 34 laps en route to the victory.

Heading into this weekend, Elliott is likely the favorite and the stats support the assumption. Elliott is the series leader in the following key pre-race loop data categories – Driver Rating (135.6), Average Running Position (3.1), Lap Led (34), Laps in the Top 15 (64 laps, 98.5).

Austin Dillon holds Cup points lead for first time in career

Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon didn’t win the Daytona 500 last weekend, but his third-place finish was enough to give him the NASCAR Cup Series driver standings points lead for the first time in his career. Hi previous career-best points position in the series was third after winning the 2018 Daytona 500.

Dillon ran a masterful race last Sunday and was in contention to win on the final lap, but the 2018 Daytona 500 winner had to settle for third when the caution came out to end the event. Dillon racked up points all race, finishing third in the first stage and fifth in the second stage. Now the North Carolinian holds a six-point lead over second-place Denny Hamlin.

Dillon will look to retain his points lead this weekend at the Daytona Road Course, where he made his track debut in the Clash last Tuesday, because he missed the race last season due to COVID-19 protocols. In the Clash, he started 19^th and finished 11^th.

Clash winner Kyle Busch looks to add to his road racing resume

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch and new crew chief Ben Beshore were gifted with a win last Tuesday night in the 2021 Busch Clash, when Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney took each other out in the last turn (Turn 14) opening the winning door for Busch.

Now this weekend, Busch is looking to keep the good mojo going and get his first win of the 2021 season in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 253 At DAYTONA (3 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Busch currently has four road course wins in the NASCAR Cup Series – two at Sonoma and two at Watkins Glen – but is looking for his first points-paying victory on the Daytona Road Course. If he accomplishes the feat, he will tie Chase Elliott for the series most road course wins among active drivers.

Busch’s first attempt at the Daytona Road Course last season was grim; he started fourth but was caught in an incident and relegated to a 37th-place finish.

Small but mighty 2021 Sunoco Rookie class

With only two drivers vying for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors, the class might be small but is definitely not short on talent and has the potential to make quite a splash this season.

Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe grabbed the first Rookie of the Race Award of the season at Daytona after he finished 19th in the Daytona 500. Now the Indiana native has 13 points lead in the rookie standings over his lone competitor Anthony Alfredo.

Looking ahead to this weekend’s Daytona Road Course, Briscoe is optimistic. He has 11 career wins in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and he scored two of them on road courses – Charlotte and Indianapolis. In last season’s Xfinity race at the Daytona Road Course, he started second and led 26 laps (race-most) but was caught in an accident late in the race and finished 29th.

Front Row Motorsport’s Anthony Alfredo is currently 13 points behind Briscoe in the rookie standings after he finished 32^nd in the season-opening Daytona 500 due to an incident.

Alfredo will have his work cut out for him this weekend, the Ridgefield, Connecticut native has only one NASCAR national series start at a road course and it was at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course last season. He started seventh and finished 20^th.

Quick Recap: 2020 NASCAR Cup Series debut at Daytona Road Course

The NASCAR Cup Series debut at the Daytona Road Course last season was a wild event that saw wet and dry conditions resulting in 13 lead changes among six different leaders across the 14-turn, 3.61-mile road course.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin looked like the dominant driver to beat in the early stages of the race, swapping the lead with other competitors several times. In total, he led 16 laps in the event.

But as the race went on and the rain started to fall, Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott would take command of the inaugural road course event and ultimately win. Elliott led a race-high 34 of the scheduled 65 laps (52.3%). Hamlin would finish runner-up, followed by his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr.

• Next Race: Super Start Batteries 188 At Daytona Presented by O’Reilly
• The Place: Daytona Road Course
• The Date: Saturday, February 20
• The Time: 5 p.m. ET
• TV: FS1, 4:30 p.m. ET
• Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
• Distance: 187.72 miles (52 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 15), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 30), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 52)

Austin Cindric claims season-opener at Daytona

Road course ace Austin Cindric finally got a superspeedway win at Daytona International Speedway in the season-opener on Saturday.

After rain canceled qualifying for the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Cindric started in the first position with JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier joining him on the front row. Cindric led 26 laps en route to the victory in a race that saw 16 lead changes and had nine cautions for 42 laps. Cindric beat second-place finisher Brett Moffitt by .104 seconds.

Cindric had made it known he really wanted to add a superspeedway win to his resume. Not only did he accomplish the feat, but he also participated in the NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 for Team Penske where he started 39^th and finished 15^th.

Cindric’s win has him back atop the points standings as well, with a 15 points lead on second place Ty Dillon.

Team Penske’s Cindric can set more records this weekend

With his big win to kick off the season at Daytona, Team Penske’s Austin Cindric became just the second driver in NASCAR Xfinity Series history to win the championship and the season-opener the following year; joining Randy LaJoie who accomplished the feat in 1997. Now, Cindric has the opportunity to become the only driver in series history to win a championship and then the first two races of a NASCAR Xfinity Series season the following year.

And, lucky for Cindric, the series heads back to Daytona this weekend, but this time will race on the 3.61-mile, 14-turn road course. Last season was the first time in history that the NASCAR Xfinity Series raced on the Daytona Road Course and Cindric made history by winning the event from the pole by a massive 7.108-seconds over second place Brandon Jones. It was one of Cindric’s six victories en route to the title last season.

Cindric led 21 of 52 laps in a race that saw seven lead changes and seven cautions for eight laps. This weekend, Cindric will look to stay undefeated at the Daytona Road Course in The Super Start Batteries 188 At Daytona Presented by O’Reilly (5 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The race will be broken up into three stages: Stage 1 will end on Lap 15 and Stage 2 will end on Lap 30. The race will be 52 laps total for 187.72 miles.

Brett Moffitt will start on the pole this weekend with Cindric joining him on the front row. Jeb Burton, Harrison Burton and Daniel Hemric will round out the top-five starting positions.

First road course of the season on deck at Daytona

In 2020, the NASCAR Xfinity Series ran on four road courses. They started the season at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course and then went to Road America, the Daytona Road Course and closed out at the Charlotte ROVAL.

This weekend, the Super Start Batteries 188 At Daytona Presented by O’Reilly will kick off a season with seven road courses on the schedule – Daytona Road Course, Circuit of The Americas (COTA), Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course, Road America, Watkins Glen International, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course (ROVAL).

Austin Cindric, last week’s winner, also won this race last season. He went on a two-race road course winning streak, winning at Road America and then at the Daytona Road Course the following week. Of Cindric’s nine total wins in the Xfinity Series, four of them were at road courses. He will try to make that five this weekend.

Xfinity Road Course Ringers Aplenty

NASCAR Xfinity Series driver standings leader Austin Cindric is known for running well on road courses, but he’s not alone in that. The Xfinity Series has a lot of talented drivers on road courses and this weekend will be no different.

AJ Allmendinger, who won at the Charlotte ROVAL last season, finished fourth last season at the Daytona Road Course and will be back behind the wheel of the No. 16 Chevrolet for Kaulig Racing this weekend. Of Allmendinger’s five Xfinity Series victories, four of them were at road courses.

Andy Lally is joining Our Motorsports this weekend, chasing a victory on the road course. Lally finished fifth in this race last season.

Miguel Paludo will be behind the wheel of the No. 8 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports on Saturday. This will be his third start in the Xfinity Series. The last time he ran a race in the series was 2012 at Road America and Watkins Glen.

Preston Pardus will also be back behind the wheel this weekend for DGM Racing. Pardus has six starts in the Xfinity Series, all coming from road courses in 2019 and 2020. He has a best finish of eighth at Road America last season.

Jade Buford will make his fifth start in the Xfinity Series this weekend. All four of his previous starts were in 2020 on road courses. He had a best finish of eighth at the Charlotte ROVAL.

Jones had a great race at the Daytona Road Course last season and led two laps en route to his second-place finish. Noah Gragson is also strong on road courses and tends to run up front. He finished third last season with Allmendinger and Lally rounding out the top five.

• Next Race: BrakeBest Pads 159 At Daytona Presented by O’Reilly
• The Place: Daytona Road Course
• The Date: Friday, February 19
• The Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
• TV: FS1, 6:30 p.m. ET
• Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
• Distance: 158.85 miles (44 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 12), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 25), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 44)

Camping World Trucks go road racing at Daytona Road Course

Every season (1995-2021), except a small stint between 2001-2012, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series has had a road course on the schedule in some form or fashion. This season, the series has embraced road racing like never before. The 2021 Truck Series schedule has four road courses listed – Daytona Road Course, Circuit of The Americas (COTA), Watkins Glen International and Canadian Tire Motorsports Park – the most of any season in series history.

The first road course the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series ever competed at in a point-paying championship event was at Heartland Park Topeka in Topeka Kansas on July 29, 1995.  NASCAR Hall of Famer Ron Hornaday Jr. won the race from the pole dominating the event leading 58 of the scheduled 60 laps.

In total the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series has held 24 series points-paying races on six different road courses – Heartland Park Topeka, Watkins Glen International, Sonoma Raceway, Portland International Raceway, Canadian Tire Motorsports Park and the Daytona Road Course – from 1995-Present. Prior to this season’s four, the most road courses the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series has competed on in a single season is three – from 1996 to 1999.

The 24 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races on road courses have produced 18 different winners, led by NASCAR Hall of Famer Ron Hornaday Jr. (1995: Heartland Park, Sonoma; 1996: Watkins Glen) and Joe Ruttman (1997: Heartland Park, Sonoma; 1998: Watkins Glen) with three road course wins each. Only two other drivers have multiple road course wins in the Truck Series – 2000 series champion Greg Biffle grabbed road course wins at Portland International Raceway (1999) and Watkins Glen (2000) and Canadian Ron Fellows collected two wins at Watkins Glen in 1997 and 1999.

Last season, the Camping World Truck Series took to the Daytona Road Course for the first time. It was an action-packed event that saw 10 lead changes, but ultimately it was the eventual series champion, Sheldon Creed, taking the checkered flag.

Among the drivers entered this weekend only three have previous wins on road courses in the series, Creed’s Daytona Road Course win last year and the other two were at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park – John Hunter Nemechek (2016) and Brett Moffitt (2019).

Sheldon Creed returning to defend

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series was the first NASCAR national series to take to the twists and turns of the Daytona Road Course last August when the famed circuit became a replacement race for the Watkins Glen race during COVID-19 schedule adjustments last season.

And the first winner on the replacement track was Sheldon Creed, who narrowly edged Brett Moffitt for his second win of the 2020 season en route to capturing the championship.

Both Creed and Moffitt will be back this weekend to compete in the BrakeBest Brake Pads 159 at Daytona Presented by O’Reilly. Creed is slated to start fifth, while Moffitt will start 21^st.

In fact, the top six finishers from last season (additionally Raphael Lessard who finished third, Matt Crafton – fourth, Austin Hill – fifth, and Tyler Ankrum – sixth) will be returning to the road course as part of full-time Camping World Truck Series campaigns. In all, 20 drivers will return to compete in their second Camping World Truck Series road course race at Daytona.

In addition to the plethora of 2020 series regulars who return for their second shot at the Daytona Road Course, two drivers competed in the ARCA Menards Series at the track last year – Hailie Deegan and Sam Mayer. The pair put in impressive performances on the 3.61-mile road course, with Mayer finishing third and Deegan placing sixth.

Camping World announced $500k in cash and prizes for NCWTS
Prior to the start of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season opener on Friday, Feb. 12 at Daytona International Speedway, Camping World CEO Marcus Lemonis announced bonus money and prizes provided by Camping World for the 2021 season.

The first winner was Ben Rhodes, who won the NextEra Energy 250 and was awarded a $25k driver bonus and $25k road crew bonus.

This is what the rest of the season looks like for cash and prizes from Camping World:

• The team leading the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver championship points standings after the Kansas Speedway race will receive a $50k road crew bonus.
• The team leading the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver championship points standings after the Knoxville Raceway race will receive a $75k road crew bonus.

At the end of the 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season:

• Camping World will award the team (i.e., single entry) that leads the most laps during the season with a $50k driver bonus and a $25k road crew bonus.
• NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship driver will receive an electric pickup truck and a Lordstown electric (Class E) RV.

Camping World will also tap into a $100k fund for incremental bonuses or team needs throughout the season.

source – NASCAR communications