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The Daytona 500, the crown jewel of the NASCAR schedule, is set for Sunday afternoon. Follow along for live updates and highlights.
- When: 2:30 p.m. Eastern time
- Where: Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla.
- How to watch: Race broadcast is on Fox; streaming options include the Fox Sports app
Stage 1 finishes under caution after a big wreck on lap 64
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An eight-car crash at the end of Stage 1 of the Daytona 500 will have major implications on the rest of the race. Harrison Burton, a 21-year old driving in his first Daytona 500, was being tailed by Brad Keselowski and eventually spun out and flipped over.
Burton was okay, but a number of cars were involved in the crash including Keselowski, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch. Martin Truex Jr. was the Stage 1 winner after the wreck, heading into the second stage.
“It’s never good,” Burton said of the wreck. “Frustrating weekend. We worked really hard all week working up to that … wanted to get a stage points there and just got turned around.”
Four of the drivers whose cars were involved in the crash are now out of the race Sunday: Burton, Hamlin, William Byron and Ross Chastain.
Kaz Grala has some wheel-y bad luck
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Kaz Grala had terrible luck, with one of his four wheels falling off his car, leading to the first caution flag of the race.
It’s something that rarely happens and carries with it a hefty punishment: a four-race suspension for the crew chief and two crew members.
Tony Stewart described as “ridin’ on the rotor … it’s a run flat!”
Grala’s take? “That was scary as hell,” he said, “so if we could avoid that, I wouldn’t mind it.”
Moments later, drivers were under a second caution when, incredibly, the wheel came off another car, this one being driven by Justin Haley.
Greg Biffle is the first driver to go behind the wall
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Greg Biffle was the first driver to go behind the wall on Sunday, effectively ending his chances in the Daytona 500.
Biffle was having issues with his race car’s engine and went to the garage after saying on the radio that his car “wouldn’t run” and that it was “dead.” Biffle, 52, was the 2002 NASCAR Busch Series champion.
Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch jockey for the lead
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After leading for most of the laps in the 65-lap first stage of the race, Brad Keselowski was being challenged by Kyle Busch.
Keselowski has led 25 of the first 32 laps, with Busch leading the other seven.
The Daytona 500 is officially underway
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The green flag dropped and the racecars are off and running in the 64th edition of the Daytona 500. The drivers started their first of 200 laps around the course in the race that should last three to four hours, barring weather delays.
Defending champion Michael McDowell was in the sixth position as the race got underway, while defending Cup Series champion Kyle Larson took the pole position. Denny Hamlin, who has won three of the last six Daytona 500s, started in 30th.
Fans are packed in at Daytona International Speedway
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After having a limited number of fans in attendance last year, fans have packed into the Daytona International Speedway for this year’s edition of the Daytona 500. Although numbers aren’t official, officials said they were expecting around 100,000 people to be at the race.
Dayton 500 officials announced last week that tickets for the race were sold out.
“We are so thankful to the fans who have reserved their place in what will be yet another history-making event at The World Center of Racing,” Daytona International Speedway President Frank Kelleher said last week.
Jusan Hamilton takes over as Daytona’s first Black race director
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Race directors don’t just come and go at the Daytona 500, where only the third man to hold the job since 1988 — and the first Black man — is running the show.
Jusan Hamilton follows David Hoots and Tim Bermann, the only previous directors in that span.
“A very proud accomplishment for me, personally,” Hamilton told NASCAR.com. “I’ve always said as I’ve set out on this journey to work in NASCAR and contribute to the sport that I’ve had a passion for since I was a kid, that I’ve wanted to contribute in a positive way. Both in helping lead the sport forward so we’re prepared for the future and reaching new audiences as we move toward that goal of growing the sport.”
Hamilton has spent 10 years in NASCAR racing operations, working in event production, social media and leading the Drive for Diversity program that rejected him as a teen. He eventually was named race director for NASCAR’s three national series. Daytona is the culmination of a dream that some might have regarded as unlikely, Hamilton said.
“Why does an African-American kid from Upstate New York have an interest in motorsports?” Hamilton told the Associated Press that he was often asked.
His answer? He loves racing.
“For me, it was, this is what I enjoy,” Hamilton said. “This is what I love doing. There’s a huge connection with me and my family to go to the racetrack each weekend and spend the time together.”
He’ll be running the show on everything from cautions to penalties to monitoring the debut of the sport’s Next Gen car in its debut.
“It’s not necessarily about being the first Black man to call the Daytona 500,” Hamilton said. “Career-wise, it’s a huge accomplishment for me, with the passion I’ve had for motorsports. Bigger picture, I hope it sets a positive example for others that, regardless of race and background, if you work hard and have a mind-set toward your goal, it is achievable.”
NFL Hall of Famer Charles Woodson will be the Daytona 500′s grand marshal
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A trio of celebrities are set to kick off this year’s Daytona 500, as NFL Hall of Famer Charles Woodson will be the race’s grand marshal. Woodson, a Super Bowl champion and Heisman Trophy winner, will officially kick off the race before turning it over to country singer Trace Adkins for the national anthem.
Lachlan Murdoch, son of Rupert, will cap off the prerace festivities as the honorary starter. Murdoch is the CEO of Fox Corporation; FOX Sports is broadcasting the race for the 19th consecutive year.
Following the pregame festivities, the race will officially get underway, kicking off the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season.
A full house returns for Daytona this year
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For the first time in two years, fans are back in full force at Daytona International Speedway for the Daytona 500.
Last year, spectators were limited to about one-third of the usual size because of the coronavirus pandemic. This year, officials expect a crowd of more than 100,000, typical of race-day crowds and the number that attended the race in February 2020, just before the pandemic shut down sports.
Attendance last year was limited to about 30,000 fans in the stands and what officials said were a “few thousand” in the infield, making it the smallest official crowd in race history. The 1960 race, the second in Daytona’s history, had an official attendance of 38,775.
What is different about NASCAR’s new racecars?
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NASCAR’s new Next Gen cars differ from their predecessors in ways both subtle and significant.
The exterior is now brand-specific, with each model more closely resembling the Ford Mustangs, Chevy Camaros and Toyota Camrys on the showroom floor — a change the manufacturers have long pressed NASCAR to make.
The body is segmented into three parts, with a front and rear section that can be popped on and off. Rather than fabricating virtually every piece of the car from scratch, teams will buy Next Gen components from a common supplier, which makes “building” the car less labor-intensive and more like assembling a kit.
Though not evident to the eye, there’s no sheet metal in the body panels. They’re made of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic that has some “give.” So when battered cars pull into the pits for repairs, fans won’t see crews banging out crumpled steel with mallets. Instead, they’ll pop off damaged carbon-fiber panels and pop on a new one, as if a Barbie doll’s arm.
With no mangled sheet metal to puncture or abrade tires, there ought to be fewer blowouts. And because the tires are bigger (18 rather than 15 inches), that puts more emphasis on the driver’s ability to keep the cars from spinning out.
Engineering-wise, the Next Gen car includes an independent rear suspension and rack and pinion steering that’s more reactive to slight driver adjustments. Neither technology is new; they’re “givens” on production cars. But their introduction in NASCAR is another example of the relevance automakers want to see.
Though the gas-powered, V-8 engine is unchanged, the Next Gen car makes a deeper sound because the exhaust has been reconfigured.
And the car has been designed to accommodate an inevitable transition from gas-powered engines to a greener powertrain — whether hybrid, electric or some variation — as manufacturers wean themselves from fossil fuels.
Chase Elliott signs contract extension with Hendrick Motorsports
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Chase Elliott is passing up free agency, signing a five-year contract extension Saturday with Hendrick Motorsports at Daytona International Speedway, the day the NASCAR season begins.
The 2020 Cup champion, Elliott will drive the No. 9 Chevrolet through 2027 and said he felt “so fortunate to be in this position.”
Elliott’s contract had been due to expire after the season.
“I have a great team ... and the support of the best car owner and racing organization in the world,” he said (via the Associated Press). “For me, there’s a lot of pride in driving for Hendrick Motorsports and having the opportunity to win races and compete for championships.
“We are capable of accomplishing a lot more and it starts today.”
Why did NASCAR move to the Next Gen car?
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The development of the Next Gen racecar, which took nearly three years amid a pandemic slowdown, was driven by business imperatives as NASCAR executives looked five and 10 years down the road at the sport’s future and where the automotive industry was heading. They reached two primary conclusions.
One: NASCAR needed to replenish its ranks of team owners. The founders of its most successful, multicar operations were aging — Rick Hendrick is 72; Richard Childress, 76; Joe Gibbs, 81; and Roger Penske, 85. These veterans, who account for 27 Cup championships among them, also account for 13 of Daytona’s 40-car field this year.
To attract a new generation of owners, NASCAR concluded, the sport needed to reduce the cost of launching start-up Cup operations.
Two: NASCAR needed to attract new car manufacturers to challenge Ford, Chevrolet and Toyota and provide a hedge in case one of them pulled out of Cup racing, as Dodge did in 2012.
Mustang is Ford’s last remaining production car, and its future points toward an all-electric version. Chevrolet is expected to phase out the Camaro after 2024 and replace it with an EV version.
But wooing new manufacturers to compete in NASCAR — whether Honda, Nissan or another company — is a tough sell when virtually nothing about the Cup cars’ antiquated technology relates to what they’re building. The conclusion: Get in step with automakers or get left behind.
“The Next Gen car was built to be relevant,” said John Probst, NASCAR’s senior vice president of racing innovation, by phone.
Given that NASCAR’s business is entertainment, Probst added, another goal in developing the new car was to improve the racing by emphasizing drivers’ skill over teams’ engineering wizardry and costly wind-tunnel testing.
“We’ve never sold a ticket to a wind-tunnel,” he noted.
Michael Jordan, Bubba Wallace have front-row seats to spectacular Xfinity crash
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Myatt Snider was uninjured in a fiery crash on the last lap of the season-opening Xfinity Series race Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.
Snider hit the outside wall, crashing as drivers maneuvered for position on the backstretch. Another car struck him, sending his car flying, and landing on the catch fence, with the cables cutting parts and pieces from his car. Snider immediately signaled that he was okay and climbed from the car.
Snider had what he said was an injury to his left foot and expected that he would be able to drive in next week’s race at Auto Club Speedway, saying he is “extremely blessed to be as okay as I am.”
Michael Jordan, now a NASCAR team owner, had a front-row seat, along with driver Bubba Wallace, who will drive in the Daytona 500 Sunday. (Grandstands were removed from the backstretch after a number of fans were injured in wrecks in 2013 and 2015.)
It was a little too close for comfort for Wallace, who drives for Jordan’s team and tweeted, “Crazy wreck right in front of us. Scary stuff.”
“I’m just glad none of it hit y’all,” Snider tweeted in reply to Wallace.
Snider’s engine flew out and was struck by Matt Mills’s car.
“It’s the last lap and everybody is trying their best to push as hard as as possible, and I’m trying to keep as much momentum as I can get,” Snider told reporters after being checked out in the infield care center. “I felt a push, and then I started feeling the car go right and I’m like, ‘Crap. I might be along for a ride here.’ Sure enough, I was.”
As he was facing backwards, he said, "I started seeing the racetrack and I’m like, “Hmm, this is getting better as it goes.’ I think what happened is that the left rear started yawing toward the fence and then the fence caught it and that’s what really started tearing everything up.”
Austin Hill passed A.J. Allmendinger on the final lap right, winning the race just as the crash took place.
As Daytona 500 looms, drivers race to adapt to NASCAR’s new racecar
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Former NASCAR driver Clint Bowyer loves the look of NASCAR’s new “Next Gen” racecar, smitten at first sight by its bigger, 18-inch wheels and sleek, stylish body.
He’s wild about its deeper, throatier sound, too, as a self-professed “car guy” who hears music in the roar of V-8 engines.
But what Bowyer likes best is the look of anxiety he sees in the eyes of NASCAR drivers as they prepare for Sunday’s season-opening Daytona 500 in a radically retooled racecar they’ve barely had a chance to figure out.
“They’re all nervous about this car,” said Bowyer, 42, a former racer-turned Fox broadcaster who famously skidded across the finish of the 2007 Daytona 500 in an upside-down Chevrolet in flames. “These guys are going to have their hands full, and I want to see that as a fan. I don’t want to see a guy, when you go to an in-car camera, looking like he’s on a Sunday afternoon cruise with his family.”
The Next Gen car represents a major gamble for NASCAR, the country’s most popular form of auto racing. But it’s a gamble the sport had to take as the automotive industry steers away from four-door sedans, internal combustion engines and the old-school design principles at the heart of the 1970s-era stock cars NASCAR’s Cup series has been racing and refining for decades.
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