Frontstretch Newsletter: Feb. 14, 2025
Volume
XIX, Edition X |
What to Watch: Feb. 14-16 |
- Today is a busy day in Daytona. NASCAR Cup Series teams have a practice session today at 5:30 p.m. ET that will air live on FOX Sports 1. For more on the remainder of the Cup weekend, see Frontstretch Folio below. NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams will qualify this afternoon at 3 p.m. ET
on FS1. Coverage of the Fresh From Florida 250 will start at 7:30 p.m. ET. The green should fly around 7:45 p.m. ET. NASCAR Xfinity Series teams will practice today at 4:30 p.m. ET. The session will stream live on cw.com and The CW app. Qualifying is scheduled for 10 a.m. ET and will also be streamed. Coverage of the United Rentals 300 will start with NASCAR Countdown Live at 4 p.m. ET Saturday on The CW. Race coverage will start at 5 p.m. ET with the green flag around 5:15 p.m. ET. - The Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals will conclude with two more nights of racing for the World of Outlaws Late Model Series
and the Super DIRTcar Series. Coverage will begin at 5:15 p.m. ET both nights on DirtVision.
- The World Series of Asphalt winds up this weekend with action tonight and tomorrow night. Tonight is the Richie Evans Memorial at New Smyrna Speedway. Coverage will start both nights at 6 p.m. ET on FLORacing. FOLLOW THE FRONTSTRETCH THIS WEEKEND IN DAYTONA THROUGH OUR COLLEAGUE: Also, don't forget to follow our Twitter page, @Frontstretch as well for updates from Daytona! |
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| Bubba Wallace Wins 1st Daytona Duel, Justin Allgaier Puts
JRM Into Daytona 500 In an eventual first Duel at Daytona, 23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace was able to draft to the front with three laps to go and held on to take the win. William Byron was second, then Ty Dillon, Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick. |
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| Austin Cindric Scores Daytona Duel 2 Victory in Photo
Finish, Corey LaJoie Earns Final Daytona 500 Spot It looked like Erik Jones had won Duel No. 2 Thursday night. However, the caution came out before they got to the start-finish line on the final lap. A look at timestamps determined that Austin Cindric was leading, giving him the win. Jones was second,
then Chris Buescher, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano. |
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| ‘You’re Still a Winner to Me’: Jimmie Johnson to Erik
Jones After Duel Win Stripped Away Legacy Motor Club's Erik Jones won Duel No. 2 at the line in a photo-finish over Austin Cindric. However, the caution coming out earlier took that away from him. To Jones' car owner/teammate Jimmie Johnson, it didn't diminish his
accomplishment. |
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| Daytona 500 Lineup: Official Starting Order for the 2025
Great American Race With the Duels at Daytona complete, the field for the 67th Annual Daytona 500 is now set. 41 cars will start on Sunday. |
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| 4 Drivers Fail to Make Daytona
500 With Helio Castroneves taking advantage of the Open Exemption Provisional to get in the race, four drivers failed to qualify for the Daytona 500. |
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| Richard Childress Racing Promotes Mike Verlander to
President Richard Childress Racing announced Thursday that Mike Verlander has been named team president, effective immediately. |
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| Rinus VeeKay Moves to DCR for
2025 Dale Coyne Racing announced Friday morning that Rinus van Kalmthout, also known as Rinus VeeKay, will drive the No. 18 full-time in IndyCar in 2025. |
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| ARCA Qualifying Canceled, William Sawalich to Start
1st Qualifying for the ARCA Menards Series Chili's Ride the 'Dente 200 was cancelled after practice was moved to the scheduled qualifying slot due to rain and lightning. As a result, Joe Gibbs Racing's William Sawalich will start on pole
Saturday. |
Photos are courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography and Travis Hinkle of Penske Entertainment. Have news for Frontstretch? Don't
hesitate to let us know; email us at frontstretcheditors@googlegroups.com with a promising lead or tip. |
Around the World in Motorsports: Feb. 13 |
- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series practice was cancelled Thursday due to heavy rain and lightning. As a result, teams will not practice prior to qualifying this afternoon. - The Heart of Racing announced Thursday that Casper Stevenson will drive the No. 27 Aston Martin in the GTD class full-time in 2025. He'll be joined off and on by Tom Gamble. However, this car will not be Gamble's priority as Gamble is also driving the No. 007 Aston Martin Valkyrie in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
If there is a conflict between the two series, the WEC will be the priority. The first conflict will be at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in May, which is the same weekend that the WEC will be at Imola. An additional conflict will be at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in July.
Zacharie Robichon will
join the team for the five Michelin Endurance Cup races. The release does not indicate who would replace Gamble for Laguna Seca and CTMP for the conflict races. Robichon cannot take that role because he will be driving for the team full-time in the WEC's LMGT3 class. - IMSA teams wrapped up testing Thursday in Sebring. The sessions were Prototype-only as GT teams tested
Tuesday and Wednesday. Session No. 6 saw Porsche Penske Motorsport's Matt Campbell go fastest with a lap at 124.419 mph. The lap was .361 seconds faster than the Acura of Wayne Taylor Racing's Louis Deletraz. Felipe Nasr in the second Penske Porsche was third, then Action Express Racing's Jack Aitken. Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian's Scott Dixon
was fifth. In LMP2, United Autosports' Paul di Resta was fastest with a lap at 122.449 mph, 10th overall. His best lap was .042 seconds faster than Inter Europol Competition's Bijoy Garg. TDS Racing's Hunter McElrea was third, then AF Corse/Pecom Racing's Dylan Murry. AO Racing's Dane Cameron was fifth. - The final session Thursday afternoon saw Action Express Racing's Earl Bamber go fastest in his Cadillac with a lap at 123.527 mph. He was .042 seconds faster than BMW M Team RLL's Marco Wittmann. Teammate Dries Vanthoor was third, then Filipe Albuquerque and Tom Blomqvist. LMP2 was topped by Riley
Motorsports' Felipe Fraga with a lap at 121.497 mph. He was three-tenths of a second faster than McElrea. PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports' Benjamin Pedersen was third, then Cameron and Murry. - The World of Outlaws Late Model Series started their season Thursday night at Volusia Speedway Park. Garret Albertson drew the pole and led flag-to-flag to win the first late model feature
of the year. Bobby Pierce was second, then Devin Moran, Ethan Dotson and Ricky Thornton Jr. - In the Super DIRTcar Series feature, Alex Yankowski was able to take the lead away from pole sitter Peter Brittenl. Despite jumping the cushion with a couple of laps to go, Yankowski was able to hold on to take the victory. Erick Rudolph finished second, followed by Mat Williamson and Larry Wight. Britten was fifth. Photo is courtesy of our own Phil Allaway. |
This is just a sampling of the videos that we uploaded to our YouTube channels from Daytona Thursday. For more from Daytona, or from other race weekends, be sure to subscribe to our suite of YouTube channels (Frontstretch, Frontstretch
Grassroots, Frontstretch Plus and FS Open Wheel) and don't forget to click the bell to be notified of future videos. |
Frontstretch Folio: Daytona 500
by Phil Allaway
This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series opens up the season with the 67th Running of the Daytona 500. TV coverage is scheduled to begin
with NASCAR RaceDay at 12:30 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX. Race coverage starts at 2:30 p.m. ET. The green flag is scheduled to fly around 3 p.m. ET. Radio coverage will be provided by local MRN radio affiliates and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel
90).
Weather is going to be an issue Sunday as rain is in the forecast. If any changes to the schedule are made this weekend, we will keep you
up to date at Frontstretch. Records and Facts
Last year's Daytona 500 came down to a late restart after a multi-car crash. On the restart, William Byron was able to get past Ross Chastain to
take the lead. Chastain was charging hard to try to get back past him. However, coming to the white flag, Chastain and Austin Cindric had contact in the tri-oval. Both drivers spun out to bring out the yellow. NASCAR determined that Byron had taken the white flag before the caution came out. As a result, Byron was awarded the victory. Alex Bowman finished second, followed by Christopher Bell and Corey LaJoie. Bubba Wallace was fifth. Among active drivers, Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson each have three victories at Daytona. Hamlin's three wins all came in the Daytona 500, while
Johnson has two Daytona 500 wins. Stenhouse and Austin Dillon have two Daytona wins a piece, one each in February and the summer. All-time, Richard Petty has seven Daytona 500 wins (the most recent of which occurred in 1981) and ten overall wins in point races, most of all drivers. Cale Yarborough has nine wins, followed by David Pearson with eight. Track
Facts
Track / Race Length: 2.5-mile oval, 200 laps (500 miles) 31 degrees
Banking: 31 degrees
Frontstretch: 3,800 ft, banked 18 degrees in tri-oval, 6 degrees in chutes
Backstretch: 3,400 ft., banked 3 degrees Grandstand Seating: 101,000
Pit Road Speed: 55 mph
Pace Car
Speed: 70 mph
Opened: 1959
Website: http://www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DAYTONA
Twitter: http://twitter.com/DAYTONA Remaining Pre-Race Schedule: Practice No. 1: Friday, Feb. 14, 5:30 - 6:25 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 Happy Hour: Saturday, Feb. 15, 3 - 3:55 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 2 Say What?: "What a good night. I didn’t know how it was going to play out, and we got the lead there and my
McDonald’s Camry just switched like a light switch to a totally different balance from being in the pack. It was a little bit edgy out front, but luckily, I’ve got some years under my belt that people still trust me. I was lucky to have Tyler [Reddick] behind me – he did a great job pushing me. I appreciate that massive 23XI effort to get us this win. But all-in-all – we’ve got McDonald’s back in victory lane at the Duel. It sets us up really good for Sunday. We will enjoy this little moment
right now. I told myself I would do more of – enjoy the little stuff. But hats off to these guys here. Hats off to Charles [Denike] – first time at Daytona in a Cup car, and we got him a win. I forgot where to go. I forgot where to stop. The best thing is – I cried when I walked out with Becks on pit road for driver intros, and it is really special to have him here. It is awesome." - Bubba Wallace, winner of Duel No. 1 "The raw speed of our Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Chevy has been quite obvious all weekend already, so that’s a great thing and a great start for our team. Our goal is to let everyone know
we are here early in the season and we’re happy about that finish. I think if we had been running in the back, we probably would have made a couple different moves to be a little bit smoother at the end. This is the first time working with the team here at Kaulig Racing and I’m really proud of what we accomplished tonight. We’ll go back, get in the notebook and get a little bit better. You can’t ask for a better start to the season. Our team is determined and focused, and in the second race of
the year to get a top three is nice. We’ll go to the 500 and have some fun. The biggest thing on Sunday is to make it to the end and get our year started on the right track." - Ty Dillon, finished third in Duel No. 1 "It’s great to get the points and obviously have a fast car and get to practice a good bit of execution – a good teammate and good teamwork with most of the Fords, so I’m proud of that effort. The guys did a really great job and I’m happy I was able to race tonight. "It’s a long week ahead. There’s still a lot to go." - Austin Cindric, winner of Duel No. 2 "It was good. We kind of went on a different strategy just to get up front and put ourselves in a good spot after the pit stop. After the restart, I was just trying to get to the top,
and it finally kind of opened up there on the final lap – I felt like I put myself in a good spot and set myself to try to beat him to the line and did, but unfortunately, the yellow came out before. I haven’t seen it. It is a bummer – you think you win the race, and I’ve never had that happen so I feel for all of the others in that spot – it’s not fun. Either way, we will go make it up on Sunday." - Erik Jones, finished second in Duel No. 2
"Definitely
a good performance for us. Unfortunately, we had some kind of fuel pump issue or a fueling issue, and cost us a chance to really race for it, but Erik [Jones] did a phenomenal job. I’m a little bummed for him to not have that AdventHealth Camry in victory lane, but we saw the video and it is clear – the caution came out, he is about six inches behind [Austin Cindric] car. Roller coaster thinking of it being our first win as an organization, and then let down that came behind that. But good
things ahead for us." - Jimmie Johnson, finished 19th in Duel No. 2
Phil
Allaway is the Newsletter Manager for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
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