By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service

Brad Keselowski tops DAYTONA 500 final practice in 14-car draft

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—NASCAR Cup Series drivers got one final chance to shake down their cars for Sunday’s DAYTONA 500 in a 50-minute practice on Saturday, and the session began immediately with 14 cars in a prolonged draft.

The large pack included the Fords of Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Josh Berry, Zane Smith, Chris Buescher, Ryan Preece, Brad Keselowski, Corey LaJoie and Cole Custer, along with the Chevrolets of Justin Allgaier, Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson and Justin Haley and the lone Toyota of Ty Gibbs.

The size of drafting pack diminished as cars came to pit road, ultimately leaving just the Roush Fenway Keselowski cars of Buescher, Preece and Keselowski drafting together. Those three drivers came to pit road after 27 consecutive laps, completed one more lap each and took their cars to the garage for the balance of the session.

Keselowski set the fastest lap of final practice on his fifth circuit, covering the 2.5-mile distance at Daytona International Speedway in 46.558 seconds (193.307 mph). Bowman was second fastest at 193.274 mph, followed by Custer, Allgaier and Larson.

Bowman had the fastest 10-lap average in the draft at 191.563 mph, followed by Custer (191.445 mph) and Larson (191.405 mph).

A wreck in Thursday’s Duel at Daytona forced Daniel Suarez into a backup No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet. Suarez turned 11 laps Saturday, with a top speed of 191.266 mph on his 10th circuit.

“Our guys put in a lot of hours these last two days,” Suarez said. “So really proud of these guys for all the hard work… I think we’re going to have something good for (Sunday).”

Logistics for NASCAR races in Mexico City races taking shape

The planning and logistics of taking the NASCAR Cup Series to Mexico City is a bit more complicated than staging a typical NASCAR event in the United States.

On June 15, the NASCAR Cup Series will go international for the first time during a weekend that also includes races in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Mexico Series.

According to Rodrigo Sanchez, director of marketing, media & PR for Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, the logistics of staging the NASCAR weekend are similar to those required for Formula 1, which is scheduled to race at the venue Oct. 24-26.

“I would say the size, the magnitude, is very comparable,” Sanchez said. “Obviously, just bringing 200 haulers over the border into Mexico City is a logistical thing, for sure. We’ve been working closely with our race operations team just to get down there safely and in time and then back out for the next event. That alone is just a big, big piece.

“We’re working with the same company we use for F1, which is Rock-It Cargo. We’ve been using them for the last 10 years. They’re very experienced in logistics, security and all that stuff. We don’t foresee any issues.”

The NASCAR haulers are likely to head directly to Mexico from the preceding races at Michigan International Speedway, according to Ben Kennedy, NASCAR executive vice president and chief venue and racing innovations officer.

“We’ll have a location where they’ll be able to transfer a lot of their equipment,” Kennedy said. “A lot of them will probably use different cars when they go down to Mexico City, so they’ll have a spot on the way to Laredo where they can stop and make that change—similar to what we do on the West Coast Swing—before they start heading south.

“That’s been a big part of the planning. They’re going to have to get the Xfinity haulers there (at the drop-off point) probably on Monday and Cup on Tuesday to be able to start leaving and beginning that convoy down. We start to unload Thursday and Friday, seeing that we’re going to have practice and qualifying through the weekend, too.”

The 15-turn road course at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez will be similar to the circuit used by F1. Sanchez said more than 40,000 fans already have pre-registered through the nascarmexico.com website for tickets, which go on sale to the general public on Feb. 27. The current seating capacity of the venue is 80,000.

Future of NASCAR’s Clash may include international venues

Two weeks removed from an overwhelmingly popular Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, NASCAR executive vice president and chief venue and racing innovations officer Ben Kennedy shared his vision for future versions of the season-opening exhibition event.

“We were very happy with the performance of the Clash,” Kennedy said. “I had the opportunity to be there the entire weekend, meet a lot of the local folks and also walk around on Saturday and Sunday…

“To have over 15,000 people there, sold out on Saturday and Sunday, it’s an opportunity for us to promote the season ahead and promote our biggest event, the Daytona 500. It did just that. Being on big FOX, having a great turnout like that and being able to put on a good racing product—we were pleased with it.

“We’re learning a lot, a few small tweaks we’d like to make if we do bring the Clash back there at some point in the future.”

In 2022, the Clash ventured away from Daytona International Speedway for the first time and embarked on a three-year tenure at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Kennedy says the season-opening event may not be limited to the continental United States.

“It’s an opportunity, as we think long-term, for us to think about, ‘Hey, does it potentially go international? Does it rotate? Does it stay domestic?’ We’re looking at a number of different options long-term for where that event could go.

“It is an exhibition race. It is prior to the season. It is an opportunity for us to promote the season in new, novel and different ways. I think that’s what we’ve done over the past few years.”