{"id":47755,"date":"2024-08-23T21:07:50","date_gmt":"2024-08-24T02:07:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=47755"},"modified":"2024-08-23T21:07:50","modified_gmt":"2024-08-24T02:07:50","slug":"nascar-daytona-weekend-notebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/23\/nascar-daytona-weekend-notebook\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Daytona Weekend Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.\u2014 Former Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell captured the pole position for Saturday night\u2019s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) \u2013 his fourth career pole, but first at the sport\u2019s iconic track.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Michael McDowell, driver of the #34 Long John Silver’s Ford, poses for photos after winning the pole award during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on August 23, 2024 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Logan Riely\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

It will be an all Front Row Motorsports front row thanks to McDowell\u2019s qualifying lap of 183.165 mph around the 2.5-mile high banks in the No. 34 FRM Ford during Friday evening\u2019s Busch Light Pole Qualifying session. His teammate Todd Gilliland will start beside him in the No. 38 FRM Ford \u2013 the two actually posting the exact same time in the first round of qualifying.<\/p>\n

Ford Motor Company swept the top-six positions in time trials and had seven cars in the top 10 on the Daytona speed chart.<\/p>\n

\u201cQualifying has never been a strength at superspeedways for us [as a team] but racing has,\u2019\u2019 McDowell said with a smile. \u201cWe just decided, okay, we are going to take as much time as we possibly have available to execute everything we can to the best of our ability.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just proved to ourselves with a lot of extra time put in, it has paid off,\u2019\u2019 he said of the team\u2019s emphasis on improving qualifying at the big tracks such as Daytona.<\/p>\n

Joey Logano, the 2015 Daytona 500 winner, will start third in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford, followed by Ryan Preece in the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford and teammates Josh Berry in the No. 4 SHR Ford and Chase Briscoe in the No. 14 SHR Ford.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Daytona 500 winner William Byron was seventh fastest in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, with Team Penske\u2019s Austin Cindric – the 2022 Daytona 500 winner \u2013 starting from the eighth position. Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott rounded out the top 10.<\/p>\n

The starting positions are key for Front Row Motorsports who is still trying to qualify for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs and will need a race win to jump into the 16-driver Playoff field with only two races remaining to settle the championship eligibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to tomorrow night, we\u2019ll do what we always do. We\u2019re going to race and help ourselves get to the front and stay in the front and be in good position,\u2019\u2019 McDowell said, adding. \u201cThe best thing we can do for our team and ourselves is work together because we have fast cars.\u201d <\/p>\n

Defending race winner, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing\u2019s Chris Buescher holds a 16-point advantage in 15th<\/sup> place and Trackhouse Racing\u2019s Ross Chastain takes a mere one point lead into Saturday night\u2019s race. They will start 13th<\/sup> and 24th<\/sup>, respectively. 23XI Racing\u2019s Bubba Wallace, who sits just behind Chastain a single point back, will start 18th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

NOTES. \u2026<\/b><\/p>\n

*Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin addressed the media for the first time since he and his team received a massive penalty Thursday after NASCAR ruled his Bristol, Tenn. race-winning engine was not subsequently properly handled according to regulations.<\/p>\n

The penalty included the loss of 75 driver and owner championship points \u2013 which drops Hamlin from third place in the standings to sixth place, 103 points behind leader, 23XI Racing\u2019s Tyler Reddick. Hamlin also lost 10 Playoff points and the team suffered a $100,000 fine. <\/p>\n

\u201cEach race-winning engine must be inspected by NASCAR once the race team determines that its life cycle is complete,\u2019\u2019 NASCAR shared in its ruling. \u201cIn this instance, prior to presenting the engine to NASCAR for inspection, Toyota Racing Development disassembled and rebuilt the No. 11\u2019s Bristol-winning race engine. Per the NASCAR Rule Book, this violation results in an L2 penalty to the race team and driver. Toyota Racing Development self-reported this violation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toyota Racing Development (TRD) USA came forward and shared with NASCAR that it had \u201cmishandled\u201d the engine by re-building it before presenting it to NASCAR.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the engine builder for our partner NASCAR Cup Series teams, TRD is solely responsible for the handling and disposition of all our engines pre- and post-race,\u2019\u2019 said TRD President David Wilson. \u201cDespite procedures being in place, Denny\u2019s race winning engine from Bristol was mistakenly returned to our Costa Mesa facility, disassembled and rebuilt instead of being torn down and inspected by NASCAR per the rulebook. <\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough we know with absolute certainty that the engine was legal and would have passed inspection, we left NASCAR in an impossible position because they were not given the opportunity to properly inspect our engine.<\/p>\n

Even though TRD has accepted blame for the situation, Hamlin allowed that it was a big competitive punch to him. Two days ago, he was fighting for the regular season championship and now with the penalty, he\u2019s contending for a top-five finish in the standings during a season that includes three victories.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know you celebrate these one-point stage victories and race victories so much because you know every round, I\u2019ve got that,\u2019\u2019 Hamlin said of the stiff penalty. \u201cWe were in contention for the regular season (championship), that\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 that\u2019s the gut-punch that this format rewards regular season excellence but it allows you not to have a perfect day and still race for the championship and now I\u2019m kind of back there in the middle.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

*Chris Buescher comes into Saturday\u2019s race as the defending winner and holds a slim, but all-important 16-point advantage in the Playoff standings. However, he knows in these big-track, drafting races that Daytona delivers, there is only so much in your control.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we come to these races, we know that,\u2019\u2019 said Buescher, driver of the No. 17 RFK Racing Ford. \u201cWe can only control what we can in our very small circle and the rest of it will go as it may. Unfortunately, that\u2019s just part of the game at these places.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Asked if he expected help from other Fords as he is the only Ford Mustang driver among the three competitors most fiercely competing for the final two playoff positions, Buescher conceded maybe there would be a push or some version of help mid-race, but he did not expect a fellow Ford to push him to a win, necessarily.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s an expectation, it\u2019s more of an ask if given an opportunity to help out a manufacturer car versus a competitor,\u2019\u2019 Buescher said. \u201cI think the ask would be there to try and have that scenario in your mind from some of our teammates across the board on the Ford camp, but, no. I certainly don\u2019t think you can expect it from others.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all competitors. We obviously have a very singular goal in mind, all of us for the same thing, and you\u2019re not gonna get there if you\u2019re helping out those that you\u2019re gonna have to compete with at the end of the day. Again, it\u2019s kind of just a small favor, if possible.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

*Joe Gibbs Racing driver Ty Gibbs goes into Saturday night\u2019s race ranked 14th<\/sup>, 39-points atop the Playoff cutoff line. And while he\u2019s not completely \u201ccomfortable\u201d with the buffer, he said it does change their strategy somewhat for this race.<\/p>\n

Earning stage points becomes more a priority to collect and a good solid finish versus a big gamble move for victory is something to consider.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking at the big picture, it\u2019s really hard to win one of these,\u2019\u2019 Gibbs said. \u201cAnd I think at the end of the day, it\u2019s down to the luck of the draw what position you are in and where you\u2019re at.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you have to play it safe, but it\u2019s a hard one because you really just don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

*A two-time winner at Daytona International Speedway, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. maintains he\u2019s not any more cautious coming to the superspeedway high banks than anywhere else the NASCAR Cup Series races.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t get nervous, I feel like excited is the way I go into it,\u2019\u2019 Stenhouse said of his vibe coming to Daytona, where he hoisted his first career trophy in 2017\u2019s 400-miler and then answered it with the 2023 Daytona 500.<\/p>\n

The JTG Daugherty Racing driver enters the race ranked 25th, more than 200 points out of the championship eligibility and needing a victory Saturday night to advance to this year\u2019s Playoffs. He concedes a win is the only way in at this point, but doesn\u2019t necessarily expect the racing style Saturday night will be any more aggressive than it normally is.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you look at speedway racing a little bit differently. I mean we\u2019re all beating, banging and pushing each other and I would say 98 percent of the time there\u2019s a wreck on the last lap,\u2019\u2019 Stenhouse said, adding, \u201cI don\u2019t think anybody really knows exactly what moves they\u2019ll make until they\u2019re put in those positions. And then you make them and figure it out after that. <\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely just hope we have a shot at it; put ourselves in that position to be able to make a move, one way or the other, and try to win the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

*NASCAR issued a modification to cars following an accident last week at Michigan that saw Corey LaJoie\u2019s No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet flip and launch into the air. LaJoie was uninjured, but the sanctioning body announced the adjustment on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cNASCAR will be mandating a new Right Side Rear Window Air Deflector beginning at Daytona,\u201d NASCAR said in a statement. \u201cThis component increases the liftoff speed of the car in the early part of the spin, and the parts have been wind tunnel tested and quantified.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe \u2018fin\u2019 matches what is currently run on the left side rear window and will be supplied to teams by NASCAR.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s good they looked at it and made a quick change and were proactive about it, that\u2019s always a good thing,\u2019\u2019 Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron said of NASCAR\u2019s response.<\/p>\n

*Daniel Su\u00e1rez said he believes his friend, reigning Formula One world champion Max Verstappen would be open to racing in NASCAR \u2013 sometime down the road. Verstappen, who leads the F1 standings en route to what would be a third consecutive title, is the longtime partner of Kelly Piquet –  the sister of Su\u00e1rez\u2019s wife Julia.  <\/p>\n

\u201cHe likes to explore different things and I\u2019ve talked to him about NASCAR,\u2019\u2019 Su\u00e1rez said, noting that his own Trackhouse Racing team maintains a \u201cProject 91\u201d entry in various NASCAR Cup Series races for drivers from other motorsports genres wanting to venturing into a different genre.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy not, he\u2019s like any other good driver. \u2026 if he ever gets the opportunity to do it, he wants to do it right,\u2019 Su\u00e1rez said. <\/p>\n

*Martin Truex Jr. said Friday that he expects to be entered in the 2025 Daytona 500, but would not say for what team that would be. Denny Hamlin, co-owner of 23XI Racing has said he would field a car for Truex, but there has not been any sort of official announcement.<\/p>\n

*Kaulig Racing announced Friday that Daniel Dye will drive the team\u2019s No. 10 Chevrolet fulltime in the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series. The Daytona Beach-native Dye, 20, begins competing in his first career NASCAR championship run on Sunday, qualifying for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.\u2014 Former Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell captured the pole position for Saturday night\u2019s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) \u2013 his fourth career pole, but first at the sport\u2019s iconic track. It will be an all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":47758,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[287,16],"class_list":["post-47755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-daytona-international-speedway","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/GettyImages-2168115245.jpg?fit=2432%2C1600&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-cqf","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47755"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47760,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47755\/revisions\/47760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}