Circle Tracks

It's hard to explain what happened on the final lap of the Daytona 500, but it was pure mayhem. Carson Hocevar was leading at the white flag, but he got turned from the lead. The race stayed green, and Chase Elliott surged ahead with a push from Zane Smith. But then came Tyler Reddick with a helpful push from teammate Riley Herbst, passing Elliott at the exit of Turn 4. The field fanned out ...Keep readingView the full article

The 68th running of the Daytona 500 has had several accidents, but none as big as what happened on Lap 124. Justin Allgaier, driving a car owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kelley Earnhardt Miller, took the race lead out of Turn 4. However, three-time 500 winner Denny Hamlin squeezed to his outside in aggressive move. Allgaier didn't realize Hamlin was there and came up in the middle of the ...Keep readingView the full article

With packed grandstands, a strong crosswind due to weather rolling in, NASCAR made an emotional full-throttle tribute to Dale Earnhardt in the opening laps of the 2026 Daytona 500.  On lap three, after the cars had gotten up to speed, most of the people inside the 2.5 mile superspeedway held three fingers up in reference to Earnhardt’s iconic No. 3. As the field flew past the main ...Keep readingView the full article

Long before Larson vs. Hamlin or Earnhardt vs. Gordon, there was another clash of titans that divided the NASCAR world. And this battle was between the Silver Fox -- David Pearson, and The King -- Richard Petty. These two drivers combine for ten championships and an astonishing 305 NASCAR Cup Series wins. On this day, February 15, 1975, they came together for one of their most memorable ...Keep readingView the full article

Hendrick Motorsports is the winningest team in Daytona 500 history with ten victories. William Byron, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet, won the event in both 2024 and 2025, and both races ended in dramatic crashes amongst the race leaders. Now, he will attempt to win the 500 for a third consecutive year, and it's a feat that has never been done before. In 2024, Byron positioned himself out front ...Keep readingView the full article

Here's all the major storylines you need to keep an eye on during the 68th running of the Daytona 500: Brad Keselowski manages a leg injury Brad Keselowski, RFK Racing Ford Photo by: Patrick McDermott via Getty Images The 42-year-old broke his femur during the off-season, and arrived to Daytona with a walking cane. While there is still pain, he has every intention of ...Keep readingView the full article

At this point, Austin Hill believes he has a mystique of winning NASCAR O’Reilly Series races at Daytona that is more effective than the resume that generated the aura in the first place. Of his 15 wins at the second-highest level of the discipline, 11 of them have come across Daytona, Talladega and Atlanta. And every time NOAPS comes to Daytona, the narrative is that everyone needs to gang ...Keep readingView the full article

Austin Hill now has 15 wins in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, which includes an astonishing eleven on drafting tracks, with four of those coming at Daytona. He dominated the 2026 season-opener, delivering Richard Childress Racing the checkered flag once again. "I love these guys, man," said Hill in Victory Lane. "Everybody that's been at Chevrolet, everybody at RCR, ECR, everyone that ...Keep readingView the full article

It is impossible to understate the impact Dale Earnhardt had on NASCAR, and the void left when he died on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.  At the time, he was holding back several cars while the two he owned -- the No. 15 of Michael Waltrip and the No. 8 of his son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., drove off to a Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) 1-2 finish. But mere seconds from finishing third right ...Keep readingView the full article

The third and final practice for the 68th running of the Daytona 500 was very calm, and there were no issues. Of the 41 starters, only 18 actually chose to go out on track. There was some drafting, and the biggest pack formed early with RFK Racing and Team Penske Fords, but also a handful of Chevrolets that joined them. Jimmie Johnson was the only Toyota driver to even go out on track, and ...Keep readingView the full article

After historic snow postponed the Clash at Bowman Gray several days into the week, NASCAR has enjoyed optimal weather for Speedweek at Daytona. However, there is a real threat of thunderstorms on Sunday, and it's all about when -- not if -- the bad weather will arrive. In a proactive move, NASCAR has moved up the start of the 68th running of the Daytona 500 a full hour to 1:30pm EST. The NASCAR ...Keep readingView the full article

Jimmie Johnson will end his NASCAR Cup Series career a year from now with 702 starts in the 69th Daytona 500. Sure, his full-time career with Hendrick Motorsports ended after the 2020 season and then came a chapter that included IMSA and IndyCar with Chip Ganassi Racing but the seven-time Cup champion returned home as a team owner with Legacy Motor Club in 2023. Since then, Johnson has made ...Keep readingView the full article

Faith is a fundamental component to who Chandler Smith is as a man, father, husband and racer, so it comes to no surprise that he leaned on his convictions in articulating the range of emotions from missing the Daytona 500 to winning in the Truck Series 24 hours later. “Truthfully, I pray a certain prayer before every race, and most of my prayers are very consistent in the certain sense of ...Keep readingView the full article

Chandler Smith was running sixth entering Turn 3, but he ended the night holding the checkered flag. He didn’t benefit from a wreck, but instead made a dramatic four-wide pass for the lead as the field drag-raced to the finish line. He beat runner-up Gio Ruggiero to the line by 0.044s, and just 0.069s separated the entire top five in the end. John-Hunter Nemechek had the lead exiting the ...Keep readingView the full article

Tony Stewart hasn't competed in NASCAR since 2018, and he hasn't raced in the NASCAR Truck Series in almost twenty years, so there was a lot of hype around him on Friday night as he returned to drive a Ram Truck. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see much of Smoke, as he ran towards the back of the pack through the first two stages while the Kaulig Racing team worked on the handling of his ...Keep readingView the full article

After making a handful of starts in the ARCA Menard's Series race last year, Cleetus McFarland (real name Garrett Mitchell) made the jump up into the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for the 2026 season-opener. Making his Truck Series debut with Niece Motorsports, Mitchell was running inside the top ten early in the event, but he never got the opportunity to do much as his race came to an abrupt ...Keep readingView the full article

The second practice session for the Daytona 500 is complete, and there were no issues during the hour-long session. Manufacturers stayed with their own, running carefully coordinated groups to minimize risk. Chevrolet had the biggest group, so it's no surprise that bowties dominated the top ten on the speed. Austin Dillon led the way in the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet (195.63mph) ...Keep readingView the full article

At least for the time being, NASCAR’s identity is internal combustion engines that making loud noises and relate to a majority of the American consumer. While the Sanctioning Body continues development on a prototype race car that can adapt to any alternative fuel or power source, all four manufacturers that compete across the three national tours are content with the internal combustion ...Keep readingView the full article

Where else are you going to see an early 2000s sitcom star, an extreme sports athlete often compared to Evel Knievel, a NASCAR Hall of Famer who has been away for almost a decade, and a popular YouTuber who hates sleeves battle each other at speeds approaching 200mph? Only this Friday the 13th on FOX Sports 1, when the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) season officially gets ...Keep readingView the full article

On December 18th, 2025, a plane crashed in Statesville, North Carolina. There were seven lives lost in that accident -- Dennis Dutton and his son Jack,  Craig Wadsworth, but also NASCAR legend Greg Biffle alongside his wife Cristina, their son Ryder, and his daughter Emma. Biffle was a champion of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, as well as the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series. He went on ...Keep readingView the full article

The last time Hendrick Motorsports had a tandem like Kyle Larson and Cliff Daniels, the driver (Jeff Gordon) was signed to a lifetime contract and the crew chief (Ray Evernham) left to form a factory team for Dodge. Rick Hendrick was very adamant, with the two-time champions both on a contract year, to not lose his latest dynasty to any sort of free agency or market shift. “Well, it was ...Keep readingView the full article

Kyle Busch will lead the field to the green flag in this Sunday's Daytona 500, driving the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Chase Briscoe will join him on the front row for 'The Great American Race' after these two topped qualifying on Wednesday. But after the Duel qualifying races on Thursday, which were won by Joey Logano and Chase Elliott, we now know the starting positions for the ...Keep readingView the full article

Just like everyone predicted, BJ McCleod Motorsports and Garage66 made it into the Daytona 500 over cars fielded by RFK Racing, Front Row Motorsports and a Richard Childress Racing affiliate. In the words of Casey Mears, driving the Garage66 for Carl Long, anything can happen at Daytona. It’s the reason McLeod and Mears signed up to drive figurative knives to a figurative gunfight. When ...Keep readingView the full article

Anthony Alfredo's Daytona 500 dream has come to a bitter end. After racing his way into the 2026 season-opener, his No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet failed post-race inspection. Alfredo finished 18th in Duel #2, besting both BJ McLeod and JJ Yeley to race his way into the 500. He failed to qualify for the race in 2025, and was extremely emotional over the prospect of competing in NASCAR's ...Keep readingView the full article

After a wildly chaotic Duel #1, things were far calmer in the second Duel qualifying race. Chase Elliott captured the checkered flag in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, followed by Carson Hocevar, Kyle Larson, Michael McDowell, and Christopher Bell. The two Hendrick and Spire cars up front worked closely together to control the finish, and none of them made a move on each other until ...Keep readingView the full article