DAYTONA 2 / MILWAUKEE
Friday, August 23 — NASCAR Xfinity Series, 7:30 p.m. ET (USA)
Saturday, August 24 — NASCAR Cup Series, 7:30 p.m. ET (NBC)
Sunday, August 25 — NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, 4 p.m. ET (FS1)
All three NASCAR national series will be in action this weekend, including the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series as it conducts the first playoff race of the season at the Milwaukee Mile. The NASCAR Xfinity Series still has five contests remaining in its regular season while the NASCAR Cup Series has only two.
DAYTONA REPEAT?
Chris Buescher capped the hottest streak of his NASCAR Cup Series career in this race a year ago when he won the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway. That regular-season finale victory marked his third triumph in a five-race stretch and sent him into the playoffs with all the momentum in the world. Buescher goes into Saturday night’s race in 15th place, 16 points above the cut line with two races to go in the regular season.
PLAYOFF BOUND
With two races remaining in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season, four Ford drivers have locked up spots in the playoffs. Brad Keselowski (Darlington), Austin Cindric (WWTR), Joey Logano (Nashville) and Ryan Blaney (Pocono) will all compete for the championship when the postseason opens in two weeks at Atlanta Motor Speedway. As noted above, Chris Buescher currently holds one of the final spots based on points.
BLANEY WINS IN WILD FINISH
Ryan Blaney endured a chaotic end to the Coke Zero Sugar 400 in 2021 at Daytona as he swiftly escaped a multi-car pile-up exiting the third turn with four laps remaining. Blaney, who was running fifth in the middle row of three-wide competition, moved up the track to evade a group of spinning cars and inherited the lead. In overtime, Blaney managed to stay out front, fending off Kevin Harvick and Chris Buescher in the final laps before the race’s eighth caution, subsequently giving Blaney his third win of the season under caution.
FIREBALL ROBERTS COMPLETES ’63 SWEEP
After Tiny Lund was crowned Ford’s first Daytona 500 winner in 1963, Fireball Roberts gave the manufacturer its first season sweep at the speedway in spectacular fashion by driving his 1963 Holman-Moody Ford to a midsummer victory in the Firecracker 400. Roberts bested the likes of teammate Fred Lorenzen and Wood Brothers Racing’s Marvin Panch and a top-five that included the Mercury of Darel Dieringer as well as Ned Jarrett’s Ford. Originally called the Firecracker 250, the race was 100 laps until expanding to the current 400 miles (160 laps) in 1963. The thrilling debut of the elongated version saw 39 lead changes with Roberts beating Lorenzen by a car length.
CUSTER STILL ON TOP
Cole Custer continues to lead the NASCAR Xfinity Series point standings, holding a 12-point lead over second-place Justin Allgaier with five events remaining in the regular season. Custer took the lead following the race in Portland on June 1 and has held it ever since, although he lost 44 points last weekend after his race in Michigan ended early due to suspension damage he incurred from an accident. He has nine career series starts at Daytona International Speedway and has a pair of top 10 finishes with his best result being fifth in this event last season.
MAJESKI MOJO
Ty Majeski ended the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular season with back-to-back victories and enters the postseason as the hottest driver on the circuit. The Wisconsin native, who has led a combined 126 laps the last two races, would like nothing more than to win in front of his hometown fans and automatically secure a spot in the Round of 8. Seeing Majeski peak now isn’t anything new because all five of his career series triumphs have come in the second half of the year. Last season, Majeski finished 13th in this event as the series returned to the Milwaukee Mile for the first time since 2009.
RHODES READY TO DEFEND
Ben Rhodes has had a quiet season to this point and is still looking for his first win, but the defending series champion enters the postseason as the ninth seed. While he has some ground to make up, he’s been in this position before. A year ago he entered as the seventh seed and survived the first three events before catching fire and posting three top-5 finishes in the final four races. Rhodes, who won his first title in 2021, is looking to join ThorSport Racing teammate Matt Crafton and Jack Sprague as three-time series champions.
FORD’S NASCAR CUP SERIES
SUMMER RACE WINNERS AT DAYTONA
1963 – Fireball Roberts
1965 – A.J. Foyt
1967 – Cale Yarborough
1969 – LeeRoy Yarbrough
1970 – Donnie Allison
1983 – Buddy Baker
1988 – Bill Elliott
1989 – Davey Allison
1991 – Bill Elliott
1994 – Jimmy Spencer
1997 – John Andretti
1999 – Dale Jarrett
2000 – Jeff Burton
2003 – Greg Biffle
2007 – Jaime McMurray
2011 – David Ragan
2014 – Aric Almirola
2016 – Brad Keselowski
2017 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2021 – Ryan Blaney
2023 – Chris Buescher
FORD’S NASCAR XFINITY SERIES
WINNERS AT DAYTONA
1995 – Chad Little (1)
2004 – Mike Wallace (2)
2015 – Ryan Reed (1)
2016 – Aric Almirola (2)
2017 – Ryan Reed (1)
2021 – Austin Cindric (1)
FORD’S NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES WINNERS AT MILWAUKEE
1998 – Mike Bliss
1999 – Greg Biffle
2000 – Kurt Busch
2002 – Terry Cook
