DAYTONA 2
Saturday, August 22 – NASCAR Xfinity Series, 7:30 p.m. ET (CW)
Sunday, August 23 – NASCAR Cup Series, 7:30 p.m. ET (NBC)
Four Ford NASCAR Cup Series drivers have clinched spots in the playoffs, but can a fifth join them this weekend in the final regular season event at Daytona International Speedway? The remaining drivers on the roster need a win on Saturday night in order to make the field, something Harrison Burton did a year ago when he captured the 100th all-time win for Wood Brothers Racing.
WOOD BROTHERS GOING FOR REPEAT
A year ago, Harrison Burton stunned the NASCAR world when he survived an overtime restart to win his first Cup Series race and the 100th for Wood Brothers Racing. Burton led only one lap on the night, but it was the one that counted as he outlasted Kyle Busch to the finish line by 0.47 seconds. The race featured 40 lead changes, but Ford drivers were a fixture at the front as 10 different drivers combined to lead 131 of the 164 laps. That capped a weekend in which Ford swept the top eight spots in qualifying, including an all-Front Row Motorsports front row with Michael McDowell and Todd Gilliland.
ON THE BUBBLE
Even though there is a bubble for the final playoff berth this weekend at Daytona International Speedway, the eight Ford drivers currently below the cutline all need a win in order to make the field. RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher is 60 points below the cut line after Saturday night’s race at Richmond Raceway. Currently, all three Team Penske drivers have qualified (defending champion Joey Logan, Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric), along with Josh Berry of Wood Brothers Racing.
BLANEY RUNS TOP 10 STREAK TO FIVE
Speaking of Blaney, his third place run on Saturday in Richmond marked his fifth straight Top-5 finish, a streak that began when he ran eighth at Dover last month. Since then, he’s racked up a seventh at Indianapolis, fourth at Iowa, and a pole to go with his sixth place effort at Watkins Glen. Blaney won this event in 2021, but has crashed out of three of the last four races at Daytona International Speedway. That wasn’t the case earlier this year when he ran seventh in the Daytona 500.
AUSTIN CINDRIC: WHY HAVE YOU DONE SO WELL ON THE SUPERSPEEDWAYS DURING YOUR CAREER? “Fast cars, man. I’d like to say it’s that simple and in a lot of ways it really is. Obviously, I feel like anybody who is driving a Ford Mustang has a great advantage when we go to these drafting style racetracks. Roush Yates and everybody does an awesome job at providing us a complete package for those races. Past that, it’s just study and observe and apply. I give a lot of credit to my team as well as my spotter on the roof, Doug Campbell. We’ve been able to do a good job at executing those races and putting ourselves in position. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been crashed a multitude of times out of the lead, but that wouldn’t make me any special because there’s been a lot of people who have had that, too. I’m proud of the performance there, but it’s never a guaranteed result, that’s for sure.”
RYAN BLANEY: WHAT HAS BEEN THE KEY TO THIS RECENT STREAK OF TOP 10 FINISHES? “I think we’ve been executing really well and haven’t been making mistakes anywhere, and our cars have just been where they need to be. I’ve been really happy with the consistent finishes. I’m finishing in the area where I feel like we should. We haven’t really had that a lot this year. We’ve had a lot of unfortunate things happening, but we just waited it out and kept doing our job and this is definitely where this team should be and where they deserve. We’ll just try to keep it going and try to build momentum before we get to Darlington.”
RFK TEAMWORK LEADS BUESCHER TO VICTORY LANE
In 2023, Chris Buescher won for the third time as teammate Brad Keselowski pushed him to victory in the regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway. The win was Ford’s fourth in the last five races overall and came on a night that saw eight Blue Oval drivers lead a combined 110-of-163 laps. For Buescher, he only led the final two laps as the race went into overtime. Keselowski finished second and Aric Almirola, who needed a win in order to make the postseason, was third. Ford also swept the top three spots in qualifying as Chase Briscoe captured the pole and led a race-high 67 laps.
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 the spinning cars seen from his windshield 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.
MAYER PEAKING
One driver who likely didn’t welcome the off week was Sam Mayer, who has finished first or second in each of the last three NASCAR Xfinity Series events. The hot streak started in Indianapolis, where he sat on the pole and finished second. That was followed by his first victory of the season and first for the Haas Factory Team when he took control on a late-race restart and won for the second straight year at Iowa Speedway. A runner-up effort two weeks ago at Watkins Glen sends him into this weekend’s event at Daytona International Speedway third in the point standings, 24 points behind leader Connor Zilisch.
THREE RACES REMAINING
While the NASCAR Cup Series concludes its regular season this weekend, the NASCAR Xfinity Series still has three races remaining before beginning its postseason. Sam Mayer has clinched a spot in the 12-driver field after his Iowa victory while Sheldon Creed finds himself 77 points above the cutline in 10th position. Harrison Burton is currently the last driver in as he holds a 30-point lead over his cousin, Jeb. That would all change if there is a new winner on Friday night. The series playoffs begin Sept. 12 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
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
2024 – Harrison Burton
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)
The Ford Mustang, celebrating its 61st anniversary in 2025, is the world’s best selling sports car. It is also one of the planet’s most popular race cars. With Mustang-based race cars competing in international sports car competition (GT3 and GT4), NASCAR, NHRA, Formula Drift, in Australian Supercars, at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and in its own bespoke one-make series – Mustang Cup and Mustang Challenge – the platform has an unprecedented global reach. This weekend, 42 Mustang race cars are scheduled to race across all disciplines. Learn more at FordPerformance.com.
