Roush Fenway takes its successful Superspeedway program to Daytona this weekend, where the 2020 regular season culminates Saturday night under the lights. Jack Roush has 11 wins at Daytona overall, including seven in the Cup Series – five of which were in the summer race.
Daytona International Speedway (2.5-Mile)
Coke Zero Sugar 400
Saturday, Aug. 29 | 7:30 p.m. ET
NBC, MRN, SiriusXM Channel 90
· Ryan Newman, No. 6 Guaranteed Rate Ford Mustang
· Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang
Dramatic Daytona Set to Cap Regular Season Saturday Night
· For the first time in the sport’s current playoff format, the NASCAR Cup Series’ regular season will culminate Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway, which is expected to be a high drama event as drivers have one last chance to lock themselves into the 2020 Playoffs.
· This marks the second trip to Daytona in as many weeks, as the series visited the Road Course Aug. 16. With 10 drivers with at least one win in 2020, three additional drivers have locked themselves into the playoff grid. A win by a non-locked in driver would punch their ticket into the 10-race playoffs, which begin Labor Day Weekend at Darlington.
· NASCAR will continue to use three competition-based performance metrics to determine the starting lineup and pit selection order for each race, replacing the random draw procedure. Buescher drew the 17th spot in the lineup, while Newman is set to roll off 22nd.
· Four weeks of NASCAR action were initially completed prior to the COVID-19 hiatus with races at Atlanta, Homestead, Texas, Bristol, Richmond, Talladega, Dover and Martinsville postponed before the schedule later picked back up in mid-May.
Dover DH Recap, Daytona Preview
· Buescher finished 16th in the opening race last weekend in Dover, and followed that with a 14th-place run a day later for his eighth top-15 of 2020.
· Newman finished 19th on Saturday, and 24th Sunday in Dover.
· Fifth Third Bank, who went to victory lane in this race three years ago, returns to Buescher’s No. 17 machine Saturday night.
· Guaranteed Rate is back this weekend with Newman, to continue their 12-race primary partnership in the closing months of the 2020 season.
Recent Superspeedway Success
Dating back just two races in Daytona, RFR has been in the mix in the closing laps more than once. At last summer’s Daytona event, Newman earned a fifth-place finish, while Ricky Stenhouse Jr., led a pair of laps before being caught up in an incident to finish 24th. Looking back at this season’s Daytona 500, Newman led coming to the stripe, before is horrific crash that sent him to the hospital and kept him out of the car for three races. He would finish ninth in that race, while Buescher crossed the line third.
Looking at Jack Roush’s recent Talladega success, similar results were had in Alabama. Newman finished second in one of the closest finishes in NASCAR history last fall, while Stenhouse finished ninth in that race. This spring, Buescher earned a sixth-place run, while Newman ran out of fuel in the closing laps to finish 24th.
Shining Bright in the ‘Sunshine State’
In 212 NCS starts at Daytona, Roush Fenway has recorded seven wins, 41 top-fives, 77 top-10s and has led 832 laps. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., earned the win in this race two years ago, the organizations most recent win overall. RFR also has five poles in the Cup series at Daytona, with the most recent coming in 2016 with Greg Biffle.
Two Trips to Victory Lane in 2017
Just two years after earning his first ever NASCAR win, Ryan Reed survived a wild kickoff to the 2017 season. He survived multiple on-track incidents after starting on the outside of the front row and led only nine laps, but the final two, en route to the win over a host of Cup regulars.
Then, in July of 2017, Stenhouse found himself in victory lane for the second time after leading 17 laps in his Fifth Third Ford. Stenhouse first led at lap 86, and from there survived a total of 14 cautions for 51 laps in what was his second win of the season.
Born in the USA
Roush Fenway has recorded five victories in the July event at Daytona, including the organization’s first at the high-banked oval with former driver Jeff Burton in 2000. Former Roush Fenway drivers Greg Biffle, Jamie McMurray and David Ragan earned victories in 2003, 2007 and 2011, respectively. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. earned the fifth in 2017.
Roush Fenway Daytona Wins
2000-2 Burton Cup
2003-2 Biffle Cup
2004 Edwards Truck
2006 Martin Truck
2007-2 McMurray Cup
2009-1 Kenseth Cup
2011-2 Ragan Cup
2012-1 Kenseth Cup
2015-1 Reed NXS
2017-1 Reed NXS
2017-2 Stenhouse Jr. Cup
