Spire Motorsports Daytona 500 Race Advance

• In 28 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, Spire Motorsports has logged one win, four top-five and eight top-10 finishes. Spire Motorsports earned its inaugural NASCAR Cup Series victory in its first full season of competition when Justin Haley claimed the checkered flag in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona on July 7, 2019. Spire Motorsports fields the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s in the Cup Series with Daniel Suárez, Michael McDowell and Carson Hocevar, respectively.
• The Daytona 500 will be televised live on FOX Sunday, Feb. 15, beginning at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The first of 36 points-paying races on the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series schedule will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. FOX NASCAR Raceday will take the green flag at 12:30 p.m. EST.

Daniel Suárez – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Daniel Suárez will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the 68th edition of the Daytona 500 as he launches his first NASCAR Cup Series campaign with the organization. Freeway Insurance will serve as the primary partner for Suárez and the No. 7 team, and will return for multiple races throughout the season.
• On February 26, 2017, Suárez made his NASCAR Cup Series debut in the Daytona 500 for Joe Gibbs Racing. The 34-year-old driver has a total of 17 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Daytona, recording one top-five, two top-10 and seven top-20 finishes, with a series/venue-best finish of third in 2024. His average starting position at Daytona is 20.6, with an average finishing position of 25.3. He has led 44 laps total at the famed 2.5-mile tri-oval.
• Last year at the Daytona 500, Suárez was running in the top 10 with less than 10 laps remaining before dropping back in the draft with nowhere to go during a multi-vehicle incident on the backstretch. He retired from the race with five laps remaining and was scored 13th in NASCAR’s season-opening event.
• The two-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner posted his best Daytona 500 finish in 2023, charging from 24th to seventh while avoiding late-race chaos and recovering from contact to start the season with a top-10 finish. He then delivered one of his strongest superspeedway performances in the 2025 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona, where he finished second, just 0.031 seconds shy of the win.
• Suárez has made 43 NASCAR Cup Series starts on drafting tracks, posting one win, five top- five and 12 top-10 finishes combined at Daytona, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.
• Freeway Insurance was established in 1987 and is one of the largest and fastest-growing personal lines insurance brokers in the United States, offering coverage through a “click, call, or come in” approach that connects customers nationwide. The company continually researches, grows, and diversifies its product offerings to stay responsive to the evolving insurance market. Freeway provides a wide range of options—from basic to premium coverage—in auto, truck, commercial vehicle, homeowners, renters, small business, motorcycle, recreational vehicle, fire, and flood insurance. In 2008, Freeway Insurance became part of Confie, the nation’s leading personal lines insurance distribution company. Customers can access Freeway Insurance through neighborhood offices, online at www.freeway.com, or by calling (800) 300-0227.
• Suárez, the first Mexico-born driver to earn a pole in a NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series event, did so at Daytona in 2015. His standout moment came in the July 4 Subway Firecracker 250, where he captured the pole with a lap of 49.929 seconds at 180.256 mph. The race was chaotic and included a rain delay, multiple cautions, and a massive 14-car wreck late in the race that set up a green-white-checkered finish, leaving him 15th in the final rundown. That year, he competed full-time with Joe Gibbs Racing, earned Sunoco Rookie of the Year and finished fifth in points.
• Outside of the Cup Series, Suárez owns eight NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series starts at Daytona, recording one pole and two top-10 finishes. He also owns a pair of starts in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series highlighted by a ninth-place result in 2015.
• In 2014, Suárez kicked off a breakout season by winning the New Smyrna 150 ARCA Menards East Series’ race at New Smyrna Speedway, where he started 11th and took the lead on lap 51. He held off Cameron Hayley in a thrilling finish, winning by just 0.083 seconds. Just days later, Suárez dominated the UNOH Battle at the Beach, a special ARCA Menards Series East event contested on a temporary .25-mile asphalt short track on Daytona’s backstretch. He started sixth and quickly took the lead to claim the checkered flag.
• The 34-year-old is a veteran of 324 Cup Series starts and has notched two wins (Sonoma Raceway in 2022 and Atlanta Motor Speedway in 2024), 25 top fives and 76 top 10s in NASCAR’s premier division. Suarez has led a total of 907 laps and has earned three poles since entering the series in 2017.

Daniel Suárez Quotes
How do you feel going to Daytona and what does it mean to you if you could win the 68th running of the Daytona 500?
“Every time I get to Daytona in February and go through the tunnel, you know that you are going to get a shot to win one of the most important races of your life. For me, coming from Mexico, it will be extremely special. The chance to add my name to the list of drivers – a very short list – who have come from a different country to win this amazing race, it will be like a dream. I know I have as good of a shot as anyone else to do that.”

What have you learned in the past nine seasons of your NASCAR Cup Series career that you can bring into this season?
“I have been with several teams, and I know exactly what is required to be successful in this level of racing. I have learned that people are the main thing. You can have anything else but if you don’t have the right people, then it can be very difficult to be successful. I believe that Spire Motorsports has invested a lot in getting good people. I’m super excited for this organization and myself.”

Atop the No. 7 Box – Crew Chief Ryan Sparks

• Ryan Sparks has called 203 NASCAR Cup Series races, earning five top-five and 11 top-10 finishes since making his Cup Series debut atop the pit box in 2020.
• The Winston-Salem, N.C., native’s best finish at Daytona was a third-place effort in the 2025 Coke Zero Sugar 400. Sparks has called 11 races at Daytona, producing two top fives, five top 10s and an average finishing position of 15.0, which ranks fourth-best among all active crew chiefs.
• Sparks has led the charge in 32 races on a drafting track resulting in three top-five and seven top-10 finishes. His best superspeedway results include a third-place finish in the 2025 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona and a fourth-place finish in the 2023 Fall event at Talladega.
• Sparks brings more than a decade of experience across all three national series, highlighted by 13 seasons at Richard Childress Racing and contributions to title-winning campaigns in the 2011 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and 2013 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.

Michael McDowell – Driver, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Michael McDowell will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 Modo Casino Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the 68th running of the Daytona 500.
• After claiming victory in the 2021 Daytona 500, McDowell looks to become the 13th driver to earn multiple victories in the prestigious season-opener.
• Saturday, Feb. 14, will mark the five-year anniversary of the veteran’s triumph at the World Center of Racing. McDowell’s first trip to Victory Lane came 4,704 days after his 2008 NASCAR Cup Series debut at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. He led just one lap in the 2021 event, that was delayed by five-hours due to weather, to earn the title of Daytona 500 Champion.
• In last season’s Thursday night Duel at Daytona qualifying race, the father-of-five qualified ninth for the 60-lap sprint where he finished 12th after pacing the field for two laps.
• Modo Casino will make its 2026 debut with the No. 71 team on NASCAR’s largest stage during this year’s Daytona 500. McDowell’s Chevy Camaro will feature a patriotic livery for the “Great American Race” to showcase America’s premier free-to-play social+gaming platform, designed for thrill-seekers who crave gaming action anywhere, anytime.
• In 29 Cup Series starts at DIS, McDowell has earned one win, three top-five, and eight top-10 finishes. He earned a front row starting spot in 2024’s 500-mile contest and a pole during the 2024 Coke Zero Sugar 400.
• McDowell has experience beyond the oval configuration at Daytona, and has logged six starts in the Rolex 24. He owns one top-five and five top-10 finishes in one of the world’s toughest endurance races. The two-time Cup Series winner has led 69 total laps with an average start of 10.1 and an average overall finish of 13.8.
• The Glendale, Ariz. native also owns a pair of top-10 finishes on both occasions when NASCAR’s premier division competed on Daytona’s infield road course (2020-21).
• McDowell and crew chief Travis Peterson earned five pole positions at the six events contested at drafting tracks during the 2024 season. Additionally, McDowell led the field to the green flag at World Wide Technology Raceway in June, giving the potent McDowell-Peterson duo six total Busch Light Pole Awards on the season – the most of any driver/crew chief combination during that year.
• Last season, Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 team earned an average starting position of 23.0 on drafting tracks before earning their second pole of the season at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in October, a significant jump in the teams’ qualifying efforts at drafting style tracks.
• During the 2021 season-opening race, McDowell became the eighth driver to score his inaugural Cup win in the “Great American Race” and the first since 2011.

Michael McDowell Quote
It’s been five years since your Daytona 500 win. How can you duplicate that feat?
“Five years is a long time. There’s nothing cooler than winning the Daytona 500, except for maybe winning it twice. That’s the goal. The goal is to have a shot, put ourselves in position to be there on the last lap, but nothing has really changed. Everybody goes down to Daytona with the same goal. It is not to score points and it’s not to run good. It’s to try to win the Daytona 500.
I felt like we had great speed last year on superspeedways and we sat on the pole at Talladega in the fall and we are going to bring the same car back for Daytona. Hopefully, with this new Chevy body, we can put it on the front row for the Daytona 500 and make for an exciting weekend.”

Atop the No. 71 Box – Crew Chief Travis Peterson

• Last season, Peterson guided McDowell to a pair of pole positions, three top-five, and six top-10 finishes.
• In the team’s last qualifying attempt at a superspeedway, the No. 71 Chevrolet put down the fastest lap of the session at Talladega to earn the duo’s second pole of the 2025 season.
• Peterson played a key role in Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s Cup Series win at Daytona in July 2015 while working as a race engineer for Hendrick Motorsports.
• Peterson is a mechanical engineering graduate of the Williams States Lee College of Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The West Bend, Wis., native earned his degree in 2012.

Carson Hocevar – Driver, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Carson Hocevar will make his third Daytona 500 start in Sunday’s “Great American Race,” behind the wheel of Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 Spectrum Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
• Hocevar, 23, will race in all three of NASCAR’s national touring series events this weekend. In addition to his NASCAR Cup Series duties, he will also race Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 IKEA/Best Buy Chevrolet Silverado RST in Friday’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Fresh From Florida 250 and Young’s Motorsports’ No. 42 Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro in Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ United Rentals 300.
• The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year found misfortune in each of his two prior Daytona 500 starts. After starting ninth in his first attempt in 2024, Hocevar was swept up in a lap-five incident, ending his race after completing just 12.5 miles. He returned in 2025, where a late-race fuel-pump issue sidelined him a mere five laps short of the checkered flag.
• Hocevar earned a venue-best 11th-place finish at the 2024 Coke Zero Sugar 400.
• In 13 Cup Series starts on drafting tracks, Hocevar has tallied one top-five, four top-10 and nine top-20 results, highlighted by his runner-up finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway last February.
• The Portage, Mich., native rounded out the 2025 campaign with one pole award, two top-five, nine top-10 and 14 top-15 finishes, including a pair of runners-up results at Atlanta in February and Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway in June.
• The five-time CRAFTSMAN Truck Series winner owns three series starts at the facility, registering two top 10s, including a fifth-place effort in 2021.
• The former late model standout will participate in the ASA Stars National Tour Clyde Hart Memorial 200 at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway Tuesday night. He will climb behind the wheel of a Wauters Motorsports-prepared super late model at the paved half-mile facility, located less than 15 miles from Daytona International Speedway.
• Spectrum is a suite of advanced communications services offered by Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR), a leading broadband connectivity company available to 58 million homes and small to large businesses across 41 states. Founded in 1993, Charter has evolved from providing cable TV to streaming, and from high-speed Internet to a converged broadband, WiFi and mobile experience. Over the Spectrum Fiber Broadband Network and supported by our 100 percent U.S.-based employees, the Company offers Seamless Connectivity and Entertainment with Spectrum Internet®, Mobile, TV and Voice products. More information can be found at corporate.charter.com.

Carson Hocevar Quotes
Describe the change in your mindset between last year’s Daytona 500 and Atlanta the very next week.
“Well, we had a fuel pump issue in the 500 last year, and never really got to race. So, when we got to Atlanta, I didn’t want to ride around for another 267 laps just to have something go wrong. We went full offense at the rest of the superspeedways, and didn’t finish outside the top 10 in any of them. I think it’s worked out pretty well, so far, and we are prepped and ready for the Daytona 500.”

Talk about the Spectrum partnership and how it is a full-circle moment for you and your family.
“I think my dad is somehow even more excited for it than I am. He feels he is a part of it. He did a trade deal with Spectrum to get my family’s coin and jewelry store some commercials, and in turn they got to be on my quarter midget and eventually, my late model. With Spectrum, it is almost like him putting his own logo on the car for the Daytona 500. I just think the coolest thing is seeing how excited he is and to get to be there to watch it.”

Atop the No. 77 Box – Crew Chief Luke Lambert

• Crew chief Luke Lambert enters his third season at Spire Motorsports and fourth with Carson Hocevar. The duo has logged one pole award, three top-five and 15 top-10 finishes in 80 races together.
• The 16-year veteran crew chief has called 24 NASCAR Cup Series events at Daytona, 12 of which were in the “Great American Race,” where he’s tallied two top-five and six top-10 finishes. He earned a venue-best third-place showing in the 2020 Daytona 500 with driver Chris Buescher during his time at RFK Racing.
• In four NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series races atop the box, Lambert, 43, snagged two top-five and three top-10 results, highlighted by a pair of third-place finsihes with Elliott Sadler (Feb. 2012) and Noah Gragson (Feb. 2022).

About Spire Motorsports …
Spire Motorsports fields full-time entries in the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and High Limit Racing.

The team, co-owned by longtime NASCAR industry executive Jeff Dickerson and TWG Motorsports CEO Dan Towriss, earned its inaugural NASCAR Cup Series victory in its first full season of competition when Justin Haley took the checkered flag in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway on July 7, 2019. Less than three years later, William Byron drove Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado to its inaugural NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win on April 7, 2022, at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The team’s most recent win came on May 30, 2025, when Rajah Caruth took the checkered flag in the Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway.

In 2026, Spire Motorsports will campaign the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s in the NASCAR Cup Series and the Nos. 7 and 77 Chevrolet Silverado RSTs in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. The Mooresville, N.C., organization will also field the No. 77 410 sprint car in High Limit Racing competition.