Official Release

Academy Award, Golden Globe, SAG winning and Emmy nominated actress Charlize Theron has been named the Honorary Starter for the historic 60th annual DAYTONA 500 on Feb. 18 at Daytona International Speedway. Theron will wave the green flag for the DAYTONA 500, the season-opening race (TV – FOX, FOX Deportes; Radio – MRN, Sirius XM) for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

Race fans will rock and roll with Cole before the Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race on May 19 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Platinum-selling singer and songwriter Cole Swindell will light up the biggest all-star event in sports with the Monster Energy All-Star Race Concert Presented by Rayovac Batteries, Kwikset, George Foreman and National Hardware. The concert is FREE with the purchase of any Monster Energy All-Star Race ticket.

Avoiding a final lap accident in Sunday’s non-points Advance Auto Parts Clash race was costly for Furniture Row Racing driver Martin Truex Jr, who found himself in the grass and a 14th-place finish.

Brad Keselowski won the Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona International Speedway, his first win in the season-opening exhibition event.

Brad Keselowski won Sunday’s Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona International Speedway with a dominating last-to-first run over the course of the 75-lap event.

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 5TH - WHAT DID YOU LEARN OUT THERE TODAY? “That is the fastest we have been at a speedway in a while. The last two years we haven’t been able to compete like that. It feels really good to lead a couple of laps and dice it up. The handling got a little worse when we lost some of the track position, so we will work on that for the 500. But, very promising day for our DOW Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. I’m happy. We came out of there without a scratch on the car and we’ve got something for the 500, all my guys are excited.”

Alex Bowman put his No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the top starting spot for the upcoming Daytona 500, the season-opener for the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS), which will run Feb. 18 at Daytona International Speedway. With a fast lap of 46.002 seconds/195.644 mph around the 2.5-mile race track, Bowman claimed his second MENCS career pole and fourth straight Daytona 500 pole for Hendrick Motorsports.

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - Starting Position: 2nd - How were you able to put your Camry on the front row for next Sunday’s Daytona 500? “Just great teamwork. It’s a testament to all of the hard work at TRD (Toyota Racing Development) and all the work they put in to give us great engines and technology. Really, everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing’s fab shop to give us a race car that’s obviously very fast. This car obviously we geared a lot towards drafting yesterday so I’m very optimistic that we can have a good Duel even though we’re locked in to the front row.”

Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion (Qualified 8th) “I am extremely happy with the effort. For me personally, just guessing, I didn’t think we would run that fast. The second round pick up was really good. I know we have done a lot of things to our car to slow it down to make sure it handles good on Thursday. From that standpoint, I think the speed is better than we expected just because of that.”

ALEX BOWMAN NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1 - Pole Winner: “It was a little nerve-wracking. Our Nationwide Camaro ZL1 has been great since we unloaded. All the guys back at the chassis shop, body shop, and the Hendrick engine shop have been top-notch. They’ve all worked so hard. And we knew we were going for the pole; that’s what we’re here to do. And I thought we were at a little disadvantage letting the car cool down as long as we did since we went pretty early in the first round."