Ryan Reed has four starts in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) at Daytona International Speedway (DIS). In this race last year, Reed captured his first NXS win after starting eighth, leading 14 laps and making a last-lap pass for the victory. In his other three starts at DIS, Reed finished 18th, fourth and 13th after starting 39th, fourth, and eighth, respectively.
Actor Gerard Butler, star of the high-octane action thriller London Has Fallen that opens in theaters nationwide March 4, will serve as the Grand Marshal for the 58th annual DAYTONA 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 1 p.m. at Daytona International Speedway (TV – FOX, FOX Deportes; Radio – MRN Radio, SiriusXM).
“It feels good. Even three weeks ago, I had no clue what was going on. I got a call from Tommy (Baldwin, team owner). Everything happened quick, and the next thing I know I’m coming to Daytona to go racing and have a full-time, locked-in deal with a charter.
I’m excited for our sport. I think that we have some really quality drivers coming up through the sport and yeah, it’s as good as I’ve seen it and been around. Chase Elliott is going to bring that. My brother (Ty Dillon) is going to bring a lot of heat to that. And then you’ve got Ryan Blaney. It’s a fun group.
I do believe we could back into the Chase. I think we could be consistent enough with some of my things that I've done over the years. Consistency has been one of my strong points. If we can get the cars close enough where you're not having to drive over the capabilities to get the job done.
“I would like to be consistent each week and be competitive. Last year I felt like we were up and down each week and this year I hope that we can be competitive, run a top-10 every race, definitely get a couple of wins and make the Chase obviously.
“It’s a different game – you’re right – it changed. I think it changed in the last two or three years to where people have figured out that you have to be in front, which when I won the two Daytona 500s I was in front, so that’s nothing new or different. But you just have to block quite often.
JEFFREY EARNHARDT, No. 32 Can-Am Ford Fusion – IT MUST BE A RELIEF TO BE LOCKED INTO THE RACE SUNDAY. “Yeah, definitely. Not having to worry about qualifying in every weekend for this whole year is a huge stress reliever. That is tough when you know you aren’t locked in on race weekends."
DANICA PATRICK: -- more confident I could get a top-10 finish at Atlanta than I feel confident that I could get a top-10 finish at Daytona just because it's such a crapshoot. You have to have so much luck on your side. You have to avoid the accidents, be at the right place at the right time, have smooth pit stops, make good decisions on the track. There's just a lot that you can't count on.
