NASCAR Cup Series

SPONSOR THIS WEEKEND: "I'm really proud to be able to bring the red, white and blue patriotic No. 37 Coffee-mate Chevrolet to Daytona (International Speedway) this weekend," Buescher said. "We have several Nestle brands on the car and we want to thank them all for letting us have some fun with their paint scheme to help celebrate Independence Day."

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series travels to Daytona International Speedway this weekend for the Coke Zero 400 while the XFINITY Series will hit the track for the Coca-Cola Firecracker 250.

Challenges: "Daytona is like a Christmas present that you open up and it’s socks sometimes - - it depends on how it plays out," Allmendinger said. "It’s just a challenge. This Daytona race is a lot slicker than the Daytona 500. It’s very humid. The cars don’t have hardly any downforce on them at that point. Racing gets three wide there. So, track position is even more critical early in the race than trying to wait it out. You can’t quite do that anymore. If you do wait it out, you have to go a lot quicker. So, it’s a challenge for sure."

The changing of the guard. NASCAR fans are getting used to that. Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and soon Dale Earnhardt Jr. Summer returns, which means FOX leaves to be replaced by NBC.

Sonoma Recap: Denny Hamlin finished fourth in Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway, charging his way through the field in the #11 FedEx Ground Toyota on two separate occasions to ultimately capture his second career-best finish at the 1.99-mile California road course. Following a fourth-place finish during Stage 2 of Sunday’s 110-lap race, the #11 team elected not to pit during the Stage break, so Hamlin led the field to green to begin the event’s final 60-lap segment.

The No. 43 Smithfield team found success at the first two superspeedway races, scoring a fourth-place finish in the both the Daytona 500 and GEICO 500. Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr., filling in for the injured Aric Almirola, looks to build on that success with his first Daytona International Speedway Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start this weekend.

Hitting Halfway: Toyota drivers head to Daytona International Speedway (DIS) as the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) season approaches its halfway point. Camry driver Martin Truex Jr. continues to have a career-best season, sitting second in the MENCS point standings with two victories, a series-best 11 stage wins and 963 laps led. Kyle Busch is fourth in the standings while looking for his first win of the season.

The Dale Jr. Foundation has announced a collaboration with KUSTOM KLUTCH, a Charlotte, N.C.-based company that carries a line of women’s clutch bags, to produce a limited-edition clutch designed by Amy Earnhardt, benefitting TDJF.  Today, Earnhardt unveiled her personally-designed clutch through her Instagram account.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will make his final Daytona International Speedway start in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competition on July 1, in the Coke Zero 400 Powered By Coca-Cola. No matter the result, Earnhardt has already created a high-banked legacy certain to endure, with a career total of 17 victories at the “World Center of Racing.”

Erik Jones will be looking for redemption this weekend when he makes his second-career NASCAR Cup Series start at Daytona International Speedway in Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 behind the wheel of the No. 77 Sport Clips Toyota Camry. In his first race at the 2.5-mile superspeedway, Jones started the 2017 Daytona 500 from the 34th position and finished 39th after getting caught up in a multicar crash just past the halfway point.