“Stay on the bottom, stay in line, and they can’t pass us.” For 199 laps, Darrell Waltrip’s observation of the 2016 Daytona 500 was dead on. Then, it became dead wrong.
After one of the greatest finishes in NASCAR history capping off one of the most dominating manufacturer performances ever, here's what was surprising and not surprising from the Super Bowl of NASCAR, the Daytona 500.
Martin Truex Jr. and his younger brother Ryan have shared many racing highs and lows over the years. But this weekend the two shared a major accomplishment, finishing runner up in their respective races at Daytona International Speedway.
The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota edged out the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota of Martin Truex Jr. by 11 one-thousanths of a second to win the 58th running of the Great American Race.
Not satisfied with the pole for the Daytona 500, Chase Elliott held off Joey Logano coming to the line to score the victory at Daytona International Speedway in the XFINITY Series. Elliott, at 20 years, two months and 23 days, also became the youngest XFINITY Series winner at Daytona.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. topped the chart for the final practice session before the big race tomorrow. The driver of the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was the fastest in the final Daytona 500 practice session with a time of 45.655 and a speed of 197.131 mph.
As the field of trucks were hurdling down the backstretch at Daytona International Speedway with seven laps to go in the NextEra Energy Resources 250, Timothy Peters nudged Cameron Hayley out of place. This sent the No. 13 ThorSport Racing Toyota up the track into the side of John Hunter Nemechek. Just as he got his car straight, he was turned again down through the grass.
With the No. 4 Toyota of Christopher Bell barrel-rolling through Turn 1 behind him, Johnny Sauter nosed ahead in his No. 21 Chevrolet and had more than a car-length lead when NASCAR called the final caution of the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway.
23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick was made available to the media on Saturday after winning the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series race from Darlington Raceway.
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Solomon Plumbing Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I thought it was really smooth. It looks like Chris is qualified right next to me. I felt like I got all it had. We know the cars are gonna be very difficult to drive and that did not disappoint.”
Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 60 Kroger/Oscar Mayer/Heinz Ford Mustang Dark Horse, came into the Darlington Raceway infield media center before practice to talk about this weekend’s race.
