O'Reilly Series

Chastain finished fourth in last week’s Xfinity race at Iowa Speedway, marking the best run of his young career in NASCAR’s No. 2 series. He hopes the momentum will carry over as the series moves from a short track to one of its biggest for Friday’s Coca-Cola Firecracker 250.

Harrison Rhodes has a fun history at Daytona International Speedway, site of Friday’s Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 Xfinity Series race. In three appearances at the World Center of Racing, Rhodes has two top-10 finishes – a ninth in 2015 and a 10th in this year’s season-opener.

In February, in the Xfinity Series season-opener, Smithley recorded what has been his best finish of the season – an eighth place. He roared along in the tight draft at the finish of the race and scored one of the top finishes of his NASCAR career.

As part of the continued efforts to show appreciation for the United States Armed Forces through NASCAR Salutes Refreshed by Coca-Cola, NASCAR XFINITY Series™ drivers will bear the names of active military units and installations on their race car windshields during Friday’s Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 at Daytona International Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

"I think there is going to be a big difference with how we handle in the draft from February to July at Daytona (International Speedway). With this lower downforce package, every ounce of downforce matters. When the temperature starts to rise 20 to 30 degrees that's a pretty significant change and the track will start getting greasier and people start slipping and sliding more. It's crazy but for Daytona being a plate track it isn't that big. It's tight to begin with and when you get cars slipping and sliding there isn't any room for mistakes. Hopefully, we can avoid the wrecks and get ourselves some stage points."

Today Earnhardt Jr. announced his version of a final act – a five-month campaign called JR Nation Appreci88ion.  It will start this weekend at Daytona and carry through the end of the 2017 season, his last as a full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver.

JRM Licensing, LLC, which manages the licensed merchandise programs for all the Hendrick Motorsports and JR Motorsports teams and drivers, announced today a partnership with CounterFind, a company specializing in eliminating counterfeit merchandise in the social commerce space.  The partnership is the first of its kind for JRM Licensing.

Ty Majeski got off to a fast start in his NASCAR debut, driving his iRacing Ford Mustang inside the top five from the 10th position in just the first lap of Saturday night’s XFINITY Series Race at Iowa Speedway.  However, a tire issue forced the him to lose track position midway through Stage 1 and Majeski eventually got caught up in an accident when the No. 18 car spun out just in front of him midway through the race.

Ryan Reed was making his move on the top-five late in the race when a flat left-front tire sent him into the outside wall and down pit road for repairs.  Reed had previously rebounded from earlier contact thanks to a fast No. 16 Lilly Diabetes Ford, but the flat tire cost him the track position he had earned.  Reed was able to stay on the lead lap and cross the finish line 19th.

Racing on one of his favorite tracks, Chastain started sixth on the night’s final restart and played traffic perfectly to move up in the order and roll home fourth in the Georgia Watermelon Association No. 4 Chevrolet.