This week, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads down to Daytona International Speedway to kick off the annual ritual of Speedweeks. This consists of 10 days of activity that culminates on Feb. 21 with the 58th running of the Great American Race, the Daytona 500. But before we officially start the season, we need to get back into the racing mindset. To do that, we run the Sprint Unlimited.
NASCAR returns this week with the Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Raceway Saturday night followed by Sprint Cup qualifying for the Daytona 500 on Sunday. FOX will provide television coverage for both events while all practices can be seen on FS1. Please see the complete schedule and the driver lineup for the Sprint Unlimited below.
The curtain has fallen on the 2015 season and Kyle Busch is standing atop the NASCAR world. The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota scored both his 34th career victory and first championship in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Only nine months removed from suffering a broken right leg and left foot in an accident at Daytona, Kyle Busch won at Homestead-Miami Speedway to capture the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. The title is the first for Busch and Toyota.
Kyle Larson took out a season of frustration on the NASCAR XFINITY Series field Saturday in the season finale, tracking down Austin Dillon in the closing laps to win the Ford EcoBoost 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway by slightly less than a second.
Chris Buescher ran to an 11th-place finish in Saturday’s season finale to bring home the 2015 NASCAR XFINITY Series Championship. Buescher led the championship point standings for the final 24 races of the season. The championship marked the fifth time a Roush Fenway Racing driver has hoisted the XFINITY Series trophy and the third time in the past five seasons. It also marked Jack Roush’s eighth NASCAR title.
Joey Logano topped the final practice session of 2015. The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 30.786 and a speed of 175.404 mph.
Kyle Larson posted the fastest time in second practice. The driver of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 30.680 and a speed of 176.010 mph.
As strong as he was in winning Friday night’s Ford EcoBoost 200, Matt Crafton was already looking ahead to 2016. Crafton, whose hopes for a third consecutive NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship were dashed by a crash at Phoenix last week, won his sixth race of the season, holding off John Hunter Nemechek and Tyler Reddick in the season finale.
Denny Hamlin will lead the field to the green flag for Sunday's race. The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota won the pole with a time of 30.568 and a speed of 176.655 mph.
Hendrick Motorsports has the all-time lead in NASCAR Cup Series poles (27), wins (31), top fives (105), top 10s (175) and laps led (2,473) on road courses.
The second stop of the summer “West Coast swing” brings the NASCAR Cup Series to its annual visit at Sonoma Raceway, located in California’s wine country region.
