Daytona 500

Date: Sunday, February 16, 2025
Event: Race 2 of 38
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Daytona International Speedway (2.5-miles)
#of Laps: 200
Time/TV/Radio: 2:30 PM ET on FOX/MRN/SiriusXM channel 90

Noah Gragson Notes

• This year’s Daytona 500 will be Gragson’s fourth overall and first with Front Row Motorsports (FRM). In the “Great American Race”, Gragson has a career best finish of 9th, earning the finish in 2024 with Stewart-Haas Racing and crew chief Drew Blickensderfer.
• Gragson is no stranger to success at the 2.5-mile superspeedway, averaging a 15.3 finishing position in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and even capturing the checkered flag in 2020 with JR Motorsports.
• Rush Truck Centers will join Gragson and the No. 4 team for the prestigious event. Joining Gragson at FRM, the 2025 season will mark Rush Truck Center’s 16th year of NASCAR partnership. “Rush Truck Centers is proud to continue our active involvement in NASCAR with this move to FRM as the primary sponsor of Noah Gragson and the No. 4 team,” said W.M. “Rusty” Rush, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President of Rush Enterprises. “We’ve been involved in racing since 2010 and have a passion for winning – in business and on the track. We see that same passion in Noah and the entire FRM team, so we are excited to be part of the storied history of the No. 4 car as we begin this new chapter in our NASCAR story,” Rush continued. Rush Truck Centers is the official truck dealer and service center for Noah Gragson and Front Row Motorsports.
• Cummins joins Rush Truck Centers this weekend at Daytona. Cummins Inc., a global power solutions leader, is comprised of five business segments – Components, Engine, Distribution, Power Systems and Accelera by Cummins – supported by our global manufacturing and extensive service and support network, skilled workforce and vast technological expertise. From buses that transport kids to and from school to the trucks that carry essentials, to construction, mining equipment, trains and ships, and critical backup power for places like data centers and hospitals, Cummins powers the future through innovations that make people’s lives better. Cummins is committed to its Destination Zero strategy – the company’s commitment to sustainability and helping its customers successfully navigate the energy transition with its broad portfolio of products. Learn more at cummins.com.

“I’m fired up to be back at Daytona,” said Gragson. “Finishing top 10 last year has our team motivated to push for an even better finish this season. The Clash showed us a few areas where we can improve, and as a team, we feel confident and ready to get the season started strong.”

Road Crew

Driver: Noah Gragson
Hometown: Las Vegas

Crew Chief: Drew Blickensderfer
Hometown: Decatur, Illinois

Car Chief: Joey Forgette
Hometown: Iron Mountain, Michigan

Engineer: Dillon Silverman
Hometown: Chico, California

Engineer: Scott Bingham
Hometown: Lawrenceville, Georgia

Mechanic: Chris Trickett
Hometown: Grafton, West Virginia

Mechanic: Tony Infinger
Hometown: Fort Valley, Georgia

Tire Specialist: Chris Aunspaw
Hometown: Zelienople, Pennsylvania

Engine Tuner: Matt Moeller
Hometown: Monroe, New York

Spotter: Nick Del Campo
Hometown: Blauvelt, New York

Transporter Co-Driver: Nate “Cookie” Eller
Hometown: Granite Falls, North Carolina

Transporter Co-Driver: Matt Murphy
Hometown: Augusta, Georgia

Pit Crew

Front Tire Changer: Thomas Hatcher
Hometown: Middleburg, Florida

Rear Tire Changer: Adam Riley
Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia

Tire Carrier: Will Cooper
Hometown: Huntsville, Alabama

Jackman: Nate McBride
Hometown: Vidalia, Georgia

Fueler: Ray Hernandez
Hometown: Orlando, Florida

ABOUT RUSH TRUCK CENTERS

More than a dealer network, Rush Truck Centers is the premier solutions provider for the commercial vehicle industry. With more than 150 Rush Truck Centers dealerships across the U.S. and Ontario, Canada, no one can match our network reach and scale. We provide our customers an integrated, one-stop approach to the service and sales of new and used trucks and commercial vehicles, aftermarket parts, service and collision repair capabilities, alternative fuel systems, vehicle technology solutions, and a range of financial services including financing, insurance, and leasing and rental options. Since 1965, we’ve earned our reputation for excellence, fairness, positive attitude and solutions that exceed customer expectations. That’s why we can say with confidence; when it comes to trucking, no one offers you more. Visit rushtruckcenters.com or follow us on social media: X @rushtruckcenters, Instagram @rush_truck_centers and facebook.com/rushtruckcenters

ABOUT FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS

Front Row Motorsports (FRM) is a winning organization in the NASCAR Cup and Craftsman Truck Series. The team is the 2021 Daytona 500 and 2022 Craftsman Truck Series champions. The team was founded in 2004 and is owned by successful entrepreneur, Bob Jenkins. FRM fields the No. 4, No. 34, and the No. 38 NASCAR Cup Series teams along with the No. 34 and No. 38 Craftsman Truck Series teams from its Mooresville, N.C. headquarters. Visit teamfrm.com and follow FRM on social media: Twitter at @Team_FRM, Instagram at @team_frm and Facebook at facebook.com/FrontRowMotorsports.

Partnership to Include Daytona Truck Race, Watkins Glen International

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (February 10, 2025) – In bowling circles, a turkey accounts for three strikes in a row.

Today, Spire Motorsports and Go Bowling combined for a collective turkey of their own when both organizations revealed that Go Bowling will serve as Michael McDowell’s primary sponsor in a trio of races in 2025, beginning with a pair of events at the World Center of Racing.

Go Bowling will serve as the primary sponsor for the 2021 Daytona 500 winner in the 67th running of the Great American Race.

Additionally, Go Bowling will be showcased as the primary partner for McDowell and the No. 07 Chevrolet Silverado in Friday night’s season-opening Fresh from Florida 250 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race. Later this season, Go Bowling will return to McDowell’s No. 71 Chevrolet ZL1 for the NASCAR Cup Series annual visit to Watkins Glen International at the August 10 Go Bowling at Glen.

Bowling is the No. 1 participatory sport in America with more than 60 million people taking to the lanes and bowling centers all over America each year.

“It’s awesome to have a new partnership at Spire Motorsports with Go Bowling and it’s a program that fits me very well,” said McDowell. “Bowling is a family-friendly activity and one my whole family really enjoys. My wife and I just took our kids bowling last week and I can promise you, we had a ball. Bowling is something that we love to do as a family but we’re also looking forward to getting on the racetrack in Daytona and later this year at Watkins Glen. We’re looking forward to three exciting races where we think we have a shot to win each time out and we are very thankful to have Go Bowling as a partner.”

McDowell, a native of Glendale, Ariz., is a veteran of 501 NCS starts and a two-time race winner. He made his NCS debut in 2008 and has since recorded six pole positions, 11 top-five and 44 top-10 finishes in NASCAR’s premier division.

In 13 Daytona 500 starts, McDowell has earned one win, two top-five and five top-10 finishes. In 27 total starts on the famed 2.5-mile high-banked tri-oval, he has secured three top fives, eight top 10s and paced the field for 58 laps.

The father of five spent the previous five seasons driving the No. 34 entry where he was the team’s leader in wins, starts, and top-five finishes. In addition to his victory in the 2021 Great American Race, McDowell proved his versatility with a road-course win in the 2023 Verizon 200 at the Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He also earned NASCAR Cup Series Playoff berths in 2021 and 2023.

While McDowell’s Cup Series resume documents over 500 starts, Friday night’s Fresh from Florida 250 will mark just his third time mixing it up in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series.

“We’re excited to fire up this partnership with Michael McDowell and the Spire Motorsports team,” said John Harbuck, President of Strike Ten Entertainment and Go Bowling. “Bowling and NASCAR align perfectly. Both sports have passionate and loyal fan bases. We’re looking forward to seeing Michael competing out on the track in the No. 71 Go Bowling Chevrolet ZL1 and the No. 07 Go Bowling Chevy Silverado at Daytona. After that we’ll gear up for the road course at Watkins Glen and bowling lanes at our Go Bowling at The Glen race in August.”

The Fresh from Florida 250 from Daytona International Speedway will be televised live on FS1 Friday, February 14, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The race will also be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

The 67th running of the Daytona 500 will be televised live on FOX, Sunday, Feb. 16 beginning at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The first of 36 races on the 2025 Cup Series schedule will be broadcast live on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

About Go Bowling and Strike Ten Entertainment…
GoBowling.com is the destination for bowling consumers and enthusiasts seeking news and information about one of America’s favorite pastimes and the nation’s number one participatory sport. Consumers visit GoBowling.com every day to find bowling centers in their communities, learn new tips and techniques to improve their game, and to access bowling promotions available at more than 1,700+ family-friendly bowling centers across the country.

Headquartered in Arlington, Texas, Strike Ten Entertainment is the centralized sponsor-activation and casual bowling marketing arm of the International Bowling Campus (IBC) which includes the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) and the Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America (BPAA). Strike Ten Entertainment serves the entire IBC by coordinating the sponsorship activation and casual bowling marketing initiatives. For additional information please visit www.GoBowling.com or call Reese Lipe at 1-817-385-8245.

About Spire Motorsports…
Spire Motorsports earned its inaugural NASCAR Cup Series victory in its first full season of competition when Justin Haley took the checkered flag in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway on July 7, 2019. Less than three years later, William Byron drove Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado to its inaugural NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win on April 7, 2022 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The team’s most recent win came on April 12, 2024, when Kyle Busch took the checkered flag in the SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.

In 2025, Spire Motorsports will campaign the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolets in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team will also field the Nos. 07, 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Silverados in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and the No. 77 Chevrolet in the ARCA Menards Series in select events.

RWR Driver Cody Ware is Locked Into 67th Daytona 500, While Teammate Corey LaJoie Must Race His Way Into the Great American Race

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Feb. 10, 2025) – It is a tale of two strategies for Rick Ware Racing (RWR) as the NASCAR Cup Series organization readies for the Daytona 500 this Sunday at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.

RWR is bringing two cars to Daytona – the No. 01 DuraMAX/Take 5 Oil Change® Ford Mustang Dark Horse for driver Corey LaJoie and the No. 51 Jacob Construction/Parts Plus/Pronto Auto Service Center Ford Mustang Dark Horse for driver Cody Ware. The No. 51 is one of the 36 chartered teams, granting Ware a guaranteed starting spot in the Great American Race. The No. 01 is an open entry, meaning LaJoie must secure one of the four available spots in the 40-car field for non-chartered teams.

LaJoie will have company in his pursuit. He is among nine drivers campaigning an open car and vying for one of those cherished four spots in the 67th Daytona 500. Oh, and a few of the other names in open cars: just seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson, 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion and future Hall of Famer Martin Truex Jr., the reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier, who will drive a car fielded by Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr., and four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves.

“I don’t anticipate being one of the two cars that locks it in on time due to some of the really solid OEM-backed cars, specifically Dale Junior’s car and Martin Truex’s car,” LaJoie said. “I anticipate those guys being pretty fast in their single-car runs. So we’re going to be focused on getting our car to drive well in the draft, to be able to take a push well, and I think at the end of the day, we’ve got to make sure the things we do control – entering pit road under green, communicating well on pit road, maintaining track position – when it all shakes out, those are the things we need to execute well. Everything else is kind of up to chance.”

Ah yes, chance. The most volatile variable at Daytona, where lines of stock cars create 200 mph freight trains that run two- and three-wide, which quickly and often turn these multimillion dollar machines into hundreds of dollars of recycling.

“There’s a time where you reach the point of no return, where everyone is going to get squirrely. And then once the runs come harder and the pushes come more aggressively, and if it’s less than 25 to go, you’re not bailing, you’re just tightening the belts and hoping that everybody kind of keeps their car straight and you don’t get caught up in the wreck,” LaJoie said.

That kind of racing will be present well before the Daytona 500. LaJoie will have to earn his Daytona 500 spot in the Duel on Thursday night, the twin 150-mile qualifying races that set the rest of the Daytona 500 field. He will need to be the top-finishing open car in his Duel in order to race on Sunday.

“In the Duel, it’s going to be straightforward. Get track position, keep track position, and make sure you beat everybody you can beat,” LaJoie said.

LaJoie’s RWR teammate, Ware, gets to eschew the stress of making the Daytona 500. Instead, he can use Wednesday’s practice and qualifying sessions, in addition to Thursday’s Duel, to fine-tune his racecar for Sunday.

“Given our performance and how we’ve gotten a lot more competitive over the last few years at Daytona, there’s definitely the urge to want to go racing in the Duel,” said Ware, who scored a career-best fourth place finish in his prior race at Daytona last August. “But the practicality of racing in the Duel isn’t there. Our primary car is the primary for a reason – it’s our best car. Our backup isn’t going to be a one-to-one copy of the primary. The risk versus reward isn’t there. Do we really care if we start 28th instead of 15th in the Daytona 500? The answer is no. We’re not going to be trying to go to the front and be aggressive at the drop of the green. It’s about being there at the end.”

Getting to the end is something both Ware and LaJoie have done well at Daytona.

LaJoie finished fourth in last year’s Daytona 500, tying his career-best result. He has five top-10 finishes at Daytona, including two in his last three NASCAR Cup Series starts at the 2.5-mile oval.

“A lot is in your hands and a lot is out of your hands. It’s a little bit on you to make your own luck.” LaJoie said. “When I was at Talladega last year, we did everything right, then we get piled up in the crash. So I don’t know, I feel like if it’s meant to be, it’s going to work out. But I also don’t think it’s coincidence that you see the same guys working their way toward the front, making the right decisions at the right time to be in contention to win, or to run top-10.

“I feel like I’ve kind of evolved into one of those guys that makes our way toward the front of the race when the pay window opens, so hopefully it bounces into our favor this week.”

Ware, who has two top-10s in his last three Daytona starts, validates LaJoie’s words.

“Corey is definitely a very accomplished superspeedway racer. He’s gotten a lot of fantastic results at Daytona and Talladega, so he knows how to run his race,” Ware said. “Hopefully, we can get lucky enough to be in the same Duel and I can help him get to the front.”

With so many drivers going for so few spots, the Duel is bound to be dicey.

“At the end of the day, the last lap’s the only one that matters,” LaJoie said. “There’s certainly going to be some different strategies – guys who want to get track position early and try to hold that throughout the course of the race, and there’ll be guys on a similar speedway strategy to what we’ve seen of late where they’re doing a little bit of fuel conservation trying to get the difference on the pit stop.

“So just seeing where we are and where we stack up in terms of track position, that’ll probably dictate how we play it. If there’s an opportunity to go get some track position, we’ll go get it, but if not, then we’ll execute the plan and we’ll see where we shake out at the end.

“I feel good about it with the caliber of cars RWR has taken to the racetrack these last couple of years. They’ve had some good runs, and I’ve known how to get it done at Daytona, too. I feel like it’s going to be a good match, and everybody knows what it takes.”

Ware wants to be in LaJoie’s Duel to offer as much help as possible, but which Duel each driver is in won’t be known until after time trials on Wednesday night.

“Obviously, we’re going to be trying to improve our qualifying efforts from years past, so if we can do that consecutively and both have a good spot, then hopefully we get lucky enough to be in the same Duel,” Ware said. “There’s going to be a desire to help Corey, but we’ve also got to be smart. With this year’s Daytona 500 having the most open cars in recent history, I think both Duels are going to be the most chaotic we’ve seen in the last four or five years.”

The road to the Daytona 500 begins with time trials at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday with live coverage on FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Only the top-two positions will be locked into the Great American Race. The rest of the field will earn their respective starting positions in the Duel, which gets underway at 7 p.m. on Thursday with live coverage on FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Daytona Speedweek then culminates with the 67th Daytona 500 at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

About Rick Ware Racing:

Rick Ware has been a motorsports mainstay for more than 40 years. It began at age 6 when the third-generation racer began his driving career and has since spanned four wheels and two wheels on both asphalt and dirt. Competing in the SCCA Trans Am Series and other road-racing divisions led Ware to NASCAR in the early 1980s, where he finished third in his NASCAR debut – the 1983 Warner W. Hodgdon 300 NASCAR Grand American race at Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway. More than a decade later, injuries would force Ware out of the driver’s seat and into full-time team ownership. In 1995, Rick Ware Racing was formed, and with his wife Lisa by his side, Ware has since built his eponymous organization into an entity that competes full-time in the elite NASCAR Cup Series while simultaneously campaigning successful teams in the Top Fuel class of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, Progressive American Flat Track and FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX).