The Daytona Int’l Speedway featured the NASCAR Cup and XFINITY Series races. The Friday night XFINITY race reached just 19 laps before heavy rain forced a postponement to Saturday afternoon to finish the event. Three-wide racing only inches apart at 200+ mph at Daytona will likely result in multi-car wrecks. Adding to that, Saturday night’s race was the final event of the “regular Cup season” and, with drivers still having a shot at making the Playoffs, aggressive driving brought out the expected “Big One” a couple of times. Even during overtime on the final lap, nine cars were collected in a wreck and were unable to finish the race. Ryan Blaney survived the carnage and won Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400. The list of 16 drivers eligible to compete in the 10-race Playoffs for the 2021 Cup Championship are now set. The NASCAR Camping World Trucks will join the Cup and XFINITY teams next weekend at Darlington Raceway. The latest results and upcoming scheduled events for the NASCAR feeder series are also included below as well as details on all tracks mentioned in this column.[[ad:athena]]
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Sat, Aug 28, Coke Zero Sugar 400 - Daytona Int’l Speedway - 160 laps (+5 OT).
- No practice or qualifying. NASCAR’s qualifying metric set the starting lineup for Saturday night’s event based on race finishes, point standings and fastest race laps. This placed Kyle Larson (#5 Chevrolet Camaro) P1 on the starting grid. William Byron (#24 Chevrolet Camaro) completed the front row in the P2 spot. #11 Denny Hamlin, #18 Kyle Busch, #9 Chase Elliott, #12 Ryan Blaney, #19 Martin Truex Jr., #1 Kurt Busch, #21 Matt DiBenedetto and #2 Brad Keselowski formed the rest of the top-10 in that order. Did not make the 40-car field: No one, only 40 entries.
- Ryan Blaney (#12 Ford Mustang) scored his 7th victory in 224 NCS races. This is his 3rd victory and 14th top-10 finish in 2021 and his 1st victory and 5th top-10 finish in 13 races at Daytona. Bubba Wallace (2nd) posted his 3rd top-10 finish in nine Daytona races and his 2nd top-10 finish in 2021. Ryan Newman (3rd) posted his 13th top-10 finish in 40 Daytona races. Chase Briscoe (21st) was the highest finishing Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender (ROTY). Polesitter Kyle Larson was one of the nine cars involved in the final lap wreck and was credited with a 20th place DNF. His night was not all bad. Larson won the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Regular Season Championship Presented by Coca-Cola and was awarded the trophy after the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona. This also earned him 15 bonus points and he starts the Playoffs as the top-seeded driver.
- NCS Playoffs - Round of 16: (Reseeded points)
1. Kyle Larson 2052
2. Ryan Blaney 2024
3. Martin Truex Jr. 2024
4. Kyle Busch 2022
5. Chase Elliott 2021
6. Alex Bowman 2015
7. Denny Hamlin 2015
8. William Byron 2014
9. Joey Logano 2013
10. Brad Keselowski 2008
11. Kurt Busch 2008
12. Christopher Bell 2005
13. Michael McDowell 2005
14. Aric Almirola 2005
15. Tyler Reddick 2003
16. Kevin Harvick 2002
- After the next 3 races (Darlington, Richmond and Bristol), the bottom 4 will not advance to the NCS Playoffs - Round of 12 - at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sept. 26.
- Next: Sun, Sep 5, Cook Out Southern 500 - Darlington Raceway - 367 laps.
NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS)
Fri/Sat, Aug 27/28, Wawa 250 - Daytona Int’l Speedway - 100 laps.
- No practice or qualifying sessions. NASCAR’s qualifying metric set the starting lineup for this Friday night’s event based on race finishes, point standings and fastest race laps. This placed AJ Allmendinger (#16 Chevrolet Camaro) P1 on the starting grid. Noah Gragson (#9 Chevrolet Camaro) completed the front row in the P2 spot. #19 Brandon Jones, #7 Justin Allgaier, #20 Harrison Burton, #98 Riley Herbst, #02 Brett Moffitt, #51 Jeremy Clements, #11 Justin Haley and #48 Jade Buford formed the rest of the top-10 in that order. 42 cars entered for the 40-car field: #13 Timmy Hill and #77 Dillon Bassett did not make the race.
- Justin Haley (#11 Chevrolet Camaro) scored his 4th victory in 91 NXS races. This is his 1st victory and 15th top-10 finish in 2021. It is his 2nd victory and 4th top-10 finish in seven races at Daytona. Polesitter AJ Allmendinger (2nd) posted his 2nd top-10 finish in four races at Daytona and his 16th top-10 finish in 2021. Allmendinger also takes over the series point standings. Justin Allgaier (3rd) posted his 9th top-10 finish in 22 Daytona races. Sam Mayer (12th) was the highest finishing ROTY.
- NXS points leader: AJ Allmendinger by 17 points over Austin Cindric.
- TOP-12 NXS Playoff Contenders (G/L):
1. AJ Allmendinger +1
2. Austin Cindric -1
3. Justin Allgaier
4. Daniel Hemric
5. Harrison Burton
6. Justin Haley
7. Jeb Burton +1
8. Noah Gragson -1
9. Brandon Jones
10. Jeremy Clements
11. Riley Herbst
12. Myatt Snider
- Next: Sat, Sep 4, Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200 - Darlington Raceway - 225 laps.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NTS)
NTS Playoffs - Round of 10:
1. John Hunter Nemechek
2. Sheldon Creed +3 (P)
3. Ben Rhodes
4. Matt Crafton +3
5. Stewart Friesen +5
6. Austin Hill -4
7. Carson Hocevar +1
8. Todd Gilliland -4
9. Zane Smith -3
10. Chandler Smith -1
- After the next 2 races (Darlington and Bristol), the bottom 2 will not advance to the NTS Playoffs - Round of 8 - at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sept. 24.
- (P) Clinched a spot in the Round of 8.
- Next: Sun, Sep 5, In It to Win It 200 - Darlington Raceway - 147 laps.
NASCAR Feeder Series
ARCA Menards Series (AMS), ARCA Menards East (AME) Combo:
Sun, Aug 29, Sprecher 150 - Milwaukee Mile Speedway - 150 laps.
Winner: Ty Gibbs - P1: Ty Gibbs
AMS Points Leader: Ty Gibbs - AME Points Leader: Sammy Smith
AMS Next: Sun, Sep 5, Southern Illinois 100 - DuQuoin State Fairgrounds - 100 laps.
AME Next: Thu, Sep 16, * Bush’s Beans 200 - Bristol Motor Speedway - 200 laps.
* ARCA Menards Series (AMS), ARCA Menards East (AME) Combo
ARCA Menards West:
Sat, Sat, Aug 21, NAPA Auto Parts 150 - Irwindale Speedway - 150 laps (+3 OT).
Winner: Jesse Love - P1: P.J. Pedroncelli - Points Leader: Jesse Love
NEXT: Sat, Sep 11, Portland 112 - Portland International Raceway - 57 laps.
Whelen Modified Tour:
Sat. Aug 21, Rumble at the Ridge 200 - Beech Ridge Motor Speedway - 200 laps.
Winner: Ron Silk - P1: Matt Hirschman - Points Leader: Justin Bonsignore
Next: Sat. Sep 4, Toyota Mod Classic 150 - Oswego Speedway - 150 laps.
Pinty’s Series:
Sat, Aug 28, La Fernandiere 75 - Circuit ICAR - 75 laps.
Winner: Kevin Lacroix - P1: Andrew Ranger - Points Leader: Alex Tagliani
Note: The Aug 29, Double-header at Autodrome Chaudière was postponed due to expected inclement weather. Schedule update not determined at this time.
Next: Sat/Sun, Sep 4/5, Double-header weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park
Peak Mexico Series:
Sun, Aug 22, Canel’s Grand Prix - Autodromo Potosino, San Luis Potosi, Mexico
Winner: Abraham Calderon - Points Leader: Ruben Garcia Jr.
Next: Sun, Sep 5, TBA - Autodromo del Ecocentro de la Union Ganadera, Queretaro
Track Details
Autodrome Chaudiere - 0.25-mile oval - Vallee-Jonction, Quebec
Autodromo del Ecocentro de la Union Ganadera - 0.79-mile oval - Queretaro
Autodromo Potosino - 0.5-mile oval - San Luis Potosi, Mexico
Beech Ridge Motor Speedway - 0.333-mile oval - Scarborough, Maine
Bristol Motor Speedway - 0.533-mile concrete oval - Bristol, Tennessee
Circuit ICAR - 2.125-mile road course - Mirabel, Quebec
Darlington Raceway - 1.366-mile oval - Darlington, South Carolina
Daytona Int’l Speedway - 2.5-mile tri-oval - Daytona Beach, Florida
DuQuoin State Fairgrounds - 1-mile clay oval - DuQuoin, Illinois
Irwindale Speedway - 0.5-mile oval - Irwindale, California
Las Vegas Motor Speedway - 1.5-mile tri-oval - Las Vegas, Nevada
Milwaukee Mile Speedway - 1-mile oval - West Allis, Wisconsin
Oswego Speedway - 0.625-mile oval - Oswego, New York
Portland Int’l Raceway - 1.967-mile road course - Portland, Oregon
Richmond Raceway - 0.75-mile oval - Richmond, Virginia
