August 29, 2020 By Holly Cain NASCAR Wire Service With his NASCAR Cup Series Playoff hopes on the line, Hendrick Motorsports’ driver William Byron earned his first career victory Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 regular season finale. The victory was an automatic berth into the Playoffs for the 22-year old Byron – a hard-fought trophy in a typically full-contact, high-emotion contest on NASCAR’s famed Daytona high-banks to settle the Playoff field. The only two Playoff positions still up for grabs on the night were filled by Byron and Matt DiBenedetto, who earned the 16th and…

August 28, 2020 By Holly Cain NASCAR Wire Service Teamwork was the buzz word of the night for the Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway, but ultimately it came down to team members aggressively deciding the win amongst themselves instead of a team versus team surge for the checkered flag. Ross Chastain tagged the left rear of his Kaulig Racing teammate – and the race leader - A.J. Allmendinger’s Chevrolet on the final lap in the final turns sending both cars into the wall while their other teammate Justin Haley surged through the field to…

August 22, 2020 By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service Working traffic adroitly over the final run on Saturday, Denny Hamlin cruised to victory in the Drydene 311 at Dover International Speedway after passing Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. for the lead with eight laps left. At a track he considers one of his worst, based on past performance, Hamlin made up for a poor restart on Lap 193 of 311, gradually running down Truex, who was stuck behind the lapped car of Aric Almirola during the closing run. “I’ve been running down the leaders the past few weeks, but I…

August 22, 2020 By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service After winning Saturday’s Drydene 200 at Dover International Speedway, Justin Allgaier offered an unexpected thank-you to AJ Allmendinger. A week earlier at the Daytona Road Course, Allmendinger wheel-hopped into Allgaier’s No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet and knocked him out of a top-five finish. Allgaier expressed his displeasure after the race and ignited a firestorm on social media from those who thought Allmendinger’s miscue was purely accidental. The criticism lit a bonfire of determination in Allgaier, who turned a star-crossed season around with his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the year, his second…

August 21, 2020 By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service Zane Smith survived a restart with two laps left in Friday’s KDI Office Technology 200 at Dover International Speedway and pulled away to claim his second NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series victory of the season. The 21-year-old Sunoco rookie held off Matt Crafton and GMS Racing teammate Brett Moffitt in the final two-lap dash to earn his second victory in three races and reinforce his status as a formidable contender for the series championship. Smith held a comfortable lead of more than 1.5 seconds over Moffitt when Stewart Friesen spun in…

August 16, 2020 By Holly Cain NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – No practice, no qualifying, new course. No problem for Hendrick Motorsport's driver Chase Elliott. The 24-year old Elliott gave a not-so-subtle reminder Sunday afternoon in the NASCAR Cup Series debut on the Daytona International Speedway Road Course that he is one of the sport’s very best on the technical road circuits, even sight unseen as was the case this week. Just before a caution flag with five laps remaining, Elliott had pulled out to a 10-second advantage on the field. He turned in a fantastic restart and drove three…