The only motor sports stadium on the planet will host it’s first July race featuring the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The Subway Fire Cracker 250 at Daytona International Speedway is set to get underway on Friday, July 1st at 7:30 pm E.T. on NBC Sports Network.
Chase Elliott, leading NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year candidate, took the checkered flag here in February. He powered his JR Motorsports Chevrolet past Joey Logano and Kasey Kahne to lead the final 13 laps and claim the victory. Five of the top ten finishers were also full-time Sprint Cup competitors.
Joey Logano will suit up once again for the Subway Fire Cracker 250 at Daytona International Speedway. The Discount Tire sponsored driver led a race high 40 laps last time the green flag dropped and looks to repeat that performance. Logano was literally on top of the eventual race winner in the final moments of the contest. Logano almost won here the first time and is my favorite to get the job done on Friday.
He and Chase Elliott traded some paint in the final turn when his #22 Ford Fusion was rubbing Elliott’s left quarter panel. The Sprint Cup stand-out only lost by a .043 second margin. Logano knows how to race in the draft as good as anybody and should be out front for his fair share of laps once again.
Elliott Sadler was the highest finishing Xfinity Series driver in the first event here in February. He started in the 10th position and crossed the finish line in fourth. Sadler led four laps here in the spring and should be a favorite to move to the front as the Subway Fire Cracker 250 winds down. Furthermore, the JR Motorsports driver sits only 21 points behind the Xfinity Series points leader Daniel Suarez. He also will be looking to close that gap over Suarez, on a track that his team has dialed in.
Ty Dillon will try to muscle his #3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet to the finish line in first on Friday evening. Dillon also sat on the pole for first addition of this race and led two laps while running in the top 10 for most of the day. Because he was shuffled back in the closing laps he had to settle for a 13th place result. The Xfinity Series regular sits third in the Xfintiy series points standings.
Austin Dillion, Ty Dillon’s older brother, took fifth here in the Powershares QQQ 300 to begin the season and also won here last July. The brothers race for their grand pa Richard Childress. The Hall of Fame inductee has repeatedly brought cars to super speedways that perform at a high level.
Friday evening in the Subway Fire Cracker 250 shouldn’t be any different. Dillon, his eldest racing grandson has had a good Sprint cup Series season so far. Besides going for the winning prize money, he will also use the on-track info he gains and apply it to the race on Saturday. Both brothers should perform well with the racing packages they will arrive with.
Xfintiy Series points leader Daniel Suarez looks to win his second race of the 2016 season. The Joe Gibbs racing’s driver cannot be over-looked in Friday’s Subway Fire Cracker 250. He arguably is the hottest driver on the Xfinity circuit and has shown improvement at Daytona International speedway.
Suarez suffered a crash in his first attempt to win here in the spring of 2015. He finished in the middle of the pack in 15th for the July event later that year. Suarez then improved to an eighth place finish in the opening race here in February. I fully expect the Mexican speedster to run towards the front for the entirety of the Subway Fire Cracker 250.
Erik Jones, will look to bounce back from his first attempt to attain glory at Daytona International Speedway in 2016. Although the Joe Gibbs Racing driver started in the fifth position he faded early and finished a disappointing 31st.
Finally, there is no reason to believe the talented young racer will not be in the mix in the race’s closing laps. Jones’s has two Dash 4 Cash wins in 2016 and eight top five finishes. If he can hook up with teammate Daniel Suarez in the draft, the two could make another formidable pair in the draft.
Here are the Xfintiy Series results from the 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series Powershares QQQ 300 on February 20th:
1 19 88 Chase Elliott (i) TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet 120 0 109.0 Running 3 19
2 8 22 Joey Logano (i) Discount Tire Ford 120 0 125.9 Running 3 40
3 15 5 Kasey Kahne (i) Hellmann’s Chevrolet 120 0 119.7 Running 3 30
4 10 1 Elliott Sadler OneMain Chevrolet 120 38 1 121.4 Running 1 4
5 4 2 Austin Dillon (i) Rheem Chevrolet 120 0 99.7 Running 3 5
6 12 6 Darrell Wallace Jr Selfeo Ford 120 35 101.4 Running
7 7 33 Brandon Jones # Barrett-Jackson/Menards Chevrolet 120 34 81.6 Running
8 2 19 Daniel Suarez ARRIS Toyota 120 33 105.4 Running
9 9 11 Blake Koch Leaf Filter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 120 32 71.9 Running
10 6 62 Brendan Gaughan South Point Chevrolet 120 32 1 104.6 Running 3 9
11 24 98 Aric Almirola (i) Fresh from Florida Ford 120 0 0.0 Running 1 9
12 16 7 Justin Allgaier BRANDT Chevrolet 120 29 96.5 Running
13 1 3 Ty Dillon Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet 120 29 1 107.4 Running 1 2
14 18 28 Dakoda Armstrong Winfield Be Greater Toyota 120 27 80.2 Running
15 37 51 Jeremy Clements Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet 76.2 Running
16 11 16 Ryan Reed Lilly Diabetes/American Diabetes Association Ford 119 25 69.5 Running
17 14 05 John Wes Townley (i) Florida Lottery Chevrolet 119 0 68.7 Running
18 23 44 David Starr Zachry Toyota 119 23 77.2 Running
19 28 87 Joe Nemechek (i) DAB Constructors Inc Toyota 119 0 69.9 Running 1 2
20 25 39 Ryan Sieg RSS Racing Chevrolet 119 21 74.2 Running
21 20 24 Matt Tifft (i) Clinical RM Toyota 119 0 63.0 Running
22 36 4 Ross Chastain Flex Seal Chevrolet 118 19 51.3 Running
23 3 18 Bobby Labonte (i) NOS Energy Drink Toyota 118 0 52.0 Running
24 38 78 B J McLeod # Batteries Plus Bulbs Ford 118 17 46.8 Running
25 21 43 Jeb Burton J Streicher Ford 118 16 50.9 Running
26 29 46 Anthony Kumpen Nexteer Automotive/Leaseplan Chevrolet 118 15 40.7 Running
27 13 48 Brennan Poole # DC Solar Chevrolet 117 14 82.3 Running
28 35 25 Chris Cockrum Advanced Communications Group Chevrolet 117 13 53.2 Running
29 30 93 Scott Lagasse Jr Alert Today Florida Chevrolet 117 12 57.0 Running
30 33 0 Eric McClure Reynolds Wrap Chevrolet 117 11 36.3 Running
31 5 20 Erik Jones # Resers Main Street Bistro Toyota 115 10 37.9 Running
32 39 52 Joey Gase JT Concrete Inc/TransLife Chevrolet 114 9 38.2 Running
33 32 07 Ray Black Jr # ScubaLife Chevrolet 114 8 42.2 Running
34 17 42 Kyle Larson (i) ENEOS Chevrolet 111 0 50.6 Running
35 22 14 Benny Gordon VSI Racing Toyota 103 6 66.2 Transmission
36 26 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 59 5 27.9 Rear Gear
37 40 17 Jeff Green Dashub.com Chevrolet 50 4 50.9 Transmission
38 34 90 Martin Roy Gamache Truck Center Chevrolet 22 3 27.8 Accident
39 27 85 Bobby Gerhart Lucas Oil Chevrolet 6 2 26.3 Accident
40 31 01 Ryan Preece # Uptick Vineyards Chevrolet 5 1 24.5 Accident
