Category: NASCAR

 

 

Jesse Love has secured the pole position for the upcoming Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

 

This is particularly remarkable as it marks his sixth career pole in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, continuing his unbroken streak of pole positions at this venue.

 

Jesse Love is in his sophomore season in the series and has been building momentum since he won the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway. Love’s impressive qualifying lap was clocked at 31.730 seconds with a speed of 174.724 mph.

 

At just 20 years old, Love is driving the No. 2 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. He is recognized as one of NASCAR’s promising young talents after his dominating performance in the ARCA Menards Series in 2023.

 

Behind him, Richard Childress Racing has shown consistent success, particularly at superspeedway and drafting track races like those held at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The track itself, a 1.54-mile quad-oval reconfigured in 2022, now presents features similar to those of larger superspeedways, leading to intense pack racing.

 

In securing this pole, Love becomes just the fifth driver to win three poles in his first three starts at a track, joining the ranks of legends such as Austin Dillon, Joey Logano, Kurt Busch, and Sam Ard.

 

Following the qualifying round, Love praised his team’s performance and the contribution of his crew chief, Danny Stockman. He explained to the media:

 

“Yeah, I drive fast race cars, and that obviously helps.

 

“We have big power, and my crew chief Danny Stockman is really good at his job as well. Qualifying time, my job is pretty easy, and my job is tough tomorrow night.”

 

For the latest NASCAR news, head over to Newsweek Sports.

 

NASCAR Xfinity Series: Qualifying Results at Atlanta

No. 2 Jesse Love

No. 21 Austin Hill

No. 11 Josh Williams

No. 7 Justin Allgaier

No. 41 Sam Mayer

No. 54 Taylor Gray

No. 20 Brandon Jones

No. 1 Carson Kvapil

No. 16 Christian Eckes

No. 88 Connor Zilisch

No. 18 Willliam Sawalich

No. 8 Sammy Smith

No. 10 Daniel Dye

No. 39 Ryan Sieg

No. 48 Nick Sanchez

No. 19 Aric Almirola

No. 00 Sheldon Creed

No. 42 Anthony Alfredo

No. 25 Harrison Burton

No. 27 Jeb Burton

No. 92 C.J. McLaughlin

No. 26 Dean Thompson

No. 4 Parker Retzlaff

No. 51 Jeremy Clements

No. 31 Blaine Perkins

No. 71 Ryan Ellis

No. 28 Kyle Sieg

No. 5 Kris Wright

No. 70 Leland Honeyman

No. 99 Matt DiBenedetto

No. 44 Brennan Poole

No. 91 Josh Bilicki

No. 14 Garrett Smithley

No. 07 Nick Leitz

No. 74 Carson Ware

No. 45 Mason Massey

No. 53 Mason MAggio

No. 35 Joey Gase

 

 

Jeb Burton – No. 27 Norma Precision Ammunition

Chevrolet Preview-Atlanta Motor Speedway

 

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Practice; No practice is scheduled for Saturday afternoon’s Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS).

– Starting Position; With no practice scheduled, NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) teams would spend Friday afternoon going thru technical inspection prior to putting cars on the track for Saturday’s Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 qualifying. Similar to the past three seasons, AMS would once again use superspeedway qualifying consisting of two rounds of single car single lap qualifying with the 10 fastest cars in Round 1 moving on to Round 2 to determine the starting order of the Top-10. Putting down his lap 27th in the order, Burton would log a lap of 32.289 at 171.699 MPH placing the No. 27 Norma Chevrolet 20th on the board. Failing to move on to Round 2, Burton will start the Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 outside Row 10 in the 20th position at 5 P.M. ET Saturday afternoon LIVE on CW Network.

 

AM Racing | Harrison Burton Atlanta Motor Speedway Xfinity Race Preview

– Atlanta Motor Speedway Stats; Saturday NXS Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 will mark Burton’s tenth NXS start at AMS. In eight previous starts, Burton holds an average finish of 15.7 with a 99.7% lap completion rate completing 1485 laps of the possible 1489. Burton has two Top-10 finishes with a best of second coming in 2021 after starting 11th. Burton has finished in Top-25 in all of his nine starts at Atlanta. In his last outing at AMS in July of 2024, Burton would start in the 20th position and come away with the 24th spot.

 

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Blaine Perkins – No. 31 easycare

Chevrolet Preview- Atlanta Motor Speedway

 

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Practice; No practice is scheduled for Saturday afternoon’s Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 at AMS.

– Starting Position; With no practice scheduled, NXS teams would spend Friday afternoon going thru technical inspection prior to taking the track for qualifying to determine the starting order for Saturday’s Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250.

Similar to the past three seasons, AMS would once again use superspeedway qualifying consisting of two rounds of single car single lap qualifying with the 10 fastest cars in Round 1 moving on to Round 2 to determine the starting order of the Top-10. Sixth off the line to make his qualifying run, Perkins would put down a lap of 32.558 at 170.281 MPH earning the No. 31 easycare Chevrolet 25th in the running order. Failing to transfer to the second round, Perkins will start the Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 inside Row 16 in the 25th position at 5 P.M. ET Saturday afternoon.

 

– Atlanta Motor Speedway Stats; Saturday afternoons scheduled Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 will mark Perkins’s 6th NXS start at AMS. In five previous starts, Perkin’s holds an average finish of 26.5 with an 90.4% lap completion rate finishing 748 laps of the possible 827. Last July, Perkins would earn a 19th place finish after starting the Focused Health 250 in the 24th spot.

 

 

 

Three Stewart-Haas Racing numbers from 2024 are set to move to new teams for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.

 

 

 

Three of Stewart-Haas Racing’s four car numbers have found new homes for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season after the Gene Haas and Tony Stewart-owned team shut down following the 2024 season.

 

The No. 41 hasn’t really moved to a “new” landing spot, per se, as it is still set to be used by Haas as he starts his new Haas Factory Team.

 

This team is set to enter only the No. 41 Ford for Cole Custer, who competed for Stewart-Haas Racing in the Cup Series from 2020 to 2022 before moving back to the team’s Xfinity Series program.

 

Two other Stewart-Haas Racing numbers on the move

The No. 4 is set to serve as Front Row Motorsports’ third car number, and it is set to be used for Noah Gragson’s Ford entry. Gragson spent the 2024 season with Stewart-Haas Racing behind the wheel of the No. 10 Ford. Front Row Motorsports acquired their third charter from Stewart-Haas Racing.

 

And speaking of the No. 10, that number has moved to Kaulig Racing. Matt Kaulig’s team are set to run the No. 10 instead of the No. 31 in 2025, and Ty Dillon is set to drive the No. 10 Chevrolet. Daniel Hemric drove the No. 31 Chevrolet in 2024.

 

As for Stewart-Haas Racing’s other car number, the No. 14 has not found a new home for 2025, meaning that the 2025 season is set to become the first without the car number since 2008.

 

With the No. 14 and the No. 31 out of the Cup Series for 2025, two new car numbers are in. 23XI Racing, which acquired a third charter from Stewart-Haas Racing like Front Row Motorsports did, are set to add the No. 35 Toyota for Riley Herbst. The No. 35 hasn’t been used since 2016.

 

Trackhouse Racing, which also acquired a third charter from Stewart-Haas Racing, are set to add the No. 88 Chevrolet for Shane van Gisbergen. The No. 88 hasn’t been used since 2020.

 

Daytona International Speedway is scheduled to open up the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season with the 67th annual Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 16, and live coverage is set to be provided by Fox beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET after a late schedule change. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don’t miss it!

 

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Daytona Beach, Florida, USA; Xfinity Series driver Kris Wright (5) crashes into driver Josh Bilicki (91) on pit road during the United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway.

; Daytona Beach, Florida, USA; Xfinity Series driver Kris Wright (5) crashes into driver Josh Bilicki (91) on pit road during the United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway.

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There was some confusion for a moment about what exactly had happened at the end of Saturday night’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race — but Jesse Love made it all clear with an exceptional burnout in the Daytona International Speedway grass.

 

 

Love earned the series’ season-opening win on Saturday night by leading 30 laps and leaving nothing to chance in the overtime period — commanding that final restart from beginning to end. There was a wreck in that final overtime period, leaving the field in a bit of a fog if another restart was coming, but NASCAR ruled that the caution flag didn’t fly until Love had taken the white flag, which ultimately delivered the 20-year-old driver his first victory at Daytona.

 

It all happened so fast, Love was out of breath after his burnout. The Richard Childress Racing driver summoned enough energy, however, to send a statement to his team as well as the rest of the Xfinity field.

 

“We’re winners,” he said. “We know we are. We all want to win a championship for Richard Childress. Man, that thing was as fast as Xfinity mobile and I’m ready to go get to Atlanta now. It was awesome.”

 

Sam Mayer finished second in a race that featured eight cautions for 39 laps and 24 lead changes among 11 different leaders. Sheldon Creed took third. Carson Kvapil (fourth) was the highest-finishing rookie. Check here for full race results.

 

For Love, his win reminded him of his first and only Xfinity win prior to Saturday: the win at Talladega Superspeedway as a rookie in 2024. Leading up to Saturday he said he’d studied Daytona and realized he couldn’t approach the Florida track the same as the Alabama one.

 

“It was hard for me to win here for a while because I kind of thought the two were similar,” he said. “And then I studied Daytona for weeks, right, trying to figure out what doesn’t work for me here. The moment for me was, I went and watched Talladega and said, ‘None of these moves are going to work at Daytona.’ And that’s when I realized: Talladega is kind of more checkers, and Daytona is a little more chess. And that kind of goes with the exquisite nature of Daytona.”

 

Loven then said he reached the midway point of the race and had a decision to make, he said.

 

“I could go back to what I was doing (when I was a rookie), or I could stay the course and see if it panned out in the end like I thought it should,” Love said. “I thought I had nothing to lose, so I kind of just stayed the course of what I thought was going to work out in the end. It just comes down to being really patient. And staying with the line and making your line go forward and not pulling out and going three-wide and things like that.”

 

That delivered him the lead.

 

And then once he got the lead, he didn’t relinquish it.

 

Daytona race originally belonged to Austin Hill, a superspeedway savant

Before Love took the win, it looked to be his teammate’s race to lose. Austin Hill, the Richard Childress Racing driver of the 21 car, won the first and second stages with ease. He was vying for the record of four straight season-opening NASCAR wins at Daytona. The only ones who’ve won three Xfinity Series season-openers in a row? Hill, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart.

 

But then his fates changed. Mechanical issues on Lap 89 forced Hill to the garage and ended his contending chances.

 

; Daytona Beach, Florida, USA; Xfinity Series driver Kris Wright (5) crashes into driver Josh Bilicki (91) on pit road during the United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway.

Feb 15, 2025; Daytona Beach, Florida, USA; Xfinity Series driver Kris Wright (5) crashes into driver Josh Bilicki (91) on pit road during the United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway.

Hill’s departure to the infield split the race’s two big moments before the checkered flag swooped down.

 

The first came in Lap 87, when Kris Wright appeared to have braking issues as he approached pit road, crashing into Josh Bilicki’s car and prompting a caution. Wright was asked after the wreck on the CW broadcast what happened, and Wright said “communication issues” with his spotter was the cause of the blunder. It’s not clear what those communication issues were, however.

 

Feb 15, 2025; Daytona Beach, Florida, USA; Xfinity Series driver Justin Bonsignore (19) wrecks in front of the field during the United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway.

Feb 15, 2025; Daytona Beach, Florida, USA; Xfinity Series driver Justin Bonsignore (19) wrecks in front of the field during the United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway.

The second came in Lap 113, seven laps away from the end of regulation, where Justin Allgaier made contact with Justin Bonsignore, who then collected Anthony Alfredo and Sammy Smith. The caution came out, and the track didn’t get cleared until three laps to go.

 

There was another blip with two laps to go. Connor Zilisch was racing in the middle of the pack and then got turned into the wall, collecting some others. That forced the day’s seventh caution and overtime.

 

And then there was another caution in overtime — but not until Love had received the white flag.

 

Feb 15, 2025; Daytona Beach, Florida, USA; Xfinity Series driver Carson Kvapil (1) crashes into driver Justin Bonsignore (19) during the United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway.

Feb 15, 2025; Daytona Beach, Florida, USA; Xfinity Series driver Carson Kvapil (1) crashes into driver Justin Bonsignore (19) during the United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images Mark J. Rebilas Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Three quotes to remember from Xfinity Daytona race

▪ This was one of Mayer’s best finishes in Daytona. According to Driver Averages, Saturday’s P2 finish was his first Top 10 finish as an Xfinity driver in eight tries. Those finishes: 12, 30, 34, 27, 19, 36, 13. Although he wanted the win, he’s happy with “surviving” this superspeedway race. Perhaps some of that success could be attributed to good, aggressive, but clean racing on Saturday night.

 

Here are Mayer’s thoughts on the quality of racing Saturday: “I think that the entire series did a good job tonight. I think we put on a heck of a show. Obviously, I’m really excited to watch it. … The intensity was definitely up, and we didn’t wreck too many cars, I don’t think, so overall I feel like it was pretty decent. Obviously one spot short is gonna rub salt in that wound a little bit. But overall there’s a lot of positivity going around.”

 

Feb 15, 2025; Daytona Beach, Florida, USA; Xfinity Series driver Taylor Gray (54) and driver Justin Allgaier (7) during the United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway.

Feb 15, 2025; Daytona Beach, Florida, USA; Xfinity Series driver Taylor Gray (54) and driver Justin Allgaier (7) during the United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway.

▪ Creed, who finished third, ran an admirable race until the end, trying to chase down Love: “When he got control at the end, I tried to make a few runs at him. I think I got next to him. I got by him twice. But he could just pounce right back. Whereas I felt like when I would get passed by him, it would take me a few laps to try to create a run. He just had a really fast car and could rebound really quickly.”

 

▪ Allgaier, who is running in JR Motorsports’ entry in the Daytona 500 on Sunday, was part of the wreck that ended Saturday’s Xfinity Series race. He told reporters outside the infield care center that he wasn’t happy with how his night turned out and that he’d “own” the mistake at the white flag. He ended up P18. Will he be ready for the Great American Race? “I’m not sore at all,” Allgaier said. “So that’s good. Tomorrow is its own animal. We’ll try to go and run 500 miles and do a better job than we did today. I’m just hopeful we hit a lot less stuff tomorrow than we did today because today was not fun.”

 

 

 

Frankie Muniz, the actor known widely for his roles in Malcolm in the Middle and Agent Cody Banks, has made headlines by finishing in the top 10 during his fifth NASCAR truck series race.

 

This impressive finish came at the end of the Truck Series in Daytona. Originally, Muniz finished in eleventh place but was promoted one place higher after the disqualification of Parker Kligerman, whose car was disqualified after it was revealed his rear suspension was running too high.

 

This event saw the actor’s best performance in NASCAR’s developmental series, showing that his motorsport journey is gaining momentum.

 

Since stepping towards a career in NASCAR, Muniz has faced a unique set of challenges. Having participated full-time in the ARCA series in 2023, Muniz proved his dedication by racing part-time across different series in 2024, including the ARCA, truck, and Xfinity series.

 

The actor-turned-driver seems determined to prove himself on the track, pushing through last year’s challenges, including a tough 2024 season that only saw seven races.

 

Muniz is currently driving for Reaume Brothers Racing, which is known as a smaller team in the sport. This team, with its No. 33 Ford truck, gave him a platform to demonstrate his racing potential, even if their resources might not match those of bigger teams.

 

“They don’t know what I can do… I want to earn their respect,” Muniz told Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass, reflecting on the skepticism he faces and his want to prove himself on the track.

 

Flexibility is key as Muniz juggles his acting commitments and racing. He is part of a planned Malcolm in the Middle reunion series, which, thanks to a tailored schedule, allows him to act for the first half of the week and focus on racing from Thursdays to Saturdays. How he balances his responsibilities will be crucial given the demanding schedule of 25 planned races stretching from mid-February through early November.

 

“I couldn’t ask for anything better. I think this truck was so fast,” he said following today’s performance. “I know I have to prove myself here. Last year, I didn’t have the opportunity to do that. And not that this fully does that.

 

“This is great. This is a step. Hopefully, I earn respect. I’m in the Ford technical meeting with the other drivers, and… even though we’re manufacturer teammates… I still don’t think they know what I can do or not.

 

“I want to earn their respect. And the only way to do that is to do it on track.”

 

He ended: “I’m happy. This was, this was great. This was awesome.”