NASCAR Cup

Chase Elliott walked slowly and dejectedly from the Daytona International Speedway infield care center, eyes hidden behind sunglasses, hands crammed deep into the pockets of his firesuit.

After 500 miles, 200 laps and a lot of hard racing, Sunday’s Daytona 500 came down to a game of inches, with Denny Hamlin just edging out Martin Truex, Jr. for the victory.

Early Saturday evening, Dawson County Emergency Services in Dawson County, Georgia posted the following to their Facebook page:

Ryan Preece had an easier week at this year’s World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing than he did last year. The result was the same.

Jimmie Johnson is down to his last car. That’s the bad news. A last-lap wreck in Thursday’s second Can-Am Duel 150-mile qualifying races destroyed Johnson’s primary No. 48 Chevrolet and forced him to a backup car for Sunday’s Daytona 500.

When Jamie McMurray pulled onto pit road for the first time in last Saturday’s Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Speedway, he knew immediately the preferences he had selected for the new digital dashboard in his No. 1 Chevrolet simply weren’t going to work.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Kyle Busch both proved Thursday night that they will have a hand in the outcome of Sunday’s Daytona 500, as the two drivers scored wins in their respective Can Am Duel qualifying races at Daytona International Speedway.

It had to happen eventually. Wednesday’s second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice brought the first major accident of Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway.

Danica Patrick has 118 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts to her credit. She has no victories, no top fives.

When tandem “love-bug” racing was the order of the day at restrictor-plate tracks, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. didn’t like it one bit. Hated it, if you want to know the truth.