2024 Wawa 250 Qualifying at Daytona International Speedway

welcome to Daytona Beach Florida and NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying from the world center of Racing dayona International Speedway right now you see partly cloudy skies and a smiling Brandon Jones he's still looking for that first win in 2024 to lock himself into the playoffs it might take that as other drivers you know in the xinity series where names are made this racetrack is working careers are made drivers looking forward to possibly starting a career getting a career going from right here with a possible win and DJ when we look at five races to go until the playoffs get underway and we look at these playoff standings pretty tight right there at the cut line yeah it certainly is Rick and you were talking about winning and winning at Daytona is everything and most drivers will go into this race thinking that but there are two in particular there Samy Smith in that coveted 12th spot and then Ryan SE right there in 13 only separated by a point here they have to pay attention to that also because they know it could be a huge swing either way for them or against them uh if they find themselves in the wrong spot tonight yeah DJ Parker cerman there you seeing 16 points to the good he had a penalty last week 20 points uh for a spoiler infraction so what would have been a 36 point Advantage is down to 16 there's tons of pressure on that team as well and this is a RAC track where you could get to vict iory Lane and you would feel pretty good about your playoff chances if you can win at Daytona qualifying coming up next oh still got that H still got that thirst ain't never giv up until we come first no one's ever done what we'll do today don't blink you miss make it legendary did you guys believe this wow this is incredible nice job hell yeah I wanted to win here so bad we this how hard it is to Win It Daytona nothing bigger than winning at the birthplace of NASCAR Daytona International Speedway as we get ready for qualifying the first car will roll that's the 74 of Tim beans will be his first start since 2021 and as he is rolling let's go to Pit Road and check in with Kim Coons well Rick some people will tell you qualifying at a super speed weight isn't as important as other tracks but there are incentives for the drivers here this afternoon you guys mentioned Ryan SE Sammy Smith Parker cerman all around that cut line for a playoff spot track position early will allow them to possibly get stage points we saw what that did for Ryan SE last week winning stage one of Michigan also that regular season points battle between Cole Custer Justin Aly they're going to want to get stage points early and then on top of that and maybe not talked about enough is the fact that pit stall selection is determined by qualifying in the prior week so today's qualifying will determine pit selection next week at Darlington where pitsa selection is very important so some things on the docket for these teams today and qualifying at Daytona Kimmy brought up a great point there also with the regular season standings right now Cole kuster has a 12o advantage over Justin algar and that is huge as far as if you win the regular season because you get 15 playoff points for winning a regular season you get 10 for finishing second you get eight for finishing third so 15 playoff points is like winning three races that you were able to carry those points into the playoffs yeah and considering that Justin algar has 21 playoff points versus eight for Cole kuster right now Cole kuster is certainly going to try to finish off this regular season strong and make sure that he gathers those 15 points it's a single lap for each car there'll be two rounds the top 10 will go back out for another lap to determine the top 10 starting positions as well as the pole and once again Tim vians is the first out there Tim the 47-year-old who founded the Vermont bucks indoor football team back in 2016 trying his hand at stock car racing goes 5282 for his qualifying run Joey gase on the clock starting right now Jo's a really good little race car driver this is he's at 19 starts here at Daytona it's a guy that uses his head does everything he can to get to the finish of the race I think an underrated driver a perfect driver for a smaller team that's trying to earn their way DJ and supported not to tear up equipment it's important to bring it back so they can work on that car bring it back the next week and Joey gase is just a guy yeah you know you wonder about some of these drivers just like Joey gase that if you just gave them a few races to prove themselves in the some of the very best equipment you know what would we see you know because all of these guys are really talented and uh uh you just would like to see it and nobody says this is all fair uh we know that that it's not that but uh it would just be nice to and we do see that occasionally that that some get opportunities Joey was two seconds faster than Tim and one of the things I noticed about Joey there and I'll ask you drivers does just a couple inches off of that that yellow line make a difference because Joey hugged those double yellow line all the way around this racetrack even coming off of two he didn't let it drift up he stayed down low it probably my my answer would be it's probably not going to be very little difference but in your mind you're doing everything you're making this racetrack the very shortest it can possibly be it's 2 and a half miles and it you know it will take a little longer up against if you were just a few feet up there but um you do everything you possibly can you know you get it in high gear as quick as you can and and then you make it as short as you can see Jordan Anderson on track Jordan's in an interesting situation he's a car owner Jeb Burton and Par Parker rlof Drive for him so what does he do tomorrow night does he help his two drivers try to push one of them to a win both of them need to win if they're going to make the playoffs or if he's in position to win is he expected them to push him and uh that could an interesting situation there Rick Jordan's finished fourth here before I mean this is a racetrack where obviously he's had some success but as you mentioned the owner and owning two cars that he'd want to get into the playoffs I would think that that might Trump his own success if he's in that position but you guys are drivers so obviously if you're behind the wheel the decision could be made very easily if you're up front I want to win you know I we want to see a good race tonight but I would just love to see that happen and what does he choose you know so we would actually have the answer because unless he's in that position we'll go away from here tonight wondering Kim I believe youve caught up with Kyle SE yeah Kyle SE has jumped aboard his car we're going to catch up with him as soon as they get him rolled into position but he went for a very wild ride last weekend in the xinity series race at Michigan so as he climbs the board here at Daytona a place where it is also sometimes a place we're going to see flips any apprehension climbing back in the car no just uh ready to go here and hopefully we can have a good run and we're having a great run at Michigan we got some stage points and uh just the super uh plate racing deal there you know but we'll see hopefully it's all good good luck yeah thank you so again that's Kyle seek so my question to the drivers do you agree do you kind of just have to put all of that behind you after a flip like that coming to a place where we've seen very violent flips in Daytona well kill them you try to but you know the truth of the matter is you know drivers are human and you know you can't get on your lid and flip upside down and hit the inside wall without that sticking with you you know it's hard to put it behind you but you're going to get the job done DJ you got to you can't be thinking about that you just got to when a hole opens up you got to jump in it you have to you have if you're going to have the strategy of being aggressive then no matter what happened last week you got to stick with that strategy but it's not always easy to do yeah sometimes having a short memory is a good thing being a race car driver in particular you just kind of put it behind you say hey if I can survive that get through that then I'm okay I had my time there uh but it also reaffirms to you just how safe these cars are inside that you can survive that and you know I know a lot of fans were upset from last week having cars upside down in both the exfinity and Cup race and you know NASCAR does everything possible to try to do make this to where these cars will stay on the ground but when you've got somebody pushing and you're r 165 70 mph and they've got they're in the left rear and it's literally lifting that car up there's not much you can do about a situation like that so these things will happen Kyle survived and he's ready to go tonight yeah one of the things we didn't see was when that car actually got to the grass and that's when it did some tumbling uh which is obviously a little more difficult on the body of those drivers and we know that KY was a little bit sore from that incident that he was uh a part of last week Kim and down here with Brandon Jones and as we look at the playoff picture five races ago you find yourself 94 points below the cut line looking like needing a win as we look at tonight's action how aggressive are you willing to be to do what you need to do yeah I mean I think today's going to be a great opportunity to take advantage of trying to go get a win right I was really hopeful that Michigan was going to go a little bit better than it did um and which honestly we had a fantastic first stage and then uh just a mishap there in second stage and we couldn't do anything about that you know so yeah where're we're in a box to try to go win a race but no other place to do it than than Daytona I think it's even the playing field for a lot of these drivers to go take advantage of it but did a lot of good a lot of good things this week of prepping and figuring out who's going to go with you on the runs and who's not um I think that's what this race is really about is aligning yourself with the right people at the right time so hopefully our Turtle Wax manard Chevrolet is going to be as fast as expend the internet and qualifying here and we can kind of stay up front all day and take advantage of of some of that stuff well the one thing Brandon Jones has got going for him is he's got the correct manufacturer if you want to win the poll apparently in Infinity Series at a drafting track because it's been 8 years since someone other than Chevrolet has won a poll at a drafting track can you believe that yeah that doesn't even seem possible Wawa the sponsor of the race also on the hood here of this number 91 of Kyle weatherman and Gustine was just on track uh you he won the arcer race here in February so Gustin qualified so far second so he's getting a chance and exended look at this wreck from last week K weatherman that was a massive impact yeah big hit for Kyle climbed out of that car and then sat down in front of it against the wall it was uh one that took his breath away no words describe what that feels like no no until you felt it it's it's Indescribable I mean it is a it is a uh Pain's not even the right word I don't know what the word is but it it it will get your attention when you hit like that well and I think so many times we watch you guys hit a wall or hit another car tumble and climb out of the cars and you forget about how dangerous this sport is I mean that that hit hurt ribs that hit hurt all sorts of body parts and for Kyle to strap back in and say yep let me go again I'm ready to go it's a different mindset but nobody said we were all smart that's not that's not one of the requirements to get behind the wheel of one of these but no that you're right it does I mean when I see things like that Jeff it takes me back to when you know I'm so thankful for the safer barriers that are here now yeah it's still a hard hard yeah but I mean we hit concrete walls and man I I when I see things like that I have parts of my body that immediately kind of light up and it's like oh remember this that happened at Dover or wherever it was when he blew a right front tire so um yeah it's just vicious but you know and there's nothing you can do about it you're along for the ride Rick's played golf golf with us enough to know that after a few holes we don't move as well as we did the first few holes I thought you going to tell the story of when you hit my head with the golf cart you I mean you're going to give me the driver I thought you know golf was dangerous too yeah well I was just trying to get you to understand what it's like being a driver this is what it feels like Blaine Perkins out on the clock right now we see he's about 2/10 of a second off of what Kyle weatherman put up there for the fastest lap up to to this point at 50126 seconds of the seven cars that have gone and Perkins slots there into fourth Patrick Emerling will be on the track next in the 07 Kim and more than often we'll talk about drivers racing in other series besides the ones we are talking about and for Patrick Emerling that's the NASCAR wheel modified tour and a week ago he put together a perfect evening he was the fastest in practice and qualifying at Tompson Speedway Motorsports Park then he led every lap of that race winning his first NASCAR wheel and modified tour victory in nearly 3 years and he told me he's hoping that momentum even though it's a different series kind of spreads into this week and really gives him what's he what he needs here at Daytona a place where he said is the great equalizer seems a little bit greedy to me I mean you win practice you qualify up front you lead every single lap sounds a lot like a guy that's sitting right to my right right now far far right no not in the middle so Emerling coming off the great modified weekend and he's second fastest here at Daytona in his xinity Series qualifying run xinity series quality qualifying underway from here at Daytona International Speedway and now it's Brennan p in the 44 who is on the clock his best Daytona finish seventh but that was seven years ago back in the summer race in 2017 that looked like a car that a burton was driving here back in the early 2000s that might have won the Daytona 500 didn't yeah little Ward Burton action he finished fifth at Talladega this year so maybe we'll see Brennan in Victory Lane Bren another one of those who's trying to hug that yellow line about 2/10 of a second 17 100s off of what we've seen out of Kyle weatherman got his hand out the window see left side trying to deflect a little bit of air away from that spoiler so if your hands out the window are you putting a little I guess resistance drive your knee but I'm just saying if you're if you're putting your hand out the window you're slowing the air down there before it gets to the spoiler so are you but your hand will deflect less air than the spoiler so you can direct the air if that does indeed work I don't know if it does or not but if it does indeed work got maybe it's better I don't know we're comparing now to 10th because the top 10 will go out for a second run so if you're in the top 10 you will have a second round as we see Kyle SE on track and then let's go back and remind you of what kind of a ride Kyle SE had at Michigan last week watch this right here car is upside down hits the wall and then you mentioned it rick further end of the wreck when he gets in the grass watch this thing tumble yeah slamming you around from side to side uh you saw Kyle walking away from that the AMR safety crew immediately out there to his attention and DJ's flipped here DJ's flipped I I never flipped I think was thankful I never flipped but you had that experience yep not 9 Daytona 500 yeah didn't even but I it took me really by the time it came back on his whip I really didn't even wasn't even sure what had happened because I got turned going into turn three and it was as I got down to the apron the car just kind of lifted over and just rolled once in the air and landed on his wheels and but it took me a minute to even realize I had actually so that was the wor I was very fortunate that's the worst that flip they ever had but it is kind of a weird moment when it's happening it's just like everything kind of slowed down for a second I've heard yeah drivers as a matter of fact uh just recently a driver mentioned it got quiet yeah like it was it was so odd and Eerie because they got quiet in the car as he was upside down flying through the air mhm I just had a comment that said Burton never ran fast enough to flip wow that's not true he won races here that's just wrong Josh bck finishing up his lap and while he's slowing down let's hear from Kim Coons and Parker and Parker's got a great record here at Dayton in your three starts in the expending series top 10 in all of them how optimistic does that make you about tonight yeah I mean I think it uh gives us some confidence going into tonight hopefully we can uh do it again tonight and hopefully end up getting ourselves in the playoffs and uh a win and uh kind of save our year so I think we've always had cars that are really fast here and always as fast as the internet and qualifying and I just hope we can get a good starting spot have a good race and uh hopefully get ourselves in the playoffs and what stood out to me in that interview guys is he said get a win to save our year we talk about the weight that's put on these super speedway races I think you heard it right there from Parker so much emphasis put on getting to Victory Lane and we talked earlier about Jordan Anderson being in this race to potentially push Parker rlof uh help Parker rlof as Sam Mayer is just rolling around the RAC track something wrong with this car I mean it is really slow I don't know what's happening here but it's pretty much just running but it is barely moving 147 mph that's barely moving 149 I mean there's something wrong he'll finish his lap but yes obviously he me to say bring it to us oh so somebody was telling him to bring it to us before he probably even started that lap that's so they're going to they're going to start does it have oil pressure what's the water temp did he say 250 water temp I couldn't make it out but running at 147 miles an hour I wouldn't think you'd get to 250 it's been that kind of year for Sam Mary think about in the last 35 races he won six of them yeah big number and also in that same 35 race stretch he has 10 dnfs that's tied for the most dnfs and that so the most wins and time for the most dnfs it's been that kind of year where it's either things are going really well or really poorly but they're going to they're going to have to start in the back and you got to work yourself through all of the chaos uh it's a long race but we know how many we know how many wrecks there are at these types of racetracks you don't want to be behind those wrecks You' like to be in front of them yeah and that yeah that's you can navigate your way through a regular season but that becomes difficult I mean if you're winning in each of the rounds I guess it's okay you can get through there if you're you know falling out of the rest of the races but it's a tough way to go you just got to win one of three that's easy to say right 33 You' only have to win 33% of the races that's a career Brandon Jones and Jones goes 50 flat 505 Caesar Bacarella out on track and we see him in the green again comparing to Josh biki right now who's 10th they'll be a second round Caesar one of two drivers that is from Florida he's from Parkland Florida this will only be his third start of the Season pretty decent lap going right here and you can see as he got into three he actually got in there a little too shallow in the left front got down and shot him up the track a little bit so probably didn't hurt him much he didn't come out of the throttle by any means early on comfortably in the top 10 he's second fastest yeah I think they'd have to be pretty happy with that lap to be right with Brandon Jones and Junior Motorsports as much success if they have at this racetrack they got to be pretty happy with that qualifying run here comes the 19 this week behind the wheel Joe graph Jr earlier this year ran at Indie in his only start this season where he finished 17th it's been a long time since the Toyota has won at Daytona think it was Matt kenith in the xinity series was the last time they won it's been a struggle as many xinity races as Toyota has won and I think it's fair to say Joe Gibbs has been you know the best exfinity team for a period of time to think about you know they really haven't had success here it's really interesting you know they're bringing their best effort look at this lap and Joe graph Jr the first to break 50 seconds as we see Riley Herpst now coming to the green flag and we'll see his Mustang take that green flag well we saw him take the checkered flag early earlier this year in a very amazing turn four for Riley herps at Indianapolis Motor Speedway once again he didn't spin out I still don't I can't believe that he didn't but uh about as sideways as I've ever seen a car but what a great move and great race they did and you know just to you know have that thought that you wanted Indianapolis Motor Speedway yeah think if you could go from winning at Indianapolis and then come to Daytona and possibly win a race if you could sweep those two racetracks probably the most famous RAC trcks in the world yeah there's only one person in this booth that's done that that's why I brought it up I thought it'd be pretty cool it was cool I have to say that you know to to look back on a career that that happened in 96 to win the Daytona 500 and then turn around and and go to the brickyard and and win pretty incredible that's awesome and then start Traditions you guys you guys really figured it all out that year here's Josh Williams behind the wheel of the 11 colleague racing and colleague we've seen work together here well but then as of recently we haven't seen the results uh they've normally been very good at you know trying to get together and work as a team but the results have not been there as of recently yeah it's you know the problem is everybody else works too you know and your competition is they're putting the effort out there as well and they had so much success here that they set a standard that other people went to work and said okay we got to find a way to take the fight to colag and and other teams have found a way now col Grayson has to respond and and you we've heard Chris Rice talk about they're not running the way they want to they they're going to make changes and they're going to get better and you know I think they will this team has always found a way and it's been a bit of a Down year for them but they're not going to quit fighting things are picking up here at Daytona well that is except for Sam May and his one team they're back in the garage trying to figure out what's going on with this motor make sure to represent your favorite driver and take advantage of the amazing deals at the NASCAR shop you can check out the greatest selection of there's t-shirts hats die cast and much more all you have to do is visit nascar.com shop today beautiful views here from Daytona Beach and great views if you're a race car fan from right here at Daytona International Speedway as now the 26 on track Jeffrey nhart after making consecutive starts finished 21st at Michigan last week had a really good conversation with Sam Hunt and crew chief Chris Bowen a few weeks ago about this program and how hard they're working to build it to be able to compete against Junior Motorsports and and all of the big teams and you know it's a single car team and they're you know it's a tough battle DJ to fight to to take the fight to those guys and uh they've taken a lot of pride in the race cars they've been able to build but they're working really hard uh for the future to build even better race cars and find a way to to on a regular basis compete uh it's going to be fun fun to watch what Sam Hunt's done it's going to be fun to watch see where they go in the future and while Jeffrey is in the green let's go in the garage and Kim I believe you're going to diagnose what happened with Sam Mayer I'm going to let Sam do that Sam you're unable to complete your qualifying lap what happened yeah I mean I just obviously made a mistake so I'm kind of sick and tired of myself having to do all these bad bad news interviews but um yeah just frustrating on myself um got a lot of positivity going on around I'm just making a little bit of mistakes here and there so uh these guys at the HMS engine shop deserve a little better than that so um I got to get my stuff together but you know uh these guys do really good jobs they build really really fast motors so I'm not too worried about it uh we're going to come from the back today and uh we're going to show that we belong here our Carolina carport Chevrolet is going to it's going to be flying to clarify exactly what happened you missed a gear is that what the issue was yeah I mean I didn't necessarily miss a gear but it got caught like in the gate um going to fourth so I think it was just enough to upset the motor obviously uh got to take care of the baby a little better uh going in the future but uh I know these guys are going to take good care of it take good care of me and put a fast car out there and we're going to go uh prove that we can uh come from the back well unfortunate it sounded pretty tragic there from Sam I mean I'm sure he's getting a little bit tired of having issues but this is a racetrack where I think you guys when you come off Pit Road you try to hit that shift perfectly so that you get the most speed possible yeah it's really your your main job in qualifying effort you know the the car is easy to drive in these situations like this but getting it in high gear but sometimes it's easy to just relax too much with that and not pay attention to what you're doing because it just comes natural but you have to make sure that you do get it into all of those gears properly and and you know again it's part of your job to to pay attention all the time every time you're in these cars probably rushing it yes probably you know trying to go from third to Fourth as quickly as he can to minimize amount the the time that you're off the throttle and you're in gear and just trying to do it too quickly and not getting it engaged Kim you had just chatted with Parker he's on the track now yeah when we chatted he talked about about what he was optimistic about on the xinity series side but he's playing double duty this weekend he'll be running the Cup Series race tomorrow for Beard Motorsports and I asked him what he's most looking forward to and he said the possibility that he'll be racing alongside maybe even passing Kyle Larson and I asked why and he said because he was the very first Cup driver he ever met he met him at Texas back in 2014 when Parker was about 10 or 11 and he talked about the opportunity to race alongside one of his Heroes was an absolute dream and with beard Motorsports he'll have that dream come true tomorrow as we now see Jeremy Clemens out on track Retzloff was fourth fastest on his qualifying run again there'll be two rounds the top 10 will come back out for a final round to determine the poll as well as the top 10 starting positions Jeremy Clemens a milestone taking place this weekend he will tie Jason Keller for the most consecutive starts in the Infinity Series at 382 consecutive starts wow that's awesome that is fantastic you know especially it's not like that he just gets out of the car and leaves and wait shows up next week you know he's there helping run the operation work on the cars get the people I mean everything that he has to do to to be a part of it it's really goes back to the origins of the series you think about the begin of this series The really a lot of them drove for themselves you know Tommy Houston Sam uh Jack Ingram a lot of those guys that's what they did they ran their own race teams they won Races they contended for championships kind of a throwback the family they build engines and they have continued to work diligently a couple wins already for Clement in his career and that's what they say they work for actually got one here at Daytona a couple years back as we ride along with Jesse love he wanted Talladega RCR they're on a little bit of a a swing here as far as drafting tracks they wanted Daytona they wanted Atlanta and they wanted Talladega so can they continue that and sweep all of the drafting tracks 2/10 of a second almost three now over emmerling you can we're continuing to compare to 10th but this is going to be a really good lap this uh this could be one of the fastest we have seen as he gets to the stripe and Jesse love is second fastest 4977 well this this team you know you're RCR you said it has been so fast and so successful I think Joe graph Jr here and the guys that Joe Gibbs they have to feel really good about the lap they ran that's who they were waiting for right that's everybody was waiting to see these rcco cars go out and qualify kind of set the standard that's the first one yeah Austin Hill he's down the list of ways to find out what he can do here's Leland Honeyman Jr behind the wheel of the 42 the 19-year-old one of the youngest in the field at of Phoenix Arizona re best finish of fourth at Talladega so can watch tonight we we keep talking about this and we just mentioned Jeremy Clemens went in here back in 2022 you know to get himself into the playoffs and so if we're not making this stuff up that the possibility is there for it to happen uh you know it has takes a lot of circumstances uh at times forward to but but it can happen 10th fastest so that bumps Jeffrey nhart out of the top 10 Here Comes Jeb Burton Jeb see his hand on the Wind net trying to deflect some air this is one of those teams you know Jeb's had a lot of success at two speedway races and you can hear the car hitting the racetrack that's the Sid skirts but this is that no one would be surprised that Jeb won this race tonight no but it would shake the playoff battle up big time I think no one would be surprised because Jeff's successes have come at Big racetracks you want to Talladega you always talk about needing help and and you know if that sometimes that can come in the form of a teammate me most of the time it comes from just others respecting what you can do knowing that you have the ability to make your way to the front so I'm going to hook on with him and then that's a benefit to you not fast enough to break into the top 10 Kim I believe you've caught up with speaking of top 10 a driver who is now top 10 all time as far as wins that's right Justin Aly and he was the guy that won here last year in this race and won last weekend and I congratulate him on the Michigan Wednesday I wasn't there last weekend he said we needed that why why was that win so massive for you and the team I think it's just a culmination of how this year has gone you know we we've brought incredibly fast new mot Sports Camaro to the RAC track every week and just don't really have the finishes to show for it um it's it's been disappointing to say the least we've had a lot of laps we've run a lot of stages but we don't have a whole lot of Checker Flags by by our name but really proud of the effort last week um you know obviously to to get helmond and and our Mayo missile and Victory Lane was good oh we got another one of those this weekend with Sam Clubs on the car and hel moment you know this race is so important to our Sport and coming to Daytona whether it be in February or or now later in the year you know this race track is so difficult but at the same time so so rewarding when you can win we did it last year I don't have to make a pass through on the green flag this time so uh hopefully we can start a little better than that and and go have a good solid afternoon a good reminder last year they got it done not only with that pass through pendency but they started from the rear so they had a lot to overcome last year hoping for a better qualifying effort here this year we just saw Ryan TRX go across he is the second Toyota that's a part of the top three right now Ryan TRX goes third and again Joe graph Jr also out of the Joe Gibs Racing Stables is first Here Comes Cole kuster defending Series champion he got tagged right after this Pocono win to drive the 41 in the Cup Series in 2025 but it had been a little bit of a drought they got him all the way into the summer before he was able to get the Victory Lane here in 2024 they talked about how weird it was that they hadn't you know they' run so well but hadn't been able to win finally able to get that win I love that Celebration by the way too slamming the drinks together and oh boy yeah but he's gonna yeah they another win or two before the playoffs start or or securing as we were talking about securing this regular season Championship somehow but you know he's got a battle on his hands now with Justin alar algar was pretty far back at one point in time uh but between alar success and wins uh this has closed the battle up to just 12 points yeah and kuster struggling at Michigan uh a lot of points changed hands there to where it's down to yeah 12 points separating the top two for the regular season again five races remaining so there is time as we see Matt deetto on the clock now Matt's career has been an up and down one after being in the cup series having success there but ultimately not enough to keep him behind the wheel of a cup car went to the truck series that organization closed then came to the xinity series he've been running fulltime this season after about the seventh race yeah another guy I wouldn't be surprised you know to see him at the end of this race up front yeah cross the stripe for de benedetto and he is 18th fastest of the 28 that have been on track yes last week Another Second Place finish for that driver Sheldon Creed he's oh so close special guest appearance here yeah that's right Bigfoot is that a rarity to see Bigfoot at Daytona I know a lot of people have been looking for him yeah I didn't have him like a Daytona resident I had I thought he was Valia County yeah I thought he was somewhere in a different part of the country Montana is where I would have put Bigfoot not not Daytona no reason now we understand why nobody can never find him that's right yeah onit Road wrong place yeah he's on Pit Road you always look for him in the wrong place well there's Shane Van gisbergen he's out on the track and this has become a very popular place for Shane Van gisbergen to be located three wins already on the season all three of them have come on road courses it started at Portland it's the beginning of June and it carried right on to Sonoma little roughing up there of Austin Hill as he got that win and then back to the streets of Chicago where he's become very familiar with everybody there in Chicago and kicking that rugby ball up into the crowd has become his signature winning move so this going to be interesting this team and driver in the playoffs yeah he has second most playoff points in the first round the playoffs is in Charlotte roville so let's let's let's kind of assume that he can advance out of the first round and go into the second round can he Advance out of that round to make the championship four and I would say it's a real chance with the playoff points he's accumulated this team can be a factor in the playoffs even though they haven't had a lot of success on ovals the work the work he's done on on RAD courses changes the game because of the playoff points he has now I think he's going to have to have a little luck in that second round so people having issues but this team could be a team that you see in Phoenix with a chance to win a championship I don't disagree with that I mean I think the Improvement that you've seen is one thing um I think the they're getting the cars better and he's got a better understanding so I don't disagree with that at all uh especially as we've seen others have so many issues along the line and it it it it poises the question well how well do you need to run at what kind of RAC trcks to win a championship right and if you're really good at a certain type look I would say Austin Hill is the same way with this kind of race y like those wins that he gets at this kind of RAC trck helps him in the playoffs as well but you have to run well enough in the playoffs on different types of RAC trcks to have a chance to win and ultimately you got to be good at Phoenix but speaking of yes Chandler Smith who won at Phoenix earlier this year and watch this LA right here as well P1 really big lap out of Chandler Smith so now that statistic that I threw out there earlier as far as Chevrolet winning at the drafting tracks or winning the poll at drafting packs tracks for the last eight years I think that's in Jeopardy we have two Toyotas as the fastest in these few qualifying laps that we've seen as Ryan SE now will take to the clock well go back to last week as well a place where they ran restricted in you know they they sat on the pole there as well they did not run as well in the race because they had trouble handling because they had taken enough down Force off of the cars uh is the same thing happening here where they made some sacrifices uh in the drivability of the car to find speed we won't know that until tonight but with the speed of Chandler Smith compared to Jesse love certainly uh there has to be some type either either they gained a lot of horsepower or have more horsepower than than the Chevys or they've done something to reduce some down Force here's Ryan SE and SE again who's one point out of top 12 his lap is 19th fastest at a 5020 you had mentioned all eyes on Richard children racing Austin Hill has dominated at this racetrack when it comes to the February race three in a row as a matter of fact this one being the third for him earlier this year but for some reason the summer race doesn't he doesn't have the same results there his best finished 14th in the summer race at this RAC trck you can see his breath by the way there it was a little chillier in February than it is right now yeah but he does just such an amazing job of you know getting himself through traffic and and maneuvering again when you show that and people know he's going to the front he's going to figure out a way so he gets that help um you know he's almost become kind of the new Dell Jr at Daytona uh in winning these exfinity races and putting himself in position to win all the time across the stri for Austin Hill and he goes 4969 so now he has split up the Toyotas it goes Chandler Smith Austin Hill Joe graph Jr Jesse love and Ryan TRX the top five Here Comes Parker cigman and Jeff you had mentioned this off the top of the show a penalty from last week with a little more on that let's go to Kim yeah I talked with Parker before qualifying and he emphasiz the penalty and what it did to their comfort level on that playoff grid he said beforehand they felt pretty certain they were not guaranteed a spot in the playoffs but in a comfortable spot after that 20o deduction they are not comfortable at all that's why he said qualifying is very important to get early track position to get or put themselves in position for stage points to help buffer that point spot to the cutoff line and I said what else should I expect from qualifying it seems pretty straightforward here at Daytona he said for me as a driver launch is important getting the car into the right gear and he said for the team they've worked especially hard on their Super Speedway qualifying this team wants to prove that they can build a fast car so the goal here in qualifying is a top five well so far he's eight and with the number of cars he might be able to stay in that top 10 it's going to be close though as Anthony Alfredo is now on the clock four or excuse me five cars to go including Alfredo alond Dinger Samy Smith Sheldon Creed and all guy are the remaining cars to qualify and again we'll have a second round the top 10 will go back out for another lap Alfredo looking good to bust into that top 10 yeah he can't sleep on this guy tonight either uh three out of the last four super speed Wes races he he's finished in uh in the top 10 and he has a third in his last out so uh capable of getting the job done um doesn't mind running up front leading laps yeah and you guys mentioned it earlier there are just certain people that when you're out there on the racetrack you see them it's like okay I can work with this person because I know that they've got success on these types of racetracks so Alfredo goes seventh fastest on his lap Here Comes AJ Alman Dinger AJ will be back behind the wheel of a cup series car in 2025 but a little bit odd that we're this far into the season and we haven't seen AJ alinger get to Victory Lane in the xinity series and I think part of that might be because of the uh yeah the the Shane Van gisbergen effect sure that he has had on the Xfinity Series in 2024 Shane has won three races they've all come at road courses where we know AJ alond Dinger is very good I think there's some things you can look at when we talked about coling and what could it be I mean a few years ago we talked about how good they were and this is going to be a pretty good lap for AJ right here but you know they they expanded a lot not only did they build cup uh teams but you know you talk about getting all the people it takes to make all of that happen now they've got this number of xinity teams that they're doing you you start spreading that out it becomes more difficult and it's going to be more difficult for Parker cerman to have a top five starting position if he gets knocked out by Sammy Smith Sheldon Creed or Justin Aly the final three here in qualifying we have to imagine that Creed's going to go fast since all of the other Joe Gibbs cars have gone fast we take a look at where almond Dinger sits with 102 points above the line Creed 70 points above the line cerman is 16 and then there's Sammy Smith one point above that cut line a little surprising so far of the speed of the Junior Motorsports cars Brandon Jones in 14th you know Sammy Smith is not going to make the top 10 and again we talked about sacrifices and decisions to be made you know they may just have some down force and driveability built into these cars so they can be aggressive tonight that might hurt the speed here today running by yourself but if that's the case being able to point the car and go in any direction you want to go whenever you want to go is a big Advantage but you know 202nd fastest is not the speed Sammy Smith and that team are looking for Here Comes Sheldon Creed and this will give us a very good understanding of just how fast these Joe Gib racing toy as are it was going to be interesting last week of that finish at Michigan he had he had a little help behind him if the accident doesn't happen on the backstretch which the caution had to be thrown obviously uh but was he going to get there to to possibly get that win instead of an 11 second place finish another second place finish yeah he broke the tie with you as far as most second place finishes before a win but you know leads the series is year in top FES yeah I mean I don't know I feel like I feel like there's a cloud over him because he hasn't won rather than celebrating the fact that he's had consistency he's continually put himself in position and after last year you know where so many questions about what he can do I think he's done a nice job this year I I I just think I don't know I just feel like there's too much negativity around the seconds you know how many people would love to finish second and that races around the world I mean you know like I I just I just think that people need to look at the positives of it rather than the negatives yeah well this is the guy who got the win last week who finished just one spot in front of Sheldon Creed and that's Aly that was win number 25 for algy when this accident happened on the backstretch he broke broke a tie that his car owner was up there as far as rankings for wins inside of the Xfinity series you know the next guy that Justin algar is going after as far as most wins in the Xfinity series Jeff Burton yeah Jeff Burton yeah 27 wins is what he's looking at now try to get into that ninth spot that you secured and it does look like it's going to be close if he gets into the top 10 here and it didn't happen so Aly 11th and that's where he will start for tonight's race and the top 10 now will have a shot at the pole so can they back it up what we saw in the first round of qualifying we'll see the next 10 top 10 go 10 drivers are set and we take a look at these 10 drivers who will be fighting for the pole here at Daytona and that's another illustrious accomplishment to be able to do that and it's been a long time since someone other than a Chevrolet has been able to do it at a drafting track lot of Toyotas in there they brought some speed this weekend Austin Hill second on the list here again before they go out for that final round but Austin Hill knows how to get to Victory Lane here as a matter of fact he did it earlier this year you know how hard it is to Win It Daytona God Mighty call baby a lot of pushing and shoving already they're wrecking big I have damage a lot of damage let's be sure what's going on I don't know the kakle here baby we I know it's past my bedtime but we're about to party tonight I can tell you that there is something about Austin Hill he has been amazing when it comes to drafting tracks you take a look at the last eight drafting track winners and his name pops up on this list four times yeah it it's pretty amazing what he is able to do and um yeah he just has that night for making the Right Moves getting himself in the right spot and you know hasn't I I'll say that maybe do always have the fastest car but he's the guy that's thinking ahead and doing the best job of getting himself positioned where you need to be very aggressive yes very he sees an opening an opportunity he takes it he takes almost every single run and like you said said when you when you're that fast and that successful people are more likely to go with you so when you make that run typically you're going to have some help we'll see if anybody in the top 10 will get aggressive as well for the lap as we see the teams still waiting to climb into these cars so that we can start that final round of qualifying ominous clouds in the area and there have been popup thunderstorms here in the Daytona Beach area over the past couple days well another one has now hit this qualifying session there was lightning in the area and that means that there will only be one round of qualifying and so the driver of the 81 Chandler Smith gets his first poll this season it's his fourth career poll and it is the first poll Toyota has won at a drafting track in 8 years it's been that long that Chevrolet has had a strangle hold on the polls at drafting tracks as we take a look at the starting lineup that'll put Austin Hill on the outside or inside of row number one whichever Chandler Smith chooses and what a great opportunity for Joe graph Jr sitting there in row two in a fast Toyota you know he doesn't get that many opportunities to start up front and he'll be pushing for it how about Riley harpon and a four mhm that makes the top 10 see Jesse love also in there on that first page in row three uh Richard ch's racing they've been dominant when it comes to drafting tracks take a look at Josh Williams starting up here in row five one of those colleague drivers that's looking to have a little success here on the drafting track see Jeremy Clemens there and back in row seven we talked about his win here in 2022 can he pull that magic again Brandon Jones he is not going to make the playoffs with that a win tonight is an opportunity for him row eight you don't think he has his speed but we typically see those Junior Motorsports cars in the front by the time the day is over a sore Kyle weatherman is going to start in row nine that big hit that he encountered in Michigan last weekend Shane Ben gisbergen there in row 10 he talks about every time he is on an oval track he wants to learn every la he wants to learn and I think he's done a great job of continuing to get better each week Matty D Ryan SE Ryan SE will be a contender Jordan Anderson I think he will as well all of these guys are not favorites to win the race but one of those will have a chance when all said and done one of those guys from this far back in the pack will be in the front contending for a win at least one and in the back you see Sam Mayer we saw his lap where he said he just missed a shift more or less got caught in the gate and they had to change a motor so he'll start in the back and that means a lot of hard work for Sam Mayer working from the back to the front so again with five races remaining before the playoffs get underway we take a look at the point standings everyone in yellow they have won and are locked into the playoffs those on the right side right now still fighting for every point I think what's going to be interesting to see the the aggressive battle to get stage points Parker cerman Sammy Smith Ryan SE they've got to get points anytime it's available you can't just ride around and say hey I'm going to get to the end of the race how they manage this race tonight DJ I think is a tough situation because if you're going to be aggressive on speedway races which you need need to be to be successful you also Expos yourself to damage and danger and so how do they manage this race I it's going to be fun to watch them yeah it will be because that is a battle and and we might be talking that you know one of them's in the 11th just trying to get that 10th spot for for one point because that may be all that it takes to move you through and into the playoffs well right now that's the difference one point one point separates these two at 12th and 13th again that potential stage win win or staged points could get you uh spot in those playoffs as we take a look at today's schedule Victory Lane review from Richmond in 2024 that's going to come up next Cup Series qualifying at 5:00 Victory Lane review from Michigan from last week at 6:30 countdown to Green at 7 and we're racing under the lights for the expend Series right here at Daytona at 7:30 again round two of qualifying for the xinity series has been been cancelled and so Chandler Smith has won the poll we'll talk more about xinity series as well as cup when we return strength so s it's in a BL we I'm bring around of you oh yeah awesome man B tracker flag at the line let's go let's go going Bill France had a dream he build a racetrack this Behemoth of a RAC track and now some of the greatest races and finishes we've seen in the sports happen right here and across that that Finish Line countdown to Green tomorrow at 7:00 on NBC and peacock and a reminder they'll be live coverage of every green flag lap tomorrow at 7:30 for that race again on NBC and peacock Austin Dylan and Ricky Stenhouse Jr are the teams that will be embedded with in stage two and we take a look at the point standings switch As far as the regular season goes Tyler reic after a win put himself at the top of the list now for the regular season and getting another big win you look at Denny Hamlin uh there's a little Aster there lost 10 playoff points on on Thursday after an engine issue that was reported self-reported by Toyota or TRD and so uh pretty big find there that happened to Denny Hamlin who's six currently that's a massive penalty you think about playoff points how hard they've worked to get them uh lose 10 of them and now you go into the playoffs at a deficit DJ if you those playoff points you build kind of like a HomeField advantage and when you lose them uh now you're the mistake that you can make get limited and it puts that much more pressure on that team yeah and because of the the regular season points that he is losing too so he's dropped back there so we won't really know the full effect of this until the regular season is over and sees where he was in he was still in the battle uh for the regular season championship and you know now if he's going to finish somewhere sixth or or further back uh that's a lot of points and as we know sometimes it only takes one to move you through the next round of the playoffs it's an L2 penalty uh again it was announced yesterday about a sealed engine that TRD took apart rebuilt uh before it was inspected it was the winning motor from his Bristol win earlier this year and a lot of people probably scratching their heads going wait a second that was like 4 months ago how can you get a penalty for something from four months ago that's just the way the rules work as far as engines and and Motors that have to be inspected uh if they are winning Motors yeah well he won that race and the team and Toyota could elect to to inspect that engine then or run it again and reeal it because you can you have sealed engine rule so after Bristol where he won that race that's a race track that that does isn't hard on engines you'd want to run it again so they elected to not inspect the engine put a put a seal on it and run it again later in the year and they mistakenly took that sealed off and rebuilt the engine and so now you know they they to their credit they self-reported it and it's that's the fine and and why is it so long ago the engine wouldn't have been inspected until it was supposed to be even though because they were going to run it again and it's a little confusing if you don't really understand the engine rules but it was just simply a mistake there was no performance advantage that they gained in doing any of that cuz eventually that engine was going to be inspected no matter what and they put NASCAR in a bad situation and to their credit they selfreported it and here we are so a quiet track right now that's because there's lightning in the area and so that put the end to xinity Series qualifying we're looking forward to Cup Series qualifying still on time thankfully we haven't needed these pop-up tents uh as far as precipitation it hasn't been raining that's not been an issue today but there has been a little bit of lightning in the area we're still planning on Cup Series qualifying at 5:00 and Victory Lane review at 6:30 of the Michigan race from a week ago then countdown to Green at 7 and expended series racing at 7:30 right here at the world center of racing I'd mentioned uh no precipitation but the one thing that has happened is there is a storm that's popped up just to the west of us and there has been lightning and so that has halted Xfinity series qualifying we're hoping that that dissipates and moves away and we can get to Cup Series qualifying here in a little over a half hour yeah I hope that they get that opportunity and you know the cup drivers and teams are W to showcase the speed they brought here and you know it gives us an idea of who to look for tomorrow night that that might have that speed Fords have been tough and they've been able to win the last six drafting track polls mcdal the last two so we'll see if he can keep that streak alive it was Chandler Smith who was able to get the poll here for the expended series and he'll bring the field to the green flag a little later this evening so make sure to join us here for that xinity Series race