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Daytona International Speedway

Chase Elliott Wins NASCAR Duel #2, Alfredo Locks into Daytona 500

by Alex Carter - Sports Editor February 13, 2026

written by Alex Carter - Sports Editor

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports secured a victory in the second Duel qualifying race at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday night, positioning himself well for Sunday’s Daytona 500. The race, a stark contrast to the chaotic opening Duel, saw Elliott cross the finish line ahead of Carson Hocevar by a margin of 0.065 seconds.

Elliott’s win, his third career Duel victory, earns him the fourth starting spot for the prestigious Daytona 500. He also collected 10 NASCAR Cup Series championship points, tying him with Joey Logano, winner of Duel 1, for the points lead heading into the main event. Kyle Larson, Michael McDowell, and Christopher Bell rounded out the top five finishers.

“A great way to get the blood pumping for sure on a Thursday night,” Elliott said after the race. “There was a lot going on those last handful… It was a lot of fun. Had some great support there. Carson [Hocevar] did a great job helping me control those lanes, helping get Team Chevy to Victory Lane tonight.” He acknowledged the collaborative effort with Hocevar, emphasizing the difficulty of maintaining control whereas pushing for the lead.

The race saw a strategic alliance between Hendrick Motorsports and Spire cars, working together to dictate the pace and control the finish until the final moments. Josh Berry, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Todd Gilliland, Ty Gibbs, and Denny Hamlin completed the top ten.

While Elliott’s victory garnered attention, the Duel also determined the final open spot in the Daytona 500 field. Anthony Alfredo, driving the No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet, secured the last remaining position in a closely watched battle with BJ McLeod and JJ Yeley.

Alfredo’s 18th-place finish was enough to lock him into the field, marking his third Daytona 500 start and his first since 2024. An emotional Alfredo expressed relief and gratitude, acknowledging the significance of the opportunity after facing uncertainty in his career. “Making it on time is a lot easier,” he said, visibly moved. “This is for the third time. It’s really cool… My career has had a lot of ups, and downs. You never realize when you’re going to get another shot.” He credited Beard Motorsports and Dude Wipes for their continued support.

McLeod, who finished 19th, was hampered by a fuel miscalculation, falling short of qualifying for the Daytona 500 by 27.5 seconds. He expressed frustration with fuel-saving strategies at superspeedways.

The race saw Chase Briscoe lead for a significant portion, with a focus on fuel conservation during the initial stages. Pit stop strategy became crucial in the closing laps, with McDowell briefly taking the lead before Elliott ultimately seized control. A brief moment of tension arose when Erik Jones led a line of Toyotas attempting to navigate through slower traffic, but the maneuver was executed without incident.

February 13, 2026 0 comments

Sport

Logano Wins Duel at Daytona, Mears Secures 500 Spot in Dramatic Finish

by Alex Carter - Sports Editor February 13, 2026

written by Alex Carter - Sports Editor

DAYTONA BEACH, FL – Joey Logano of Team Penske secured victory in the first of two qualifying races for the 68th Daytona 500 on Thursday night, but the evening’s most dramatic story unfolded in the battle to secure the final spots in Sunday’s main event. Veteran driver Casey Mears, piloting the No. 66 Garage 66 Ford, earned a surprising and hard-fought berth in the field after a chaotic final lap.

Logano, starting sixth, utilized the high line to capture the lead and ultimately crossed the finish line ahead of teammate Ryan Blaney, Austin Dillon, John-Hunter Nemechek, and Brad Keselowski. The win earns Logano a third-place starting position for the Daytona 500 and 10 points in the NASCAR Cup Series standings, placing him atop the leaderboard.

However, the focus quickly shifted to the open car battle for the remaining two starting positions. Corey LaJoie appeared poised to lock in his spot until a late-race wreck on the final lap. “It looked good for 145.5 miles,” a dejected LaJoie said after being checked and released from the infield care center. “I thought we controlled the race as good as you can control it. The bottom lane got soft there, and the push came right as I picked the #6 [Keselowski] up, and it just turned me to the right. That sucks, man. These guys worked incredibly hard on this car. I’m honestly happy for Casey Mears and (team owner) Carl Long — it’s cool those guys got in, but I’m devastated. This is what you work for and I don’t have another one after this.”

Amidst the chaos, Mears, who had earlier spun and fallen a lap down, refused to lift off the accelerator as a multi-car wreck unfolded in front of him. He drove directly through the wreckage, sustaining nose damage but maintaining speed and ultimately crossing the finish line in seventh place – enough to secure his place in the Daytona 500. Chandler Smith, the other open entry, failed to qualify.

“Probably a little bit about the power of prayer, there was a lot of that going on inside the car,” Mears laughed, visibly shocked after the race. “Just couldn’t thank everybody enough for getting us here to begin with. Had an issue on pit road, but I got a run around the outside. Decided to stay in the gas, no matter what happened. When I saw them spinning and I missed the first guy (Lajoie), I thought, okay, good, and then I hit the #7 (Suarez). Anyway, I hit somebody square…and I knew when I hit him flat it didn’t tear up the car too much and I was going to be able to get back. But I didn’t know who was in front of me still, whether or not we made it. All the guys started going nuts on the radio.”

The race saw several early lead changes, with RFK Racing initially establishing a strong presence at the front of the field. A caution flag with 15 laps remaining, triggered by Mears’ earlier spin and contact with Gragson, reshuffled the running order and set the stage for a dramatic finish. Bubba Wallace was similarly involved in a late-race incident, spinning across the track but avoiding significant damage. The wreck also impacted drivers like Byron, Buescher, and Smith.

This will be Mears’ 14th start in the Daytona 500, and his first since the 2019 season, marking his 495th career start in the NASCAR Cup Series. The Daytona 500 is scheduled to take place on Sunday, February 15.

February 13, 2026 0 comments

Sport

Corey LaJoie to Enter Daytona Truck Race with Henderson Motorsports

by Alex Carter - Sports Editor February 8, 2026

written by Alex Carter - Sports Editor

Here’s a breakdown of the key data from the provided text:

* Corey LaJoie in the Daytona Truck race: Corey LaJoie will drive the No. 99 for RFK Racing in the upcoming Daytona Truck Series race.
* Truck’s Previous Win & Disqualification: The No. 99 truck previously ‍”won” the race last year with Parker Kligerman, but was later disqualified due to failing post-race inspection.
* LaJoie’s Truck⁤ Series Experience: LaJoie has 14 career NCTS starts, including 9 in 2025 with Spire Motorsports, where he achieved three top fives and ⁣seven top tens, with a best finish of fifth.
* Notable Participants: Several drivers ‌outside of regular ⁤Truck Series competitors will be participating:
⁣ * tony Stewart: Making his first NCTS start⁤ in 20⁢ years⁢ with Kaulig Racing.
* Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: 2023 Daytona 500 winner, driving for Niece Motorsports.
* Travis Pastrana: ‍ Extreme sports legend, also driving for Niece Motorsports.
* related Articles: The text also‍ includes ⁢links to related articles about LaJoie signing with RFK Racing for the daytona 500 and Tony Stewart’s‍ return to‌ NASCAR in the Truck Series.

February 8, 2026 0 comments

Sport

Porsche Penske Wins Third Straight Rolex 24 at Daytona

by Alex Carter - Sports Editor February 4, 2026

written by Alex Carter - Sports Editor

Here’s a breakdown of the information extracted from the provided HTML snippet:

1. Related Article:

* title: “Rolex 24, Hour 18: Porsche leads as race resumes after prolonged FCY”
* Alias: “rolex-24-hour-18-porsche-leads-race-resumes-prolonged-fcy”
* URL: https://www.motorsport.com/imsa/news/rolex-24-hour-18-porsche-leads-race-resumes-prolonged-fcy/10792666/
* Series: “IMSA”
* image URL: https://cdn.motorsport.com/images/amp/YK13pkz0/s2/7-porsche-penske-motorsport-po.jpg

2. Twitter Integration:

The HTML contains numerous hidden <iframe> elements related to Twitter. these are likely used for:

* Twitter Widgets: Displaying tweets, timelines, or other Twitter content on the page.
* Twitter Analytics: Tracking user interactions with Twitter elements on the page.

The src attribute of the iframes points to platform.twitter.com, confirming their origin.The origin parameter in the URL indicates the source website (www-thewall.motorsport.com).

3. Empty Paragraphs:

There’s an empty paragraph <p> </p> which likely represents a space or line break in the original content.

the snippet describes a recent update in the Rolex 24 race (IMSA series) where Porsche is currently leading after the race resumed following a Full Course Yellow (FCY) period. It also shows the website is integrated with Twitter for widgets and analytics.

February 4, 2026 0 comments

Sport

GTD Winner Philip Ellis Calls 175mph Slide One of the Wildest Moments of His Career

by Alex Carter - Sports Editor February 3, 2026

written by Alex Carter - Sports Editor

Okay, here’s a breakdown of the key information from the provided text, focusing on the racing incident between Ellis and Thiim at the Rolex 24, and Ellis’s outlook:

key Points:

* The Incident: Ellis admitted to misjudging a move on Thiim, using a “side draft” to break a run. He didn’t realize Thiim was so close to the wall, and this resulted in a warning from race control. Both drivers continued racing without further incident.
* Ellis’s Responsibility: Ellis takes responsibility for the incident,acknowledging the high consequences at that speed.He’s glad they resolved it on track.
* Thiim’s Resilience: Ellis was surprised by Thiim’s ability to stay with him in the final stages of the race, wondering if Thiim found extra pace or benefited from the slipstream.
* Prior Warning (drudi): Ellis received a separate warning earlier in the race for forcing Mattia Drudi off track. He was unaware of Drudi’s situation at the time.
* Would Knowing Change Tactics?: Ellis doesn’t believe knowing about Thiim’s prior warning would have considerably changed his approach.He might have tried to “bait” Thiim into a blocking penalty, but is glad they raced it out cleanly.
* Importance of Racing: Ellis emphasizes the importance of hard racing and the spectacle it provides for fans, highlighting why IMSA is popular. He believes fans want to see this kind of competition, not races decided by penalties.

In essence, the article portrays Ellis as a driver who acknowledges his mistakes, respects his competitor, and values the spirit of competitive racing. He’s willing to push hard but also recognizes the need for safety and fair play.

February 3, 2026 0 comments

Sport

Watch the 2026 Rolex 24 on TV and Streaming

by Alex Carter - Sports Editor February 1, 2026

written by Alex Carter - Sports Editor

Here’s a breakdown of the provided data, which appears to be a JSON-like string representing a list of articles from Motorsport.com, specifically related to the IMSA racing series:

Data Structure:

The data is a list (indicated by the square brackets []) of objects.Each object represents a single article and contains the following key-value pairs:

* article_edition_id: A unique identifier for the article edition (e.g., “10792410”).
* title: The title of the article (e.g., “BMW M Team WRT boss Vosse: ‘Give us time’ with IMSA program”).
* alias: A URL-kind version of the title, used for the article’s web address (e.g., “bmw-m-team-wrt-boss-vosse-give-us-time-with-imsa-program”).
* front_url: The full URL of the article on Motorsport.com (e.g., “https://www.motorsport.com/imsa/news/bmw-m-team-wrt-boss-vosse-give-us-time-with-imsa-program/10792410/”).
* series: The racing series the article is about (in all cases, “IMSA”).
* photo: A URL pointing to an image associated with the article. These URLs point to images on the cdn.motorsport.com domain.

Article Summaries:

Here’s a summary of each article based on the provided data:

Cadillac Whelen racing’s Rolex 24 bid: An article about Cadillac’s preparations for the Rolex 24 race.
BMW M Team WRT’s IMSA program: An interview with the boss of BMW M Team WRT discussing their progress and expectations for their IMSA program.
2016 Rolex 24 Corvette Finish: A retrospective article remembering the exciting photo finish between Corvettes at the 2016 rolex 24 race.
Porsche Tops Final Rolex 24 Practice: A report on the final practice session for the Rolex 24, where Porsche edged out Cadillac for the top spot.
Will power’s Rolex 24 Debut: An article about Will Power’s anticipation and challenge of participating in the Rolex 24 for the first time.

Overall:

this data provides a snapshot of recent news coverage on Motorsport.com related to the IMSA racing series, with a particular focus on the upcoming Rolex 24 at Daytona. The data is structured in a way that would be easy to parse and use in an submission to display a list of articles, or to provide more detailed details about each article when clicked.

February 1, 2026 0 comments

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