(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)
By Aaron Bearden
After each NASCAR race weekend, Motorsports Beat will share a piece breaking down the stories and takeaways from the weekend’s Xfinity and Truck Series race. This is a report on the opening weekend at Daytona International Speedway.
NASCAR Xfinity Series
The champ makes a statement
When you win a championship in a series and return the next year to defend it, the expectations placed upon you couldn’t be much higher.
Thankfully for 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series champ Austin Cindric, his No. 22 Team Penske team seems capable of rising to the occasion.
Cindric kicked off the 2021 season where he ended 2020 – in victory lane. He got the better of Harrison Burton on an overtime restart and held off both Burton and Brett Moffitt to claim Saturday’s Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. 300 at Daytona International Speedway.
The run was an important statement of intent for a team focused on topping an impressive 2020. But it was also a signature win at NASCAR’s most beloved venue for Cindric, who followed it up with his Daytona 500 debut on Sunday.
“What an awesome race,” Cindric said. “What a really fast Verizon 5G Ford Mustang. Unbelievable effort by everyone at Team Penske.
“Obviously, coming off a lot of momentum winning that championship last year, but nothing is guaranteed and keep working hard. Congrats to my man, (spotter) Coleman (Pressley) up on the roof. He puts in just as much effort or more as I do. I’m proud of him.”
Getting the first win of 2021 has Cindric’s No. 22 team off to great start, but there’s still much work to do. The team will need five more wins to match Cindric’s 2020 total of six – one of which came at the Daytona road course Xfinity Series competitors will compete at this weekend.
Teammate troubles
Everything was going so well for Joe Gibbs Racing’s remaining drivers in the closing laps of Saturday’s race… Until it wasn’t.
Out for a victory to prove their capability behind the wheel, former Richard Childress Racing Xfinity competitors Ty Dillon and Daniel Hemric were working together on the bottom lane and both in position to contend for victory heading into the late stages of the 300-mile race.
Dillon was following Hemric in a two-lane pack with 16 laps remaining when he moved up to the middle lane to pass him. When he tried to pull down in front of Hemric afterward, Dillon turned across his No. 18’s nose and spun around, kicking off a massive wreck that took out numerous contenders.
Included in the group crashed were Justin Allgaier, Josh Berry and Justin Haley, who was trying to tie a series record with his fourth-straight superspeedway win.
Tensions were high among all drivers involved in the crash, but none seemed more disappointed than Allgaier.
“He wrecked the whole field,” Allgaier said of Dillon. “He had to make a statement… Unfortunately, guys were trying to make moves — veterans who should know better — and making bad decisions.”
Dillon defended himself afterward, saying “The 18 (Hemric) hit me so hard in the left rear, it drove me up the track.”
Allgaier wasn’t the only JR Motorsports driver bothered with his exit from Saturday’s show. Michael Annett was taken out of contention during the final stage when he tried to peel down to pit road on Lap 75 and was hit from behind by the No. 13 of Chad Finchum.
The contact sent the Iowan into a spin that caused a large crash. Both Annett and defending race winner Noah Gragson were eliminated as a result, providing a poor ending to what had been a traditionally strong race for the team.
“I got wrecked coming to pit road,” Annett said of the crash. “I waved them off 10 friggin’ times.”
The combined damage from the two accidents relegated JR Motorsports to the back of the pack in the season opener. No driver on the team finished better than 27th, a far cry from the organization’s usual trip to Daytona victory lane.
Brandon Jones goes for a ride
Brandon Jones’ 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series opener couldn’t have been going much better.
Then he met the infield grass.
Jones was one of the early frontrunners in Saturday’s Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. 300. He scored the first stage win of the season in Stage 1 and positioned himself to score more stage points in Stage 2.
But at the end of the second stage came calamity. Jones was leading the inside line off of Turn 4 when he maneuvered his No. 19 Toyota up the track to side-draft the No. 11 of Justin Haley in a battle for fourth.
When the Georgian dove back down to the inside lane, he wasn’t clear of Myatt Snider. Jones turned across Snider’s nose and into the wet infield grass, saturated by persistent showers throughout the week.
Jones nearly saved his car. But when he got it turned to face forward again mid-spin, the splitter on the front of of his No. 19 Toyota dug into the infield grass and wreaked havoc on the car. He then shot back up the track and into the outside wall before being hit at pace by the No. 17 of Cody Ware and again moments later by a slower Alex Labbe.
No driver was hurt in the crash, but their days were over.
A frustrated Jones described his incident in a couple sentences to FOX Sports 1.
“One of my best races I’ve run on the superspeedways,” he said “I was trying to make some last-minute moves to protect myself and it didn’t work out.”
Notes
- He didn’t get the end result he wanted, but Josh Berry spent the majority of Saturday’s race near the front of the field. The Late Model standout was making his superspeedway race debut after participating in ARCA preseason testing a month earlier. Thankfully his inexperience didn’t shine through.
- Brett Moffitt fell one spot short of victory lane, but he put together the best performance for both himself and Our Motorsports in NASCAR’s second tour. It’ll be interesting to see if the team can keep its momentum rolling through the road course this weekend.
- There were a few underdog contenders lurking about in the late stages of the race, but two of them — Landon Cassill and Tommy Joe Martins — crashed out of top-10 positions with just six laps remaining after Cassill collided with Jeb Burton on a three-wide attempt. Upset denied.
- In one of the more unique incidents in recent years, a combination of unfortunate circumstances led Robby Lyons to make contact with a safety truck during one of the race’s caution periods. Both Lyons and his spotter were called to the NASCAR hauler to discuss the incident after the race. Lyons later described the incident on social media.
- Brandon Gdovic made the most of his Daytona run with Sam Hunt Racing, scoring both his and the team’s best finish yet with an eighth-place effort.
- Tucked into the back of the top-10 behind Gdovic was Jason White in 10th, who earned his first top-10 in a NASCAR event since 2013. White was followed by two drivers with career best results in 11th-place Joe Graf Jr. and 12th-place Caesar Bacarella.
Results
- Austin Cindric
- Brett Moffitt
- Harrison Burton
- Jeb Burton
- AJ Allmendinger
- Brandon Brown
- Myatt Snider
- Brandon Gdovic
- Daniel Hemric
- Jason White
- Joe Graf Jr.
- Caesar Bacarella
- Stefan Parsons
- Ty Dillon
- Kyle Weatherman
- Matt Mills
- Jesse Little
- Ryan Vargas
- Danny Bohn
- Timmy Hill
- Josh Williams
- Jeremy Clements
- Landon Cassill
- Tommy Joe Martins
- Robby Lyons
- Riley Herbst
- Josh Berry
- Justin Allgaier
- Justin Haley
- Chad Finchum
- Ryan Sieg
- Noah Gragson
- Bayley Currey
- Gray Gaulding
- Colby Howard
- Michael Annett
- Jeffrey Earnhardt
- Brandon Jones
- Cody Ware
- Alex Labbe
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Ben’s big day
This was the sort of moment Ben Rhodes has waited years for.
Rolling into his sixth full-time season on NASCAR’s third tour, the 23-year-old Rhodes put together one of the best drives of his career to earn his biggest win to date.
Rhodes shot past Cory Roper and through to the lead on the final straightaway to claim the NextEra Energy 250, his fourth-career Camping World Truck Series victory and first at Daytona International Speedway.
He wasted no time downplaying the importance of the accomplishment after the race.
“This is so special — the biggest win of my career,” Rhodes said on the front stretch. “I can’t even believe this. As a driver, you’re always asked about what your biggest accomplishment is… This is it. This is hands-down it. This is the place to be. I can’t even believe it.”
The result came after a weekend of unknowns for ThorSport Racing. The Ohio-based organization reverted back to Toyota affiliation over the offseason after three seasons with Ford, leaving uncertainty over how quickly the group could adapt to the change.
It’s important not to read too much into one run at Daytona, but so far ThorSport appears to have handled the shift with ease. Rhodes and Matt Crafton were both in contention through the final laps, with Rhodes using a Crafton shove when he surged to the lead off of Turn 4.
“We came back to Toyota and we won in our first race with them at ThorSport,” Rhodes said. “I can’t thank (owners) Duke and Rhonda Thorson enough for this opportunity. This is special. I’m going to soak it up for as long as I can. I’m going to enjoy this night. Best night of my life right here.
He later continued: “Thanks goodness I had my teammate, Matt Crafton, behind me, because he’s a stud. He’s been around a long time, and he knows what he’s doing.”
Along with being the first win of Rhodes’ career at Daytona, it also might be the most important. Friday’s triumph essentially locks the Kentuckian into the 2021 Truck Series playoffs – no small feat given the expected strength of the field.
Now his No. 99 team can work to add more wins and playoff points for their championship quest this fall.
So close
Two drivers who have a lot to be proud of tonight. @j66anderson | @CoryRoper04 pic.twitter.com/TQISfTshDU
— NASCAR Camping World Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) February 13, 2021
The final quarter-mile of Friday’s NextEra Energy 250 saw two different underdog contenders with a chance to score a surprising victory.
Both drivers came up heartbreakingly short.
Cory Roper led the Truck Series field off of Turn 4 on the final lap, putting himself in position after pushing Sheldon Creed to the point and then sneaking under him on the backstretch.
His No. 04 Ford seemed poised for perhaps the greatest upset victory since Trucks started running at Daytona in 2000, but it wasn’t meant to be.
Roper’s rearview mirror was mispositioned going into the night, limiting his visibility and ability to block runs. He couldn’t see when Rhodes laid back to get a run coming out of Turn 4 and failed to block as the Kentuckian shot past him heading to the checkered flag.
“I knew I was a sitting duck whenever I didn’t feel a push,” Roper said post-race. “I knew I got too far off out coming off of (turn) 2 and got too big of a gap. I’m still learning where I need to position things in the truck to be able to race something like this different than anywhere else.
“I wish I had another shot at that, but you gotta be grateful for what you’ve got, we’ll take it, move on and build from it.”
With Roper out of contention, Rhodes marched toward the finish line. But to his inside came a shocking late surge from Jordan Anderson.
Returning to the site of his runner-up run in 2020, Anderson dodged a crash coming off of Turn 4 and came from seemingly nowhere to contend for the victory. He quickly shot past Roper and pulled alongside Rhodes coming to the line.
But for the second-straight year, Anderson’s quest for a win fell shy of victory lane. He came up less than a half-truck-length short of Rhodes at the line, settling for the bridesmaid position once more.
“I need to go back to Chevrolet and see if they can make these Silverados a little bit longer,” Anderson quipped. “Two years in a row, to finish second here, it’s a dream come true.”
While neither driver won, they both stand to benefit from their strong performances.
Roper’s self-owned Roper Racing Team can use the purse and prestige to help march forward as it aims to compete its first full-time season. Roper has steadily built his family team’s schedule after acquiring trucks from the former Brad Keselowski Racing in 2018.
“Anytime you can finish good and have a great finish like this and be able to bring funds to better your equipment, it’s huge,” Roper said. “To get started off the year with a good points night is a lot easier than trying to catch up from a bad night.
“The difference between last year and this year is we’re trying to build a team, get our shop completed. We were able to get quite a few good runs last year. We just had some bad luck.”
Anderson won’t be back with the Truck Series this weekend at the Daytona road course. He has his sights on an Xfinity Series operation, though his entry hasn’t faired well with qualifying rained out for the season-opener.
But Anderson’s team will compete again. Bobby and Roger Reuse will drive four races apiece in the No. 3 Truck moving forward, with Bobby running in the Daytona road course race.
“My whole life, having to fight and claw for everything that we have, all the partners and sponsorship that we’ve been able to put together and the people that have jumped behind us,” Anderson said. “To just be here on this national stage is so special and means so much. … Just being here is exciting; to have an opportunity to race in NASCAR, the Camping World Truck Series, to be here in the series and compete is amazing enough…
“I think I’m most happy because we were, a month ago, so close to shutting down our truck team. …To come that close again to winning one of these things, the whole last lap is a blur.”
Notes
- Whoo boy. There are mistakes, and then there’s losing a chance to qualify because the driveshaft falls out of your truck on pit road. That’s what happened to Tim Viens on Friday afternoon.
- There’s also bad luck, which is what befell Derek Kraus in his season-opening effort. He was part of an opening-lap crash after the field stacked up behind Tanner Gray. Kraus then cut two tires and made contact with another driver on pit road, suffering four incidents and playing a part in a trio of cautions before his night came to a merciful end.
- Niece Motorsports didn’t make a lot of noise in the season opener, but it scored two top fives late between Carson Hocevar and Ryan Truex. Not a bad way to start the year for two drivers out to make their first Truck Series playoff appearances.
- Codie Rohrbaugh continues to find a way to contend at superspeedways. He followed up two top-fives between Daytona and Talladega Superspeedway last year with an eighth-place effort on Friday. It was a good ending to a sad time after the team lost general manager Mark Huff to illness in the prior week.
- Rookie sensation Hailie Deegan’s night came to an early end in Daytona. She was caught up in a mid-race crash when Anderson let off the gas heading onto the back stretch and she turned the wheel in reaction, spinning into the inside wall.
Results
- Ben Rhodes
- Jordan Anderson
- Cory Roper
- Ryan Truex
- Carson Hocevar
- Sheldon Creed
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Codie Rohrbaugh
- Chandler Smith
- Drew Dollar
- Grant Enfinger
- Kris Wright
- Spencer Boyd
- David Gilliland
- Matt Crafton
- Zane Smith
- Danny Bohn
- Jennifer Jo Cobb
- Bryan Dauzat
- Jason White
- Austin Wayne Self
- Austin Hill
- Raphael Lessard
- Hailie Deegan
- Brett moffitt
- Timothy Peters
- Johnny Sauter
- Tyler Ankrum
- Chase Purdy
- Tate Fogleman
- Todd Gilliland
- Stewart Friesen
- Derek Kraus
- Gus Dean
- Tanner Gray
- James Buescher
