08/18/2025
RFK Advance | Daytona II
Daytona II Event Info:
Date: Saturday, Aug. 23
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Series: NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Location: Daytona Beach, Florida
Format: 160 Laps, 400 Miles, Stages: 35-90-160
TV: NBC
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)
Weekend Schedule:
Friday: 5:05 p.m. ET, Cup Qualifying (TruTV, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Saturday: 7:30 p.m. ET, Cup Race (NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Pace Laps:
- The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Daytona International Speedway this weekend for the annual summer event, and the last regular-season race before the start of the Cup Series playoffs.
- Jack Roush has 12 wins overall at Daytona, including eight in the NASCAR Cup Series.
- Buescher holds the third highest average starting position (11.2) in the Cup Series this season, anchored by 11 starts inside the top 10.
- Buescher is also one of nine drivers with 12+ top-10 results this season, and has an average finish of 14.4 which is the seventh highest among Cup drivers.
- Buescher was the 2023 winner at Daytona in the summer event, leading the final two laps en route to his third victory that season.
- Brad Keselowski has posted four top-10 finishes over his last five races, including two in the top five, with an average finish of 11.6.
- Keselowski has led laps in each of his last three races and is the 2016 Coke Zero 400 winner at Daytona where he led 115 laps. His crew chief Jeremy Bullins won last season’s summer event with Harrison Burton to lock the No. 21 car into the playoffs.
- Preece has set Cup Series career highs this season in top-fives (3) and top-10s (10), and has finished inside the top-20 in 10 of his last 11 starts.
- Preece earned his second career pole last weekend at Richmond, RFK Racing’s first pole since September 2022 (Keselowski at Texas), and led 60 laps—the second most in his career.
6 Team Info:
Driver: Brad Keselowski
Crew Chief: Jeremy Bullins
Partner: Consumer Cellular
17 Team Info:
Driver: Chris Buescher
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Partner: Fifth Third
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60 Team Info:
Driver: Ryan Preece
Crew Chief: Derrick Finley
Partner: Kroger / Little Bites / Capri Sun
Keselowski at Daytona
Starts: 32
Wins: 1 (July 2016)
Top-10s: 8
Poles: —
- Keselowski makes his 33rd Cup start at ‘The World Center of Racing’ this weekend. He is the 2016 winner of the summer race just eight years ago, and overall has eight top-10s and a 22.3 average finish.
- Two seasons ago in the summer race, he pushed teammate Buescher to the win as RFK earned a 1-2 finish.
- Keselowski has 11 starts inside the top-10 at Daytona with a career-best P3 starting position (four times).
- In Xfinity Series action, Keselowski made 15 starts at DIS with seven top-10s and a best finish of second (twice – 2012, 2014). He also made three Truck Series starts with a seventh-place run in 2005.
Buescher at Daytona
Starts: 19
Wins: 1 (2023)
Top-10s: 9
Poles: —
- Buescher makes his 20th Cup start at Daytona this weekend where he won the annual summer race in 2023 after leading the final two laps. He has nine top-10s overall at DIS with an 18.8 average finish.
- Last season he led 10 laps in the summer event and earned a top-10 finish after starting 13th. He finished 10th in this season’s Daytona 500.
- Buescher has four starts inside the top-10 at Daytona, all of which came in the last seven races.
- He also made three NXS starts at DIS with a best finish of second (2015).
Preece at Daytona
Starts: 11
Wins: —
Top-10s: 3
Poles: —
- Preece makes his 12th overall start at DIS where he has three top-10 finishes. Earlier this season, he was involved in an incident on lap 195 and finished 32nd despite leading six laps.
- His best Daytona finish came in the summer of 2021 when he placed fourth in the No. 37 car for JTG-Daughtery Racing.
- Preece also finished in the top-10 in both Daytona races in 2021, one of two drivers that season to do so alongside Chase Elliott.
RFK Historically at Daytona
Cup Wins: 8 (Jeff Burton, 2000; Greg Biffle, 2003; Jamie McMurray, 2007; Matt Kenseth, 2009, 2012; David Ragan, 2011; Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., 2017; Chris Buescher, 2023)
- Shining Bright in the Sunshine State: In 234 NCS starts at Daytona, RFK has recorded eight wins, 45 top-fives, 86 top-10s and has led 1021 laps. RFK also has five poles in the Cup series at Daytona, with the most recent coming in 2016 with Greg Biffle.
- Two Trips to Victory Lane in 2017: Just two years after earning his first ever NASCAR win, Ryan Reed survived a wild kickoff to the 2017 season. He survived multiple on-track incidents after starting on the outside of the front row and led only nine laps, but the final two, en route to the win over a host of Cup regulars.
- Then, in July of 2017, Stenhouse found himself in victory lane for the second time after leading 17 laps in his Fifth Third Ford. Stenhouse first led at lap 86, and from there survived a total of 14 cautions for 51 laps in what was his second win of the season.
- Born in the USA: RFK has recorded six victories in the July event at Daytona, including the organization’s first at the high-banked oval with former driver Jeff Burton in 2000. Former RFK drivers Greg Biffle, Jamie McMurray and David Ragan earned victories in 2003, 2007 and 2011, respectively. Stenhouse, Jr. earned the fifth in 2017, and Buescher most recently in 2023.
RFK Daytona Wins
2000-2 Burton Cup
2003-2 Biffle Cup
2004 Edwards Truck
2006 Martin Truck
2007-2 McMurray Cup
2009-1 Kenseth Cup
2011-2 Ragan Cup
2012-1 Kenseth Cup
2015-1 Reed NXS
2023-2 Buescher Cup
Last Time Out & Where They Stand
Richmond: Keselowski 9th; Buescher 30th; Preece 35th.
Points Standings (17: 17th, 60: 18th, 6: 22nd): Buescher and Preece sit just outside the cutline for the final playoff spot as they enter the final race of the regular season. Keselowski is 22nd in the standings after earning three stage points and finishing ninth at Richmond.
