The attention of the racing industry is shifting this weekend to Florida with events taking place at several venues.
Anderson’s Greg VanAlst will be competing with his own team in the Craftsman Truck Series race on Friday and will be looking to repeat his 2023 ARCA Menard’s Series victory at Daytona.
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William Byron will be looking to accomplish something that has never been done before in the Daytona 500, being a three-time repeat winner.
Byron has won the Daytona 500 in both 2024 and 2025 joining consecutive race winners Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Sterling Marlin and Denny Hamlin.
Qualifying for the Daytona 500 is set for Wednesday with the twin qualifying races to set the field on Thursday.
The USAC National Sprint Car season kicks off with six races through Saturday.
The 60th annual World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing continues at New Smyrna Speedway with the American Speed Association season opener set for Tuesday.
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I watched on Flo Racing the Super Late Model race on Friday and the opening of the NASCAR Whelan Modified Tour on Saturday.
The half-mile oval seems to always produce good racing and will continue through the rest of the week.
The yourBigPlans.com 500 Sprint Car Tour has announced that three drivers will be competing for rookie of the year honors.
Chris Schmelze and Chris Ochs are planning to run the full schedule and making the trip to the Midwest from the state of Washington.
Both drivers have lots of experience in sprint car racing and Schmelze is looking forward to crossing off his “bucket list” the 78th running of the Unified Group Services Little 500 in May.
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Olivia Shelbo is also running for rookie of the year honors and will be joined by local driver Colin Grissom in the rookie battle.
Her father Kevin competed in five 500 Sprint Car Tour events in 2025 to prepare the team to make a run for the rookie title.
Former winners of the rookie honors include Jackson Macenko, Tim Creech and Brady Allum.
The tour kicks off the 2026 season on April 18 for the 26th running of the Glen Niebel Classic as a tune-up for the Little 500 on May 23.
The Kenyon Midget Series will be kicking off their 2026 season on the same night with as many as 20 cars expected to be entered.
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