Daytona 500 Preview, Major Sponsor Funds Women, and More | Chasing The Cup S1:E3 (Speedweek Special)

Bush Light is pledging $10 million to sponsor seven female drivers in NASCAR. The chosen drivers include Amber Balkan, Brittany Zamora, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Toni Breidinger, Melissa Fulfield, Natalie Decker, and Stephanie Moyer. The host gives his opinion on each driver and hopes they can prove themselves. He also discusses his expectations for the upcoming truck series and gives his picks for Daytona, including the Daytona 500. He also shares some news, such as Cesar Bacarella being reinstated into NASCAR and Joe Gibbs Racing announcing drivers for its trophy hunting team. He ends with a tribute to Davey Allison and his picks for the Daytona 500, including Jordan Anderson for the truck race, Landon Castle for the Xfinity race, and Brad Keselowski for the Daytona 500. Hello everyone, welcome to a very special episode of Chasing the Cup. I am your host, Ben Englund. In this episode, I'm going to be talking about a big major sponsor coming in and helping fund the next generation of stars in NASCAR. Like last week, I will also go over my expectations and who I think will be a competitor in the truck series. Of course, I'll get to the news and I'm going to give my picks for Daytona, including the Daytona 500. But first, I am a gentleman and one thing gentlemen do is let the ladies go first. So let's get started with our first story. The first story is that Bush Light is pledging $10 million to help sponsor seven female drivers in NASCAR's series. As part of Bush Light's Accelerate Her program. And in my opinion, this is a great thing for Bush Light to do, but in my opinion, it should have been done earlier. Because there's been a lot of women that have came in and out of the sport that never had the chance because they didn't have the funding. Like drivers like Johanna Long, who regularly outperformed her equipment. She certainly had talent, but she never had that chance. And then you had Kelly Earnhardt Miller, who many people said was even better than her brother Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is now a NASCAR Hall of Famer and two time Daytona 500 champion. So seeing this program will be a big push for these drivers because some women drivers have not had the chance, but these drivers will have the chance and they better prove to their sponsor that they can get it done. Now, Bush Light has chosen seven women. I'm going to go over each of these seven drivers that they chose and give my opinion. Now, some of these drivers probably were not supposed to be in here originally. In my opinion, they might be fillers for future drivers, but they're only in here for a specific reason. So I'm going to do this in the order of the picture. If you want to see that picture, go to NASCAR.com and look up the article. But I'm going to do it from the picture from left to right. So first is Amber Balkan. She is 29 years old and she comes from Winnipeg, Manitoba in Canada. She's known for her big success on the dirt, but since moving over to asphalt, she's not had that much success. She is going to be one of two female drivers to run full time in ARCA and she'll drive for Rhett Jones Racing in the 30. She's also known for her modeling and is also known for starring in the drama show Racing Wives. So in my opinion, Amber needs to show that she can run good on asphalt and she needs to put all her focus on driving and try to do not too much of the modeling and the acting to prove that she has the talent and it's not there just for her looks. Next is Brittany Zamora. She is 22 years old from Kennewick, Washington. In 2019, she earned six top fives, ten top tens, two poles, and an average finish of 9.1 and finished fifth in the ARCA West Series driving for Bill McAnally Racing, which is actually similar results to her teammate who is also a female driver, Haley Deegan. So she has the talent, but that talent may have been wasted because since then she's moved to pro late models and now runs at Montgomery Motor Speedway in Alabama. So I really hope that she can get back into professional racing in ARCA or somewhere in NASCAR and I hope this money from Bush can help her out. And now here's probably the first driver I consider possibly of a placeholder, probably because of her age. Now the program is for the next generation of young female drivers, but trust me, this individual is not that young. So the next driver up is Jennifer Jo Cobb, coming in at the not so young age of 48 years old. I have no idea why she's in the program, since in my opinion, she's probably on the brink of retirement soon, unless she wants to be a female red farmer of some kind. I think she's only a placeholder because of who's sponsoring her. She is from Kansas City, Kansas, and she only has one top 10 in the NASCAR truck series. And she is primarily known for running for start and park in back marker teams in the top three series. And she is currently an owner in trucks. So I hope that this money can help make her program better, but I'm not sure how much that's going to be put to her program and how long she's going to stay in the program before she retires soon. Next up is Toni Breidinger, who is the youngest driver in this group at 22 years old. She is from Hillsboro, California. She has three top 10s and an average finish of 14.8 in ARCA. And she'll be the second of two women to run full time in ARCA. And she'll run for Venturini Motorsports in the 25. She is also known for some modeling and she is known for sponsorship by Huda Beauty. So in my opinion, this is probably Toni Breidinger's make or break year because she's going to be in a competitive team. If she doesn't do well in the next couple of years in that ride, if she returns next year, then who knows how her career will go. Next is Melissa Fulfield, and she is 29 years old and from Wakefield, New Hampshire. She is the most popular driver in the Wheel and Modified series. And she races for her family owned team. And that's probably the only positive things I can say because most of the races she enters, she DNFs. But most of the DNFs are equipment related. So I think the DNFs are from mechanical failures and her family owned team is probably struggling. So I hope this money can help out with that team and be competitive. But her program better get better if she wants to stay in this group. And I think she may be one of the other placeholders for another driver. Next up on the list is probably the least popular driver on this list and it's Natalie Decker. Natalie is 24 years old and from Eagle River, Wisconsin. She only has one top five in trucks and she's going to be running part time with the Ray M brothers in their Xfinity car in the 33. One thing she's known for a lot is for her modeling. And the other thing she's known for is the Bristol incident in 2019 when she was getting pushed off the track by a wrecker and she got spun out by the wrecker. And she is labeled by many as a potential bust. So I hope Natalie Decker can prove these people wrong. But if she doesn't improve, she will probably be one of the biggest busts in NASCAR and she hasn't shown her talent. So she better improve. And then last on this list is Stephanie Moyer. Stephanie is 24 years old and she's from Sheppin, Pennsylvania. She has two top tens in ARCA West and she's going to run with Fast Track Racing in the 01. But I'm not sure if she's running part time or full time because of the lack of sponsorship besides Bush. But one thing she's known for is being sponsored by her fans with her hashtag powered by fans campaign. And so I hope this helps Stephanie make more races and be competitive in the 01 and bring that program up. So as I mentioned, like there to be two placeholders. So I'm going to mention two drivers that did not make the cut for this program this year. And that's probably because they're under the drinking age of 21. And that is Haley Deacon and Gracie Trotter. Both are actually ARCA Series winners and they're the only female drivers to have wins in ARCA. So hopefully when they do turn the legal age of 21 that they get the sponsorship because they can't have it now because it is against US law. So that's it for the girls. So now let's talk about the trucks. Now like last time, I'm going to go over these in the final order of the standings from last year. So let's get started with your defending NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Ben Rhodes. And what I want to see from him is the win races and defend his title come Phoenix and see if he can go back to back. Next is Zane Smith who's moving over from GMS to Front Row Racing's truck program which is basically a David Gilliland Racing satellite team but has more success than them. So what I want to see from Zane Smith is the win races and see if he can be competitive with that truck because Ford is probably the slowest manufacturing truck. So I hope Ford improves and so does Zane Smith. Next is John Harnonemacek who is returning to the truck series. Many people thought he'd move up this year but he is going to do another year in trucks. He was the dominant truck last year and what I want to see from him is redemption because after being in trouble in Phoenix all night, he had to settle for a third place finish in the standings. And so I want to see him get redemption and become a champion and be dominant like last year. Next is Matt Crafton. Now Crafton is getting older but he is a former champion. His last championship came in 2019. So what I want to see from Matt Crafton is for him to win some races and see if he can go for the title. He is still competitive but he didn't win any races last year. So I want to see Matt Crafton get a victory. Next is Stuart Friesen. Stuart Friesen is a couple of truck wins to his name but he's primarily known for his skills on the dirt including his good runs at Eldora and Knoxville. So what I want to see from Stuart Friesen is to improve running on asphalt and see if he can improve his skills on asphalt and be competitive. Next is Chandler Smith who is your rookie of the year. So what I want to see from Chandler Smith is to break out. If he can break out this year then he can prove to Kyle Busch that he is a force to be reckoned with in the truck series. He got two wins last year and if he doesn't suffer a sophomore slump then he'll be very competitive this year. Next is Carson Hosavar. Hosavar was competitive. He made the playoffs but finished last in the playoffs. So what I want to see from Carson Hosavar is if he can improve and finally win a truck series race. He's well known for his personality and his hats. So I hope he can break out and win. And finally I'm going to talk about a driver owner in the series and that is Jordan Anderson. Jordan last year ran part time and he originally was supposed to run full time in Xfinity but due to a DNQ at the first race his team struggled to get points last year and that led to Ty Gibbs who ran a partial schedule to win the Xfinity rookie of the year. And so what I want to see from Jordan is to finally get that win. He's not that competitive on mile and a half short tracks but he is very competitive on the plate tracks. And for the past two years he's finished runner up barely and he's come so close to winning at Daytona. I hope his team will be competitive this year. So now on to the news. The first piece of news is that Cesar Bacarella has been reinstated into NASCAR following a suspension due to a failed drug test. Cesar Bacarella said that he did not know that he was taking a banned substance because it was in a supplement. Next Joe Gibbs Racing has announced two drivers for its trophy hunting team. The first was revealed on Wednesday and was hyped up by Joe Gibbs Racing and that driver is Trevor Bain who is considered to be a bust to many because he only had that one win at Daytona in the Daytona 500 in 2011 and he performed a lot worse after that. And so Trevor Bain will be in decent equipment. So I hope Trevor Bain can prove to everyone that he is indeed not a bust and that he has a chance to get back into NASCAR. And the other driver is Drew Dollar. I bet your faces just dropped to the floor when I said Drew Dollar because Drew Dollar is viewed by many as a potential bust. He only has one win in ARCA that came at Talladega at the worst race at Talladega in 2020 and was set to become rookie of the year until he became very inconsistent and that led to Haley Deacon getting the title of rookie of the year. So Drew Dollar better show in that number 18 ride that he can be competitive. And so this trophy hunting team will be in the 18 and Ty Gibbs has been confirmed to run full time in the Xfinity series with Joe Gibbs Racing but nobody knows what the official number is yet but some have speculated that it is the 54. NY Racing has announced that they will attempt to qualify for the Daytona 500 this week with former Rashfinway Racing driver Greg Biffle. In my opinion I hope they do well this year and qualify for the race. I hope they don't wreck out in the duels. I hope Biffle can win the race with them if he can. Here's some stories from the business side of NASCAR and that is that the drivers have formed a drivers advisory council and the director is Jeff Burton. And of course Jeff Burton is definitely worthy of that title because he is of course the mayor so this is basically the replacement for the drivers council that was established during the Brian France era but that didn't really help with anything because NASCAR did not get anything from that council. What the drivers want to do is let this be a bridge between NASCAR and the drivers so that way they can work on making decisions together. Next Thad Moffitt will run a limited truck schedule starting at Daytona this weekend with GMS Racing in an alliance with the Ram Brothers and he's going to run the 43 truck with STP. In my opinion it looks like Thad Moffitt is now joining his family and may move over to Petty GMS Racing when he is cup ready. Which gives me speculation if there's going to be any room for him but that will be for another time. But for now this will be probably Thad Moffitt's big break. I hope he does well with this break. He's run the past few seasons with DGR and ARCA but last year without Haley Deegan being there he was the fastest Ford but DGR is always way behind and he and Haley Deegan for the past few seasons have been getting all they can out of that car. So this will definitely be a competitive ride for him and I hope he is very competitive and has a future in the sport. Finally sadly I'm going to end off with some sad news. Wendell Scott Jr. son of all-famer Wendell Scott has died. Now it's sad to see him go and I hope his family is doing well and that's it for the news. So now it's time for the moment you have all been waiting for my picks for Daytona. Now before we get into the picks since this is a Daytona 500 special I want to look back at one of the most iconic moments in Daytona 500. This month is the 30th anniversary of the 1992 Daytona 500 and the winner of that race was Davey Allison and that was the start of a dominant year for Davey Allison being one of the three dominant drivers that year including Bill Elliott and Alan Kowicki and was the points leader coming into the final race at Atlanta but he lost that race due to a collision with Ernie Irvin but he would never have the chance for redemption because he would be involved in a helicopter crash in Talladega the next year but he would not survive and he died too young dying at the age of 32. Who knows what it would have been for Davey Allison if he had survived. Would he be an S-Car champion? We may never know. So after that sad note here are my picks for the Daytona 500. I'm going to do all three series with Trucks, Xfinity, and Cup. For Trucks this driver as I mentioned earlier has finished second the past two races for the Truck Series in Daytona. In my opinion he's going to get it this time. I'm going to say Jordan Anderson will win the truck race this Friday and that race will be on Friday at 7.30pm Eastern Time. Next we have the Xfinity race with the creatively named Beef. It's what's for dinner 300 which will be at 5pm on Saturday Eastern Time. And my pick for the Xfinity Series I'm going to go with a college driver since they've been the most dominant drivers on plate tracks and the driver I will choose is Landon Castle. This will be Landon Castle's big break in that 10 ride for college so I think if he can do well at Daytona then he'll definitely be a contender in the playoffs and because of college's dominance at plate tracks he'll definitely have a great shot. And then finally we have stock car's biggest race the Daytona 500. The Daytona 500 will be on February 20th at 2.30pm so I'm going to go ahead and look at the weather for that race. In the day it's going to be 72 degrees with mostly cloudy skies with winds of 10-15 mph and only a 2% chance of rain. Meanwhile on Sunday night it's going to be 61 degrees with mostly clear skies with winds from 5-10 mph with a chance of rain of 5% which is actually an improvement from a few weeks ago when I last checked the weather so this Daytona 500 may not get rained out this time which is very good to see but who knows what will happen during the race that will cause a delay. There's been many different weird sources for red flags during the Daytona 500 from jet dryers exploding and pavement coming up. It's just crazy. So here's my pick for the Daytona 500. In my opinion the strongest drivers will be some of the best at the plate tracks who are Danny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Brad Kislowski, Joey Logano, Boba Wallace, Michael McDowell, all those guys. And so I think it's going to be one of those guys I know for plate racing. In my opinion it will make it feel good story and I'm going to go with the latest owner driver to come into the sport although he's been in the sport for a while. I'm going to go with Brad Kislowski because plate racing is one of his best skills in NASCAR and the reason why I'm saying feel good is because his father Bob Kislowski recently lost his battle with cancer and so I want to see Brad get the win for his father and dedicate the win to him. So I hope he does it and that's pretty much it for this week. If you enjoyed this podcast please hit the like button and subscribe for more episodes. Now I had to re-record this section because it didn't record for some reason. I have no idea why but this section of the video I'm recording on Friday morning and we had the duels and Brad Kislowski and Chris Buescher won those. They were primarily spread out so hopefully that doesn't affect the 500. So I hope you guys have a great weekend. If you're at the track I hope you have a good time and if you're not I hope you have a great time wherever you are. I'll see you next week.