Sherry Pollex, ovarian cancer survivor and longtime girlfriend of Martin Truex Jr., spoke with Rutledge Wood before Saturday night’s NASCAR Cup race at Richmond Raceway about the second annual ‘Drive for Teal & Gold’ campaign raise ovarian cancer awareness.
Many drivers will be navigating the Daytona road course for the first time this weekend.
Hailie Deegan is not one of them.
Deegan, who competes in the ARCA Menards Series, will be in the field when the series takes to the 14-turn, 3.61-mile circuit for practice and a race Friday evening (5 p.m. ET on Trackpass).
“I’m pretty excited because this was not one of the races we had planned on our schedule,” Deegan told NBCSN’s Kelli Stavast earlier this week. “At the beginning of the year I saw all the races, obviously to see which ones you’re looking forward to, like your favorites and stuff and obviously this on wasn’t on there. … I like road courses. I raced at Sonoma about twice (in ARCA Menards West). I was decent there, I qualified on the pole one of the times (2019) there against a lot of good drivers. It was a confirmation that, ‘Ok, we’re decent at road courses.'”
Deegan, who enters the race fourth in the point standings behind Michael Self, first got a shot at the road course at the beginning of the year. As a Ford development driver, she took part in multiple days of testing before competing in a Michelin Pilot Challenge race in a GT4 Mustang.
“I would not say I’m perfect at road courses,” Deegan said. “But I feel that’s one of my stronger suites. I’m trying to learn this whole stock car world. Circle track, everything like that, that’s all been a foreign concept. So everything I’m learning I’m learning for the first time. But when we go back to road courses, I grew up in go karting, I grew up racing off-road trucks on courses where you turn right and left. So that’s not a foreign concept to me. So I feel more comfortable on road courses, especially with us only getting an hour of practice and all the time I have on that track.
“I have so many days of practice from the beginning of the year on that track. Obviously, it’s a different car, a GT4 Mustang. … It’s easy to drive, but hard to be fast in an IMSA car. (While) the stock cars are harder to drive, but you have that experience, I feel like you can have a little bit of an advantage over people.”
With eight races left in the season, Deegan will try to take that advantage to victory lane for his first career ARCA win. The last time she visited Daytona in February, she finished second in the season opener to Self.
For the first time this weekend, NASCAR will compete on the Daytona road course.
All three of NASCAR’s national series and the ARCA Menards Series will take to the 14-turn, 3.61-mile circuit, culminating in Sunday’s Cup Series race.
This weekend takes the place of the race at Watkins Glen International for Cup and Xfinity.
Kevin Harvick will start on the pole for Sunday’s Cup race. Austin Cindric will lead the Xfinity field to green on Saturday.
(All times Eastern)
10:30 a.m. – ARCA driver-spotter-crew chief meeting (electronic communication)
11 – 11:30 a.m. – ARCA rookie meeting (teleconference)
11:30 a.m. – Noon – ARCA crew chief meeting (teleconference)
3 – 4 p.m. – ARCA haulers enter (screening in progress)
5:30 – 7:30 p.m. – Driver motorhome parking (screening in progress)
9 a.m. – ARCA garage opens
9 a.m. – 4 p.m. – ARCA garage access screening in progress
2 – 3 p.m. – ARCA practice
3:30 p.m. – Xfinity rookie meeting (electronic communication)
4 p.m. – Xfinity driver-crew chief meeting (electronic communication)
4:50 p.m. – ARCA drivers report to their cars
5 p.m. – ARCA race; 28 laps/101.08 miles miles (MAVTV, Motor Racing Network)
6 p.m. – Truck Series driver-crew chief meeting (electronic communication)
7:30 p.m. – ARCA haulers exit
6 – 8:30 a.m. – Xfinity haulers enter (screening and equipment upload)
8:30 a.m. – Xfinity garage opens
8:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. – Garage screening in progress
2 – 4 p.m. – Truck Series haulers enter (screening in progress and equipment unload)
2:50 p.m. – Xfinity drivers report to cars
3 p.m. – Xfinity race; 52 laps/187.72 miles (NBCSN, Motor Racing Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
4 – 7 p.m. – Truck Series garage access screening in progress
4 – 8 p.m. – Truck Series garage open
4:30 – 5 p.m. – Truck Series rookie meeting (teleconference)
4:30 p.m. – Cup rookie meeting (electronic communication)
5 p.m. – Cup driver-crew chief meeting (electronic communication)
5:30 p.m. – Xfinity haulers exit
6 – 8 a.m. – Cup haulers enter (screening in progress and equipment unload)
8 a.m. – Cup garage opens
8 a.m. – 2 p.m. – Cup garage access screening in progress
9 a.m. – Truck Series garage opens
9 – 11 a.m. – Truck Series garage access screening in progress
11:40 a.m. – Truck Series drivers report to vehicles
Noon – Truck Series race; 44 laps/158.85 miles (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
2:30 p.m. – Truck Series haulers exit
2:50 p.m. – Cup drivers report to cars
3 p.m. – Cup race; 65 laps/234.65 miles (NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
6:30 p.m. – Cup haulers exit
NASCAR issued an update to teams to the sanctioning body’s COVID-19 guidelines this week.
If after 10 days, a NASCAR member is unable to produce two negative PCR tests, their return status may be medically reviewed by a NASCAR Consulting physician. Previously, a NASCAR member needed to have two negative tests more than 24 hours apart and a note from their physician to be cleared to compete.
MORE: Spencer Davis cleared to race after COVID-19 recovery
Truck Series driver Spencer Davis is the third driver to be cleared to resume racing after a positive test. He missed last week’s race at Michigan. Jimmie Johnson missed the Indianapolis race in July after a positive test. Brendan Gaughan is racing this weekend for the first time since he tested positive for COVID-19 in July.
NASCAR cites new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with updating the sport’s COVID-19 guidelines.
“As we’ve said since our return, NASCAR’s health and safety plans will continue to evolve, with the goal remaining the same – a safe event for both our competitors and the communities in which we race,” said John Bobo, NASCAR vice president, racing operations, in a statement. “NASCAR will continue to implement and execute a comprehensive plan to ensure the health and safety of our competitors and the surrounding communities.”
Here are NASCAR’s updated COVID-19 guidelines:
Confirmed Positive Cases – Symptomatic and Asymptomatic Cases. Confirmed positive cases may return to racing activities after they have received two negative test results taken at least 24 hours apart.
A. If after 10 days, a NASCAR Member is unable to produce two negative PCR tests, their return status may be medically reviewed by a NASCAR Consulting physician.
B. They must also have written clearance from their personal physician to resume all racing activity.
Confirmed exposure to a positive COVID-19 person. Those exposed individuals are required to stand-down from competition and self-isolate. They may return to racing activities after they have received one negative test. NASCAR in its discretion may request a second test for clearance based on the nature of the exposure. Please note: a confirmed exposure is based on a totality of the circumstances as determined by NASCAR in consultation with their consulting physicians. Analysis will include: identifying people exposed over the last 10 days, accumulated time greater than 10 minutes, direct skin contact (shaking hands, etc.), lack of social distancing and the level of PPE use among the individuals involved in the contact.
After testing positive for COVID-19 last week, Truck Series driver Spencer Davis has been cleared to return to racing after missing just once race, Davis confirmed on social media Wednesday.
Davis had to have two negative COVID-19 tests more than 24 hours apart in order to be cleared to race.
Davis, 21, was the third NASCAR driver to test positive for the virus, joining Jimmie Johnson (who missed one race) and part-time driver Brendan Gaughan.
Davis, who owns his Truck Series team, missed last weekend’s race at Michigan International Speedway and will return to the track for Sunday’s race on the Daytona International Speedway road course (Noon ET on FS1). He will start 31st.
The process works👍🏼. Excited to be going back racing with the boys @TeamSDM11 @DISupdates. Gotta thank the medical team at @NASCAR for the guidance along the way in taking the proper steps during my quarantine https://t.co/epZ6ajcFMt
— Spencer Davis (@SpencerDavis_29) August 12, 2020