Matt DiBenedetto‘s car for Sunday’s Southern 500 (6 p.m. ET on NBCSN) will throw back to a sports car rather than a stock car.
Leavine Family Racing’s No. 95 Toyota will pay tribute to the turbo-charged GTO Celicas that won the driver’s championship in the IMSA GTU (under three-liter) category in 1987 with Chris Cord.
This championship-winning IMSA GTO program carried the red, orange and yellow striped color scheme which is associated with Toyota in American motorsports.
The NASCAR season ends this weekend with the championship races for the Cup, Xfinity and Gander Outdoors Truck Series at Homestead-Miami Speedway. (Watch Sunday at 3 pm on NBC or the NBC Sports app.)
Three drivers will leave the 1.5-mile track as champions.
For Friday, wunderground.com forecasts a temperature of 75 degrees, partly cloudy skies and a 14% chance of race for the start of the Truck Series race.
On Saturday, the forecast is for a temperature of 77 degrees, sunny skies and a 10% chance of rain for the start of the Xfinity race.
On Sunday, the forecast is for a temperature of 75 degrees, sunny skies and no chance of rain for the Cup race.
MORE: NBC to have multi-network coverage of Cup championship race
Here’s the complete weekend schedule with TV and radio info.
(All times are Eastern)
Friday, Nov. 15
7:30 a.m. – Truck Series garage opens
9:05 – 9:55 a.m. – Truck Series practice (No TV)
10:35 – 11:25 a.m. – Final Truck practice (No TV)
11 a.m. – 9 p.m. – Xfinity garage open
12:30 – 10 p.m. – Cup garage open
2:35 – 3:25 p.m. – Xfinity practice (NBCSN)
3:35 – 4:25 p.m. – Cup practice (NBCSN, Motor Racing Network)
4:35 p.m. – Truck Series qualifying; single truck/one lap (FS1)
5:35 – 6:25 p.m. – Final Xfinity practice (NBCSN)
6:15 p.m. – Truck Series driver-crew chief meeting
6:30 – 7:20 p.m. – Final Cup practice (NBCSN, MRN)
7:30 p.m. – Truck Series driver introductions
8 p.m. – Ford EcoBoost 200; 134 laps/201 miles (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Saturday, Nov. 16
8 a.m. – Xfinity garage opens
9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. – Cup garage open
12:35 p.m. – Xfinity qualifying; single car/one lap (NBCSN)
1:45 p.m. – Xfinity driver-crew chief meeting
2:05 p.m. – Cup qualifying/impound; single car/one lap (NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
3 p.m. – Xfinity driver introductions
3:30 p.m. – Ford EcoBoost 300; 200 laps/300 miles (NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday, Nov. 17
11 a.m. – Cup garage opens
1 p.m. – Driver-crew chief meeting
2:20 p.m. – Driver introductions
3 p.m. – Ford EcoBoost 400; 267 laps/400.5 miles (NBC, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Like grandfather, like father and now like son. Racing success is definitely a tradition in the Jones family.
Jagger Jones has followed in the shoes of his legendary grandfather Parnelli and father P.J., capturing the 2019 Sunoco K&N Pro Series West Rookie of the Year honors in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, it was announced Wednesday.
“(Winning Rookie of the Year) and to win races, those were our two main goals,” the youngest Jones, of Scottsdale, Arizona, said in a statement. “I think the whole season we’ve led the Rookie of the Year standings, which is pretty cool, and separated ourselves from the other rookies and got it done.”
Driving for Sunrise Ford and team owner Bob Bruncati, the 17-year-old Jones earned one win, eight top fives and 11 top 10s in the 14-race season. He also earned one pole, led 248 laps and had an average finish of 5.4. He finished second in the overall standings behind champion Derek Krause and three points ahead of third-ranked Hailie Deegan.
MORE: Parnelli Jones’ grandson Jagger set to make own racing mark in K&N debut
Brittney Zamora, driving for Bill McAnally Racing, finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting.
“McAnally versus Sunrise was definitely the race in the West competition wise,” Jones said. “To get that and finish second in the points in my rookie season, I was pretty pleased with that.”
Jones becomes the sixth Sunrise Ford Racing driver in the last 13 years to win the top rookie honors, joining Jason Bowles (2007), Luis Martinez Jr. (2010), Austin Dyne (2012), Dylan Lupton (2013) and James Bickford (2014). Bill McAnally Racing won the top rookie award in each of the last three seasons: Todd Gilliland (2016), Derek Kraus (2017) and Hailie Deegan (2018).
Sam Mayer previously won the K&N Pro Series East Sunoco Rookie of the Year award for 2019.
JR Motorsports’ revealed Wednesday that Jeb Burton and Daniel Hemric will drive its No. 8 Chevrolet for the majority of the 2020 Xfinity Series season, in addition to one race with Dale Earnhardt Jr. behind the wheel.
Hemric, who drove Richard Childress Racing’s No. 8 car in the Cup Series this season, is scheduled for 21 races.
RCR is replacing Hemric with Tyler Reddick in 2020.
Hemric returns to the Xfinity Series, where he competed for RCR from 2017-18. He made the Championship 4 in both seasons.
“I want to thank Dale, Kelley and everyone at JR Motorsports for believing in me,” Hemric said in a press release. “For a Kannapolis (N.C.) boy like me, driving for the Earnhardt family is pretty awesome.
“My goal here is simple — to go win races for JR Motorsports and to help their program any way that I can. I’ve raced against their cars before and I know how they’re capable of running. My focus is on finishing the Cup season out strong, but once the checkered flag flies at Homestead, we’ll set our sights on getting the No. 8 car to Victory Lane early and often next season.”
Said Dale Earnhardt Jr.: “Daniel is a solid competitor with a great personality. He’ll be a quality addition to our lineup in 2020. We’re lucky to have him. I feel like he has grown as a driver from his time in the Cup Series. That will be valuable to him with this new opportunity to compete in the Xfinity series. He’s a local Kannapolis native with a lot of determination to succeed, and I’m excited to work with him.”
Burton, who has driven in six races for JRM this season, is set for 11 next year.
Other drivers who have piloted the No. 8 for JRM this season included Zane Smith (10 starts), Ryan Truex (six starts), Ryan Preece (four starts), Regan Smith (two starts), Brett Moffitt (one start), Chase Elliott (one start), Sheldon Creed (one start) and Earnhardt (one start).
Today’s edition of NASCAR America presents MotorMouths airs from 5-6 p.m. ET on NBCSN.
On the show will be Rutledge Wood, Kyle Petty, Dale Jarrett and Nate Ryan.
Obviously, the main topic of discussion will be this weekend’s championship races, particularly the Cup battle between Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch.
You can join the conversation by calling 1-844-NASCARNBC or reach out on Twitter via #LetMeSayThis.
If you can’t catch today’s show on TV, watch online at http:/nascarstream.nbcsports.com. If you plan to stream the show on your laptop or portable device, be sure to have your username and password from your cable/satellite/telco provider handy so your subscription can be verified.
Once you enter that information, you’ll have access to the stream.
Click here at 5 p.m. ET to watch live via the stream.
