Pitbull “Mr. 305” Returns to Home Track

This Weekend as a NASCAR Team Owner

Michael McDowell captured the 2021 NASCAR season-opener on February 14 in grand fashion, taking the checkered flag in the coveted DAYTONA 500 at the venerable Daytona International Speedway. With no NASCAR Cup Series wins in his 14 seasons and 357 starts entering the race, the 36-year old McDowell became the DAYTONA 500 champion as a huge underdog. 

 

His rise to the top of the NASCAR world required a great deal of patience and perseverance. It’s those same traits that recently attracted Armando Christian Perez – better known across the world as Pitbull – into the world of NASCAR as a team owner. 

.@pitbull explains what brought him to @NASCAR and what his goals are for the sport. Hear more on @SiriusXMNASCAR. pic.twitter.com/oD7ub8Efuh

— SiriusXM (@SIRIUSXM) February 15, 2021

In January, the Grammy-award winning musical artist and Miami native became a part-owner of first-year team, Trackhouse Racing. This weekend, Pitbull will be making his first trip to his home track as a team owner, as Homestead-Miami Speedway hosts the NASCAR Xfinity Series Contender Boats 250 on Saturday (4:30 pm, FS1/ MRN-Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 90), to be followed by the Dixie Vodka 400 on Sunday (3:30 pm, FOX/ MRN-Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 90). Daniel Suárez will be piloting the No. 99 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for Trackhouse Racing in Sunday’s premier series race.

Along with former NASCAR driver Justin Marks, Pitbull, also known as “Mr. 305” and “Mr. Worldwide,” is hoping to propel the team to the same success that he has had in his esteemed musical career.

“What I love about NASCAR is the ultimate underdog story. I'm your ultimate underdog,” said Perez, a Miami native. “When you're an underdog, you’ve got a chip on your shoulder. You're a fighter, you're a champion, and you welcome failure. What I mean by that, failure becomes the mother of your success. I tell people all the time there's no losing, only learning; no failure, only opportunities; no problems, just solutions.”

Pitbull’s success has not been limited to his music. Having grown up in Miami and attended Coral Park High School, he understood the need to improve the path to victory for Miami’s youth. In 2013 he opened the first SLAM Academy in the heart of Little Havana, a tuition-free public charter middle and high school. Sports Leadership and Management now operates nationwide, including Atlanta and Las Vegas. Starting that school was done from the heart, similar to his venture into NASCAR team ownership.

Getting involved in the team, this is deeper than sponsorships, this is a movement,” Perez said “This is a revolution; taking a sport and creating a culture because when we first opened SLAM, we had brought a NASCAR car to SLAM the first day eight years ago. If you would have seen the look on those kids' faces when they saw that car, they just had no clue that it was actually something that was tangible.”

Through his team ownership, involvement with SLAM and his music, Pitbull hopes to create unity in his space. For many years, NASCAR has been known to bring generations of families together, forging memories that last a lifetime. It’s a primary goal of his and something he feels that is well within reach.

“It goes to show you through inspiring, no matter what, we're always going to find a way to bring people together,’ Perez said. “That's what I'm all about. As you can see in these times we're living in right now, the most important thing is to let everybody know out there there's only one most important race, it's the human race. It was these races are about at this point, bringing the sport, creating the culture, letting everybody out there know through the races, through the cars, through our stories, we just want everybody out there to enjoy and we're going to utilize it as a form of uniting everybody out there.”

Only a limited number of premium seating is available for the Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead-Miami, as socially-distanced grandstand availabilities have reached capacity. Premium options to purchase for the NASCAR Cup Series race are in the following areas:

Champions Club - An enclosed, air-conditioned area complete with upscale food and beverage offerings. The most popular premium seating area on property, access comes with reserved outdoor chairback seating. Sits high atop Turn 1 with one of the most breathtaking views in all of NASCAR.

GEICO RV Parking – Fans with RVs have the opportunity to be either inside or outside the 1.5-mile venue. As part of GEICO Grounds Turn 2, reserved spots are complete with water and electrical hookups, while on the outside of the track there are two RV parks, one reserved and the other non-reserved.

For information on how to purchase the above, fans can visit https://www.homesteadmiamispeedway.com/upgrades or call 866-409-RACE (7223).

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AUDIO: @JustinMarksDG joined @ClaireBLang on #DialedIn tonight and talked about the major sponsorship announced today with @CampingWorld. It all started with a 10 PM text message from @marcuslemonis:👇📡@TeamTrackhouse | @Daniel_SuarezG | @pitbull pic.twitter.com/GNGBLeJ370

— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) February 25, 2021

Big Machine Vodka 400

At the Brickyard powered by Florida Georgia Line

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

Qualifying: Sunday, September 8 at 10:35 a.m. ET

• 
  
• Next Race: Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard powered by Florida Georgia Line
• The Place: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
• The Date: Sunday, September 8
• The Time: 2 p.m. ET
• TV: NBC, 1:30 p.m. ET
• Radio: IMS Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
• Distance: 400 miles (160 laps);
• Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 50)
• Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 100)
• Final Stage (Ends on Lap 160)
• 2018 Race Winner: Brad Keselowski

Indianapolis Motor Speedway is considered one of the most prestigious and historic tracks in American racing history. 

Kyle Busch Has Clinched His 2nd Consecutive Regular Season Championship

Last Cup Race to Make the Playoffs: There have been twenty-five (25) race trophies awarded this season – twenty-five (25) opportunities to lock in a Playoff berth – but for the four drivers on the bubble, the last two Playoff positions will depend on their outing in Sunday’s Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard powered by Florida Georgia Line at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on NBC, IMS and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

One race to decide who will secure the final two spots in this year's #NASCARPlayoffs. It's go time! 💪 Our teams are heading to @IMS for the annual #Brickyard400. Who do you think will kiss the bricks on Sunday? 🏆

Join us at the track and find out! https://t.co/Jvh5JXUwV7. 🎟 pic.twitter.com/iyUlDhwfkq

— Stewart-Haas Racing (@StewartHaasRcng) September 3, 2019

Veteran Clint Bowyer in fifteenth (15th) holds an eight-point edge on Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Daniel Suarez and Roush Fenway Racing driver Ryan Newman, who are tied in points. Suarez, however, holds the tiebreaker and is currently slotted into the sixteenth (16th) and final Playoff position entering the race while Newman is on the outside in seventeenth (17th.)

Seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson is ranked eighteenth (18th) – 18 points behind Suarez and Newman and 26 points behind Bowyer.

But there is also the possibility that a driver ranked below this foursome could earn one of those Playoff spots with a victory Sunday – which would leave room for only one of them to advance to the postseason on points.

Of the four still eligible to point their way in – Johnson holds a clear statistical advantage. Only NASCAR Hall of Famer and former Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon has won more Indianapolis races (five) than Johnson’s four. And Newman is the only other driver among this Playoff-hopeful quartet with a victory at Indianapolis – winning the 2013 race from the pole position.

In order of their current ranking, Bowyer has three top-five and four top-10 finishes in 13 Indianapolis starts, including a fifth place last year when he tied Denny Hamlin with a race-best 37 laps led.

Suarez has finishes of seventh and 18th in two starts at Indianapolis but has never led a lap.

Newman has had three top-five and five top-10 finishes in 18 career starts, including a third place in 2017. He’s finished in the top 10 in his last two Indianapolis starts, adding in a 10th-place result last year.

With his four Brickyard trophies, Johnson is not only best among those still vying for a Playoff positions but also best in Sunday’s field. He has six top-five and seven top-10 finishes in 17 starts. He won there four times in a seven-year span between 2006-2012, was runner-up in 2013 and then third in 2016. He was 16th last year.

Last week Bowyer bested the four drivers with a sixth-place finish at Darlington – good enough to move him up from 17th in the standings to a Playoff-eligible 15th. His SHR teammate Suarez was 11th at Darlington, securing him that 16th-place designation while Newman was 23rd Saturday night, putting him 17th in the Playoff standings – one spot out of the postseason.

Johnson finished 16th but earned some important stage points. He was running fourth when he was collected in a multi-car accident on Lap 276 of the 367-lap race.

Of note - Johnson has never missed the Playoffs in the 15 years the postseason has been in place for the Monster Energy Series.

And a historical note that Newman and Johnson will try to overcome…in the most recent two seasons, no driver raced into the Playoffs by virtue of his finish in the regular season finale.

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@NASCARDiversity Selects 2014 Class (#kneast)

NASCAR And Rev Racing Name Six Promising Drivers To Team

Jay Beasely (top left), Devon Amos (top center), Paige Decker (top right),
Sergio Peña (bottom right), Daniel Suarez (bottom left), and
Ryan Gifford (bottom center)  (Getty Images for NASCAR)

NASCAR Drive for Diversity (D4D), the leading youth development program for multicultural and female drivers, will head into the 2014 season with one of the most well-rounded and accomplished rosters in program history.

The 2014 class is led by Daniel Suarez, who contended for two NASCAR touring series championships last year, and Ryan Gifford, who is coming off a successful 2013 that saw him earn his first NASCAR win and make his NASCAR national series debut. They will be joined by a group of talented newcomers looking to make their mark in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series and NASCAR Whelen All-American Series.

“NASCAR is committed to providing training, competition experience and mentoring to drivers who without a doubt demonstrate the potential to compete at the highest levels of our sport through the academy-style program,” said Marcus Jadotte, NASCAR vice president of public affairs and multicultural development. “We look forward to another successful racing season with the Drive for Diversity team.”

In addition to Suarez and Gifford, Sergio Peña returns to the program in which he earned three wins and finished fifth in NASCAR K&N Pro Series East points in 2011. They’ll be joined in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series ranks by Jay Beasley. Beasley won the 2013 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Super Late Model track championship at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the series’ Nevada championship.

Devon Amos, who drove with Rev Racing’s Legends program last year, and Paige Decker will compete for the team in Late Models in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series.

“Our goal is to keep building upon our successes with every new class we select,” said Max Siegel, CEO of Rev Racing. “We are excited with the momentum built in 2013 with several D4D career milestones. This year’s class has a tough job ahead of them and we look forward to providing them with all the tools necessary to reach individual and collective successes across the board.”

D4D saw one the strongest pool of applicants the program has ever seen this year. Nearly 100 drivers, representing 14 states and Mexico, applied for an opportunity to try out for a spot with Rev Racing at the annual D4D Combine – a three-day tryout where drivers’ undergo physical assessments and are evaluated on on-track abilities by executives across the industry.

In 2013, D4D saw the impressive rise of graduates Kyle Larson and Darrell Wallace Jr. Wallace became the first African-American to win a national series victory in nearly 50 years at Martinsville in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. And Larson, whose meteoric rise through the ranks solidified D4D as a driving powerhouse for developmental athletes at NASCAR, earned the Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award in the NASCAR Nationwide Series as well as became the first D4D participant to secure a full-time ride in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. Larson was also the first D4D driver to secure a national series victory.

Rev Racing drivers in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series include:

Daniel Suárez: The Monterrey, Mexico, native is a member of the NASCAR Next program and joins Rev Racing for the second season. The 22-year-old finished third in the 2013 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East championship standings and was the championship runner-up in the NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series in 2013. He recorded his first NASCAR K&N Pro Series East win last July at Columbus (Ohio) Motor Speedway.

Ryan Gifford: Another member of the NASCAR Next program, the 24-year-old from Winchester, Tenn., garnered his first NASCAR K&N Pro Series East win last season at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway. In 2010 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, he became the first African-American driver to win a NASCAR K&N Pro Series East pole position. Additionally, he made his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut last August at Iowa Speedway, finishing ninth driving for Richard Childress Racing.

Jay Beasley: This 21-year-old from Las Vegas won the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Super Late Model track championship at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the series’ Nevada championship on the strength of eight victories in 14 starts. He also earned the 2013 Wendell Scott Trailblazer Award as a result of his early success on the track.

Sergio Peña: With three career NASCAR K&N Pro Series East wins to his credit, the 21-year-old from Winchester, Va., has a pair of top-10 finishes in points for 2011-12 while collecting 19 top 10s in 39 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East career starts.

Drivers competing in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series include:

Paige Decker: From Eagle River, Wis., the 20-year-old driver competed in her Super Late Model at tracks throughout the Midwest.

Devon Amos: Competing mostly in a Legends car in 2013, the 22-year-old from Rio Rancho, N.M., scored a seventh-place finish in his stock car debut last summer at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway.

The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East kicks off its 2014 season at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway on Sunday, Feb. 16. Two days later, on Tuesday, Feb. 18, the UNOH Battle At The Beach will take place on the .37-mile short track situated on the Superstretch at Daytona International Speedway. The NASCAR Whelen All-American Series drivers will compete primarily at Hickory Motor Speedway, where the season is scheduled to get underway on March 8.

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