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93-457: Leavine Family Racing had a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing , with Christopher Bell driving the No. 95 Toyota Camry . The team previously fielded Fords with a technical alliance with Team Penske from 2011 to 2015, and Chevrolets with a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing from 2016 to 2018. On July 23, 2020, it was reported that Bob Leavine solicited bids for the team due to

186-474: A Chevrolet Monte Carlo . The team switched to Toyota beginning in the 2008 season, and in 2015 brought Toyota their first Premier series championship with Kyle Busch 's victory. The team fields four full-time entries in the NASCAR Cup Series : the No. 11 Toyota Camry for Denny Hamlin , the No. 19 Camry for Chase Briscoe , the No. 20 Camry for Christopher Bell , and the No. 54 Camry for Ty Gibbs . In

279-515: A best finish of 2nd at the July Iowa race to teammate Ryan Preece . Regan Smith returned to the Xfinity series in a one-race deal in the No. 18 at Mid-Ohio with sponsorship from Interstate Batteries . Denny Hamlin also drove one race in the No. 18, running a throwback scheme at Darlington with Sport Clips sponsoring, Hamlin won the race. Ryan Preece drove the No. 18 car at Homestead with Safelite as

372-451: A best finish of 7th, while Denny Hamlin finished a strong sixth at the fall race at Darlington . Yeley ran the car full-time in 2005, finishing in the top-ten twelve times and finishing 11th in points. Yeley continued to run full-time in 2006, finishing 5th in the points standings with three poles, nine Top 5s, 22 Top 10s, and 27 Top 15s. Yeley announced in Daytona that he would be driving in

465-437: A caution due to obligations to his sponsorship from Rockwell. Almirola was credited as the winner for starting the race but did not participate in the victory celebration. He would leave JGR after the season. The No. 20 finished 2nd in the owners points behind RCR's No. 29. In 2008, the No. 20 was shared by Hamlin, Kyle Busch , and Stewart for nine races before defending NASCAR Camping World East Series champion Joey Logano

558-547: A fourth-place points finish. Sadler scored his first win for JGR at Talladega in 2014, leading a race high 40 laps. On October 31, 2014, it was announced that Sadler would depart for Roush Fenway Racing 's Nationwide program, taking the OneMain sponsorship with him. The team's points and crew were moved to the No. 18 for the 2015 season, and the number was reassigned in 2016 to Kaulig Racing for Blake Koch . The current 18 car came under JGR control when owner Joe Gibbs purchased

651-539: A full-time ride, leaving McLaughlin without a ride. In his rookie season, The now late Coy Gibbs drove the No. 18 full time in 2003. Gibbs had two Top 10 finishes and finished runner-up to David Stremme for Rookie of the Year. The team scaled back to a part-time schedule for 2004. In November 2003, JGR signed highly touted USAC Champion J. J. Yeley to a multi-year contract, beginning his stock car career with eight ARCA Menards Series events and 10-12 Busch Series races in

744-489: A last lap pass to Kyle Busch . Suárez scored three victories and won the 2016 championship, becoming the first foreign-born driver to win a NASCAR National championship. It was announced that in 2017, Matt Tifft would drive full-time in the No. 19, with rookie crew chief Matt Beckham on the box. Tifft struggled to repeat the success of Suárez failing to win any races and finishing 7th in points. On November 15, 2017, JGR announced that Brandon Jones would replace Tifft in

837-545: A limited schedule, with former sponsor NOS Energy Drink (owned by Monster Beverage ) funding both Busch and Labonte's efforts. Matt Tifft was scheduled to drive 13 races for the team, but was replaced for several races as he recovered from a removal of a tumor in his brain. Sam Hornish Jr. replaced Tifft for the June Xfinity race at Iowa , and won the race. David Ragan ran the July Xfinity race at Daytona , and won

930-413: A non-points event. At the 2012 Finger Lakes 355 at The Glen , Speed finished 17th. In August 2012 Leavine Family Racing announced that it had re-signed Speed for the 2013 Sprint Cup Series season, intending to run 28 events on the 36 race schedule. The team had its best finish at the 2013 Aaron's 499 with a ninth-place finish, however, they started and parked most other events. Speed left the team after

1023-605: A single start at Daytona in July with Interstate Batteries sponsorship. Kenny Wallace made his final career start in the No. 20 car at Iowa Speedway in August, with longtime sponsor U.S. Cellular . Wallace started seventh and finished 15th. Matt Tifft made his Xfinity Series debut at Kentucky in September, finishing 10th. Denny Hamlin drove a total of six races in the 20; two with SunEnergy 1 sponsorship, three with Hisense , and running

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1116-541: A single victory in the No. 18 at Dover. 18-year-old JGR development driver Marc Davis made his one and only national series start for the team in October at Memphis Motorsports Park with DLP HDTV sponsoring. In 2009, Kyle Busch went full time in the Nationwide Series, driving the No. 18 Z-Line Designs / NOS Toyota. Busch won 9 races and won the 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series Title. In 2010, Kyle Busch ran most of

1209-513: A technical alliance with Furniture Row Racing , a single-car team based in Denver , Colorado , which closed after the 2018 season. In June 2023, JGR sold minority stakes to Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE), founded and managed by Josh Harris and David Blitzer , and Arctos Partners. Gibbs became a limited partner of HBSE in the transaction. The No. 11 team began racing in 2011. JGR signed 22-year-old Brian Scott (former driver of

1302-454: A throwback scheme at Darlington in September with Sport Clips sponsoring. Hamlin scored three wins, all of which were from the pole starting position. Matt Kenseth ran five races with Reser's Fine Foods , scoring four-second-place finishes. Erik Jones drove the car full-time in 2016, with Gamestop, Reser's, Hisense, Interstate Batteries and Dewalt as the sponsors. Jones won 4 times but finished 4th in points after getting trapped behind

1395-517: A total of 22 races that year, with five top-five finishes and winning two pole positions. Labonte ran five races that year in that car in 1998, winning the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 . The team switched to No. 18 with sponsorship from MBNA for 1999. Labonte ran only one race before he suffered shoulder injuries in a qualifying crash at Darlington. Late in the year, Jason Leffler , like Stewart an accomplished open wheel racer , ran four races in

1488-625: Is an American professional stock car racing organization founded by Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs . His son, J. D. Gibbs , ran the team with him until his death in 2019. Founded in Huntersville, North Carolina , in 1992, JGR has won five Cup Series championships, four Xfinity Series championships and one ARCA Series championship. For the team's first 16 seasons, Joe Gibbs Racing ran cars from General Motors , winning three championships: two in Pontiac Grand Prixs and one in

1581-505: Is ineligible for series driver points. Two practice sessions were held in preparation for the race; both on Friday, May 3. The first session lasted for 45 minutes, while second session was 60 minutes long. During the first practice session, Edwards, for the Roush Fenway Racing team, was quickest ahead of Truex Jr. in second and Marcos Ambrose in third. Joey Logano was scored fourth, and Ryan Newman managed fifth. Matt Kenseth

1674-593: The Southern 500 , Kahne announced that he would sit out the Brickyard 400 , which became the first race he missed since he began his full-time Cup Series career. Regan Smith took the wheel of the No. 95 car in Kahne's absence. On October 9, Kahne announced that he will miss the rest of the season due to lingering medical conditions. On October 10, 2018, Matt DiBenedetto signed a two-year contract with Leavine Family Racing to drive

1767-511: The Sprint Showdown and Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway , the team announced that Fenton's share in the team had been acquired by Leavine and his wife, Sharon; the team was renamed as Leavine Family Racing. Fenton had not attempted any Truck Series events before leaving the team. After failing to qualify at Kentucky Speedway , the team next raced at Bristol Motor Speedway in August, scoring its best finish and Starr's career-best in

1860-625: The Xfinity Series , the team fields three full-time entries: the No. 18 Toyota GR Supra for William Sawalich , the No. 19 Supra for Brandon Jones , and the No. 54 Supra for Taylor Gray . The team has a driver development program that groomed future Cup winners Joey Logano and Aric Almirola and won one championship in the Camping World East Series (now known as the ARCA Menards East Series) with Logano. The team won

1953-505: The 20, Logano grabbed his first superspeedway win at the July Daytona race with help from Kyle Busch . The No. 20 was also driven by Denny Hamlin at Las Vegas, Richmond, and Darlington, with Hamlin winning at Richmond. Drew Herring drove the No. 20 with Sport Clips at both Iowa races, where Herring won the pole for the May race, and Lucas Oil Raceway. Ryan Truex stepped into the No. 20 late in

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2046-569: The 2004 season. The Home Depot 's Vigoro Lawn and Garden Products would sponsor Yeley's efforts, making their BGN debut at Las Vegas in March. In his first race, Yeley qualified a strong seventh, but finished 23rd and two laps down. Yeley would end up running 17 races, garnering four Top 10 finishes and finishing fourth in Rookie of the Year standings behind future Cup drivers Kyle Busch , Clint Bowyer , and Paul Menard . Bobby Labonte ran two races with

2139-609: The 2012 season, Leavine Family Racing added an ARCA Racing Series team to its racing efforts, with Michael Leavine , grandson of the team's owners, racing as a development driver . A six-race schedule was planned for Leavine in the series for 2012; In his first two races of the 2012 season, Leavine crashed in both, with a best finish of 26th at Pocono Raceway ; he withdrew following practice at his third attempted race at Michigan International Speedway . Joe Gibbs Racing Xfinity Series : 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race ( Phoenix ) Joe Gibbs Racing ( JGR )

2232-466: The 2013 season, 2003 Busch Series Champion Brian Vickers joined the team driving the No. 20 for the full season with sponsorship from Dollar General , in addition to a partial Sprint Cup Series schedule in Michael Waltrip Racing 's 55 car. Dollar General had sponsored Vickers in the past with Braun Racing , and like teammate Elliott Sadler , Vickers was attempting to reclaim his career in

2325-456: The 2014 Sprint Cup season. The sponsorship meant the team would be able to run full races, and enabled it to ally with Team Penske . At the 2014 Coke Zero 400 , McDowell and Leavine Family Racing finished their career-best with a 7th-place finish in the rain-shortened event. The team's performance was much improved with the Penske alliance, and additional sponsorship allowed the team to run seven of

2418-527: The 2015 season, the team added the No. 19 car driven by Carl Edwards , who followed former Roush Racing teammate Matt Kenseth to JGR. After winning three Cup championships and more than 70 NASCAR races in Chevrolet and Pontiac equipment, team officials announced in September 2007 that they would switch to Toyota (who had just entered the Cup series that year) after their contract with General Motors ended at

2511-491: The 2021 ARCA Menards Series championship with Ty Gibbs . The organization teamed up with former NFL player Reggie White in 2004 to create a diversity program, fielding drivers such as Almirola, Marc Davis , and Bubba Wallace , and forming the basis for NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program. JGR formed a technical alliance with 23XI Racing in 2021 and sold minority stakes to Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE) and Arctos Partners in 2023. Gibbs founded

2604-587: The Atlanta race, citing his frustration with the team's starting and parking and hinting that the plan had been to run more full races. He was replaced on an interim basis by Blake Koch, Scott Riggs, and Reed Sorenson . In October 2013, Leavine Family Racing announced that Michael McDowell would drive the team's No. 95 Ford Fusion Cup Series entry in 2014 . They ran 20 of the 36 races. On January 28, 2014, Leavine announced that KLOVE , Thrivent Financial , and several other sponsors would sponsor all 20 scheduled races in

2697-555: The No. 1 Miccosukee Gaming and Resorts-sponsored Chevrolet for Phoenix Racing in the 2007 NASCAR Busch Series . In January 2007, former Brewco Motorsports development driver and ARCA standout Brad Coleman signed to drive the No. 18 car for 17 of the 35 races, with Carino's Italian Grill sponsoring his efforts. Kevin Conway was signed for eight races beginning at Bristol in March with Z-Line Designs sponsoring, while Tony Stewart and development driver Aric Almirola filled out

2790-581: The No. 11 car for the full season. Despite showing speed, the team continued to struggle finishing races (7 DNF's), and had a best finish of 3rd at Dover, with Scott finishing 9th in points. In 2013, Scott was replaced by veteran Elliott Sadler , who finished second in the championship standings in the two prior seasons. Sadler brought sponsorship from OneMain Financial with him from Richard Childress Racing . After winning four races in 2012, Sadler went winless in 2013, though he did score 20 top 10s en route to

2883-461: The No. 11 with Braun Racing ) to a two-year contract, with Kevin Kidd announced as the crew chief, and Scott bringing sponsorship from his family-owned Shore Lodge. The new team was constantly hampered by bad luck during races, with 5 DNF's on the season. Scott earned a pole, two top 5s and seven top 10s, finishing 8th in points. For 2012, Dollar General expanded its sponsorship deal with JGR, sponsoring

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2976-535: The No. 18 and finished seventh in points that year. Coy Gibbs ran five races in the No. 20 in 2002, with a sponsorship from ConAgra Foods . His best finish was a 14th at Kentucky Speedway . After he moved to the 18, Gibbs was replaced by Mike Bliss and Rockwell Automation came aboard as a sponsor. Bliss had fourteen Top 10s and finished 10th in points. In 2004, he pulled off a win at Lowe's Motor Speedway and had three poles. In 2005, Denny Hamlin came aboard and posted eleven Top 10s and finished fifth points,

3069-439: The No. 18 full-time in 2015 with a sponsorship from Arris, running for Rookie of the Year. Suárez had a strong rookie season, earning eight top fives, 18 top tens, and three poles to finish fifth in points and beat out Darrell Wallace Jr. for Rookie of the Year. The team inherited the No. 54's points and equipment in 2016, fielding multiple drivers, starting with former JGR driver Bobby Labonte at Daytona. Kyle Busch drove

3162-476: The No. 18. Daniel Suárez drove 12 races beginning at Daytona in February with sponsorship from Juniper . Kyle Busch drove 10 races with sponsor NOS Energy Drink beginning at Atlanta in March, winning 5 races at Atlanta, Kentucky, Loudon, Watkins Glen, and Bristol. Kyle Busch Motorsports driver Christopher Bell made his Xfinity Series debut with the No. 18 team at Charlotte, finishing 4th. Bell would also drive

3255-402: The No. 18. Bires ran at Richmond and Chicago with International Comfort Products Corporation , Herring drove at the second Nashville race with Sport Clips, and Logano drove the No. 18 at Chicago, Dover, Kansas, and Phoenix. For 2012, the No. 18 would have a similar lineup, featuring Hamlin, Logano, Herring, McDowell, and Ryan Truex . Logano would take seven victories with the No. 18 team, handing

3348-445: The No. 18. The team would go winless in 2022. On December 6, 2022, Joe Gibbs Racing announced that Sammy Smith would drive the No. 18 full-time in 2023 with sponsorship from Pilot Flying J . During the season, Smith scored his first win at Phoenix ; at age 18, he became the youngest Xfinity Series winner. On December 13, 2023, it was announced that Sheldon Creed will run the No. 18 full-time for 2024 . On October 21, 2024, it

3441-527: The No. 19 in 2018. Tifft would move to Richard Childress Racing in a driver swap. Chris Gabehart was announced as his crew chief, moving from the No. 20 Xfinity team and replacing Matt Beckham. From 2018 to 2022, Jones score five wins and made the top-10 in the playoffs. On September 14, 2022, Jones announced he would leave JGR at the end of the 2022 season and move to the JR Motorsports No. 9 in 2023. On December 8, 2022, Joe Gibbs Racing announced that

3534-449: The No. 19 would run full time with a number of drivers, including Ryan Truex and Joe Graf Jr. . Truex scored his first career win at Dover . Ty Gibbs took the No. 19 to victory lane at Indianapolis . Denny Hamlin won his sole Xfinity race of 2023 at Darlington . For the 2024 season , the No. 19 was shared between Ryan Truex, Aric Almirola , Ty Gibbs , Taylor Gray , Joe Graf Jr. , and William Sawalich . After JGR purchased

3627-458: The No. 20 at Chicagoland in September with Sport Clips, finishing 32nd after a blown engine. Development driver Justin Boston , running the full ARCA schedule, made his debut in the No. 20 at Kentucky later in the month, with sponsor Zloop E-Recycling. Kenseth scored a win in the final race of the season at Homestead Miami Speedway , and the No. 20 would finish 9th in owners points. Erik Jones

3720-402: The No. 20 car, with Hamlin winning at Darlington and Logano winning at Kentucky and Kansas. For 2011, Logano returned to the No. 20 with sponsorships from GameStop and Sport Clips. Logano ran the first 10 races but picked up last-minute sponsorship from Harvest Investments to run Nashville. Due to a lack of sponsorship, the No. 20 was unable to run a full schedule for the owner's championship. In

3813-499: The No. 20 in a total of 18 races, with GameStop sponsoring 10 races and Reser's Fine Foods sponsoring 7 races. Sam Hornish Jr. and Kenseth each ran 1 race and Kenny Habul 2 races with Habul's Sun Energy 1 sponsoring. Darrell Wallace Jr. ran at Talladega in the spring with Toyota Care and Daytona in July with Coca-Cola "Share a Coke" . Daniel Suárez made his debut at RIR , finishing 19th. Michael McDowell ran at both Iowa races with Pizza Ranch. Denny Hamlin returned to

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3906-493: The No. 44 Shell Oil -sponsored Pontiac from his Cup Series driver Bobby Labonte , who had been operating the team under his control. The team made its debut under the Gibbs banner at the 1998 NAPA Auto Parts 300 with then- IndyCar driver Tony Stewart driving. Stewart, he qualified 9th but finished 31st after a crash. At the next week at Rockingham Speedway , Stewart qualified on the pole, led 60 laps, and finished 2nd. Stewart ran

3999-486: The No. 95 finished 20th in the points standings. In October 2013, Leavine Family Racing announced that they would be adding a Nationwide Series team to the team's operations, with the No. 95 Ford Mustang being driven by Reed Sorenson in selected races late in the 2013 season , with a full-time driver for the 2014 season to be announced. However, the team has since withdrawn from the Nationwide series after 2013. For

4092-410: The No. 95 for the 2016 Daytona 500 . Michael McDowell would attempt the race in a second entry, the No. 59 Thrivent Financial / K-Love Chevy. McDowell qualified the 500 by finishing 14th in his Can-Am Duel race. McDowell had a commendable finish in the car during the Daytona 500, finishing 15th. This was the only start in 2016 for the No. 59 other than the season finale at Homestead. Before the weekend,

4185-522: The No. 95 starting in 2019. Also, Leavine Family Racing will switch from Chevrolet to Toyota while entering a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing . At the 2019 Daytona 500 , DiBenedetto led an impressive 49 laps before Paul Menard spun him from behind, triggering " The Big One " that claimed 21 cars and resulting in DiBenedetto finishing 28th. DiBenedetto scored a career-high fourth-place finish at Sonoma . DiBenedetto then scored four more top 10s in

4278-435: The car at Mid-Ohio. For 2020, Riley Herbst will be driving this car full-time. Dave Rogers will serve as crew chief. He qualified for the playoffs but was eliminated following the first round and ultimately finished 12th in the standings. On November 12, 2020, it was confirmed that Daniel Hemric would replace Riley Herbst for the 2021 season. On September 25, 2021, it was confirmed that Hemric would not be returning to

4371-474: The car at Road America, Kansas, Texas, and Phoenix. Bell won the race at Kansas after catching and passing teammate Erik Jones for his first career Xfinity Series win in his 5th start. Bell had sponsorship from SiriusXM at Charlotte, Toyotacare at Road America, JBL at Kansas, and Safelite at Texas and Phoenix. ARCA driver Kyle Benjamin drove the No. 18 with sponsorship from Reser's Fine Foods and Sport Clips at both Iowa races and Kentucky in September with

4464-480: The car in seven races in 2006. Tony Stewart also drove the car at select races in 2006, using his NEXTEL Cup crew when he raced. The No. 19 team was disbanded after the 2006 season. The No. 19 car was returned for 2016 with Daniel Suárez and sponsor Arris moving from the No. 18 team, maintaining the same sponsor-number combination used by Carl Edwards in the Cup Series. Suárez got his first win at Michigan after

4557-403: The car that Hamlin would later drive. Hamlin took the car to victory lane in four races, including Darlington , Milwaukee , Michigan , and Dover . The win at Milwaukee was controversial, with Almirola putting the car on the pole and starting the race because Hamlin was delayed flying from Sonoma Raceway . Almirola started the car and led the first 43 laps but was still relieved by Hamlin during

4650-718: The car that year, his best finish being a 20th at Memphis Motorsports Park . Leffler ran the car full-time in 2000, winning a pole at Texas Motor Speedway , and posting three top-ten finishes. After that season, he left for the Cup Series with Chip Ganassi Racing , and Jeff Purvis took his place. Purvis started strong and was seventh in points but was released after the GNC Live Well 250 because of sponsorship issues. Mike McLaughlin replaced him, finishing seventh in points that season. McLaughlin returned for 2002, and despite going winless in 2002, he moved up to fourth place in points. However, owner Joe Gibbs wanted his son Coy in

4743-403: The caution, Kenseth and Johnson had been shuffled back by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and his teammate Carl Edwards . Edwards made a move for the lead and beat Stenhouse by one-half-an-inch for the lead when the third yellow came out. As the rain quickly intensified over the speedway, the red flag flew for 3 hours and 36 minutes as the track was dried. The initial shower was brief, but just as the track

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4836-401: The crash, Kyle Busch stated, "I was trying to go to the outside of him, but he just moved up in front of me and I wasn't expecting it. I tried to go to the outside of him and before I could get to the outside of him, I got in the back of him." Matt Kenseth continued to lead most of this stretch, with Jimmie Johnson close behind in second. On lap 124, the third caution flew for rain. Just before

4929-652: The end of the season. Joe Gibbs said Toyota offered the team resources and options they "were not going to be able to afford to do" if they remained at GM. It was also reported that JGR executives felt they were treated by GM as less important than other GM teams such as Hendrick Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing . In 2012, JGR shuttered its in-house Sprint Cup Series engine program, merging with California-based Toyota Racing Development which provides engines to JGR and 23XI Racing . The team builds engines for its own Xfinity Series operations and ARCA Menards Series operations of Venturini Motorsports .The team had

5022-493: The final eight events and 22 in total. The team finished 43rd in owners' points. McDowell returned in 2015, as did K-LOVE and Thrivent. The team once again planned to run at least 20 races and maintained its Penske alliance. McDowell was able to make the Daytona 500 , a race he had failed to qualify for in 2014. The team posted four DNQs in 2015, three of which were due to rainouts and an increase in full-time entries. In early summer,

5115-528: The financial fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic . On August 4, Leavine confirmed that his team had been sold and would cease operations at the end of the 2020 season, with its fleet of Toyota cars to be returned to Joe Gibbs Racing. One week later, the team's assets were purchased by Spire Motorsports . In 2016, Circle Sport - Leavine Family Racing, as part of the Circle Sport merger, agreed to have Ty Dillon drive

5208-486: The first ten positions. The only driver who failed to qualify for the race was Elliott Sadler. The green flag flew at 12:10 PM CDT (1:10 PM EST). Martin Truex Jr. led the first five laps, but Matt Kenseth took the lead on lap 6 to begin his domination of the race. The first caution flew for fluid on the track on lap 23 after Trevor Bayne had blown an engine. During pit stops, Denny Hamlin climbed out of his car to surrender

5301-704: The former for six events and Fenton driving in the latter for three. Based in Tyler, Texas but with its race shop in Concord, North Carolina, Lightning McQueen from the Cars movies was the inspiration for the team to use no. 95. the team made its debut in the Cup Series at Texas Motor Speedway in April of that year; Starr qualified for the race, his first in Sprint Cup competition, and finished 38th following an accident. Following competing in

5394-497: The initial entry list, though it was reduced to 44 after Mike Bliss withdrew. All but four teams had entered the first nine races of the season; Elliott Sadler was attempting his second race of the season, Trevor Bayne was attempting his third, while Scott Speed (six) and Michael McDowell (eight) were also part-timers attempting the race. Sadler had to qualify for the race on speed due to being too low in owners points. (R) - Denotes rookie driver. (i) - Denotes driver who

5487-399: The lead during the final lap. Talladega Superspeedway is a four turn tri-oval track that is 2.66 miles (4.28 km) long. The track's turns are banked at 33 degrees , while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is 18 degrees. The back stretch, opposite of the front, is at only two degrees. The racetrack has a seating capacity for 109,000 spectators. Brad Keselowski

5580-415: The majority of the events, and ran the Daytona 500 in a second entry, the No. 59. On September 19, 2017, Leavine Family Racing announced former Hendrick Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne would be replacing McDowell in the No. 95 for the 2018 season. On August 16, 2018, Kahne announced that he will step away from full time competition at the end of the year. On September 6, 2018, after heat exhaustion from

5673-430: The outside wall and J. J. Yeley . Yeley got loose, shot across the track, turned across the front of Marcos Ambrose and into the right-rear of Kurt Busch, collecting another ten cars, including Ryan Newman, Danica Patrick , Terry Labonte , Clint Bowyer, McMurray, Bobby Labonte, Waltrip, David Stremme, Truex, and Gordon. Busch took the worst hit as his car turned sideways, flipped over once and landed on top of Newman, then

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5766-401: The pole, and was in contention for the win, but crashed on the final lap of the race. Road course specialist Owen Kelly ran the road course races at Mid-Ohio and Road America , and Dakoda Armstrong ran the July Xfinity race at Iowa . The No. 18 car won 12 races in 2016, ten with Busch, one at Charlotte with Hamlin, and one with Hornish at Iowa. For 2017, multiple drivers again raced in

5859-505: The race, his second career Sprint Cup win. Teammate David Gilliland finished second, while Carl Edwards , Michael Waltrip , and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the Top 5. The race weekend was marred by rain, with qualifying being rained out. During the race, the event was stopped for three hours due to the weather at the track. Edwards, Johnson and Matt Kenseth battled for the win, but on the green–white–checker finish , Ragan and Gilliland claimed

5952-544: The races that were paired with Sprint Cup Series races, while Brad Coleman returned to run the stand-alone races. For 2011, Busch drove the No. 18 for a majority of the season, splitting the ride with Michael McDowell , who ran both Iowa races, Lucas Oil Raceway , and the road courses Road America and Circuit Gilles Villeneuve with sponsorship from Pizza Ranch . McDowell won the pole at Road America and dominated until late-race contact with another car. Drivers Kelly Bires , Drew Herring, and Joey Logano also took turns in

6045-619: The rest of his day to Brian Vickers. Under NASCAR rules, Hamlin started the race and was credited with any results earned. The second caution flew on lap 43 for the Big One : which occurred when Kyle Busch touched Kasey Kahne entering turn 1, and collected an additional twelve cars, including Truex, Vickers, Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, Jamie McMurray, Greg Biffle, Marcos Ambrose , Jeff Burton , David Stremme, Kurt Busch , David Reutimann , Casey Mears , Scott Speed, Clint Bowyer, and Jeff Gordon. After

6138-404: The schedule with Goody's Headache Powder and ConAgra Foods sponsorships. Almirola put the car on the pole at the season opener at Daytona, and had a best finish of 4th at Charlotte . Coleman earned his first career Busch Series pole at Talladega, and had three Top 5s and five Top 10s. Without sponsorship for a full-time ride with JGR, Coleman returned to the renamed Baker Curb Racing following

6231-399: The season and signed a development contract with Hall of Fame Racing . For 2008, the No. 18 was piloted by the team of Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch with sponsorship coming from Southern Farm Bureau, Interstate Batteries , and Z-Line Designs. Despite running a partial schedule, Busch won ten races in 2008, including eight in the No. 18, and would finish sixth in points while Hamlin scored

6324-415: The season for six races, finishing second to Logano at Dover after dominating the race. The No. 20 team returned in 2012 to run most of the season. Its primary driver lineup consisted of Logano, Hamlin, Truex, and JGR development driver Darrell Wallace Jr. Michael Waltrip Racing driver Clint Bowyer also drove the No. 20 at Daytona when Hamlin was sidelined from the race by back problems. Starting in

6417-422: The second-tier series. After 30 starts, Vickers was sidelined with a second incidence of blood clots, replaced by Denny Hamlin and Drew Herring in the final three races of the season. Though he went winless, Vickers scored 13 top 5s and 18 top 10s to finish 10th in points. He would leave for a full-time ride at MWR at the end of the year. The No. 20 team continued to run full-time in 2014. Matt Kenseth drove

6510-403: The series, 27th; Leavine Family Racing and Starr would fail to qualify for events at Chicagoland Speedway , Kansas Speedway and in the fall at Texas Motor Speedway over the remainder of the year, only making one further race, at Atlanta Motor Speedway where they posted a 29th-place finish. Starr left Leavine Family Racing following the 2011 season; for 2012, Leavine hired Scott Speed to drive

6603-515: The slow car of Cole Whitt on the last restart of the final race at Homestead. 2013 Aaron%27s 499 The 2013 Aaron's 499 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race that was held on May 5, 2013, at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama , United States . Contested over 192 laps on the 2.66–mile (4.28 km) tri-oval, it was the tenth race of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. David Ragan of Front Row Motorsports won

6696-675: The sponsor and finished 5th in preparation for an expanded ten–race schedule with the team in 2018. Preece shared the car with JGR's cup series drivers Busch, Suárez, Hamlin, and Jones in 2018. Preece would go on to win at Bristol. In 2019, Busch returned for seven races with Hamlin running the Darlington race. Jeffrey Earnhardt was signed to nine races while the rest of the schedule was filled out by development drivers Harrison Burton and Riley Herbst . On August 7, 2019, Earnhardt announced that he parted ways with sponsor and XCI affiliate iK9, as well as Joe Gibbs Racing. Jack Hawksworth would drive

6789-606: The summer months including an eighth at Daytona , a fifth at Loudon , a sixth at Watkins Glen , and a career-high second for both DiBenedetto and Leavine Family Racing at the Bristol Night Race . On September 24, 2019, Leavine Family Racing officially announced Christopher Bell as the new driver of the No. 95 for the 2020 season . Prior to the Las Vegas race , the team was docked 10 driver and owner points for an L1 level penalty during pre-race inspection. In LFR's final season,

6882-594: The team acquired a charter from the No. 7 team of Tommy Baldwin Racing , which guaranteed the No. 59 a spot in the race. The car finished 10th in the race, after avoiding a big crash that took out the teammate's No. 95 car with just a few laps left in the race. Founded as Leavine Fenton Racing by Bob Leavine and Lance Fenton in early 2011, the team planned to compete on a limited basis in the Sprint Cup Series and Camping World Truck Series , with David Starr competing in

6975-623: The team after the 2021 season, moving to Kaulig Racing 's No. 11 in 2022 as the replacement for Justin Haley 's Xfinity seat. Despite being winless during the regular season, Hemric used his consistency to advance to the Championship 4 at Phoenix where he finally won his first career Xfinity race as well as the Championship. In 2022, JGR downsized to three teams including the No. 18, No. 19, and No. 54. Drivers such as Drew Dollar , Trevor Bayne , Ryan Truex , John Hunter Nemechek , and Sammy Smith drove

7068-500: The team from Gary Bechtel in 2000, the team received sponsorship from Porter-Cable . Despite missing three races, driver Jeff Purvis had eleven Top 10s and one pole, finishing 11th in points. The team switched to No. 20 for 2001, and Mike McLaughlin was named the driver. Without a major sponsor, McLaughlin was able to win the Subway 300 and was sixth in points when Gibbs decided to shut down his team due to sponsorship problems. He moved to

7161-485: The team in 1991 after exploring opportunities with Don Meredith , who currently serves as the team's Executive Vice President. In 1997, Gibbs' son J. D. Gibbs was named team president. In 1998, the team began building its facility in Huntersville, North Carolina . The team expanded to a two-car operation in 1999 with Tony Stewart 's No. 20 Home Depot -sponsored car, then in 2005 added the No. 11 FedEx -sponsored car driven by Denny Hamlin and owned by Coy Gibbs. For

7254-642: The team made the news in unfortunate fashion after part of their shop burned down. This forced them to take refuge on the Team Penske campus, inside their former sports car shop, until their facility was repaired enough for them to return. The team ultimately slipped slightly to 44th in owner points but did finish ahead of the No. 62 , a team that attempted all 36 races. In January 2016, longtime NASCAR team owner Joe Falk became an investor in Leavine Family Racing and

7347-445: The team switched to Chevrolet. Falk brought a charter granted to him, to the No. 95 team, guaranteeing the 95 its first full season of racing. The team formed an alliance with Richard Childress Racing . The No. 95 attempted all 36 races, with McDowell returning to run in at least 26 events with sponsorship from K-Love and Thrivent, and Ty Dillon driving in at max 10 races, with sponsorship from General Mills and AstraZeneca. McDowell ran

7440-474: The team the Nationwide Owners' Championship. For 2013, the No. 18 and 20 teams swapped. Matt Kenseth drove the No. 18 for 16 races with sponsorship from Reser's Fine Foods and GameStop . He won the July race at Daytona and the October race at Kansas. The No. 18 car did not run in 2014. On August 19, 2014, JGR announced that Toyota Series and K&N Pro Series East driver Daniel Suárez would drive

7533-514: The team's No. 95 Fords in the Sprint Cup Series, with Wally Rogers as crew chief ; a 15-race schedule in NASCAR's premier series was planned for the season. The team qualified for races with Speed at Richmond International Raceway and Charlotte Motor Speedway with Speed, starting and parking , before finishing 25th at Sonoma Raceway . The team also posted a 14th-place finish in the Sprint Showdown,

7626-414: The third-place finisher in rookie points. He ran the full schedule in the No. 20 in 2006, winning two races and finishing fourth in points. Hamlin and developmental driver Aric Almirola split duties in the No. 20 in 2007 with sponsorship from Rockwell Automation , with Tony Stewart also piloting the No. 20 at Atlanta . With Hamlin running several non-companion races, Almirola would occasionally qualify

7719-535: The three green-white-checker rule for the race and announced a decision to only have one attempt to finish under green, which it had also done the night before in the Nationwide race. On the restart, Kenseth, Johnson, and Edwards battled for the lead and their struggle allowed Front Row Motorsports drivers David Ragan and David Gilliland to slip by on the final lap. Ragan cleared the leaders in turn 3 and held off both Johnson, Gilliland, Edwards, and Michael Waltrip to take his second career win, his first since winning

7812-436: The top ten. Qualifying was affected by wet weather soaking the track, therefore canceling the session and making first practice times determine the qualifying grid. Edwards, after finishing the first practice in first, was rewarded the pole position . He was joined on the front row of the grid by Truex Jr. Ambrose was third, Logano took fourth, and Newman started fifth. Kenseth, Hamlin, Johnson, Gordon and Kahne rounded out

7905-408: Was almost dried, a heavier thunderstorm soaked the speedway. Hours later after the track was dried, the restart began and Kenseth regained the lead. The race ran green through a round of green-flag pit stops. Johnson took the lead after pit stops, hoping to become the first driver since himself in 2006 to win the Daytona 500 and the spring Talladega race in the same year. Kenseth, who had the best car,

7998-553: Was announced that 2 time ARCA Menards Series East champion William Sawalich will run full-time for the 2025 season. The No. 19 team was to make its debut at the 2004 Michigan race driven by Bobby Labonte and sponsored by Banquet Foods , however, qualifying was rained out and the team with no owner's points missed the race. The team finally made its first start in 2005 CarQuest Auto Parts 300 . Labonte ran seven races that year, with three top-tens. With Labonte moving to Petty Enterprises , JGR development driver Aric Almirola ran

8091-409: Was in the mix as well, along with Edwards, Kurt Busch, Michael Waltrip , and Bowyer in a six-car breakaway. The fourth caution then came out on lap 175 when Michael McDowell hit the wall in turn 2. With 10 laps left in the race, darkness was creeping in. On lap 182, the fifth caution of the race came out for a large crash on the backstretch. It started when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. tried to squeeze between

8184-461: Was named the driver of the No. 20 for the rest of the season's races except for Loudon (which Stewart won in the No. 20), Daytona (which Hamlin won in the No. 20), and Chicago (which Busch won in the No. 18). All four drivers of the No. 20 won races driving it in 2008. For 2009, 20-year-old Brad Coleman returned to JGR for a part-time schedule, sharing the ride with Logano and Hamlin. In 2010, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, and Matt DiBenedetto shared

8277-466: Was one point ahead of Kevin Harvick and Paul Menard in ninth and tenth, and fourteen ahead of Aric Almirola in eleventh. Jamie McMurray completed the first twelve positions with 245 points. In the Manufacturers' Championship , Chevrolet was leading with 64 points, five points ahead of Toyota . Ford was third after recording only 43 points during the first nine races. There were 45 cars on

8370-473: Was scheduled to run a limited schedule in the No. 20 car in 2015, with Kenny Habul and SunEnergy1 also returning for the three road courses. Jones, whose schedule was expanded due to Kyle Busch 's injury, scored his first Xfinity win in his 9th career start at Texas in April, leading a race-high 79 laps. Ross Kenseth , son of Sprint Cup Series champion Matt Kenseth , made his Xfinity Series debut at Chicagoland Speedway on June 20. David Ragan made

8463-445: Was sixth, while Denny Hamlin and his relief driver Brian Vickers were scored seventh. Johnson. Jeff Gordon , and Kahne rounded out the top ten quickest drivers in the session. Keselowski was quickest in the second and final practice session, ahead of David Stremme in second and Kahne in third. Almirola was fourth quickest, and Travis Kvapil took fifth. Tony Stewart , Gordon, McMurray, Bobby Labonte , and Edwards followed in

8556-458: Was struck by Bobby Labonte and Bowyer after landing back on the ground. It marked the first time the Gen-6 car had rolled over. When interviewed Newman angrily said to reporters that NASCAR should not have ordered them to race in the dark conditions by saying that if they could not finish the race in daylight, they should call it official. With two laps to go and with darkness imminent, NASCAR cancelled

8649-514: Was the defending race winner after winning the event during the 2012 race . Before the race, Jimmie Johnson was leading the Drivers' Championship with 343 points, while Carl Edwards stood in second with 300 points. Kasey Kahne and Dale Earnhardt Jr. followed in the third and fourth position with 297 points each, seven ahead of Clint Bowyer in fifth. Keselowski, with 284, was in sixth; six points ahead of Kyle Busch . Eighth-placed Greg Biffle

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