Information By: HEATHER GRIFFIN / RICK WARE RACING – MOORESVILLE, NC
JUSTIN HALEY | CODY WARE
Daytona Advance
Event Overview
● Event: Coke Zero Sugar 400 (Round 25 of 36)
● Time/Date: 7:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, August 24
● Location: Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway
● Layout: 2.5-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 160 laps/400 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 35 laps / Stage 2: 60 laps / Final Stage: 65 laps
● TV/Radio: NBC / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Justin Haley, Driver of the No. 51 Beef-a-Roo Ford Mustang Dark Horse
● Five years after earning his career first NASCAR Cup Series victory in the 2019 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speeway, Justin Haley is set to make his fifth start in the annual summer race at the World Center of Racing. Haley led just one lap, the final one, en route to his win in the weather-shortened 2019 race. When he made his next start the following summer at Daytona, Haley earned a sixth-place result.
● Haley owns four superspeedway wins in the NASCAR Xfinity Series – Daytona in August 2020 and 2021, and Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in April and October 2020. In 10 Xfinity Series starts at Daytona, he posted top-20 finishes all but twice.
● Haley and the No. 51 team are fresh off their 10th top-20 finish of the season, earned last weekend at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn. It was his fourth top-20 in his last six starts.
● Beef-a-Roo joins the No. 51 team for Saturday night’s race at Daytona. Beef-a-Roo is a beloved fast-casual restaurant brand that has garnered a loyal fanbase for its commitment to quality food and community engagement. This partnership, facilitated by agency AMG Sport, marks a key step in Beef-a-Roo’s strategy to align with dynamic brands that resonate with racing fans and support local communities through motorsport.
Cody Ware, Driver of the No. 15 Jacob Construction / Parts Plus Ford Mustang Dark Horse
● Cody Ware, driver of the No. 15 Jacob Construction / Part Plus Ford Mustang Dark Horse, will make his seventh start at Dayona in Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400. His best finish at the track was a sixth-place result earned in the August 2022 edition of the race. It was his best career Cup Series result.
● Ware recorded a 21st-place finish last weekend at Michigan. It was his career best at the 2-mile oval and, with Haley’s 20th-place finish, RWR came away with its best overall result at the track.
● Michigan marked the 12th time this year the team bested its previous combined finish at a particular track. Six of those instances occurrred over the last seven races, including the July 21 race at Indianapols Motor Speedway, where Ware finished 18th and Haley 20th.
Rick Ware Racing Notes
● Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series Top Fuel driver Clay Millican pulled an upset in the first round of eliminations last weekend at Brainerd (Minn.) International Raceway. The Parts Plus racer was the 12th-seeded qualifier heading into Sunday and knocked off No. 3 qualifier Brittany Force. Millican fell to Josh Hart in the second round but still sits sixth in the point standings with one event remaining in the regular season.
● Rick Ware has been a motorsports mainstay for more than 40 years. It began at age six when the third-generation racer began his driving career and has since spanned four wheels and two wheels on both asphalt and dirt. Competing in the SCCA Trans Am Series and other road-racing divisions led Ware to NASCAR in the early 1980s, where he finished third in his NASCAR debut – the 1983 Warner W. Hodgdon 300 NASCAR Grand American race at Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway. More than a decade later, injuries would force Ware out of the driver seat and into fulltime team ownership. In 1995, Rick Ware Racing was formed, and with wife Lisa by his side, Ware has since built his eponymous organization into an entity that fields two fulltime entries in the NASCAR Cup Series while simultaneously campaigning successful teams in the Top Fuel class of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, Progressive American Flat Track and FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX), where RWR won the 2022 SX2 championship with rider Shane McElrath.
Justin Haley, Driver Q&A
Do you feel good about your chances of pulling off another Daytona victory?
“It’s always in the back of your mind. I feel like we have really fast cars, we’ve just got to put ourselves in position. Speedway racing now is all about fuel saving, fuel economy and having good people around you. I feel like the Fords have some of the best fuel economy. So if we can save a little fuel and pit with the right people, hopefully we’ll come out on top.”
Though it would be considered an upset for an RWR car to make it to victory lane, the team has shown a lot of improvement this year. What do you attribute that to?
“We’re a small team, but we have some really great employees. Chris Lawson has done a great job in his first year as Cup crew chief. Tommy Baldwin and Robby Benton have put together a team that works hard and is all in on getting to the next level. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished this year and thankful that we’ve been able to showcase all of our talents. It’s been a lot of fun and I’d love to be in that position again, to pull an upset over the bigger teams at Daytona. It all comes down to being there at the right moment and having the right strategy. There’s no reason we can’t do that.”
Cody Ware, Driver Q&A
Your best finishes in the Cup Series have come on the superspeedways. Is that where you feel you have the best opportunity to make something happen?
“The superspeedway races are always wild cards, but I feel like I do a good job of anticipating what’s coming and staying out of trouble. I do everything within my power to be there for the last 10 laps, and that’s typically when things start to get a crazy and we can make moves. It’s more of a challenge to get to that point at Daytona with more dramatic changes in banking and a tighter racing surface, but there’s a technique to superspeedway racing, and Ford has some of the best drivers when it comes to these tracks.”
You made your first start this year at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in April. How do you view the No. 15 team’s progress over the last four months?
“The No. 15 team, and the Rick Ware organization as a whole, have made a ton of progress since the start of the season. The team has been able to work with RFK (Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing) and Ford to use shared information and data to our advantage, and I think we’ve seen how that has benefitted the team. We’ve shown a lot of speed and improvement, and I’m excited to see where that takes us this weekend.”