Mark Beech

3 weeks ago | si.com | Mark Beech

From his spot atop the pit box of driver William Byron’s number 24 Chevrolet, crew chief Rudy Fugle sits at the top of NASCAR’s Cup Series. Together, the pair won their second straight Daytona 500 in February, and Byron currently leads the series in points. They’ve been together at Hendrick Motorsports since 2021, winning 13 races and finishing in the top 10 in every season. Though they have yet to win a championship, there’s a sense that it’s only a matter of time.

2 months ago | si.com | Mark Beech

There was more to William Byron’s second straight Daytona 500 victory on Sunday night than just luck. There was a fast car and hard racing, of course. But there was also something providential about the way his number 24 Chevrolet took the checkered flag—almost like someone was running supernatural interference for him. Twice in the race’s final laps, Byron was nearly taken out by the types of catastrophic wrecks that have made the Great American Race such a captivating crapshoot.

Feb 14, 2025 | si.com | Mark Beech

The green flag will wave at the start of another NASCAR Cup series on Sunday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway, where the Daytona 500, the Great American Race, will be run for the 66th time since 1959. It can be difficult to divine anything too telling from the race—the last time the winner went on to claim the season title was in 2013, when Jimmie Johnson won both the 500 and the Cup.

Nov 11, 2024 | si.com | Mark Beech

There was a moment near the end of the final lap of the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race at Phoenix on Sunday when it seemed like Ryan Blaney had finally figured out a way to get around front-runner Joey Logano. A lead that had once been more than three seconds about 40 laps earlier was down to a little more than two-tenths, and Blaney, who clearly had the faster car, was driving his Ford Mustang right to the bumper of his Penske Racing teammate.

Nov 8, 2024 | si.com | Mark Beech

The 76th season of the NASCAR Cup Series will officially come to an end on Sunday afternoon at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Ariz., with the running of the 312-mile Cup Series Championship. The field will be full, but only four drivers will be competing for the title, having advanced through NASCAR’s quirky version of the playoffs, which began nine races ago, on Sept. 8 in Atlanta. At Phoenix on Sunday, the driver with the best finish will win it all.