League News and Notes
The Daytona 500: Keith Williams wins The Great American Fuel Saving Demolition Derby Race
February 17, 2025
Race Recap:
What happened to the race I loved? Let's ignore the yearly rain delay and associated rain coverage. The Super Bowl of stock car racing is literally just pulling a name out of hat and calling them the winner. It's never the fastest car, or the best driver. The Penske Fords were the best cars all night. Chase Elliott had a good car. Bubba was strong. None of them finished in the top 5. 41 of the 45 cars that were on the entry list sustained some kind of damage across the Duel's and the Daytona 500.
Yes, they ran 3 wide for long periods of time. They were running fuel conservation mode. You couldn't pull out and pass. 3 lines riding down the highway at 60% throttle. That's not interesting. Even on the final pitstop, the booth was excited they could get fuel and really start racing! And they only took the bare minimum amount of fuel, and some of them still had to save to make the finish. Trak position at Daytona and Talladega used to mean nothing. You didn't need to shave 2 seconds off your pitstop because you could drive through the field if you had a good car. Now you can't.
William Byron won the Daytona 500 for the 2nd year in a row. I don't have a lot of nice things to say about that, haha. He was in the right place at the right time and won. We were also 2 cars away from Jimmie Johnson winning this race, so there's that. At least Byron didn't have to wreck the field this year to win! Oh, and Ryan Preece did a wheelie and flipped, again. It would be cool if NASCAR did something to stop these cars from getting in the air before someone gets killed (probably a fan(s)).
Race Rating: D
Race Finish: C+
Best Battle: Ryan Preece vs. Gravity
Fight Rating: No Fights Sadly
Bonehead of the Race: Tie between Stenhouse and Logano. Stenhouse made a bad block, but Logano tried to make a lane that wasn't there. The result was a huge crash that took out the good cars.
Best Race of the Year Tracker: The Clash
League Recap:
Qualifying Results
Daytona 500 pole goes to Jason Hollinsgworth. Jason gets his 1st pole of 2025, and his lucky 13th career pole (2nd pole at Daytona).
Stage Results
Stage 1: Shawn White
Stage 2: Tim Hodge
Shawn and Tim win the first stages of the year.
Race Results
The winner this week was Keith Williams. Keith gets his 22nd career victory, and his 1st Daytona 500. Keith is only missing the Coca Cola 600 and Bristol Night race to complete the full Prestiege Win list.
Segment Results
Keith Williams leads after 1 race.
Standings update
Chris Burfield remains at the top with his 2nd top 10 finish of the year.
BFNL Chase
Keith Williams is now locked in for the 2025 BFNL Chase
BFNL Survivor
First two eliminations of the year: Michael Klaus and Valerie Jacobs
Track Type Championships
Keith is the current Superspeedway leader.
The Summer Shootout
Coming this Summer...
Looking ahead...
Next Sunday is another drafting race, this time on a smaller scale. Atlanta returns.
The Cookout Clash recap: 2025 BFNL season kicks-off with a Chris Burfield win at Bowman Gray Stadium
February 3, 2025
Race Recap:
I have to say I was very pleased with the Clash at Bowman Gray. Compared to the Clashes at the LA Coliseum, this track was much more raceable. There was actually an outside groove occasionally. Hamlin was able to make some passes on the outside, including passing Chase Elliott for the lead. The racing was much better than I anticipated. It got a little rough in the Last Chance Qualifier, but the main race was pretty respectful. Other than Ricky Stenhouse Jr. absolutely punting local favorite Burt Myers into oblivion.
Chase Elliott dominated the 1st half of the race, but Denny Hamlin caught him with 6 laps to go and passed. I give Alan Gustaffson a lot of crap, but he did make some changes to improve the long run and in the 2nd half Elliott re-passed Hamlin for the lead and never looked back. Lucky for Elliott, and honestly for the impression of the race, there were no late cautions. A late caution would most likely have turned into an absolute disaster of caution after caution.
There are rumors swirling about moving The Clash to another track next year, including one rumor about Brazil. I think they should leave it at Bowman Gray for another year or two. It's a great little venue, with strong ties to NASCAR history. It's close to the shops, so it's a heck of a lot cheaper to get to. The racing was good. Why mess with a good thing?
Race Rating: A
Race Finish: B+
Best Battle: Elliott/Hamlin/Blaney
Fight Rating: No Fights Sadly
Bonehead of the Race: Ty Gibbs. Gibbs ramped his car off of Justin Haley, getting airborne, in retaliation during the LCQ.
Best Race of the Year Tracker: The Clash
League Recap:
Qualifying Results
First pole of the year goes to Miranda Brown.
Stage Results
Stage 1: n/a
Stage 2: n/a
No Stage points in The Clash
Race Results
**Note** I originally uploaded results with different winners. After reviewing my spreadsheet, I realized I made a calculation error. Updated standings are posted. Apologies for the mixup**
Chris Burfield starts off the 2025 with a 1-2-3 finish for his team in the Clash. Chris scores the 1st win of 2025, and his 5th career win. He becomes the 1st person in BFNL to win both the Clash and the All Star Race.
Segment Results
The Clash is a standalone race, and not part of a Segment.
Standings update
The Clash is an offical race for BFNL, and as such, our 3 winners are all tied for the points lead after 1 race.
BFNL Chase
Chris Burfield is now locked in for the 2025 BFNL Chase
BFNL Survivor
The Clash and the All Star Race are not part of Survivor
Track Type Championships
Burfield leads the "Short Track" standings.
The Summer Shootout
Coming this Summer
Looking ahead...
Next Sunday is the Super Bowl, so enjoy that if you can. NASCAR returns in 2 weeks for the Great American Race, the Daytona 500.
Phoenix recap: Elishabeth Draughon wins again, but it's Thomas Tolber who wins the championship
November 10, 2024
Race Recap:
Pretty calm race. Phoenix isn't particularly exciting. Joey Logano held off Ryan Blaney on the final 60 lap green flag run, and won his 3rd Cup Championship. There really wasn't any drama. Blaney drove him down and got within a quarter of a second, but Logano is a master of air blocking, and Blaney could never get around him. Logano becomes the 10th driver to win 3 or more Cup Championships. He has a pretty good argument for least deserving Championship season ever. Yes, he won 4 races, but his average finish was terrible. If not for the Bowman DQ, he's eliminated in the Round of 12.
Have to give a shout out to Bobby Allison who passed away this week. Allison was an incredible driver who is so often overlooked because he only won 1 Championship. He was a fierce as anybody on the track, and he ran until he literally couldn't anymore, and never really slowed down. He will be missed.
Race Rating: C
Race Finish: B
Best Battle: The Pace Car vs. the Sand Barrels
Fight Rating: No Fights
Best Race of the Year Tracker: Atlanta/Kansas
League Recap:
Qualifying Results
Final pole of the year goes to Elisabeth Draughon. Elisabeth ties with several others for the most this year, with 3.
Stage Results
Stage 1: Elisabeth Draughon (3)
Stage 2: Larry Braswell (2)
Manish Nagpal has the most Stage wins this season.
Race Results
Another lady in victory lane this week. Elisabeth Draughon gets her 3rd win of the season, tying her with Miranda Brown for the most wins this year. Her margin of victory this week was the largest all season. Quite a way to finish out the season!
Segment Results
Final Segment of the year goes to Elisabeth Draughon.
Standings update
What a great championship battle. Thomas Tolbert wins his 2nd BFNL Championship, passing Nick Prytula in the final race. Thomas becomes the 5th multiple time champion, joining Brandon Braswell, Justin Braswell, Bob Francis, and Michael Byrom. This was Thomas' first podium since 2017.
Nick Prytula finishes runner-up. By far his best ever BFNL finish. His previous best finish was 17th, last season.
Kevin Steele rounds out the podium with 3rd place. This was Kevin 3rd podium finish, and first since 2006. It was also the first time Kevin finished in the top 10 since 2013.
BFNL Chase
Tiffany Steele wins the 2024 BFNL Chase.
BFNL Survivor
Final Elimination this week: Steele Norman
Alan Ross is the 1st BFNL Survivor winner
Track Type Championships
Chris Burfield wins the Short Track Championship
Miranda Brown wins the Intermediates Championship
Manish Nagpal wins the Road Course Championship.
Alan Ross wins the Super Speedway Championship.
The Summer Shootout
Nick Prytula was the 2024 Champion.
The Braswell Million
Greg Camden is the winner
BFNL Roto League
Jeremy Steele wins the Roto League, holding off Dustin Draughon and Alan Ross.
Looking ahead...
That's it for 2024. It was a great season. We had a lead change in the final race, and more lead changes than any other season in BFNL history. Thank you to everyone for playing this year. I hope you had a great time.
