Politics

A crash course in this year’s Daytona 500

Published

5 days ago

February 15, 2025

Maybe you’re new to the sport, have a casual interest or are just coming around to the edge-of-your-seat wrecks, the thrilling finishes and the stars that make up the Daytona 500 field.

Daytona Beach became the unofficial “birthplace of speed” in 1903 when two men argued over who had the fastest horseless carriage and decided to settle things in a race on the white, hardpacked sand along the Atlantic Ocean.

Since then, the region has become a motorsports mecca, and the first Daytona 500 was held Feb. 22, 1959, in front of a crowd of more than 41,000. They watched 59 cars race for a purse of less than $70,000, and the finish was so close it took three days to determine Lee Petty had edged Johnny Beauchamp.

So much has changed since then, in technology and terminology, and there’s plenty to catch up on ahead of Sunday’s edition — the 67th running of “The Great American Race.”

NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan is here (he bought a race team in 2020) and so is four-time Indianapolis 500 champion and “Dancing With The Stars” winner Helio Castroneves.

So let’s wave the green flag (we’ll get to that below) and take a crash course on some of the basic names and terms to know for the Daytona 500.

Former Daytona 500 winners
The field is littered with past winners, starting with 2024 champion William Byron. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (2023), Austin Cindric (2022), Michael McDowell (2021), Austin Dillon (2018) and Joey Logano (2015) are all in the field.

Jimmie Johnson is a two-time winner (2006, 2013). Denny Hamlin could become the third driver ever with at least four Daytona 500 victories. He won in 2016 and then went back-to-back in 2019 and 2020.

How fast are the cars going?
They are traveling about 190 mph but could be going in excess of 200 mph. NASCAR, however, mandates cars use tapered spacers to reduce the amount of air flowing into engines — thus limiting horsepower and speed. The power-sapping safety measure was first installed after Bobby Allison’s car, traveling at 210 mph, went airborne and tore through the catchfence at Talladega Superspeedway in 1987. The car came dangerously close to landing in the grandstands.

Some Daytona 500 history
NASCAR’s most prestigious race started as a much shorter version on a nearby beach. Drivers raced partially on sand and partially on an adjacent highway. The first 500-mile event in Daytona happened in 1959. Two year later, the Daytona 500 moniker was adopted and is now considered one of racing’s most well-known events.

Team Worldwide
Pitbull, yes, the rapper, had an ownership stake in Trackhouse Racing but it is coming to an end right as this year the team is fielding cars for four drivers from four countries.

Mr. Worldwide truly lives up to his name.

Ross Chastain, a watermelon farmer out of Florida, is an American. Shane van Gisbergen is a native of New Zealand. Daniel Suarez is Mexican but became an American citizen last year. Castroneves, a four-time Indianapolis 500 champion, is Brazilian and rounds out the team headed into his NASCAR debut.

Which manufacturers race in NASCAR?
NASCAR currently has three manufacturers: Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota. Dodge spent decades in the sport before pulling out at the end of the 2012 season because of economic challenges. Dodge also was out between 1977 and 2001. Chevy and Ford have been in NASCAR since its inception, with Toyota joining in 2007.

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Republished with permission of the Associated Press.

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Politics

Donald Trump all but endorses Byron Donalds to be next Florida Governor

Published

13 minutes ago

February 20, 2025

May Greene

President Donald Trump made clear who he wants as the next Governor of Florida.

In a Truth Social post, Trump all but endorsed U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds to run as the state’s next chief executive in 2026.

“I am hearing that Highly Respected Congressman Byron Donalds is considering running for Governor of Florida, a State that I love, and WON BIG in 2016, 2020, and 2024,” Trump posted.

The President noted his familiarity with Donalds, whom he considered for his running mate in the 2024 presidential campaign, and with his family, including school choice advocate Erika Donalds.

“I know Byron well, have seen him tested at the highest and most difficult levels, and he is a TOTAL WINNER!” Trump posted. “Byron has a great wife, Erika, and three beautiful sons. They are very proud of him! As Governor, Byron would have a BIG Voice, and would work closely with me to advance our America First Agenda. He will fight tirelessly to Secure our Border, Stop Migrant Crime, Strengthen our Military, Protect our Vets, Restore our Economic Power, Advance American Energy DOMINANCE, and Defend our always-under-siege Second Amendment.”

Donalds, a Naples Republican, indeed has taken several steps that signal a likely run for Governor, including bringing on prominent campaign staffers like Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio.

Earlier, Trump hinted that he wants to see Donalds seek higher office. Just last week, he shared a Victory Insights poll first reported by Florida Politics that had Donalds leading a field of contenders for Governor.

That poll notably didn’t include First Lady Casey DeSantis, who has polled well since signaling more serious consideration of running herself. Of course, DeSantis was also a fixture alongside Gov. Ron DeSantis when he unsuccessfully challenged Trump for the Republican nomination last year, something the President likely has not forgotten.

Trump’s latest post goes a step further and encourages Donalds to formally run, promising to receive arguably the most important endorsement in Republican politics right now.

“Byron Donalds would be a truly Great and Powerful Governor for Florida and, should he decide to run, will have my Complete and Total Endorsement,” Trump posted. “RUN, BYRON, RUN!”

This isn’t the first statewide race in 20266 where Trump has weighed in. He also gave an early endorsement to state Sen. Joe Gruters for Florida Chief Financial Officer shortly before the Sarasota Republican formally filed for the Cabinet post.

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Politics

Pam Bondi welcomes terror designation for transnational cartels

Published

45 minutes ago

February 20, 2025

May Greene

Attorney General Pam Bondi believes that President Donald Trump’s designation of transnational cartels as terror groups will help the federal government fight their depredations at home and abroad.

“They are terrorist groups. And it gives us the ability to go after them anywhere in the world and treat them as terrorists. They are terrorists. If you’re bringing fentanyl into this country and killing our kids, you’re a terrorist and we’re coming after you,” Bondi said at CPAC 2025 in Washington, D.C.

Trump’s executive order last month said “cartels functionally control, through a campaign of assassination, terror, rape, and brute force nearly all illegal traffic across the southern border of the United States.”

“In certain portions of Mexico, they function as quasi-governmental entities, controlling nearly all aspects of society. The Cartels’ activities threaten the safety of the American people, the security of the United States, and the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere. Their activities, proximity to, and incursions into the physical territory of the United States pose an unacceptable national security risk to the United States.”

Tren de Aragua, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), Cártel de Sinaloa, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, Cártel del Noreste (formerly Los Zetas), La Nueva Familia Michoacana, Cártel de Golfo (Gulf Cartel), and Cárteles Unidos all have the domestic terror designation from the State Department.

Though the crackdown has begun, Bondi worries that the open border policy of the previous administration means that domestic terror from people already in the country is a “huge risk.”

“What Donald Trump has committed to do is to take these people out of our country to prosecute them, to deport them, to get them off our streets. And that’s what all of these law enforcement agencies are doing,” Bondi said Thursday.

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Politics

Donald Trump loyalist Kash Patel is confirmed as FBI director by the Senate despite deep Democratic doubts

Published

1 hour ago

February 20, 2025

May Greene

‘The politicalization of our justice system has eroded public trust — but that ends today.’

The Senate on Thursday narrowly voted to confirm Kash Patel as director of the FBI, moving to place him atop the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency despite doubts from Democrats about his qualifications and concerns he will do Donald Trump’s bidding and go after the Republican president’s adversaries.

“I cannot imagine a worse choice,” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told colleagues before the 51-49 vote by the GOP-controlled Senate. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska were the lone Republican holdouts.

A Trump loyalist who has fiercely criticized the agency he will now lead, Patel will inherit an FBI gripped by turmoil as the Justice Department over the past month has forced out a group of senior bureau officials and made a highly unusual demand for the names of thousands of agents who participated in investigations related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Patel has spoken of his desire to implement major changes at the FBI, including a reduced footprint in Washington and a renewed emphasis on the bureau’s traditional crime-fighting duties rather than the intelligence-gathering work that has come to define its mandate over the past two decades as national security threats have proliferated.

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