NASCAR: James Davison to make Cup debut at Talladega with no practice
By Asher Fair
James Davison is set to make his NASCAR Cup Series debut and his NASCAR oval debut this Sunday in the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
This Sunday’s GEICO 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway is set to see the Cup Series debut and the NASCAR oval debut of James Davison.
The 33-year-old Australian was originally slated to make his Cup Series debut and his oval debut at Daytona International Speedway for the season-opening Daytona 500 in mid-February before that deal fell through.
Now, because of the updated schedule at the four-turn, 2.66-mile (4.281-kilometer) high-banked oval in Lincoln, Alabama brought on by the postponement of the race, Davison will get to make his debut with absolutely no practice ahead of time at arguably the sport’s least forgiving track.
Davison is set to drive the #77 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports in this 188-lap race.
We’ve got @JD33Davison behind the wheel of our @OILFIRESPIRITS and @tilsonhr Chevy at @TalladegaSuperS! pic.twitter.com/idq8GDkZIJ
— Spire Motorsports (@SpireMotorsport) June 16, 2020
The #77 team is one of the 36 chartered teams in the Cup Series, and they sit in 33rd place in the owner standings, so his starting position will be randomly drawn from positions 25 though 36.
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The #77 car won last year’s July race at Daytona International Speedway with Justin Haley behind the wheel. That win is widely regarded as one of the sport’s biggest upsets of all-time. The team had never before finished a race on the lead lap.
Davison has competed in NASCAR before, but only in Xfinity Series road course races. He competed in four races from 2016 to 2018 and finished as high as fourth place driving for Joe Gibbs Racing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2017.
He is no stranger to high-speed oval racing, however, from his time spent in open-wheel racing. Most recently, he has competed in the last three and five of the last six Indianapolis 500 IndyCar races, and he finished as high as 12th place last year after overcoming an early incident in the pits while running in the top 10.
Additionally, he led laps and was in contention to win the race in 2017 after starting in 33rd (last) place as the replacement driver for the injured Sebastien Bourdais before he was involved in a late crash. A deal for him to compete in this year’s Indy 500 in August has yet to be confirmed.
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The GEICO 500 is set to be broadcast live from Talladega Superspeedway on Fox beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, June 21.