The Daytona 500 is the most historic and well-known race in NASCAR history. It’s a race that has not only held the highest of highs with Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s only Daytona 500 win in 1998, but also the lowest of lows with Earnhardt’s fatal crash at the 2001 Daytona 500. The Daytona 500 has seen winning margins of two laps in 1973 and 100th of a second in 2016.
Here is a look into what you should expect leading up to the Daytona 500.
The weekend will start today at 8 p.m. when single-car qualifying takes place. Single-car qualifying features 45 cars taking one timed lap each around the 2.5-mile track. After all 45 cars go, the top 10 will advance to the second round where they fight for pole position. After the 10 drivers take another timed lap, the two fastest drivers take the first row of the race.
Then tomorrow, Feb. 13, there are the two Duel races, the first at 7 p.m. and the second at 8:45 p.m.
The Duel races are 60-lap, 150-mile races that decide the remaining 38 positions on the grid. The first Duel will determine the inside positions of the grid, so third, fifth, seventh, etc. The second Duel will decide the outside positions, being fourth, sixth, eighth, etc.
There are points for the regular season top 10 finishers in both Duel 1 and 2, with the winner receiving 10 points, second with nine points, all the way down to 10th place with one point.
In between the Duels on Thursday and the race on Sunday, the Xfinity and the Trucks series will occur. On Friday, the Truck series has its qualifying race at 2:00 p.m. and their 100-lap, 250-mile race at Daytona at 7:30. On Saturday, the Xfinity series has their qualifying race at 10 a.m. and their 120-lap, 300-mile race at 5 p.m.
There is also an ARCA Menards (the fourth series of NASCAR) race at noon on Saturday as well. The ARCA race is 80 laps and 200 miles long.
Then, on Sunday, there is the Daytona 500, which starts at 2:30 p.m. The race is 200 laps and 500 miles long, with last year’s winner being William Byron. Byron is a part of Hendrick Motorsports. Alex Bowman came in second, closely followed by Christopher Bell, who rounded out the top three.
Some drivers you should look for in the Daytona 500 are No. 23 Bubba Wallace of 23XI Racing, No. 9 Chase Elliot and No. 5 Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports, No. 12 Ryan Blaney and current Cup Champion No. 22 Joey Logano of Team Penske.
Wallace is one of the best superspeedway drivers on the track, with a career average finish of 16th place on super speedways in 29 total races. One of Wallace’s two wins came at superspeedway. In the past five years, his average has dropped to about 14th place. Elliott’s average superspeedway finishes 18th in 36 races. Elliot has two career wins at superspeedways, both at Talladega Raceway’s. Elliott was not as lucky last year with an average finishing place of over 23rd. However, this year, with Elliot eager for a championship title, is hoping to place well at Daytona.
Then there is Larson, who has not placed higher than fourth place at a superspeedway yet arguably has the best car on the track. He was lightning quick last season and is eager for his first podium or race win at a super speedway.
Blaney has four wins at super speedways and four second place finishes. He has an average finish of 17th at superspeedways. Since 2022, Blaney has had the best average finish at superspeedways with just above seventh place.
Logano also has four wins at superspeedways and 22 total top 10 finishes. Logano is ninth among current drivers at superspeedways since 2022 with an average finish of 13th. Additionally, he is the current Cup Series champion, so watch out for him on Sunday.