NASCAR’s season begins once more with its biggest and most prestigious event
NASCAR’s season begins once more with its biggest and most prestigious event
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — It is said cathedrals exist all around us, if only we have the eyes to see them. To the average person along the coast of Florida, the sands of Daytona Beach may not hold much wonder beyond being standard granular material and a suitable host for sunshine activities. But make no mistake: In those sands, the eyes of a racer sees a cathedral most holy and most awesome.
A little over a century ago, the shores of Daytona Beach became the canvas of American speed, as its long distance and uniquely hard-packed sands proved ideal for land speed record attempts. Automobile races soon followed, later becoming organized under the NASCAR banner, and then came a purpose-built racetrack — one unlike anything in the world — that has now become synonymous with stock car racing.
For the 67th time, the best and most ambitious drivers in the sport have descended upon the Daytona International Speedway for the greatest prize in all of NASCAR, the Daytona 500. More than any other race of four fendered machines, it is The Great American Race that can define a career, create a legacy, and allow even the most humble of drivers to achieve racing apotheosis and a permanent etching on the Harley J. Earl Trophy.
The first prize of Speedweeks was settled on Wednesday night, as Chase Briscoe — in his first start for Joe Gibbs Racing — earned his first Daytona 500 pole, the first Daytona 500 pole for Toyota, and the first Daytona 500 pole for car owner Joe Gibbs since NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Labonte earned the top starting spot in 1998.
Austin Cindric, the 2022 Daytona 500 champion, will start on the outside pole, while the rest of the field will determine their starting spots in Thursday night’s Duel qualifying races. Former Cup champions Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson earned two of the four available spots for Open cars in time trials, posting the two fastest laps of the Open cars to earn a starting spot on speed.
Where to watch the Daytona 500
When: Sun., Feb. 16, 2:30 p.m. ET
Where: Daytona International Speedway — Daytona Beach, Fla.
TV: Fox
Stream: fubo (try for free)
The stories of Speedweeks
Last year, William Byron distinguished himself among NASCAR’s new generation of stars, winning his first Daytona 500 and launching a season where he contended for the Cup Series title. With a Daytona 500 crown in hand and looking for two in a row, Byron now holds an edge over his contemporaries like past Cup champions Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney, all of whom are looking for their first 500 win.
Just as other championship contenders and stars of their age are looking for their first Daytona 500 wins, so too are some of NASCAR’s veteran drivers and aging stars. That group doesn’t include three-time and reigning Cup champ Joey Logano, who won this race in 2015, but it does include some very notable past champions.
Despite having virtually every other prize in the sport and 200 combined NASCAR victories in all, the Daytona 500 is the one prize that has eluded Kyle Busch as he now tries for the 20th time to win this race. It has also eluded 2012 Cup champion Brad Keselowski, who has seen his chances of victory slip away his previous 15 tries. And then, there’s 2017 Cup champion Martin Truex Jr., who despite retiring from full-time racing at the end of last season will strive for victory in the race he came just 0.010 seconds — the closest finish in Daytona 500 history — from winning in 2016.
Beyond the legacies of some of NASCAR’s most accomplished figures, one of the world’s greatest racers has also come to contend. Four-time Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves will finally try his hand at the Daytona 500, as he will make his NASCAR Cup Series debut driving for Trackhouse Racing. While Castroneves is the latest in a long list of drivers to cross over from Indianapolis to Daytona, he can become just the third driver in history to win both an Indy 500 and a Daytona 500. Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt are currently the only two racing legends in that fraternity, with others like Johnny Rutherford, Al Unser Jr., Juan Pablo Montoya and more having come up short.
As NASCAR shifts from one generation to the next, only eight past Daytona 500 champions are among those entered, and four different countries are set to be represented in the field. Making the possibilities in this race seemingly endless
Pick to Win
Austin Cindric (+2500) — Since he won the 2022 Daytona 500 in his eighth career start, no driver in Cup has been more apt at finding his way to the front in Next Gen superspeedway races than Austin Cindric. Whether it’s the Penske power under the hood or the right mix of strategy and tact in the draft, Cindric has consistently become a frontrunner in superspeedway races, which includes late last season at Daytona and Talladega where he was at the front of the pack battling for the win in the final laps only to get spun out.
That doesn’t even account for last year’s Daytona 500, where Cindric was among the cars battling for the win only to get turned into Ross Chastain to trigger the race-deciding slide through the infield coming to the white flag. Circumstances have been against Cindric as of late, but he’s consistently giving himself golden opportunities to win in these races.
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