DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – There is no season-opener in sports like NASCAR’s DAYTONA 500. More than 200,000 people will fill the beloved Daytona International Speedway this Sunday to watch drivers and teams compete for a life-changing trophy. After months of offseason preparation, it’s time to drop the flag on the 2024 season. It’s time for the 66th running of the DAYTONA 500 (Feb. 18 at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Interestingly, for all its esteemed and lengthy history, there is only one full-time driver with multiple DAYTONA 500 victories. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin has three DAYTONA 500 trophies (2016, 2019 and 2020). Seven-time NASCAR Champion and recently enshrined NASCAR Hall of Famer, Jimmie Johnson will be attempting to make the race as a part-time driver this season and he has two DAYTONA 500 trophies (2006, 2013).
There are seven former winners in the field, and it’s been a steady stream of new faces hoisting that Harley J. Earl trophy recently. Team Penske’s Austin Cindric won in his rookie debut in 2021. Longtime competitor and fan favorite Michael McDowell scored his first career series win the next year for Front Row Motorsports. And JTG Daugherty Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr. added to his superspeedway record of excellence with his first DAYTONA 500 win last February.
There are plenty of longtime – even former champion – drivers that want nothing more than to join that list.
What a title defense message it would be for the series reigning champion, Ryan Blaney, if he could score a DAYTONA 500 win on Sunday. And he’s proven himself a legitimate contender for years. This weekend marks his 10th 500 start and he’s had five top-10 finishes – highlighted by heartbreaking runner-up showings in both 2017 and 2020. He dominated the race in 2018 leading 118 laps but finished seventh. He won the summer race at Daytona in 2020.
Another pair of former series champions – Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch – are also competing for their first DAYTONA 500 victory despite decades of excellence in the sport.
Keselowski, owner-driver of the No. 6 Roush-Fenway-Keselowski Racing Ford, has 14 DAYTONA 500 starts with a best showing of third place in 2014. He’s won the summer 400-miler (2016) and was runner-up in that race last year. Considering the 2012 series champ’s record at Talladega – six wins – it’s easy to consider the superspeedway expert a perpetual favorite in the DAYTONA 500 as well.
Busch, a two-time series champion and driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, has plenty of reason to feel optimistic about securing his first DAYTONA 500 trophy. This will be his 19th start in the grand race. He finished runner-up in 2019 and third place in 2016. Busch won the 2008 summer race and has another pair of second place finishes in it. And he has wins at Daytona in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (2007) and NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (2014).
Last year Busch scored a 19th-place finish in the DAYTONA 500 after being collected in a multi-car accident – his first year driving for RCR which claims DAYTONA 500 wins with the late legend Dale Earnhardt (1998), Kevin Harvick (2007) and Austin Dillon (2018).
Of course, Hamlin must be considered a major factor in this event. Although he hasn’t had a top-10 since his fifth-place effort in 2021, he brings a victory in the Feb. 3 Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum with him to Florida – the only winner in the series to date. A fourth DAYTONA 500 win would tie him the late NASCAR Hall of Famer Cale Yarborough and be second only to seven-time DAYTONA 500 champion Richard Petty.
Hendrick Motorsports drivers Kyle Larson, William Byron and Chase Elliott also have to be considered odds-on contenders on Sunday. Larson, the 2021 series champion, has had challenging times in the race with a best finish of seventh in 2016 and 2019 but claims he is more optimistic on the big tracks than ever before.
Byron, 26, has a victory (2020) and runner-up finish (2019) in the summer 400-mile race at Daytona. His best finish in the DAYTONA 500 is 21st in 2019.
Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, won the DAYTONA 500 pole position in his first start in 2016 and has led laps in five of his eight 500 starts. His best finish in the race is runner-up in 2021.
Qualifying to set the front row of the DAYTONA 500 grid is Wednesday and will be televised at 8 p.m. ET on FS1. The remainder of the 36 “locked in positions” for the series charter teams will be set in Thursday’s always-exciting BlueGreen Vacations Duel 150-mile races (7 p.m. ET, FS1).
Six of the “open” teams will be racing for the final four positions and that group this year includes former winner Johnson and Daytona summer race winner David Ragan in a third RFK car.
There is a DAYTONA 500 practice on Friday at 5:30 p.m. ET (FS1) and final practice Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. ET (FS1). Cars will grid Sunday for the 2:30 p.m. ET (FOX) DAYTONA 500.
Source: Holly Cain | NASCAR Wire Service
