DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric will lead Sunday’s DAYTONA 500 field to the green flag, having topped front-row qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series 2025 season-opener (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Briscoe’s work in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota marks the first DAYTONA 500 pole position for the manufacturer and comes in his first start for the team after spending his previous four seasons driving Fords for fellow Hoosier, his racing idol, Tony Stewart. This is Cindric’s first front row start in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford. He scored his first career NASCAR Cup Series win in the 2022 DAYTONA 500.
It is all part of an exciting potential for Sunday’s race on the Daytona International Speedway’s 2.5-mile high banks with 18 new driver-crew chief combinations for the upcoming season, a half dozen part-time star drivers hoping to make the big show – plenty of motivation all around the grid, whose remaining positions will be set following Thursday night’s Duel at DAYTONA (7 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The two “open” entrants to have secured a position on the DAYTONA 500 starting grid are a pair of past series champions – Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson, who were 22nd and 29th fastest in pole qualifying. Truex is driving the No. 56 Toyota for TRICON Garage and Johnson – a two-time DAYTONA 500 winner – is running the No. 84 LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Toyota.
Four-time Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves is also among a star-studded list of seven “open” drivers – cars that don’t have a charter position insuring their place on the grid – still needing to earn a start in the Duels. The top two finishing drivers among that seven (plus Castroneves who has been granted an automatic provisional) will fill out the starting lineup.
Eight of the last 10 DAYTONA 500 winners were first-time DAYTONA 500 winners. The late NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt holds the record for most starts before a victory, taking the trophy in 1998 in his 20th try. This weekend, Truex is making his 21st DAYTONA 500 start and Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch is making his 20th. Dave Marcis holds the record for most starts (33) without a win.
Statistically speaking, being out front for the bulk of laps turned in the DAYTONA 500 has not necessarily guaranteed a win. In fact, the driver who led the most laps has won only once in the last eight races – Briscoe’s JGR teammate, Denny Hamlin in 2020.
This weekend brings multiple compelling storylines from Castroneves’ bid to join Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt as the only drivers with both Indy 500 and DAYTONA 500 titles to the former champions Johnson and Truex quest to win at Daytona in part-time seasons.
A substantial number of new fulltime driver-crew chief combinations also makes things interesting. The new look ranges from veterans such as three-time DAYTONA 500 champ, Hamlin who is now working alongside crew chief Chris Gayle to Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s driver/owner Brad Keselowski and Jeremy Bullins to driver Justin Haley paired with Spire Motorsports’ new addition Rodney Childers as well as Tyler Allen’s crew chief debut with Ty Gibbs at JGR.
There has been a massive shift overall in teams and drivers including high profile new pairings in Josh Berry, now driving the famed No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford to 2021 DAYTONA 500 winner Michael McDowell moving to the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet.
The overall field’s diversity – which includes former Australian Supercars champion Shane Van Gisbergen’s beginning his first fulltime NASCAR Cup Series season at Trackhouse Racing – and a first-ever DAYTONA 500 entries for famed Earnhardt siblings Kelley Earnhardt Miller and Dale Earnhardt Jr. JR Motorsports (Justin Allgaier) as well as TRICON Garage (Truex) and Castroneves (Trackhouse Racing) and seven-time NASCAR champion Johnson (LEGACY MOTOR CLUB) makes this one of the most compelling potential grids in recent memory.
Five different drivers have won in the last five DAYTONA 500 races, including Hamlin (2020), McDowell (2021), Cindric (2022), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (2022) and William Byron (2024).
And the buzz in the air is absolutely unmistakable from veterans – like former series champions Busch, Truex, Keselowski, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson still chasing their first DAYTONA 500 wins to newcomers such as Van Gisbergen and Castroneves who all crave a trophy in the sport’s most important race.
“The prestige is real,” said Keselowski, whose best DAYTONA 500 finish is third in 2014. “It’s one of those things that once you win, people remember it and it carries throughout your career.”
Source: Holly Cain | NASCAR Wire Service
