NASCAR will kick off its 2026 Cup Series season today with the 68th Daytona 500, which will herald the dawn of a new championship era.
After 13 seasons of elimination playoffs and a one-race title showdown between four drivers, NASCAR has reinstituted “The Chase,” a 10-race run for the championship to end the season. The top 16 drivers after the 26-race regular season will qualify for the Chase, and then the driver who amasses the points over the last 10 races will be crowned the champion in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
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Though wins will be worth more points under the new system, there are no more automatic “win and in” playoff berths with a victory. So the victory will be celebrated with the Harley J. Earl Trophy today, but there is no guarantee that the Daytona 500 winner will compete for the title.
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A slightly different iteration of The Chase was used from 2004-13 before the elimination playoffs from 2014-25.
The Daytona 500 is starting an hour earlier because of the threat of rain (which has impacted several recent season openers). William Byron is the two-time defending Daytona 500 winner and seeking to become the first with three consecutive wins in The Great American Race. Kyle Busch will start from the pole position for the first time in NASCAR’s crown jewel event (click here for the starting lineup).
Follow along below for our live coverage here with updates before, during and after the big race.
How to watch the 2026 Daytona 500
Green flag:: Around 2:13 p.m. ET
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Where: Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California
TV: Fox (with prerace coverage starting at 11:30 a.m. ET). Radio: MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Satellite Radio Channel 90
Daytona 500 live updates
2026 Daytona 500 weather forecast
Weather concerns prompted the green flag to be moved up by two hours, but the forecast has improved for an uninterrupted Daytona 500.
Rain chances have increased to 24% at 2 p.m., and the wind has picked up to 20 mph (with gusts to 30 mph), but it’s expected to be less than a 5% chance for rain for much of the afternoon before the likelihood of precipitation increases to 38% at 6 p.m., according to the hourly forecast.
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The green flag will drop at 2:13 p.m. ET.
Brad Keselowski back behind the wheel
After missing The Clash with a broken femur in an offseason accident, Brad Keselowski will renew his quest for an elusive Daytona 500 victory.
The 2012 Cup Series champion is among the many stars who have come agonizingly close to winning The Great American Race. In 16 starts, he had led 180 laps with a best finish of third. The Roush Fenway Keselowski co-owner has failed the Daytona 500 in six of the past nine years — crashing out every time. The most memorable was in 2021 when he wrecked with teammate Joey Logano on the last lap while racing for the lead.
Keselowski has led nine Daytona 500s without a victory, which ranks sixth all time.
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Tops is pole-sitter Kyle Busch, who had led 14 of his 20 stars in the Daytona 500 without a win. The dubious distinction puts him ahead of Terry Labonte (13 Daytona 500s led without a win), Mart Martin (11), Martin Truex Jr. (11) and Neil Bonnett (nine)
Busch also leads all drivers with 342 laps led in the Daytona 500 without a win ahead of Tony Stewart (299), Donnie Allison (241), Ken Schrader (227) and Ryan Blaney (208).
Drivers to watch
The list of course starts with two-time defending winner William Byron, who already is the youngest driver to win consecutive Daytona 500s (breaking the record of Jeff Gordon, who is the vice chairman of the Hendrick Motorsports team that fields the No. 24 Chevrolet once driven by Gordon and now by Byron).
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The 28-year-old now can become the first with three consecutive Daytona 500 victories and make Hendrick the first team with three in a row.
Ryan Blaney, who won the most recent Cup race at Daytona International Speedway last August, has finished runner-up in the Daytona 500 twice and has top 10s in six of the past nine season openers. The No. 12 Ford star for Team Penske has led in eight consecutive Daytona 500s, including th past four, and he also has five wins at Daytona and Talladega Superspeedway (the circuit’s two most famous drafting tracks).
Defending Cup Series champion Kyle Larson won’t be on the list of many favorites for this race with only four top 10s in 12 Daytona 500 starts. But Larson seems to finally be solving how to master the Daytona draft, and he did run out of fuel while leading the last lap of the 2017 Daytona 500.
And of course, Denny Hamlin is the leading active Daytona 500 winner with three victories. It’s been a painful and tumultous offseason for the Joe Gibbs Racing star, and starting the 2026 season with another Daytona 500 win would be the type storybook ending that NASCAR often produces.
Near misses in Daytona 500 history
Per the fabulously talented staff of Racing Insights, here are a few of the heartbreaks for some big drivers in the Daytona 500 (whose roster of winners is suprisingly absent of many superstars such as Tony Stewart, Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin):
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1989: Alan Kulwicki suffered a late cut tire, handing the win to Darrell Waltrip
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2007: Mark Martin loses by inches to Kevin Harvick as NASCAR held the caution flag on the final lap until the checkered flag (despite Clint Bowyer sliding down the frontstretch on his roof). If the yellow had flown at the time of the crash (or several seconds afterward), Martin wins.
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2008: Tony Stewart loses the lead on the final lap to Ryan Newman (who gets drafting help from teammate Kurt Busch)
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2011: David Ragan costs himself the lead in overtime on a restart violation
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2016: Martin Truex Jr., who also never won the Daytona 500, is nipped at the finish line by Denny Hamlin in the closest Daytona finish ever.
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2017: Kyle Larson runs out of fuel on the final lap and loses the lead to Kurt Busch.
Michael Jordan speaks
NBA legend Michael Jordan is also a NASCAR team owner, partnering in 23XI Racing with longtime friend and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin.
The team sued NASCAR over its franchise-style charter system, and the sides reached a settlement in December.
“The thing is both sides had been at a stalemate, and we both needed to have conversations about change,” Jordan told Fox Sports’ Jamie Little during the prerace show. “About how we can grow this sport. Unfortunately, we had to go through what we had to go through last (year), but I think coming out of that, we have a much better appreciation of each other. And I think it opens up conversations with each other about how to continue to grow the game.
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“Don’t forget about the fans. The fans make this game so enjoyable to watch. As much as we can listen, change and please the fans and the teams and grow the sport, I think everybody’s going to be OK.”
Jordan is a longtime fan of NASCAR, having grown up in Wilmington, North Carolina, watching the Daytona 500 annually with his family.
“It was a group event,” he said. “The family would sit there and we’d watch the race (for) four, five, six hours. It doesn’t matter; we’re going to watch the race. For me to have an opportunity to continually come back and be part of this, kind of reminds me of being back home in North Carolina and being able to watch the race.”
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Asked to compare the Daytona 500 to his Hall of Fame basketball careeer, Jordan made a comparison with an event airing at 5 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock today.
“It’s like playing in an All-Star Game to some degree,” Jordan said. “It’s an appreciation of the fans and at the same time, it’s an opportunity to win and compete. I enjoy seeing the fans come out and support the sport.”
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This year, the NBA All-Star Game will have a new USA vs. World format.
Rain, rain stay away
Though the start of the 68th Daytona 500 was moved up because of a stormy forecast tonight, the race is overdue for some good luck with dodging raindrops.
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The Daytona 500 has endured a spate of weather disruptions since its first postponement to Monday in 2012 (after the first 53 editions had gone off as scheduled). In 2014, the race was delayed by a 6-hour, 22-minute red flag, and then postponed after 20 laps to Monday in 2020.
The 2021 race was delayed by a 5-hour and 40-minute red flag, and the 2024 race was postponed to Monday by storms. Last year, there was a three-hour, 10-minute red flag on Lap 9 because of rain.
Fingers crossed for a full distance today!
Puka on the pole!
Puka Nacua is among the many dignitaries at Daytona International Speedway today, and the star Los Angeles Rams wide receiver was the debut participant in a new two-seater ridealong program that NASCAR has dubbed the “Speed Seat Thrill Ride.”
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Nacua, who has an endorsement deal with Toyota (which competes in NASCAR’s national series), will ride with 2004 Cup champion Kurt Busch on a lap ahead of the field. Nacua got a taste of the experience Sunday morning with 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace turning some laps.
Nacua and Wallace recently were in Toyota’s Super Bowl LX commercial, “Where Dreams Began.”
Among the other celebrities at Daytona today: country music star Miranda Lambert will perform a prerace concert, comedian Nate Bargatze will give the command to start, and actor Kurt Russell will be the honorary pace car driver.
Former NFL coach Jon Gruden also has been making the rounds (starting his morning at a nearby Waffle House before meeting some drivers today).
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“It’s unbelievable you guys start the season with the Super Bowl,” Gruden told Fox Sports’ Michael Waltrip in the prerace. “This is the greatest event ever. I’m so happy to be here. I can’t get a job coaching, so I’m studying NASCAR now.”
Starting lineup
In his 21st attempt at his first win in the Daytona 500, Kyle Busch will be starting from the pole position for the first time in the race. It’s the 35th career pole in the 751st start for the Richard Childress Racing driver, whose previous best start in the Daytona 500 was fourth (2006, 2009, 2013, 2016).
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Busch, 40, is in good company in enduring a long wait to win NASCAR’s biggest race. It took seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt 20 tries before his first Daytona 500 win in 1998. Darrell Waltrip won in his 17th attempt at the Great American Race.
Click here or below for the 41-car starting lineup (which includes an extra driver because seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson was given a special provisional entry).
NASCAR: Duel 1 at DAYTONA
Starting lineup for the 2026 Daytona 500
Kyle Busch will lead the field to the green in the 68th running of the Great American Race.
Race odds
Per DraftKings Sportsbook, pole-sitter Kyle Busch (+1000), Joey Logano (+1000) and Denny Hamlin (+1000) are the trio of favorites today. Ryan Blaney (+1200) and Kyle Larson (+1200) round out the top five in driver odds to win.
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Hamlin leads active drivers with three Daytona 500 victories, and Logano won the race in 2015. Busch, Blaney (who won the most recent Daytona race last August) and Larson all are seeking their first wins in the season opener.
The sports betting site reports that among the most popular Daytona 500 bets has been props for Hendrick Motorsports, which has Larson, Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman and two-time defending winner William Byron in the field.
Read the full article here
