The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season begins in earnest Sunday with the biggest race of the year, the Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, Fox). After a rain-limited clash at the Coliseum, points and, perhaps more importantly, prestige were on the line on Sunday.
Daytona is just the beginning, though, as after NASCAR's Super Bowl, there are 35 more race weekends over the next nine months before the champion is crowned Nov. 10 in Phoenix.
Here's what to know before the 66th running of the Great American Race:
Daytona 500 race details
a path: Daytona International Speedway (2.5 mile tri-oval with high banks) in Daytona Beach, Florida
Banking services: It turns to -31 degrees | Tri-oval -18° | Back stretch -3 degrees
Race length: 200 laps for 500 miles
Stage lengths: First stage – 65 laps | The second stage – 65 laps | Stage 3 – 130 laps
2023 Winner: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (47), GTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet
Starting grid for the Daytona 500
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Joey Logano
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Michael McDowell
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Tyler Reddick
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Christopher Bell
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Chase Elliott
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Austin Cindric
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Alex Bowman
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Denny Hamlin
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Carson Hocevar
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John Hunter Nemechek
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Eric Jones
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Harrison Burton
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Danielle Suarez
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Zane Smith
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Ty Gibbs
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Brad Keselowski
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Kyle Larson
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William Byron
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Chris Bucher
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Chase Briscoe
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Ross Chastain
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Justin Haley
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Jimmie Johnson
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Bubba Wallace
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Ryan Press
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Kaz Grala
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Martin Truex Jr
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A. J. Allmendinger
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Corey Lajoie
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Josh Perry
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Todd Gilliland
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Ryan Blaney
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Austin Dillon
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Kyle Busch
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Ricky Stenhouse Jr
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Riley Autumn
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Daniel Hemric
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Noah Gragson
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Anthony Alfredo
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David Ragan
Daytona 500 broadcast and TV schedule
All times Eastern
Sunday
11 AM – 1 PM: Pre-Race Show Part 1 (FS1, Fox Sports App)
1-2:30 PM: Pre-Race Show Part 2 (Fox, Fox Sports App)
2:30-6 PM: Daytona 500 (Fox, Fox Sports app)
Toyota cars flex their muscles
After a lackluster showing during single-car front-row qualifying on Wednesday night, Toyota's new-for-2024 package has recovered nicely over the past two days. Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell won their respective duels Thursday night, each coming from deep down the field.
On Friday, Denny Hamlin topped the timesheets with a lap of 45.575 ahead of seven other Toyota drivers, including Bell and Reddick. So, while the single-car pace isn't there, the revamped package works incredibly well in a group.
Michael McDowell, who will start the Daytona 500 on the outside of the front row, was ninth-fastest non-Toyota driver, logging 46.256 laps in his Front Row Motorsports Ford. The Richard Childress Racing entry of Austin Dillon was the fastest Chevrolet in the No. 46.411, good for 12th.
Riddick and Bell win qualifying duels while Johnson sneaks out
Tyler Reddick won the first qualifying duel for the Daytona 500 with a bold pass from Kyle Larson on the final lap and will start on the second row for the race. About 4,000 feet from the curb down the road, Jimmie Johnson snuck past JJ Yeley to make his way to the 21st Daytona 500 race.
As in the first duel, Christopher Bell pulled off the winning move on the final lap. 13 laps remaining hit half of the second duel field and after the ensuing restart, restart leader Michael McDowell – who had already secured the second starting spot – was hung out to dry, handing the lead to Denny Hamlin. Hamlin led until the last half of the final lap when Bell made a bold move on the backstretch that sealed the victory.
BJ McLeod – who had been running well early – was caught in a lap 47 incident and briefly passed Kaz Grala and lost his place in the Daytona 500 when Grala overtook him on the final lap.
Daytona 500 qualifying format
The biggest race of the year also features a unique qualifying format not used elsewhere on the NASCAR calendar. On Wednesday night, all 42 cars entered will spin one lap at full speed, with their ranking determined by a drawing of numbers on Tuesday night. The top ten drivers then go into a shootout, with the top two drivers from that session taking the front row for Sunday's race.
The remaining 40 cars — 20 apiece, plus the top two qualifying cars — are dropped into 60-lap qualifying “duels” that will be run on Thursday night that determine the field from third through 40th positions. The final standings of the first duel determine the inside row slots and the finishing order of the duel The second defines the outside.
The 36 that have a NASCAR charter are guaranteed to participate in the race, so two of the six non-chartered entries will be disqualified. Leading the pack is Hall of Famer and seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson, who is running an abbreviated nine-race schedule this season for his Legacy Motor Club team.
Logano ends Hendrick and Chevy's streak
Ford broke up Chevrolet's pole monopoly at Daytona on Wednesday night. Team Penske's Joey Logano earned his first Daytona 500 pole with a second-round time of 49.465, just 0.071 seconds faster than the Front Row Motorsports entry of 2021 Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell.
Logano set the fastest lap of the 42-car first round, and after McDowell had a seemingly insurmountable second round lap of 49.536, he bested it by just over seven-hundredths of a second.
Top drivers and betting odds for the Daytona 500
Superspeedway racing is full of risks, where one mistake you have nothing to do with can wipe out your race. The odds for Daytona, Talladega and Atlanta usually reflect this dynamic. No driver enters the week with better odds than 11-to-1, according to BetMGM.
Best odds of winning
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Ryan Blaney +1100
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Chase Elliott +1100
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Denny Hamlin +1100
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Brad Keselowski +1100
Reigning Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney is proud of his summer race win at Daytona, having won the regular season finale in 2021. While Chase Elliott has never won at Daytona, he has finished in the top 10 in ⅓ of his races there. Denny Hamlin has the most Daytona 500 wins of any driver in the field with three and has finished 32 of the 36 races at Daytona with an average position of 17. Brad Keselowski is third in career laps led at Daytona (345), behind Hamlin ( 666) and Kyle Busch (519).
Daytona 500 weather forecast
It is highly unlikely that the entire weekend will go ahead without a rain delay, with rain expected on Saturday and Sunday. The daytime high temperature should be in the low 70s and there is a 66 percent chance of rain in Saturday's final practice session for the Cup Series, ARCA and Xfinity races. For Sunday's Daytona 500, temperatures will drop into the mid-60s but the chance of rain increases to 75 percent.
Three of the last 10 Daytona 500s have been postponed due to rain (2014, 2020 and 2021) with the 2020 edition moved to the following Monday evening due to Sunday's deluge.
Daytona 500 entry list
Ross Chastain (1), Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Austin Cindric (2), Team Penske Ford
Austin Dillon (3), Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Josh Perry (4), Stewart-Haas Racing Ford
Kyle Larson (5), Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Brad Keselowski (6), RFK Racing Ford
Corey Lajoie (7), Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Kyle Busch (8), Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Chase Elliott (9), Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Noah Gragson (10 years old), Stewart-Haas Racing Ford
Denny Hamlin (11 years old), Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Ryan Blaney (12 years old), Team Penske Ford
Chase Briscoe (14), Stewart-Haas Racing Ford
Riley Herbst (15), Rick Ware Racing Ford
AJ Allmendinger (16), College Racing Chevrolet
Chris Buescher (17 years old), RFK Racing Ford
Martin Truex Jr. (19), Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Christopher Bell (20), Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Harrison Burton (21), Wood Brothers Racing Ford
Joey Logano (22), Team Penske Ford
Bubba Wallace (23), 23XI Racing Toyota
William Byron (24), Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Daniel Hemric (31), College Racing Chevrolet
Michael McDowell (34), Front Row Motorsports Ford
Kaz Grala (36), Ford Motorsports front row*
Todd Gilliland (38), front row of Ford Motorsports
Ryan Preece (41), Stewart-Haas Racing Ford
John Hunter Nemechek, 42, Legacy Motor Club Toyota
Eric Jones (43), Legacy Motor Club Toyota
JJ Yeley (44), New York Chevrolet Racing Team
Tyler Reddick (45), 23XI Racing Toyota
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (47), GTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet
Alex Bowman (48), Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Justin Haley (51), Rick Weir Racing Ford
Ty Gibbs (54), Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
David Ragan (60), RFK Racing Ford*
Anthony Alfredo (62), Bird Motorsports Chevrolet*
Zane Smith (71), Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Carson Hocevar (77), Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
PJ McLeod (78), Live Fast Motorsports Ford*
Jimmie Johnson (84), Legacy Motor Club Toyota*
Daniel Suarez (99), Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
* —It does not guarantee a place in the field
