The 68th Daytona 500 will officially kick off the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season on Sunday. The iconic race at the 2.5-mile oval in Daytona Beach, Florida, begins at 2:30 p.m. ET and will be televised on Fox.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the race, as NASCAR has made significant changes to its championship format ahead of the season.
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Can William Byron win 3 in a row?
William Byron is attempting to be the first driver to win three consecutive Daytona 500s.
Just six drivers have won at least three Daytona 500s and none of them ever won them in back-to-back-to-back seasons. And of those six, only three — Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough and Denny Hamlin — won Daytona 500s in back-to-back seasons.
Byron is one of seven drivers with two Daytona 500 wins and he’s scored those victories by avoiding late crashes and being in the right place at the right time on late restarts.
In 2024, Byron was able to escape a 23-car crash at the front of the field with less than 10 laps to go. That crash set up a restart with four laps to go as Byron led all four of the remaining circuits on his way to the win. Those were the only four laps Byron led all race.
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A season ago, a crash with five laps to go on the backstretch set up a green-white-checkered restart. Byron was in seventh as the field exited Turn 2 on the final but was somehow able to get past the race leaders as they crashed down the backstretch to steal the win.
Can Byron somehow continue his luck for an unprecedented three wins in a row?
The winner of the Daytona 500 is no longer a virtual lock for the playoffs
NASCAR’s cumulative 10-race playoff format has returned.
The sanctioning body announced in January that it was returning to a version of its original playoff format that it launched in 2004. After the first 26 races of the season, the top 16 drivers in the points standings will qualify for the playoffs and will be seeded based on their position in the standings. The driver who has the most points in the final 10 races of the season will be crowned the champion at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
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NASCAR had a cumulative 10-race playoff from 2004 through 2013 before it launched a multi-round version of the playoffs in 2014. In that playoff format, a driver who won a race in the regular season could virtually guarantee himself a spot in the playoffs.
For the past 12 seasons, the 10-race playoffs included four rounds and three drivers were eliminated in each of the first three rounds before four drivers raced straight-up for the championship in the season finale. In 2025, Hamlin dominated the final race of the season at Phoenix, but a late caution for Byron’s tire failure shook up the field on pit strategy, and Kyle Larson exited pit road ahead of Hamlin and beat him to the finish line for his second Cup Series title.
Can Denny Hamlin win a fourth Daytona 500?
Hamlin, 45, would tie Cale Yarborough for the second-most Daytona 500 wins if he gets a fourth victory. Hamlin is one of four drivers who have three Daytona 500 wins and, along with Byron, is one of just two active full-time drivers who have scored multiple Daytona 500 wins.
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It’s been a tumultuous last four months for Hamlin. After losing the championship in heartbreaking fashion in November, Hamlin and his 23XI Racing team that he co-owns with Michael Jordan went to trial against NASCAR over the Cup Series’ franchising agreement. The trial ended with a settlement that granted permanent charters to teams — a main sticking point in the lawsuit that 23XI and Front Row Motorsports filed against NASCAR.
Later in December, Hamlin’s father, Dennis, was killed and his mother, Mary Lou, was significantly injured in a fire that destroyed their home in North Carolina. Just two weeks ago, Hamlin revealed that he reinjured his right shoulder while climbing through the rubble at the site of the fire and will wait to have surgery until after the 2026 Cup Series season.
Hamlin has won 60 career Cup Series races across 721 starts and is the most successful driver to have never won a Cup Series title. Can 2026 finally be the year after he came so close in 2025?
A lot of big names are still looking for their first Daytona 500 win
Along with Byron and Hamlin, there are only five other full-time drivers who have Daytona 500 wins to their name; Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, Michael McDowell, Austijn Cindric and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
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You’ll notice that a lot of star power is absent from that list. Drivers like Larson, 2023 Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney, 2020 Cup champion Chase Elliott, 2015 and 2019 Cup Series champ Kyle Busch are still searching for their first wins in the Daytona 500.
Busch has the longest drought of anyone in that group. The 2026 Daytona 500 will be Busch’s 21st start and his luck in February at Daytona just simply hasn’t been good. Busch has just one win over 41 total starts at Daytona and only five of his 13 top-10 finishes in those races have come in the Daytona 500.
If he wins for Richard Childress Racing on Sunday, he’ll break a streak that was longer than Dale Earnhardt’s. The seven-time Cup Series champ finally won his first Daytona 500 in his 20th start in 1998.
Busch is also starting the race from the pole. He won his first Daytona 500 pole position on Wednesday night and would be the first driver since Dale Jarrett in 2000 to win after starting first.
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Connor Zilisch is the only Cup Series rookie
The 19-year-old doesn’t have to do much to win Rookie of the Year in 2026 as he’s the only driver running for the award. Zilisch is moving up full-time to the Cup Series this season for Trackhouse Racing after 36 starts in what’s now the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
After winning once over four starts in 2024, Zilisch was dominant in 2025 with 10 victories and 23 top-10 finishes across 32 races for JR Motorsports in 2025. However, he didn’t win the series championship after he finished third behind champion Jesse Love in the final race of the season.
Zilisch is already an accomplished road racer and could quickly be the main foil for his Trackhouse teammate Shane van Gisbergen on road courses. van Gisbergen won five of six Cup Series road course races in 2025.
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Jimmie Johnson returns
The seven-time Cup Series champion is continuing his part-time run in NASCAR with another Daytona 500. After taking the 2021 and 2022 seasons off from the Cup Series and trying his hand in IndyCar, Johnson has raced in the last three Daytona 500s for Legacy Motor Club and even finished third a season ago.
This season, Johnson doesn’t have to worry about qualifying for the race, either. Under a rule NASCAR implemented in 2025 that granted Helio Castroneves a guaranteed spot in the race, Johnson is locked into the field via the Open Exemption Provisional granted at NASCAR’s discretion to accomplished drivers running a part-time schedule.
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Johnson’s inclusion into the field means 41 cars will start the Daytona 500 instead of 40. With 45 cars attempting to make the race, four drivers will fail to qualify for the race.
Who made it into the Daytona 500?
Casey Mears and BJ McLeod raced their way into the Daytona 500 during Thursday night’s Duel qualifying races. And they accomplished their feats quite differently.
Mears spun entering pit road midway through the first Duel and was at the back of the main pack on the final lap. But Corey LaJoie — one of two drivers he was racing for a transfer spot into the 500 — was involved in a crash while running at the front of the field. Mears floored it as the crash occurred, and even ran into Daniel Suarez as Suarez hit the wall. But he crossed the finish line ahead of Chandler Smith as LaJoie’s car was damaged in the infield grass.
In the second Duel, McLeod exited his car certain that he didn’t make the 500. McLeod finished ahead of JJ Yeley but behind Anthony Alfredo in that race’s transfer spot. However, Alfredo’s car failed post-race inspection, and his disqualification put McLeod into the race.
