The 68th Daytona 500 will officially kick off the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season on Sunday. The iconic race will begin at 2:30 p.m. ET at the 2.5-mile oval in Daytona Beach, Florida, and will be televised on Fox.
Here’s everything you need to know before the race as NASCAR makes major changes to its championship format ahead of the season.
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Can William Byron make it three in a row?
William Byron attempts to become the first driver to win three consecutive Daytona 500s.
Only six drivers have won at least three Daytona 500 races, and none of them have won those titles in consecutive seasons. Of those six, only three – Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough and Denny Hamlin – won the Daytona 500 in consecutive seasons.
Byron is one of seven drivers with two Daytona 500 wins, and he achieved those victories by avoiding late collisions and being in the right place at the right time on late restarts.
In 2024, Byron survived a 23-car crash at the front of the field with less than 10 laps left in the race. That incident restarted the race with four laps to go, and Byron led the remaining four laps en route to victory. It was the only four laps Byron led the entire race.
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A season ago, an incident resulted in a green-and-white checkered restart with five laps to go. In the final, Byron was seventh on the exit of the second corner but was somehow able to overtake the race leader as they stormed down the back track to steal the win.
Can Byron continue his good fortune and achieve an unprecedented three-game winning streak?
Daytona 500 winner no longer a virtual playoff lock
NASCAR’s cumulative 10-race playoff format has returned.
The sanctioning body announced in January that it would return to the original playoff format introduced in 2004. After the first 26 races of the season, the top 16 drivers in the standings will qualify for the playoffs and will be seeded based on their position in the standings. The driver with the most points in the final 10 races of the season will be crowned champion at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
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NASCAR held a total of 10 playoff games from 2004 to 2013, and then launched a multi-round playoff series in 2014. In this playoff format, drivers who win a race during the regular season are all but guaranteed to make the playoffs.
For the past 12 seasons, the 10-race playoff has consisted of four rounds, with three drivers eliminated in each of the first three rounds, and then four drivers competing directly for the championship in the season finale. Hamlin dominated the final race of the season at Phoenix in 2025, but a late warning of Byron’s tire failure shook up pit strategy and Kyle Larson exited pit road ahead of Hamlin and beat him to the finish line to win his second Cup Series victory.
Can Denny Hamlin win his fourth Daytona 500?
A fourth victory for the 45-year-old Hamlin would tie him with Cale Yarborough for the second-most Daytona 500 wins. Hamlin is one of four drivers with three Daytona 500 wins and, along with Byron, one of only two active, full-time drivers with multiple Daytona 500 wins.
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The past four months have been tumultuous for Hamlin. After losing the championship in heartbreaking fashion in November, Hamlin and the 23XI Racing team he co-owns with Michael Jordan went to trial with NASCAR over the Cup Series’ franchise agreement. The trial resulted in a settlement that awarded the team a permanent franchise – a major sticking point in 23XI and Front Row Motorsports’ lawsuit against NASCAR.
Later in December, Hamlin’s father, Dennis, was killed and his mother, Mary Lou, seriously injured in a fire in North Carolina. Just two weeks ago, Hamlin revealed that he re-injured his right shoulder while crawling through the rubble of a fire scene and will wait until after the 2026 Cup season to have surgery.
With 60 career Cup Series wins in 721 starts, Hamlin is the most successful driver to never win a Cup Series title. After being so close to 2025, can 2026 finally arrive?
Many big names are still looking for their first Daytona 500 win
Besides Byron and Hamlin, only five full-time drivers have ever won the Daytona 500. Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, Michael McDowell, Austin Cindric and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
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You’ll notice a lot of star power is missing from this list. Drivers such as Larson, 2023 Cup champion Ryan Blaney, 2020 Cup champion Chase Elliott, 2015 and 2019 Cup champion Kyle Busch are still looking for their first Daytona 500 victory.
Bushey’s drought is the longest of the group. The 2026 Daytona 500 will be Busch’s 21st start, and he really didn’t have the best luck at Daytona in February. Busch has just one victory in 41 total races at Daytona, and only five of his 13 top-10 finishes in those races have come in the Daytona 500.
If he wins Sunday for Richard Childress Racing, he will break a longer streak than Dale Earnhardt. The seven-time Cup champion finally won his first Daytona 500 in the 20th race of 1998.
Busch also started the race from the pole. On Wednesday night, he won his first Daytona 500 pole position and will become the first driver to win after starting since Dale Jarrett in 2000.
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Connor Zilisch is the only rookie in the Cup Series
The 19-year-old doesn’t have to do much to win the 2026 Rookie of the Year award, as he’s the only driver in contention for the award. Zilisch will move up to the Cup Series this season for Trackhouse Racing after making 36 starts in what is now the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
After four race wins in 2024, Zilisch dominated in 2025, recording 10 wins and 23 top-10 finishes in 32 starts with JR Motorsports in 2025. However, he failed to win the series after finishing third behind winner Jesse Love in the final race of the season.
Zilisch is already an excellent road racer and will soon become the primary foil for his Trackhouse teammate Shane van Gisbergen on the road. van Gisbergen won five of six Cup Series road races in 2025.
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jimmy johnson returns
The seven-time Cup Series champion will move on to another Daytona 500 and run part-time in NASCAR. After retiring from the Cup Series during the 2021 and 2022 seasons to try his hand at IndyCar, Johnson has competed in the past three Daytona 500s for Legacy Automobile Club, even finishing third a season ago.
Johnson also doesn’t have to worry about eligibility this season. Helio Castroneves has a guaranteed spot in the race under a rule NASCAR implements through 2025, and Johnson is locked in via a temporary provision of public immunity granted at NASCAR’s discretion to outstanding drivers on the part-time schedule.
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Johnson’s addition means there will be 41 cars competing in the Daytona 500 instead of 40. With 45 cars trying to compete, four drivers will not qualify.
Who enters the Daytona 500?
Casey Mears and BJ McLeod made it all the way to the Daytona 500 in duel qualifying Thursday night. Their achievements were also very different.
Mills spun while entering the pits midway through the first duel and was in last place for the home team on the final lap. But Corey LaJoie — one of two riders vying for a spot in the 500 — was involved in a crash while running at the front of the field. Mills had him on the floor during the incident and even hit Daniel Suarez as Suarez hit the wall. But as LaJoie’s car was damaged on the infield grass, he crossed the finish line ahead of Chandler Smith.
During the second duel, McLeod was sure he wasn’t within 500 miles and got out of the car. McLeod was ahead of JJ Yeley but behind Anthony Alfredo in the receiving end position in that game. However, Alfredo’s car failed post-race inspection and he was disqualified and McLeod was unable to compete.
