History could be made at Sunday’s Daytona 500

NASCAR’s biggest race kicks off the season Sunday as the green flag drops on the 68th Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX).

History could be made as William Byron tries to become the first man to win the Great American Race three years in a row.

Byron is the fifth driver to win consecutive Daytona 500s. Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Sterling Marlin and Denny Hamlin each defended their championships. Remarkably, Byron’s best finish at the Daytona 500 before winning was 21st, although he did win the 2020 Coke Zero Sugar 400 on the same track.

Byron qualified to start 22nd in the 45-car field.

Kyle Busch qualified to start on the pole for the first time in his career at the Daytona 500. Chase Briscoe starts on the outside of the front row.

Another driver to watch is Hamlin, who starts fourth. In addition to his back-to-back wins in 2019 and 2020, Hamlin also won the race in 2016. If Hamlin wins for a fourth time, he will join Yarborough with the second-most wins at the Daytona 500. Only Petty, who won seven times, earned the title more often.

Among other former winners in the field, 2015 winner Joey Logano qualified 10th. Austin Dillon, the 2018 champion, will start 12th. Michael McDowell, who won in 2021, starts 21st. McDowell’s two career NASCAR Cup Series wins came at Daytona and Indianapolis, the two most hallowed racetracks in the United States.

Two-time winner Jimmie Johnson will start 28th at the age of 50. The seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion won the Daytona 500 for the first time 20 years ago and also took the checkered flag in 2019.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., the 2023 winner, starts 38th.

Ryan Blaney and Logano have been installed as the betting favorites, with Byron and Hamlin just behind. Blaney won the NASCAR Cup championship in 2023 and has finished in the top 4 at Daytona three times, including a pair of runner-up finishes in 2017 and 2020. Last year, he finished seventh.

Logano, a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, has finished in the top 4 four times, including a runner-up finish in 2023. In 2024, he started on the pole and led the most laps in the race before finishing 32nd.

The winner of the race is expected to take home between $2.4 million and $3 million from a record-setting total purse of over $31 million.

Weather could play a role in the race. Late afternoon thunderstorms are possible, which could delay the race for the third time in six years.