2026 Daytona 500 preview: Your cheat sheet to the Great American RaceRyan McGeeMultiple AuthorsFeb 13, 2026, 12:00 PM ET
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The green flag drops on this year’s Daytona 500 on Sunday. James Gilbert/Getty ImagesDAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — For 68 years, the world’s greatest stock car racers have descended upon the white sands of eastern Florida to compete for the most coveted checkered flag their sport has to offer. Actually, they have come here for much longer than that — high-horsepower machinery first started barreling down the actual sands of the actual beach all the way back in 1902. But in 1959, when Big Bill France rounded up every bulldozer he could find and constructed a 2.5-mile D-shaped oval with 31 degrees of banking, stacked 40 feet wide and 20 feet tall, the racing moved inland and the Daytona 500 was born.Much like last weekend’s big NFL game in Santa Clara, a sizable percentage of this weekend’s audience will be those who watch only one NASCAR race per year. Perhaps you are one of those people. Or perhaps you are one of my people, who have a bronze Richard Petty bust on their desk (I totally do) and describes the result of any and all failures around the house as “it done blowed up.”
No matter what your level of NASCAR knowledge, this Daytona 500 preview is for you. A cheat sheet of Great American Race facts and figures that will allow you to look up from your nachos this Sunday and blow the minds of your friends and family with your sudden dialed-in setup of gearhead smarts.
So, slip on that vintage Mark Martin No. 6 Viagra Ford T-shirt that your giggling teenager paid way too much for at the local thrift store (I could have made a fortune from all the stuff I took to Goodwill in the early 2000s), dab a little WD-40 behind your ears, throw an old tire in the backyard firepit and read ahead.
My annual prerace weekend evening garage stroll asking the folks in the splashy firesuits, “Well, who are you gonna have to beat Sunday?” resulted in five most-mentioned names, and quelle surprise, they just so happen to also be the five names that the wise guys who make such lists for a living have atop their odds compilations. It begins with Team Penske teammates Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney, who finished 1-2 in Thursday night’s first Duel 150 qualifying race, despite the aerodynamic drag of Blaney’s hedge row of a mustache. Their peer mentions to me were drafted behind closely by a pair of multitime Daytona 500 champs in Denny Hamlin and William Byron (more on them later), as well as Byron’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott, winner of Thursday’s second race, the son of a two-time 500 champion but still looking for his first (more on that later, too).
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The garage also has its collective eye on some guys that they certainly know but nonregular NASCAR viewers likely do not, including a man who unfortunately wrecked his Ford on Thursday night and will start shotgun to the field (that means last) on Sunday, Chris Buescher. He drives for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, co-owned by NASCAR legendary owner Jack Roush, the Fenway Sports Group you might know as the group that also owns the Boston Red Sox and Brad Keselowski, who also still drives and was also a name that kept coming up during my chats. Also mentioned more than a few times: Bubba Wallace, who with any luck could have won this race twice already, and a pair of guys who have already won the Daytona 500 in stunning fashion. Austin Dillon, driver of the No. 3 car that Dale Earnhardt made famous, and the racer who earned one of the greatest upset wins in NASCAR history, 2022 Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric.
A year ago, we had Byron on the “Five more to watch” list, and I received more than a few WTH tweets in response. But then his No. 24 Chevy (yes, the one that Jeff Gordon used to drive, but Gordon’s now retired and Byron’s boss) seemingly came out of nowhere to win the sport’s biggest race for the second consecutive year. He joined one of NASCAR’s most special clubs as just the fifth-ever repeat Daytona 500 winner. The other four? Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Sterling Marlin and Hamlin, who did it 2019 and 2020.
Hamlin has three in all, which ties him with three others (including Gordon) for third on the all-time wins list. Should he pick up a fourth victory, it would bump him into him into a tie for second with another driver who won a lot of races driving the No. 11: Yarborough. Who is on top of the list? Petty, aka Mister The King from Disney Pixar’s “Cars,” who won this race seven times.
Racing while injured is a time-honored stock car racing tradition, and this year will be no exception. NASCAR Hall of Famer Ricky Rudd famously raced with swollen eyelids taped open after a brutal Daytona crash … and won. NASCAR’s first champion, Red Byron, raced on Daytona Beach — the actual beach! — with a leg full of World War II shrapnel that had to be bolted to the clutch pedal.
Hamlin had a heartbreaking offseason, losing his father to injuries suffered in a December house fire. His mother has also been in a long medical recovery. While helping sift through the remains and rubble of their home, Hamlin re-tore a right shoulder that he’d had surgically repaired three years ago. He says he’ll have another surgery, but not until November when the season is over.
“I’d be lying if I told you I came here at 100%,” he confessed Wednesday. “But the hope is that when I get in the car, that can be my escape.”
Denny Hamlin enters the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series campaign coming off a heartbreaking offseason in which his father died. Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesMeanwhile, Keselowski broke his right femur during a family ski trip in mid-December and admitted earlier this week that he was worried he might miss Daytona, sitting out the Clash exhibition race and not receiving clearance for the 500 until Monday. He says the pain is the worst he has ever dealt with, including a gruesome ankle injury suffered in a road course crash 15 years ago, and has been using a cane in the garage this week.
“Walking to the car is way worse than being in the car,” he stated after finishing fourth in his Duel 150 on Thursday. “It will be worth it when I finally win this race.”
Nope. And neither have a lot of the biggest names in Sunday’s field. He’s one of five series champions who are 0-for-Daytona.
Kyle Busch: 63 career wins, 9th best all-time; 0-for-20 in Daytona 500; best finish: 2nd, 2019
Brad Keselowski: 36 career wins, 25th best all-time; 0-for-16 in Daytona 500; best finish: 3rd, 2014
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Kyle Larson: 29 career wins; defending Cup Series champion, 0-for-12 in Daytona 500; best finish: 7th, 2016 and 2019
Chase Elliott: 19 career wins, son of two-time Daytona 500 winner Bill, 0-for-10 in Daytona 500; best finish: 2nd, 2021
Ryan Blaney: 17 career wins, 2023 Cup Series champion, 0-for-11 in Daytona 500; best finish: 2nd, twice, in 2017 and 2020
They all own NASCAR’s biggest prize, the ginormous Cup, but not NASCAR’s single biggest race award, the Harley J. Earl Trophy handed to the Daytona 500 winner. Earl was a legendary mid-20th century car designer, producing machines that looked like spaceships on wheels (including the one welded to the top of the Daytona trophy), and he was also the visionary behind the creation of the Chevy Corvette.
There are 19 Chevy Camaros in Sunday’s 41-car field (vs. 10 Ford Mustangs and 12 Toyota Camrys), and all will look different than they did one year ago, despite the Bowtie Brigade’s domination of the annual manufacturers’ title race between Chevy, Ford and Toyota. This year’s changes to the hood, side panels and nose are relatively subtle, but it’s that nose that everyone is curious about. Why? Because in the tight, conga line-style racing at Daytona, these cars bang bumpers as they push each other forward. Like, a lot. The shape of the nose means that 190-mph jigsaw puzzle pieces had better fit together perfectly or a punch of power will turn into a sideways shove that causes the dreaded “Big One” crash that eats racecars in bunches. Both of the big wrecks in Thursday night’s first qualifying race came via Chevy nasal misconnects.
Yes, and yes. And here’s another yes. He’s on the pole for the Great American Race, the first time he has started the 500 from the number one starting spot. On paper, that sounds awesome. And it is. But it also leads us to the craziest Daytona 500 stat, and all you need to know about the wackiness of this event.
Will Kyle Busch claim his first Daytona 500 on Sunday? He starts from pole for the Great American Race for the first time in his career. Jeff Curry/Getty ImagesThe last time the racer who started first also finished first? Dale Jarrett … in 2000! That’s so long ago that Connor Zilisch, who is making his Daytona 500 debut using the same car number (88) that Jarrett made famous, wasn’t even born yet. It was so long ago that the number one movie at the box office was “Scream 3.” Later this month is the premiere of “Scream 7,” co-starring former Talladega grand marshal David Arquette.
The Daytona 500 is always a draw for famous people. This year’s grand marshal is comedian and Vanderbilt football superfan Nate Bargatze, joined by honorary pace car driver Kurt Russell. Long before he was Wyatt Earp or Star Lord’s deadbeat dad, heck even before he was the star of “The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes” (now streaming on Disney+!), Russell was a national champion quarter midget racer.
Also expected to be in the house are Michael Jordan, co-owner of 23XI Racing with Hamlin (and co-suer of NASCAR in an antitrust lawsuit that thankfully was settled in December), Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua, who co-starred with 23XI’s Wallace in a Toyota Super Bowl commercial and is scheduled to get a ride around Daytona with Wallace on race morning. If they need any pointers on what to feels like to say “I am speed,” they can visit Lightning McQueen, who will be in the fan zone located right smack in the middle of the Cup Series garage in the racetrack infield. Why? Because this year marks the 20th anniversary of “Cars.” Ka-Chow!
1. Shout this whenever the TV shows someone in a black No. 3 shirt: “I can’t believe it’s been 25 years!”
Earnhardt died 25 years ago, on Feb. 18, 2001, in the final turn of the final lap of the Daytona 500. To millions, it is still the most startling moment in sports history, a sport’s biggest star killed during its biggest event. But the safety changes that were implemented after the seven-time Cup Series champion’s death have resulted in exactly zero deaths in NASCAR’s top three national series since that day. For more, please revisit our in-depth four-part series we did for the 20th anniversary in 2021.
2. Shout this during pit stops: “Hey, we’ve seen that dude play football!”
When I covered my first Daytona 500 in 1996, pit crews were made up of mechanics from the shop who spent all weekend building cars, smoking free Winstons while consuming lots of cheeseburgers and beer. Now they are finely tuned athletes who study film and practice their four-tires-and-fuel orchestrations to the point that they pull off pit stops in a quarter of the time they used to. All are former college athletes, from hockey and baseball to lots and lots of former football players. Teams scout talent via NFL-style combines and the pit lane has former players from dozens of programs, from Alabama and Penn State to Clemson and Virginia Tech. Hendrick Motorsports, who pioneered the football-to-pit crew movement nearly 30 years ago — and was initially laughed at — just opened a 35,000-foot performance center for its crews.
3. Holler this when there are ten laps to go: “They’re gonna wreck!”
OK, yes, we tell you to say this every year when we write this preview. But for 67 years that has been true, during this 68th year it will be true, and for the next 68 years from now it will be true. Back in the day, that meant you might see Petty and David Pearson skating through the grass toward the checkered flag, like they did in 1976. Or Yarborough fistfighting Bobby and Donnie Allison in the Turn 3 grass, like they did in 1979. But these days it’s about the parity of the modern Gen 7 cars added with the fearlessness of today’s racers leading us to an annual demolition derby once the 200-lap race gets down to single-digit circuits remaining. See: Byron one year ago, who was dragging around in the 20’s midrace and took the lead as the race ended, but only after two Big Ones after lap 187 that took out 16 cars.
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