Daytona 500 starting lineup, how to watch 2025 NAS...

The 67th operating of the Daytona 500 will kickstart the 77th season of NASCAR Cup Collection racing the place Team Penske and Joey Logano will start their title protection. The brand new season comes with loads of adjustments throughout the grid and a few new laws for them to comply with.

NASCAR determined in opposition to overhauling its playoff system, regardless of pushback following Joey Logano’s shock title run with a 17.1 common end. Nevertheless, they did add a brand new wrinkle with the ‘Xfinity Fastest Lap,’ which will award a bonus point to the driver with the fastest lap during each race. This rule is in place for all three nationwide divisions.

NASCAR additionally changed the way playoff waivers and the damaged vehicle policy will be handled going into the 2025 season. Playoff waivers can nonetheless be granted for non-medical causes, however in these conditions, the driving force must forfeit all of their playoff bonus factors in the course of the common season. This ‘punishment’ could be for conditions the place a driver misses a race resulting from a suspension or like final Might when Kyle Larson missed the Coke 600 whereas competing within the rain-delayed Indy 500. As for the DVP, vehicles can now be towed again to the storage to restore harm and nonetheless return to the race. Beforehand, NASCAR was extremely strict and if a automobile couldn’t drive away by itself, it was out of the race — even when it was merely caught resulting from flat tires. 

With the shuttering of Stewart-Haas Racing, one in all its charters has gone to Trackhouse for the group’s third entry with Shane van Gisbergen, one other to Front Row Motorsports for its third entry with Zane Smith, and one other to 23XI Racing for its newly fashioned third entry with Riley Herbst. Gene Haas held on to the ultimate constitution, reorganizing because the Haas Manufacturing unit Staff and selling Cole Custer again to the Cup degree. All 4 SHR drivers discovered new properties within the Cup Collection with Chase Briscoe becoming a member of Joe Gibbs Racing, Josh Berry taking on the enduring Wooden Brothers entry, Noah Gragson transferring over FRM, and Ryan Preece sliding right into a newly fashioned third entry for RFK Racing (the group is leasing a 3rd constitution from Rick Ware Racing).

And these are simply a number of the adjustments to the grid for 2025! Wanting ahead, the most important entry listing in a decade will head to the two.5-mile superspeedway in Florida the place William Byron is the defending Daytona 500 winner. Final yr’s race ended with a dramatic three-wide transfer for the win by Ross Chastain, who stormed up the center however as an alternative of greedy victory, he found himself spinning through the infield grass.

Among the many 9 open entries are former Cup champions Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson, reigning Xfinity champion Justin Allgaier driving a JR Motorsports entry, and four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves in Trackhouse’s Project 91 machine.

When is the Daytona 500?  

• Date: Sunday February 16
• Time: 1:30pm ET [Start time moved up one hour due to threat of rain]
• Community: FOX Sports activities 
• Streaming: Max (onboard cameras)

Full Speedweeks schedule

How does qualifying work for the Daytona 500?

Qualifying for the Daytona 500 is in contrast to something in motorsport, and it has no scarcity of drama. It begins with a single-car, one-lap format. So, every driver will get one flying lap across the tri-oval and the 2 quickest vehicles will likely be locked in because the front-row starters for Sunday’s Daytona 500. The opposite qualifying occasions decide the beginning grid for each Duel races, which decides the remainder of the Daytona 500 lineup. The Duels are a pair of 60-lap qualifying races, overlaying 150 miles, and the outcomes of the primary race decide the within row for the five hundred, whereas the second decides Sunday’s outdoors row.  

However extra importantly, the Duel races determine which of the 9 open entries fill out the ultimate few spots on the 40-car grid. The 2 quickest open entries in qualifying will likely be secured a spot whereas the top-finishing open entry in every of the 2 Duel races. Ought to the identical driver(s) that topped the open area in qualifying prime the open vehicles of their respective Duel races, then the third and if wanted, the fourth quickest drivers from qualifying will fill out the sector.

A brand new wrinkle this yr is the Open Exemption Provisional, supplied to a world-class driver making an attempt to make the race. The primary driver to profit from the OEP will likely be four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves, who will take the forty first spot on the grid after crashing out of his Duel qualifying race. 

The place can I watch highlights of the Daytona 500?

Final yr the NASCAR on FOX YouTube channel uploaded highlights quickly after the Daytona 500 had ended, whereas doing the identical for the periods that preceded it that week.

The official NASCAR YouTube channel at present has a full replay of the 2024 Daytona 500, so comply with the assorted NASCAR platforms to observe a highlights package deal – or the complete race once more – as quickly because it drops. 

Watch: Race Rewind: Daytona 500 ends with a wild end

Tales of the week

Denny Hamlin led the opening follow session, which preceded single-car qualifying on Wednesday night. There, Chase Briscoe earned a shock pole in his first race as a Joe Gibbs Racing driver. JGR hasn’t earned pole in NASCAR’s season-opener since 1998 with Bobby Labonte, and it’s the first Daytona 500 pole ever for the Toyota Racing camp. Briscoe beating Staff Penske’s Austin Cindric, who will be part of him on the entrance row.

Moreover, former Cup champions Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson — who each drive Toyotas — locked themselves into the field as they beat all of open drivers. 

 Bubba Wallace and Austin Cindric gained the Duel qualifying races on Thursday, whereas Justin Allgaier (driving for JR Motorsports in their Cup debut) and Corey LaJoie raced their way into the show. There was some controversy on the finish of the second Duel race as Erik Jones was forward on the line, however NASCAR threw the warning seconds earlier resulting from a wreck within the again. This paved the way for Cindric to take victory after several minutes of confusion. The 4 drivers who didn’t make the race have been J.J. Yeley, Chandler Smith, Anthony Alfredo, and B.J. McLeod.

On Friday, NASCAR introduced that the beginning time of the five hundred was moved up a full hour because of the likelihood of rain showers within the afternoon.

Daytona 500 Beginning Lineup

Photographs from Saturday of Daytona 500