By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service

A star-studded NASCAR lineup is off to a fast start in Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric will lead Sunday’s DAYTONA 500 field to the green flag, having topped front-row qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series 2025 season-opener (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Austin Cindric, driver of the #2 Discount Tire Ford drives during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 12, 2025 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

Briscoe’s work in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota marks the first DAYTONA 500 pole position for the manufacturer and comes in his first start for the team after spending his previous four seasons driving Fords for fellow Hoosier, his racing idol, Tony Stewart. This is Cindric’s first front row start in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford. He scored his first career NASCAR Cup Series win in the 2022 DAYTONA 500.

It is all part of an exciting potential for Sunday’s race on the Daytona International Speedway’s 2.5-mile high banks with 18 new driver-crew chief combinations for the upcoming season, a half dozen part-time star drivers hoping to make the big show – plenty of motivation all around the grid, whose remaining positions will be set following Thursday night’s Duel at DAYTONA (7 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The two “open” entrants to have secured a position on the DAYTONA 500 starting grid are a pair of past series champions – Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson, who were 22nd and 29th fastest in pole qualifying. Truex is driving the No. 56 Toyota for TRICON Garage and Johnson – a two-time DAYTONA 500 winner – is running the No. 84 LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Toyota.

Four-time Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves is also among a star-studded list of seven “open” drivers – cars that don’t have a charter position insuring their place on the grid – still needing to earn a start in the Duels. The top two finishing drivers among that seven (plus Castroneves who has been granted an automatic provisional) will fill out the starting lineup.

Eight of the last 10 DAYTONA 500 winners were first-time DAYTONA 500 winners. The late NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt holds the record for most starts before a victory, taking the trophy in 1998 in his 20th try. This weekend, Truex is making his 21st DAYTONA 500 start and Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch is making his 20th. Dave Marcis holds the record for most starts (33) without a win.

Statistically speaking, being out front for the bulk of laps turned in the DAYTONA 500 has not necessarily guaranteed a win. In fact, the driver who led the most laps has won only once in the last eight races – Briscoe’s JGR teammate, Denny Hamlin in 2020.

This weekend brings multiple compelling storylines from Castroneves’ bid to join Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt as the only drivers with both Indy 500 and DAYTONA 500 titles to the former champions Johnson and Truex quest to win at Daytona in part-time seasons.

A substantial number of new fulltime driver-crew chief combinations also makes things interesting. The new look ranges from veterans such as three-time DAYTONA 500 champ, Hamlin who is now working alongside crew chief Chris Gayle to Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s driver/owner Brad Keselowski and Jeremy Bullins to driver Justin Haley paired with Spire Motorsports’ new addition Rodney Childers as well as Tyler Allen’s crew chief debut with Ty Gibbs at JGR.

There has been a massive shift overall in teams and drivers including high profile new pairings in Josh Berry, now driving the famed No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford to 2021 DAYTONA 500 winner Michael McDowell moving to the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet.

The overall field’s diversity – which includes former Australian Supercars champion Shane Van Gisbergen’s beginning his first fulltime NASCAR Cup Series season at Trackhouse Racing – and a first-ever DAYTONA 500 entries for famed Earnhardt siblings Kelley Earnhardt Miller and Dale Earnhardt Jr. JR Motorsports (Justin Allgaier) as well as TRICON Garage (Truex) and Castroneves (Trackhouse Racing) and seven-time NASCAR champion Johnson (LEGACY MOTOR CLUB) makes this one of the most compelling potential grids in recent memory.

Five different drivers have won in the last five DAYTONA 500 races, including Hamlin (2020), McDowell (2021), Cindric (2022), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (2022) and William Byron (2024).

And the buzz in the air is absolutely unmistakable from veterans – like former series champions Busch, Truex, Keselowski, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson still chasing their first DAYTONA 500 wins to newcomers such as Van Gisbergen and Castroneves who all crave a trophy in the sport’s most important race.

“The prestige is real,” said Keselowski, whose best DAYTONA 500 finish is third in 2014. “It’s one of those things that once you win, people remember it and it carries throughout your career.”

Austin Hill goes for historic fourth consecutive Xfinity season-opener win at Daytona

The NASCAR Xfinity Series kicks off the 2025 season Saturday with the United Rentals 300 (5 p.m. ET on the CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) – a potentially historical quest to see if Richard Childress Racing driver Austin Hill can win his fourth consecutive Daytona season-opener.

Should Hill win Saturday evening, it would break a tie with NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. who won the race three straight years from 2002-04. His father, the late fellow NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt, however, holds the all-time race record of five consecutive wins from 1990-94.

Not only has the RCR powerhouse won those races, but the team has won the pole position in six of the series’ last seven races at the big drafting tracks (at Daytona Beach, Talladega, Ala. and Atlanta).

Despite the impressive statistics, however, Hill can expect big time competition Saturday from the reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier, who won the summer Daytona race in 2023 and has finished in the top-10 in six of the last seven races at the big track.

The popular 38-year old driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet finished last season with five consecutive top-10 finishes, including a runner-up in the Phoenix championship race to claim his first title in 14 fulltime seasons in the series. Allgaier hopes to be pulling double duty this weekend, driving the No. 40 Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the DAYTONA 500 (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The series will also feature another likely championship contender in Harrison Burton. The 24-year old returns to fulltime Xfinity Series competition driving the No. 25 AM Racing Ford after three spending the last three seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series with the famed Wood Brothers. Burton has four career Xfinity Series wins in two previous fulltime seasons (2020-21).

Of note, four of the last six series races at Daytona have ended under caution and four of the last five featured an overtime finish. Sixteen drivers have won the last 19 races at the track – the only two drivers with multiple wins in that time are Hill and Justin Haley.

Rookie phenom Connor Zilisch will be driving his first full season in the Xfinity Series steering the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. The 18-year old won from pole position in his series debut last year at Watkins Glen, N.Y. and earned top-five finishes in three of his four starts. In six NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts last year in that series’ debut, he won two pole positions (at Austin and Bristol, Tenn.) and scored a top-five (Austin).

Much is expected for this talented and versatile Zilisch who already has sports car victories in two of the biggest races on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Series schedule – the 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring.

Zilisch joins Nick Sanchez and Taylor Gray who made names for themselves in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and are odds-on favorites to contend for wins, if not the Xfinity Series title this season.

Qualifying for the United Rentals 300 is Saturday at 10 a.m. ET and available to watch on the CW App. Sam Mayer – who move from JR Motorsports to the Haas Factory Team – is the defending polesitter. The pole-winner has won only two of the last 30 NASCAR Xfinity Races at Daytona.

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series season-opener is up for grabs

The NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series takes its first green flag of the season in Friday night’s Fresh From Florida 250 (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Although defending race winner Nick Sanchez has moved into the NASCAR Xfinity Series fulltime, there is a robust entry list for the season-opener from reigning series champion, Ty Majeski to perennial title contenders Grant Enfinger, Corey Heim, Ben Rhodes and Stewart Friesen to talented young drivers such as Layne Riggs, Rajah Caruth and Jake Garcia and veterans like Johnny Sauter, Parker Kligerman and former NASCAR Xfinity Series champ Daniel Hemric, who will race trucks fulltime this year in the No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet.

As with the other two marquee series, Daytona has traditionally presented wide-open competition for the trucks with 21 different winners in 25 races. Former series champion Sauter is the only driver entered this weekend with multiple wins – his three trophies most all-time at Daytona.

Lately, this race has been dominated by younger drivers. Five of the last six Daytona truck races have been won by drivers 24 years old or younger.

Interestingly, the last Daytona race to finish on the scheduled distance was in 2018. Five of the last six races required overtime and the other was shortened because of rain.

Qualifying is set for 3 p.m. Friday of FS1. Majeski is the defending polesitter.