It's that time of the year again. Every February, NASCAR grabs everyone's attention with the running of the Daytona 500. It's not the Super Bowl, but it is to the world of stock racing. This is the race even casual racing fans get invested in, also because it signals the proper start of the NASCAR Cup Series.
With all that being said, let's take a look at some of the details you need to know before the race itself, like where and how to watch the Daytona 500, a bit of the event's history, and some of the top drivers to watch out for.
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How to watch the 2023 Daytona 500
There are several ways to watch the 2023 Daytona 500, which will start at 2.30 p.m. ET. You can catch the race from start to finish with cable over at FOX. If you're in Canada, TSN will have you covered. You can also stream the race via the FOX Sports app. That's not even close to being just the only streaming option, of course. NASCAR fans can also stream the 2023 Daytona 500 on fuboTV, AT&T Now, Hulu + Live TV, Sling, and YouTube TV.
Daytona 500 history
You will have to go all the way back to 1959 to check out the first-ever Daytona 500. It was won by Lee Petty, largely known as well as the father of arguably the best stock car racer of all time, Richard Petty. Speaking of Richard Petty, he won the Daytona 500 way more than the times his father did. In fact, he is the winningest driver of all time in this race, topping the field a total of seven times, and no one's even close to his record.
Cale Yarbrough is second on the list all-time with four Daytona 500 wins. Four others have three victories each, including Denny Hamlin, who's got the chance to join Yarbrough as the only drivers to have won the Daytona 500 exactly four times. Other three-time winners are Bobby Allison, Dale Jarrett, and Jeff Gordon. Meanwhile, two-time winners are Bill Elliott, Sterling Marlin, Michael Waltrip, Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Johnson is one of stock-car racing's GOATs, having won the Cup Serie seven times, and he will be coming out of retirement, this time as a part-time driver and part owner of Legacy Motor Club.
“The water is rising in the harbor, and it’s lifting all ships,” Johnson shared, via Gregory Leporati of the New York Times. “In NASCAR, we’re seeing younger owners enter the sport now with different ways of doing business, different ideas and culture. Everyone is really rethinking things, growing and developing.”
While the names of Petty, Hamlin, and Johnson don't really need much introduction, the last two winners of the Daytona 500 were Cinderellas, who came out of nowhere to provide that at Daytona International Speedway, anything is possible.
In 2021, Michael McDowell won as a massive underdog to win the Daytona 500. The following year, Austin Cindric won the event as a rookie.
Top drivers to watch out for
Although he has yet to win a race at the Daytona International Speedway, Kyle Larson is currently the owner of the shortest odds to win the 2023 Daytona 500, with odds of +1000 to top the field. At the Daytona 500, Larson finished sixth with nine laps led. Larson has cracked the top 10 at Daytona 500 five times and the top 20 nine times.
Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, and Joey Logano all share the same price of +1200 to win the event, while three-time champ, Hamlin, is sitting on odds of +1300 to win it all again in 2023. Hamlin won the 2016, 2019, and 2020 editions of the Daytona 500. Last year, he finished ninth. So far in his NASCAR Cup Series career, Hamlin has raced at the Daytona International Speedway 34 times and finished inside the top 10 11 times and made it to the top 20 12 times.
As for the defending Daytona 500 champion, Cindric is coming in with odds of +2700 to take the checkered flag for the second year in a row. Cindric's win at the 2022 Daytona 500 was one of his nine top 10s that year but is also the only victory he had the entire season. He is already looking so ready for this Sunday's race as he just finished second overall at last Thursday's Bluegreen Vacations Duel 2 at Daytona, which was won by Aric Almirola (+3000). In his first appearance at the Daytona International Speedway since his Daytona 500 victory, Cindric finished third in last August's Coke Zero Sugar 400.
Other drivers to keep a close eye on are Kyle Busch, William Byron, Bubba Wallace, and Ross Chastain.
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