Daytona 500: Schedule and how to watch 2024 NASCAR Cup opener (2024)

The world-famous Daytona 500 will kickstart the 76th season of NASCAR racing where Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney will commence his championship defence.

Drivers will tackle 500 miles around the illustrious Daytona International Speedway that, just less than one month ago, hosted the enthralling Daytona 24 Hours, where Porsche Penske Motorsport won by 2.1 seconds ahead of Cadillac in a grandstand finishon its 3.56-mile road course.

But, from the week commencing 12 February, it will be time for America's stock cars to face the historic Florida venue’s 2.5-mile, high-banked oval with Ricky Stenhouse Jr entering the race as the defending Daytona 500 winner.

Stenhouse Jr is one of seven Daytona 500 winners on this year’s grid, yet Blaney is not one of them – having come extremely close and even been put in the wall by his Penske team-mate Austin Cindric on the dash to the finish line in 2022 – so will the newly-crowned Cup champion finally clinch victory at the famous speedway?

When is the Daytona 500?

Date: Sunday 18 February
Time: 7:30pm GMT/2:30pm ET

The opening round of the 2024 NASCAR Cup season, the Daytona 500, starts at 7:30pm in the United Kingdom and 2:30pm local time on Sunday 18 February.

But, before the Daytona 500, is qualifying on Wednesday and the Duel races that set the grid behind the front row on Thursday, leading up to Sunday’s main event.

Race winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr., JTG Daugherty Racing, Kroger/Cottonelle Chevrolet Camaro

Photo by: Rusty Jarrett / NKP / Motorsport Images

How does qualifying work for the Daytona 500?

Qualifying for the Daytona 500 is unlike anything in motorsport, particularly Formula 1 - where everything happens on the same weekend.

On the Tuesday before, a random draw takes place and this decides the order cars will take to the track for Wednesday’s qualifying. The final 20 spots, though, are given to the 20 highest scoring drivers from the previous year because there is an advantage to setting a hot lap later due to track evolution.

Qualifying for the Daytona 500 is a single-car, one-lap format. So, each driver gets one flying lap around the tri-oval and the two fastest cars will be locked into the front-row for Sunday’s Daytona 500. The other qualifying times determine the starting grid for both Duel races, which decide the line-up from third to 40th for the Daytona 500.

The Duels are of 60 laps, covering 150 miles, and the results of the first race determine the inside row for the 500, while the second one decides Sunday’s outside row.

But 36 spots for the ‘Great American Race’ are guaranteed for chartered teams, who compete in every round during a NASCAR Cup season. This means the other four spots are given to so-called ‘open teams’ who compete part-time, so there will be drivers who fail to qualify for the Daytona 500 if there are over 40 entrants [at the time of writing, there are 41 cars entered for this year's edition].

The two fastest open teams in one-lap qualifying will automatically qualify for the 500 without needing to compete in the Duels. The other two spots are then determined by both Duels and the final four grid positions for the Daytona 500 are assigned to the open teams.

Only after qualifying and the Duel races have been run, do two practice sessions take place for race preparation on Friday and Saturday.

How can I watch the Daytona 500?

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports, HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., JTG Daugherty Racing, Kroger/Cottonelle Chevrolet Camaro

Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images

Non-American viewers can watch the Daytona 500 via Viaplay Sports 1, which will broadcast certain sessions during the week.

Viaplay Sports 1 will first live broadcast both Duels on Thursday 15 February with coverage starting at 11:30pm GMT. The channel will next broadcast the Daytona 500 on Sunday 18 February with its pre-race coverage beginning at 6:30pm GMT - one hour before lights out.

Viaplay Total Monthly costs £14.99 per month for new customers.

Where can I watch highlights of the Daytona 500?

Last year, the NASCAR on FOX YouTube channel uploaded highlights soon after the Daytona 500 had finished, while doing the same for the sessions which preceded it that week.

The official NASCAR YouTube channel currently has a full replay of the 2023 Daytona 500, so follow the various NASCAR platforms to watch a highlights package - or the full race again - as soon as it drops.

What type of track is Daytona International Speedway?

The Daytona layout lends itself to drafting

Photo by: Rusty Jarrett / NKP / Motorsport Images

Daytona’s tri-oval course is a 2.5-mile layout with four designated corners that have a 31-degree banking, while it is an 18-degree banking along the start-finish area, which is sited in the grandstand-lined tri-oval section.

The Daytona 500 features 200 laps of the oval, which takes close to four hours to complete. It is one of three Cup circuits considered to be “drafting tracks” – when cars line up one behind each other to get a speed boost like the slipstream – alongside Talladega Superspeedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway.

This is different to the sportscar course used for the Daytona 24 Hours, which is a 3.56-mile layout with 12 corners including all four banked turns but some of the infield section as well.

Daytona 500 weather forecast

Considering Daytona’s location along the Florida coastline, rain is not too common at the 500 due to its February date.

And long-range forecasts are often unreliable due to its tropical climate, however the latest forecast is not good news: Following heavy rain on Saturday (97% chance with half an inch expected), Sunday's is almost as bad – a 75% chance of rain during the day (with another half an inch predicted) and occasional rain showers in the evening, when the race could be run under floodlights into the small hours.

Air temperature maxes out across the weekend at 16C and drivers would likely to face a stout northerly breeze as well, which always impacts the drafting.

Monday's forecast is better, with a 38% chance of rain showers during the day and 11% at night.

When it last rained for the 500, in 2021, the race was delayed by almost six hours – so when showers do fall at the speedway, they hit hard! As with most of the American oval racing, the cars will not run if it does rain as they only use slick tyres.

However, weather during the preceding week is not too bad with Daytona 500 qualifying and the Duels both expected to take place in sunny conditions on Wednesday and Thursday.

NASCAR at Daytona schedule