DAYTONA BEACH — As it has since 1982, NASCAR begins a brand new Cup Series season today with the biggest race on its calendar.
The 65th round of the Daytona 500 is scheduled for a green flag at 3:14 this afternoon, with 200 laps and 500 miles of high-speed racing in heavy traffic. Forty drivers and cars line up and sometimes it seems like you could cover them all with one blanket.
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The hours leading up to the race are literally set to the minute, sometimes to the second, but by and large the process becomes a throbbing build-up to what’s billed as The Great American Race – and also serves as a useful marketing tool, that label has a sense of truth.
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Seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson returns after a two-year absence, while former champion Kevin Harvick makes his final Daytona 500 start. You will be surrounded by younger champions and current stars, as well as many others of lesser origin who know that in this form of racing they have a chance to hang the sport’s brightest trinket on their careers.
Visit here for updates throughout the day.
Bubba Wallace took the lead and hit the wall after being drafted by Martin Truex at Turn 3.
Wallace was in the top lane after taking the lead from Chase Briscoe, but a shove from Truex sent Wallace into the fence and then into pit lane. After a two-tire stop, Wallace was able to rejoin the race, but with no support from slipstreaming, the field is closing in to lap him. Only 12 laps remain in the first stage.
A contingent of Fords pitted with 28 laps to go on Stage 1 and it prompted the entire field to come in shortly after.
The group of 11, including Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski, started the pit lane trend and was soon followed by a handful of Chevrolets including Corey LaJoie and then-leader Alex Bowman.
In the end Denny Hamlin found himself at the front leading two other Toyotas in Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick.
Riley Herbst spun trying to get into the pit lane and fell back to 38th place.
Ty Dillon, who drives the #77 Chevrolet, brought his car into the garage with mechanical problems.
At the 25-lap mark, Christopher Bell on the outside and Kyle Larson on the inside continue to lead the way, but there are some cars moving behind them.
Above all the seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, who is already 11 places good and is in 26th place. Joey Logano, Aric Almirola and defending champion Austin Cindric round out the top five.
After 10 laps controlled by front row starters Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson, the No. 20 Toyota driven by Christopher Bell took the lead from the outside lane.
The field is still two-for-two, with Bowman pushed behind Bell and Larson by Joey Logano on the inside. Aric Almirola also runs in the top 5 with Austin Cindric, Ryan Blaney, Corey LaJoie, Chase Elliott and Todd Gilliland rounding out the top 10.
After a performance by Dierks Bentley, driver introductions, the national anthem and the fire brigade command, all that remains is to hoist the green flag.
That moment is upon us. After all the formalities have been completed, the 65th Daytona 500 is about to start.
Most races have a Grand Marshal.
The Daytona 500 isn’t most racing.
Today’s starting squad will deliver a baseball team full of Grand Marshals.
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The Nine: Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, Bill Elliott, Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Joey Logano.
Why these nine? They’re the nine living racers to have won both a Cup Series championship and a Daytona 500 (or, in King Richard’s case, seven of each).
Why the umbrellas?
In recent days, it has been common to see crew members shade their team’s car with three or four umbrellas while pushing it back and forth.
It turns out the next-gen stock car’s bodies are made of a composite material that can swell by a fraction of an inch in the heat and cause a team to fail technical inspection.
Well, that’s not entirely true. It’s more like a fraction of a fraction.
From a fraction. We’re talking thousandths of an inch that the tech lasers can detect.
Dierk’s Bentley is in the house.
The country star will perform a pre-race concert after lunch today. Earlier he stopped by the media center to explain what it means to play in front of more than 100,000 people, especially when they are mostly fans of his genre.
“From the second you walk in to the second you leave, it’s always a great experience here at Daytona,” he said. “Happy to be here at NASCAR’s Super Bowl. There is nothing like it.
“It’s all ages, which is great. Everyone is looking forward to this big day. It’s also the start of our season. As a band, we’re back on the bus and back on the road. It’s the big, the big show. To get a chance to sing some songs… It’s a pretty amazing feeling for us.”
The Speedway and NASCAR are introducing a new facet to the pre-race for NASCAR’s 75th anniversary and the 75th season of the Cup Series.
A red carpet has been stretched out at the east end of the infield fan zone and after the pre-race driver briefing, drivers will follow this carpet towards the garage doors and eventually the grid. This is where the traditional driver presentations take place.
The forecast calls for partly cloudy skies with temperatures in the low 70s by late morning and mid 70s by the start of the Daytona 500, just after 3pm this afternoon.
Three to four hours later, when the 500 should boil towards the end, we’re just under 70 again.
All with just a slim chance of a passing shower.