Daytona 500 Cup 2026
Starting Grid
Row 1
Chase Briscoe 19 Toyota. Austin Cindric 2 Ford
Row 2
Bubba Wallace 23 Toyota. Erik Jones 43 Toyota
Row 3
William Byron 24 Chevrolet. Chris Buescher 17 Ford
Row 4
Ty Dillon 10 Chevrolet. Denny Hamlin 11 Toyota
Row 5
Ross Chastain 1 Chevrolet. Joey Logano 22 Ford
Row 6
Tyler Reddick 45 Toyota. Corey Lajoie 01 Ford
Row 7
AJ Allmendinger 16 Chevrolet. Tod Gilliland 34 Ford
Row 8
Austin Dillon 3 Chevrolet. Ryan Blaney 12 Ford
Row 9
Chase Elliot 9 Chevrolet. John Hunter Nemechek 42 Toyota
Row 10
Justin Allgaier 40 Chevrolet. Christopher Bell 20 Toyota
Row 11
Kyle Busch 8 Chevrolet Kyle Larson 5 Chevrolet TTR
Row 12
Ty Gibbs 54 Toyota TTR. Riley Herbst 35 Toyota TTR
Row 13
Michael Mcdowell 71 Chevrolet Shane Van Gisbergen 88 Chevrolet TTR
Row 14
Ryan Preece 60 Ford. Cody Ware 51 Ford
Row 15
Josh Berry 21 Ford. Cole Custer 41 Ford
Row 16
Ricky Stenhouse Jr 47 Chevrolet TTR. Noah Gragson 4 Ford
Row 17
Carson Hocevar 77 Chevrolet. Brad Keselowski 6 Ford TTR
Row 18
Justin Haley 7 Chevrolet TTR. Daniel Suarez 99 Chevrolet TTR
Row 19
Zane Smith 38 Ford. Alex Bowman 48 Chevrolet TTR
Row 20
Martin Truex Jr 56 Chevrolet. Jimmie Johnson 84 Toyota
Cars are out on the track following the President Motorcade as he tells the drivers they are good people he’s a big fan and to be safe. When they leave the track we get done to the business of the driver rundown and commentators start talking with the Drivers. It’s Shane Van Gisbergen’s first Daytona 500 in a Cup Car.
Cars reach speeds of over 180 mph and race for 200 laps.
When cars run in the draft with 2 cars they go 183 mph, 3 cars its 186 mph and with 7 cars speeds reach 190 mph and over.
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Green Flag
Green Flag waves and the race is underway.
10 Drivers started at the rear as they are using a backup car or have made changes to the car.
Shane Van Gisbergen is one of those cars that went to the rear.
Drivers go into fuel saving mode straight away and are running close to 50% throttle.
Lap 6 and cars are starting to run 3 wide out the back with Joey Logano running the outside lane.
Lap 10 it starts to rain and the first caution is called.
Lap 12 still under caution and cars go to pit road.
Wind is picking up as the rain gets harder
The race is red flagged and cars sit on pit Road.
Drivers are out of the cars and the car covers go on.
We get to see Shane Van Gisbergen He compares it to Lamon and Bathurst. Started 34 and moved up to 24. He talked about the cars pushing up the track off the corners on the outside and the other two lanes doing the same. They know it’s early to be pushing but want to get track position and be in the mix. Trying to learn more in the pack and get others to trust him more.
Joey Logano and Brad Keslowski are on the desk with the commentators and we get to hear from the Penske and the RFK drivers . Brad really wants to win it for RFK racing. Brad talks about how good the Ford engine are and how well they except the push from another car. Revs raise by about 500rpm and the cars just launch. Logano says that after the rain the track will be getting cooler and the sun will be going down more like the Duels and they will be able to push more when it’s cooler.
When asked about other cars and who they are watching Joey Logano says that the Toyota’s are fast and have a bit more speed than they expected.
Still under rain delay and the commentators are going through the drivers getting insight and talking about past Daytonas
It’s the 66th Daytona and another Ford driver Ryan Preece for RFC Racing is at the desk.
They ask him about studying the track and what they do in the lead up to the race and he says well you watch Days of Thunder and you drive through the wreak.
23 crash was massive and drivers shake it off. His car went to the infield and hitting the grass it dug in putting him into a really big roll. It took about a month to really understand how big that was and He says that it kind of goes into slow motion when your in it. A bit like a Ricky bobby moment like in Talladega Nights.
Now the track dryers our out so it won’t be too long before the cars are able to get back out there.
They go to the track reporter and talk with Helio Castroneves 91 Wendys car.
After talking with some more drivers.
It’s 45 minutes to sunset and the track is dry enough for racing.
There will be about 50 laps left in the first stage and with full fuel it will be enough to make it to the end of the first stage. 65 laps will be the end of Stage 1.
Ford has won 5 of the last 8 Daytona’s
William Byron will lead them to the green in his 24 Chevrolet.
Shane Van Gisbergen is in 27th Shane is one of a number of drivers is complaining about vibration in the car. The commentators are discussing how hot tires might flat spot after sitting in the pit on them while they were waiting for the rain to stop.
Most cars will come to pit road and get a fuel top up and some will change tires to eliminate the vibrations. Shane Van Gisbergen in the 88 went in also.
Chevrolet Pace car is an EV SS 0 to 60mph in 3.4 seconds
21 of 200 and the cars are parked up as some drops of rain are falling. Talk is its a small cel of rain and its just the edge of it Nascar is waiting to see if it passes without effecting the whole track and causing a longer stop.
Car covers go on for a short while
We go to breakfast with Mikey from Fox and the Trackhouse drivers and they are making pancakes.
Shane is sharing some insight on how it is in the team. Shanes Team mates are talking up how he’s watching the data of the cup drivers and now he gets to put it in practice. Mikey says so yours watched the Daytona races from the last for years and Shane jokes and I did dent learn anything. Great seeing him in a happy place and he just looks like he’s loving the racing and his team environment.
On track its Dry and drivers are starting again Commentators are still talking Trackhouse racing and how the skills of Shane Van Gisbergen are so good on the road tracks. Justin Marks is changing the game with what he’s doing bringing in different drivers from around the world.
Data from meteorologists is saying that the rains over now. The Goodyear blimp is in the air and drivers are on track again behind the pace car.
Lap 23 and the pace car is in
Green flag Logano and Byron are leading them its Ford and Chevrolet
Van Gisbergen 88 goes from the middle to the outside and Chase Elliot 9 jump up in front of him he’s the third car in the outside lane with s gap ahead of Shane the outside starts to stall out and drivers drop out of it.
Lap 32 and its Lajoie 01 and Logano 22 leading in their Fords.
Shane was pushed up towards the front on the outside for a short while but we missed it on Kayo in an ad break. Shane went to the middle and then the inside as he drops back to 14th
Lap 47 Logano and Byron are leading Shane Van Gisbergen is still running in the outside lane
Lap 50 Logano and Byron out front cars are starting to floor it and push out a line from the inside. Shane Van Gisbergen is sitting the inside lane maybe ready for a pitstop towards the end of the Stage.
Lap 53 Logano and Keslowski out front another ad on Kayo
Lap 58 Logano 22 Ford and Keslowski 6 Ford still out front and running a single lane that’s pushing ahead with three Fords Logano 22 Ford Keslowski 6 Ford and Blaney 12 Ford
Lap 60 Logano 22 Ford has a plastic bag stuck on the front splitter.
Lap 63 and we get the first caution due to a wreak Denny Hamlin 11 checks up and the 38 hits him in the rear breaks out and goes down to the track and then back up and hits the 21 the 38 breaks his rear tow link and saves the car form any more damage as he spins and we see his rear wheel flapping about.
Joey Logan takes the Stage win under caution.
Kayo transmission drops out and we get crap ads for a while.
Lap 74 and were back as a lot of cars go to pit road. The timing shows Shane Van Gisbergen in first for a while then we see he’s a lap down and the commentators are talking about how he’s got a bit of damage. Don’t know what happened. Hope we get a replay.
Lap 76 of 200
11 Laps of 65 in stage 2
Lap 77 Blaney 12 Ford and Cindric 2 Ford out front with Preece, Buescher and Gragson
Lap 79 and Mcdowell 71 Chevrolet joins in the front runners.
Lap 81 and its 3 wide Shane Van Gisbergen 88 Chevrolet is in 35th
Lap 83 caution for debris on the track. Cindric 2 Ford, Preece 60 Ford and Gragson 4 Ford are out front.
Cars go to pit road and get fuel. When it goes green again we expect to see flat out racing again as they race towards the end of stage 2
Lap 85 of 200 and more cars on pit road still under caution
Shane Van Gisbergen is in the pits with adjustment being done on the front splitter.
Ross Chastain is out in the Trackhouse 1 Chevrolet He hit his team mate in the left rear in the 91 Chevrolet.
Lap 87 were green again and its three wide. Cindric 2 Ford, Elliot 9 Chevrolet , Blaney 12 Ford and Gragson Ford.
Lap 90 Cindric 2 Ford, Elliot 9 Chevrolet, Gragson 4 Ford, Mcdowell 71 Chevrolet.
Logano had a bit of a bag in the throttle body and his team changed it so fast they kept him on the lead lap.
Lap 98 Preece 6 Ford, Cindric 2 Ford, Gragson 4 Ford leading it three wide
Lap 100 Preece 60 Ford leads the race from the middle lane.
Lap 108 Cindric 2 Ford leads it. 34 cars are on the lead lap.
Shane Van Gisbergen is in 35 and 3 laps down. Still do not know what’s wrong with his car apart from he’s got some crash damage but never got to see how it happened thanks to dropout on Kayo.
Lap 113 Shane Van Gisbergen out the back of the pack running on his own now 3 laps down.
Kayo Ads for cat food.
Lap 119 Cindric 2 Ford out front followed by Blaney 12 Ford
Lap 122 Cindric 2 Ford and Blaney 12 Ford. Logano 22 Ford has recovered from the plastic in his throttle body and is now running in 11th.
From lap 88 to lap 124 and Logano is on the third row on the inside line.
Lap 125 Shane Van Gisbergen holds his car low as the field passes and he goes another lap down. He’s now 6 laps down.
Lap 129 Cindric 2 Ford, Blaney 12 Ford and Bowman 48 Ford running at the front.
Cindric pushes Blaney out front then Blaney gets the push from Chase Elliot and takes the stage 2 win and points.
Lap 133 Logano is in the pits and having his air box changed he will regain the field at the rear at the start of stage 3.
Lap 134 a lot of cars on pit road. Six cars did not stop on that lap.
We get some replays of the action so far with what caused the cautions. Looking to see what happened to Shane Van Gisbergen, cars check up on the outside lane ahead of him and it causes a concertina through the pack as he backs out a little cars behind are already changing lanes looks like he gets a hit in the left rear and another row back more cars are moving about and his two team mates get caught up with the 1 car hitting his team mate and they both go out of the race. Still not really clear what happened to Shane Van Gisbergen as the replay cuts away when we see him. Not his fault any way from small amount of replay vision far as I can tell. He kept running but has been dropping laps ever since.
Lap 142 Wallace 23 Toyota out front with Elliot 9 out front.
Lap 144 Wallace 23 Toyota, Blaney 12 Ford, Busch Chevrolet and Elliot Chevroletout front its three wide. Another Kayo ad.
53 laps to go now in the Daytona 500
Blaney 12, Wallace 23, Elliot 9 and Cindric 2
More ads
Lap 45 Wallace 23 Toyota, Blaney 12, Elliot 9 and Bryon 24 are out front.
Lap 42 and a bit of fuel saving going on. Drivers are asking how others are doing around them.
Drivers could pit now and get to the end but they should wait a little longer as cars will start to get organised for the last pitstop.
More ads on Kayo.
38 laps to go and were under caution for debris. Pit road is open and cars start to go to pit road most for fuel only.
More ads on Kayo.
35 to go Green flag
Wallace, Cindric, Blaney, Byron out front and its three wide.
34 to go third lane is building on the outside.
33 to go Cindric Ford being pushed by Blaney Ford
32 to go and its a big push from Blaney now with the Fords out front.
30 to go still Cindric and Blaney out front Wallace is moving around on the outside lane and can’t do any thing he’s falling back.
27 to go Busch in the first Chevrolet is being told to save fuel.
25 to go still one lane out front and its Cindric and Blaney out front the outside line is building again.
23 to go the single line is pulling ahead and growing more each lap as others behind try and get organised in their lanes to make a challenge. It’s not working behind with the other two lanes.
16 to go still Cindric 2 Ford and Blaney Fords out front
Logano pushes forward and ends pushing into Stenhouse and turns him into Blaney 12 Ford taking him out leaving Lajoie 01 Ford and Cindric 2 Ford out the front. 9 cars are involved in the wreak.
10 to go still under caution.
9 to go still under caution.
8 to go Green Flag
Lajoie 01 Ford and Cindric 2 Ford push out front and he’s got 3 Toyotas behind. Its looking good for Toyota behind.
6 to go and theres big pushes out the front with Ford Toyota and Chevrolet all in the mix.
5 to go and they wreak. Cole Custer makes a big push on the Bell 20 Toyota and it’s all over the track and up into the wall. Ryan Preece 60 Ford gets up on its back wheels and then it flips up from a wheelie, as the hood lifts the air box comes off and flys through the air spinning as we see its Ford logo in slow motion on the replay.
Kyle Larson 5 Chevrolet , Bubba Wallace 23 Toyota, take damage in that one. Kyle Busch 8 is also in it.
Overtime
Hamlin 11 Toyota
Cindric 2 Ford
Herbst 35 Toyota
Custer 41 Ford
Austin Cindric 2 Ford goes to the front pushing gets crazy as they go three wide and William Byron in the 24 car goes to the front and takes the win for Chevrolet with 4 Toyotas behind him then Alex Bowman 48 Chevrolet and the first Ford Ryan Blaney in the 12 car.
What could have been Ford to the end if it was not for that move by Joey Logano in the 22 Ford. Great race and well done Chevrolet for being there at the end after a day of commentators talking Ford and Toyota William Byron 24 Chevrolet takes the win. He’s two in a row now at Daytona and into the history books with 5 other drivers that have done the same.