Daytona 500 2025: Starting grid, storylines, how to watch and more

The Great American Race is here.

The 67th running of the Daytona 500 is later today, as NASCAR’s 2025 campaign roars into full gear at Daytona International Speedway. The headline for today? Weather. With rain in the forecast for later in the day the start time for the Daytona 500 has been pushed up one hour, to 1:30 p.m. Eastern.

Beyond the weather, this year’s installment of the Great American Race has no shortage of storylines, from veteran drivers still seeing their first win in the Daytona 500 to one of motorsport’s living legends — and the sole member of this year’s Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Class of 2025 — racing in his first Great American Race.

Here is everything you need to know for the 2025 Daytona 500.

Here is how you can watch the 2025 Daytona 500.

When: Sunday, Feb. 16, 1:30 p.m. Eastern
Where: Daytona International Speedway — Daytona Beach, Florida
TV: FOX
Streaming: fubo

FOX has coverage of the 2025 Daytona 500, as NASCAR enters the first year of a new broadcast era. As with previous seasons, FOX and NBC share the majority of coverage, with both networks airing 14 events each. FOX’s share of the schedule begins the year, while NBC airs the final stretch of the season including the NASCAR Playoffs and Championship race.

This season NASCAR welcomes two more broadcast partners that will split the middle portion of the season schedule. Prime Video and TNT Sports will evenly split ten races in the middle of the season, and both have obtained rights to practice sessions and qualifying sessions.

According to the announcement from NASCAR in 2023:

Both have also obtained exclusive rights to practice and qualifying sessions for the entire Cup Series schedule through 2031. NASCAR’s first fully direct-to-consumer partner, Prime Video will stream practice and qualifying live for the first half of the season through their last race of the midseason series with the exceptions of the Busch Light Clash, DAYTONA 500 and NASCAR All-Star Race, which will remain with FOX Sports. TNT Sports will initiate its coverage with the next five midseason races simultaneously broadcast live on TNT and streaming on the B/R Sports Add-On on Max. Practice and qualifying for the remainder of the season will stream on Max and air on truTV.

Here is the starting grid for the 2025 Daytona 500. Chase Briscoe captured pole position for the Great American Race with a tremendous run in qualifying on Wednesday, taking pole in this event for the first time in his career. It is also the first time in the history of the Daytona 500 that a Toyota sits in pole position.

In all three Toyotas will start in the top four of the 2025 Daytona 500.

Austin Cindric will start alongside Briscoe after winning the second Duel at Daytona, while Bubba Wallace starts third after winning the first Duel. Erik Jones rounds out the top four as he’ll start alongside Wallace on the second row.

As with many previous installments of the Great American Race, the storylines begin with the drivers still seeking a win in the Daytona 500. Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, and Ryan Blaney have all won a Cup Series title, but have yet to taste victory in the Daytona 500. Kyle Busch has over 200 wins combined from his days in the Cup Series, the Xfinity Series, and the Craftsman Truck Series, has a pair of Cup Series titles, and was even a brief WWE 24/7 Champion.

But he has never won the Daytona 500, and today marks his 20th attempt. Busch and Blaney are among the favorites for this season’s installment.

Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. are also a pair of Cup Series winners — Keselowski in 2012 and Treux in 2017 — who have never won the Great American Race. Truex came up on the losing end of the closest race in Daytona history, as he lost the 2016 Daytona 500 by just 0.010 seconds. Truex announced his retirement from full-time racing at the end of last season, but is back seeking his first 500 win.

He is also racing with a heavy heart, as his father Martin Truex Sr. passed away last month.

Truex is not the only part-time racer in the field, as Jimmie Johnson is back for another Daytona 500.

Then there is Hélio Castroneves. The four-time Indianapolis 500 winner failed to qualify for the Daytona 500, but thanks to a new rule is in the field as a special 41st entrant that allows for a “world-class driver” to receive a provisional spot.

With Castroneves the 41st driver in the field, that means today’s Daytona 500 is the largest field since 43 cars were the standard in 2015. Under the provisional entrant rule Trackhouse Racing, the team Castroneves is driving for, will not receive any points or purse payout for Castroneves’ efforts Sunday, and every driver who finishes below him will move up in the order.

Still, should Castroneves pull off a stunning win he would become just the third driver to win both the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500, along with A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti. Foyt, who won in Indianapolis four times, added the Daytona 500 to his extensive resume with a win in the 1972 running of the Great American Race.

As for Andretti the 1967 Daytona 500 was his first big win in motorsport. He followed that with a win in Indianapolis two years later.