NASCAR is officially back. The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season kicks off today with the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. Today’s race is a little more special since it’s the 65th running of “The Great American Race” and it’s NASCAR’s 75th anniversary season. The Daytona 500 will start at 2:30 p.m. ET and air on Fox and the Fox Sports App.
The Daytona 500 will feature the usual suspects such as Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and 2022 Cup Series Champion Joey Logano. But the race will also include motorsports superstar Travis Pastrana who is making his Cup Series debut. Previously, Pastrana has competed part-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series as well as the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
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Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson will also compete in the Daytona 500. The 47-year-old retired from full-time racing after the 2020 season but has competed in IndyCar since then. For the 2023 season, Johnson will compete on a full-time schedule for Legacy Motor Club.
“My first race in the Next Gen car is done, and we finished 14th in the Duel. Wish that we finished a little bit better, but we got a ton of great reps for the No. 84 Carvana Chevy team,” Johnson said this week. “I have new over-the-wall guys, a new spotter, new crew chief, a new team – to have this behind us is really good, and I think it was a really successful day. I wish that our strategy was a bit better for the cars we were running with, but we have 500 miles on Sunday to figure that out.”
In the last two years, the Daytona 500 winners have been drivers who are either new to the Cup Series or just not well-known among fans. In 2021, Michael McDowell won the Daytona 500, and it was his first win in his Cup Series career after making his debut in 2008. Last year, Austin Cindric edged out Bubba Wallace, and it was the first win of his Cup Series career after making his debut in the 2021 Daytona 500. This year, Ryan Blaney is the odds-on favorite to win after finishing fourth last year and second in 2020.
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