Ultimate Guide to the 2016 Daytona 500
The Daytona 500 needs no introduction, so we could sit here and tap our fingers on our phones, desks or keyboards and get on with our lives.
But here's something to get you all kinds of cranked up for the biggest event of the 36-race season.
Drivers want to win this one the most, but that doesn't make it the most important race of the season. That will always be Homestead, since it's where the champion dons the crown. The 500 is for bragging rights. The 500 is a symbol.
That said, the weather (75 degrees, partly cloudy, zero percent chance of precipitation, little wind and 69 percent humidity, according to Weather.com) looks like it'll be stunning for Sunday's race. But since Florida is surrounded on three sides by water, these things can change as fast as the Big One, so let's drill on our restrictor plates and get in line.
This is the Daytona 500.
What You Need to Know
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Three things are certain come Sunday's 58th Daytona 500:
- There will be a winner.
- There will be the Big One—and possibly several.
- Fewer fans will be in attendance.
Back in 2013, Daytona International Speedway officials planned on reducing the track's number of seats. Joie Chitwood III, president of DIS, told Ken Belson of the New York Times: "If we're going to claim to be the Super Bowl of the sport, we have to step up. If we don't do it now, we're never going to do it."
Now is upon us.
Date: Sunday, Feb. 21
Location: Daytona International Speedway, a 2.5-mile, high-banked tri-oval
Turns: Banking of 31 degrees, length of 3,000 feet each
Frontstretch: Length of 3,800 feet
Backstretch: Length of 3,000 feet
Pit road: 1,600 feet long and 60 feet wide
Seating capacity: Reduced from 147,000 to 101,000
Green flag (race start): Shortly after 1 p.m. ET
TV/Radio: Live on Fox; live on Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Outside pole: Kyle Busch; No. 2 qualifier Matt Kenseth will move to the rear of the field after having to switch to a backup car following a crash in the second Can-Am Duel on Thursday night
Defending champion: Joey Logano
History of the Daytona 500
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They've been racing on the beaches of Daytona for generations, though it wasn't until 57 years ago that the race became an institution.
That's when Lee Petty became the first winner of the Great American Race.
Daytona also claimed the life of Dale Earnhardt Sr. on the final lap of the 2001 race.
The Daytona 500 is to NASCAR as the Kentucky Derby is to horse racing. It also marks the unofficial start of spring. The NFL is over. Spring training is just beginning. The NBA is restarting after hitting its midway point. Nobody watches hockey.
That means the sporting world can turn its eye to Florida for 500 furious miles.
Why This Is NASCAR's Biggest Race
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Jeff Hammond, a 43-time NASCAR race-winning crew chief, reflected on the Daytona 500 on Friday.
He said the usual stuff. You know: "Our Super Bowl comes at the beginning of the season." We get it. This time of year, that's the most overused sentence in the land.
But you can get a sense of what this race means by reading what Hammond wrote on FoxSports.com:
"I won't lie to you—I probably would trade in 10 of my other wins for that one chance to stand in Victory Lane for a second time at Daytona. It really is that special and monumental in our sport. Take a look at the 20 individuals in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. It doesn't matter if they were an owner, driver or crew chief—go down the list and see if they won here at Daytona.
"
He's not alone. Ask any driver, owner or crew chief, and they'd probably elect for Daytona 500 wins over Sprint Cup championships.
It's the same with horse racing. People remember Kentucky Derbys—not who won the Breeders' Cup Classic or Horse of the Year. These cultural touchstones are special.
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Biggest Storylines
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Can Chase Elliott Pull Off a Miracle?
Chase Elliott stole all of the headlines by becoming the youngest driver ever to win the pole at the Daytona 500.
In three of the past four years, the driver who's won the pole has been a surprise. Danica Patrick won it in 2013, Austin Dillon in 2014 and now Elliott in 2016.
Dale Jarrett was the last pole winner to take the checkered flag at Daytona (2000), so while this isn't exactly like winning the par-three challenge at Augusta National Golf Club, it's not much different.
Can Dale Earnhardt Jr. Keep Up His Plate Dominance?
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is entering his second season with Greg Ives as crew chief.
The two connected for three wins last year, including two at restrictor-plate tracks.
Junior is running out of time to win a Sprint Cup, and what better statement could he make than to open the season with a win like he did in 2014?
Will Joe Gibbs Racing Return to Victory Lane?
The most powerful team in NASCAR today is Joe Gibbs Racing. It won 14 races in 2015 with its four drivers.
Want to guess the last time—and only time—JGR has won the Daytona 500? I'm not going to say who was president at the time because that's trite and annoying and, let's face it, lazy. But Nirvana was still its triangulated self back then—1993.
Jarrett won that race.
At one point Matt Kenseth seemed like a great pick to do it this year. But a late crash in the second Can-Am Duel forced Kenseth to use a backup car for the 500. The result? He must start from the rear of the field with his JV car and climb from there.
Now Kyle Busch will start alongside Elliott, and who would bet against the defending Sprint Cup champion?
Will Joey Logano Repeat?
The short answer is no.
The last driver to repeat was Sterling Marlin in 1995. In fact, only two other drivers have ever won back-to-back 500s: Cale Yarborough in 1984 and Richard Petty in 1974.
It's highly unlikely Logano can pull it off, but let's not forget he has won the most races over the past two years (11).
Yes, Kevin Harvick has been the most dominant car lap-to-lap over that same span, but when it matters most, Logano has been at the top of the heap.
Young Guns in the Field
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Ryan Blaney, 22
This marks Ryan Blaney's first full-time soiree at the Sprint Cup level.
With all the attention on Chase Elliott, Blaney could have a quietly good year.
Austin Dillon, 25
Austin Dillon has a strange knack for Daytona International Speedway. He won the pole in 2014 and had the eighth-fastest time this year in qualifying.
Kyle Larson, 23
Already entering his third full season on the circuit, Kyle Larson has a lot to prove. Qualifying 23rd for the Daytona 500 likely did little for No. 42's confidence, though.
Matt DiBenedetto, 24
Matt DiBenedetto will make his first Daytona 500 start. He started 33 races in 2015 and had an average finish of 32nd.
Ty Dillon, 23
Ty Dillon (yes, he's Austin Dillon's brother) will make his second start in the 500 after qualifying 17th with a speed of 193.936 mph.
Something about DIS clicks with these Dillon boys.
Trevor Bayne, 25
Trevor Bayne qualified a mere 13 spots from the bottom. He won the 500 in 2011, so he can always lord that over Tony Stewart.
Don't do that. Don't lord that over Smoke.
Dark Horses
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Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Two drivers broke 196 miles per hour: Chase Elliott and Matt Kenseth. Only three drivers broke 195: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Stenhouse has one top-10 finish in seven trips to Daytona, but it came in the 2014 race.
There's no telling how he'll do this year, but he has a fast car, and as silly as it sounds, that's all that matters.
Chase Elliott
Well, he did win the pole in his sixth career bout of qualifying but only first as a full-time Cup driver.
Like I said above, two drivers broke 196 mph, and he was the fastest. Elliott quickly passed the credit to his teammates (tactful). He doesn't have the experience to win, but look at that qualifying speed: 196.314 mph.
That was nearly three whole tenths of a mph faster than Kenseth.
Casey Mears
Casey Mears drives the No. 13 car and qualified 13th.
Like it does for the Dillons, Daytona International Speedway brings out the best in Mears. A year ago, he finished sixth in the 500, and over the past five races at DIS, Mears has finished no worse than 11th with four top 10s.
Kasey Kahne
Kasey Kahne probably harbored dreams of becoming No. 3 on the Hendrick Motorsports depth chart. Then Elliott picked up Thor's hammer and kept KK batting cleanup (and cleanup in NASCAR is, as you may surmise, no bueno).
This has to gnaw at Kahne. He went winless in 2015 and has much to prove this year.
He qualified 14th, so he has the speed to contend. All he needs now is some luck.
Favorites
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Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Whatever chassis the No. 88 team brings to these restrictor-plate races, it works.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., yet again, qualified well with a speed of 195.682 mph, good for third. He has finished in the top three in three of his last four trips to Daytona, which include two wins.
He nearly swept Talladega in 2015, so you know he'll bide his time at Daytona and be in position to win his third 500.
Joey Logano
Last year's winner of the 500 is still riding high from that win.
"Even a year later, I still can't put it in words," Joey Logano said, per Matt Baker of the Tampa Bay Times. "I was just screaming on the radio. It's still the way I'd explain it now."
With 11 wins over the past two seasons and the title of second-best driver behind only Kevin Harvick in that same stretch, Logano has one of the cars to beat Sunday.
Kevin Harvick
Harvick is in trouble. Or is he? The No. 4 car had a non-compliant track bar and thus had his qualifying run disallowed. What does that mean? Nothing, actually.
So long as a driver has speed—and Harvick has had no shortage of that in the past two years—starting in the rear of the field is an advantage at a plate track.
He could find comfort in the back and let the field tear itself apart Sunday.
Kyle Busch
Kyle Busch inherited the second starting position after he won and No. 2 qualifier Matt Kenseth crashed in the second Can-Am Duel on Thursday night.
"Great car," Busch said, per Jared Turner of FoxSports.com. "These guys at Joe Gibbs Racing [did] a phenomenal job this winter building some new pieces for us to come down here with and have some fun."
With Denny Hamlin winning the Sprint Unlimited on Feb. 13 and Busch winning a duel, it looks like JGR is starting the season right where it left off.
And the Winner Is...
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Matt Kenseth crashed his way right out of this spot, but who better to inherit favoritism than Dale Earnhardt Jr.?
He won the first Can-Am Duel on Thursday night, was the third-fastest car in qualifying and has that swagger we've come to know from a driver intent on dominating restrictor-plate tracks.
FoxSports.com's Tom Jensen got Junior's former teammate—you know, Jeff Gordon (now a TV analyst for Fox Sports)—on the record saying, "I think the focus and the storyline has got to be on Dale Earnhardt Jr. I think it's his to lose, really."
The car Earnhardt dubbed "Amelia" has the power and spirit of its namesake, Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Junior said:
"When you have a car that you know can do the things that this car can do, you're willing to take those gambles and risks to pull out and pass and not worry about getting shuffled to the back because you feel like the car is really capable of doing what you're going to ask it to do every time you make a move.
"
Throw in all of the reasons David Smith of MotorsportsAnalytics.com (writing for the Washington Post) cited in favoring Earnhardt, and picking against No. 88 feels about as foolhardy a choice as there is in sport.
Nothing's guaranteed, especially in the Great American Race, but Earnhardt is the closest thing to a guarantee you'll find this year.
All stats via Race-Reference.info.
The comments section is for you. Have at it. If you want to reach me, email me or ping me on Twitter @BrendanOMeara.
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