The green flag will wave at the start of another NASCAR Cup series on Sunday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway, where the Daytona 500, the Great American Race, will be run for the 66th time since 1959. It can be difficult to divine anything too telling from the race—the last time the winner went on to claim the season title was in 2013, when Jimmie Johnson won both the 500 and the Cup. With restrictor-plates making sure everyone is running at about the same speed, Daytona can be a wide-open affair, as likely to be won by a callow rookie (Austin Cindric, 2022) as a seasoned veteran.
But story lines in the race are as much of a February ritual on Florida’s Fun Coast as Speedweeks or Spring Break, and this year is no exception. Below are five of the most compelling.
Welcome Back Martin Truex Jr.
T-Rex’s retirement from the Cup series lasted all of zero races. Last year’s season-ender at Phoenix, where he finished 17th after starting on the pole, was the 44-year-old’s final race as a full-time driver. He left the door open, though, to making a spot appearance here and there, saying that he was ready to get away from the months-long grind of the Cup circuit, while also “still getting to race some, too.”
Turns out the 2017 champions’ first chance to do so came right away—and in somewhat familiar surroundings. A month ago, Truex reached an agreement to race at Daytona for Tricon Garage, a new team owned by former Cup driver David Gilliland. Tricon will put the 21-year veteran in the number 56 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, which Truex used to drive for Michael Waltrip Racing from 2010 through ’13. And atop his pit box will be his former crew chief, Cole Pearn, who won 24 races with Truex from 2015 through ’19. “It’s going to be a really cool deal to be able to work with Cole and have the number 56 again,” Truex said last month. “I really appreciate everyone at Bass Pro Shops, Tricon and Toyota helping put this together to go have some fun....”
None of Truex’s 34 career Cup wins came at Daytona, where he is 0 for 39. The closest he came to reaching Victory Lane there was in 2016, when he finished second to Denny Hamlin by 0.01 seconds in the Daytona 500.
Truex isn’t even guaranteed a spot in the field on Sunday. His Tricon car is unchartered, which means he will have to qualify for the 500 on speed, something he’s more than comfortable doing.
Can Kyle Busch come back?
The 2024 season was the worst of Busch’s career. He finished 20th in the points standings and didn’t win a race for the first time since 2004, when he made just six Cup starts. It was also the first time he’d missed the postseason since 2012. You have to figure that Busch, who’s never won the Great American Race—and is also winless in his last 57 Cup starts—is happy to have last year in his rearview mirror.
You also have to figure that the pugnacious, aggressive Busch is looking to come back strong in 2025—and there’s reason to think that he can get off to a flying start on Sunday. For all the mediocrity he endured last year, the 39-year-old driver did run well at Daytona, finishing 12th in the 500 and second in the August race. And his Richard Childress Racing team should be ready to roll this time around. It took Dale Earnhardt 20 tries to win the Daytona 500 for RCR. And funny enough, Sunday will be Busch’s 20th start in the 500. Maybe the stars are aligning. “To add [a Daytona 500] to the résumé would certainly be cool,” Busch said last month.
Will Joey Logano be racing with a chip on his shoulder?
The Cup series is about to find out. It’s never a good idea to doubt Logano, of course, who has won 36 races and three championships in his 17-year career. His most recent title came last season, when he won three races during the playoffs, including the finale at Phoenix. His season had started slowly, and Logano entered the postseason in 15th place. But then he caught fire—sort of. He was propelled to the Cup by his three timely victories, which made up points he left on the track in the other seven races. His average finish in those starts was 19th. Many, including fellow driver Denny Hamlin, were outspoken about the need for NASCAR to change the playoff format.
Speaking of Denny Hamlin—will this finally be his year?
The 44-year-old Hamlin is widely regarded as the best driver to never have won a Cup. He’s won 54 races in his career, and has finished in the top five in eight seasons, most recently in 2023. He’s also a three-time winner of the Daytona 500, and he was the fastest driver in practice Wednesday morning. A trip to Victory Lane would be a great way to begin his first championship season.
A win would also help quell the uncertainty lingering over his Joe Gibbs Racing team. During the off-season, JGR replaced Hamlin’s longtime crew chief, Chris Gabehart, with Chris Gayle. Hamlin and Gabehart had won 22 races together in six years, and the move stunned the driver. “I was disturbed with it, for sure,” Hamlin told The New York Times. “I still have some lingering feelings about it. But what am I going to do about it? There’s nothing I can do. I just never envisioned a scenario where we go until after the season is over and then I’m told I have to start over. I certainly didn’t take it well.”
Who will crash out in the Big One?
Trading paint is part of racing, but the Big One is an unfortunate feature of restrictor-plate racing at superspeedways. It refers to the multicar pileups that happen during every race that usually take out at least one top competitor—if not several. With so many cars running roughly the same speed and staying tightly bunched in a pack for 500 miles, it’s only a matter of time before such a wreck occurs. Whose Daytona dreams will be crumpled on Sunday? You’ll have to tune in to Fox at 2:30 p.m. ET to find out.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Daytona 500 Preview: Five Story Lines to Watch as NASCAR Cup Series Kicks Off.
