After a week of preliminary events at Daytona International Speedway, the Daytona 500 is finally here.
Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron will lead the field to green today. He’ll have teammate Alex Bowman beside him on the front row.
Here’s all the information for today’s season-opening race:
(All times are Eastern)
START: The command to start engines will be given by Houston Texans’ J.J. Watt at 2:53 p.m. The green flag is scheduled for 3:05 p.m.
PRERACE CEREMONIES: Driver introductions begin at 1:50 p.m. The invocation will be given by Ronnie Barton, retired pastor, First Baptist Church of South Daytona at 2:45 p.m. The National Anthem will be performed by the 82nd Airborne Division All-American Chorus at 2:46 p.m.
DISTANCE: The race is 200 laps (500 miles) around the 2.5-mile track.
STAGES: Stage 1 ends on Lap 60. Stage 2 ends on Lap 120.
TV/RADIO: Fox will broadcast the race. Coverage begins at 1 p.m. Motor Racing Network’s radio broadcast begins at 1:30 p.m. and also can be heard at MRN.com. SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will carry MRN’s broadcast.
FORECAST: wunderground.com calls for cloudy skies with a high of 80 degrees and a zero percent chance of rain for the start of the race.
LAST TIME: Austin Dillon won last year’s Daytona 500, finishing ahead of Bubba Wallace and Denny Hamlin. Erik Jones won at Daytona last July, placing ahead of Martin Truex Jr. and AJ Allmendinger.
STARTING LINEUP: Click here for the starting lineup.