The preliminary races are over and the Daytona 500 starting lineup has been set.
But the front row will look different for Sunday’s race (2:30 p.m. ET on Fox). William Byron, who is scheduled to start second, was involved in a crash in his qualifying race and will go to a backup car. He will relinquish his starting spot and move to the rear of the field.
Daytona 500 lineup
NASCAR confirmed Friday that seven cars will have to go to the rear for the Daytona 500 because they will go to backup cars. Drivers going to the rear will be Cole Custer, Ross Chastain, Brad Keselowski, Chase Briscoe, Kaz Grala, Anthony Alfredo and Byron.
Byron’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Alex Bowman, is scheduled to start on the pole in the Daytona 500 starting lineup, but he had potential engines issues in his qualifying race and might need to make an engine change. The team had not decided as of Friday morning if an engine change would be needed.
Five drivers are set to make their first Daytona 500 start: Austin Cindric, Anthony Alfredo, Josh Bilicki, Kaz Grala and Briscoe.
Cup teams are not back on track until Saturday. Cup teams have two practices that day.