The 33-race NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule will begin with a 300-mile race Saturday at Daytona International Speedway, the final preliminary before Sunday’s Daytona 500.
Ty Gibbs won last year’s Xfinity championship and has moved up to the Cup Series.
Rookie Austin Hill, driving for Richard Childress Racing, won last year’s Xfinity opener, outrunning AJ Allmendinger and Noah Gragson.
Sammy Smith, Parker Retzlaff, Chandler Smith and Blaine Perkins will compete for this year’s Xfinity Rookie of the Year award.
Details for Saturday’s Xfinity race at Daytona International Speedway
(All times Eastern)
START: The command to start engines will be given at 5:08 p.m. … Green flag is scheduled to wave at 5:20 p.m.
PRERACE: Xfinity garage opens at 6 a.m. … Qualifying is at 11:30 a.m. … Driver intros are at 4:40 p.m. … Dorman Parsons, associate headmaster at Riverbend Academy, will give the invocation at 5 p.m. … Kelly Kwiatek of Daytona Beach will perform the anthem at 5:01 p.m.
DISTANCE: The race is 120 laps (300 miles) on the 2.5-mile track.
STAGES: Stage 1 ends at Lap 30. Stage 2 ends at Lap 60.
STARTING LINEUP: Daytona Xfinity starting lineup
TO THE REAR: Stefan Parsons (replaces Caesar Bacarella, who was battling stomach issues).
TV/RADIO: FS1 will broadcast the race at 4 p.m. . … Motor Racing Network coverage begins at 4:30 p.m. and also will stream at mrn.com. SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will carry the MRN broadcast.
FORECAST: Weather Underground — Sunshine and clouds mixed. High of 66. Winds 15-25 mph. 9% chance of rain at racetime.
LAST TIME: Jeremy Clements scored an upset win in last August’s Xfinity race at Daytona. Timmy Hill was second and AJ Allmendinger third.