Daytona 500 Schedule 2022: TV Coverage and Schedule for NASCAR Season Opener
The NASCAR Cup Series opens its 2022 season in its traditional spot at the Daytona 500 on Sunday.
The season-opening race produced an unexpected winner in Michael McDowell during a weather-affected and crash-filled event last February.
Reigning Cup Series champion Kyle Larson, who sits on Sunday's pole, is one of the top names in the field who will try to keep another surprise champion out of Victory Lane.
Larson and his Hendrick Motorsports teammates produced some of the strongest runs in qualifying and Thursday's Duel races, but they need to back it up over 500 miles on Sunday.
Hendrick Motorsports has not won the "Great American Race" since Dale Earnhardt Jr. made it to Victory Lane in 2014.
Since then, Denny Hamlin has been the dominant driver at Daytona. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver won three Daytona 500s in 2016, 2019 and 2020.
Hamlin, Larson and the other drivers in the field will be forced to deal with the chaotic nature of racing at Daytona while adjusting to the new NextGen Car, which makes its debut in a Cup Series points race on Sunday.
Daytona 500 Info
Date: Sunday, February 20
Start Time: 2:30 p.m. ET
TV: Fox
Live Stream: FoxSports.com and Fox Sports app
Preview
Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin must headline the list of names to watch throughout the 500-mile jaunt around Daytona International Speedway.
Larson dominated the Cup Series circuit during the 2021 season, and he started off the 2022 campaign with a pole victory from Wednesday's qualifying session.
The No. 5 car driver has never won the Daytona 500, and he is trying to end a seven-race drought for Hendrick Motorsports.
Larson should reside near the front of the race for the early stages since he will have teammate Alex Bowman next to him from the start. The top two qualifiers should join up in the same line to draft right away.
Chase Elliott and William Byron could join the front row pair to give the Hendrick cars a strong hold on parts of the race.
The goal at Daytona is to link up with teammates, or drivers from the same manufacturer, to draft until the final stage of the race, which is typically a free-for-all.
As long as the Hendrick cars avoid any of the major wrecks, they should all be in the mix for the victory. That is a big if given Daytona's history for producing unpredictable multi-car wrecks because of the style of racing at the track.
Hamlin begins the race in 30th place, but he should make his way up the field in a prompt manner. All three of his teammates start in the Top 15, so once he joins them, the Toyota drafting lines should be tough to stop.
Hamlin's three Daytona 500 victories give him an edge over drivers in how to approach the race in terms of strategy and race positioning. He does not need to be in the lead from the start, but he will be lurking around the top positions.
Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski headline the group of Ford racers to watch. The former Team Penske teammates were in front of the first Duel qualifying race on Thursday.
Blaney topped Wednesday's second practice session, and he was in front of Keselowski for most of Duel 1 before his former teammate took the win.
Look for Keselowski, Blaney and Harrison Burton to form some sort of alliance early in the race to keep the Fords in the mix.
Joey Logano, who won in 2015, is worth watching later in the race. He is starting at the back of the field after a crash at the end of Duel 2 took out his primary car.
There is always a chance that an unexpected winner, like McDowell, appears, but there are many strong drivers in the field who will try to make sure that does not happen.
