NASCAR Daytona 500 preview: Favorite, underdog, top storylines

On Sunday, the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series take to the high banks of Daytona International Speedway for the 68th running of the Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, Fox, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Here is everything you need to know as NASCAR’s best officially kick off the 2026 season at the “World Center of Racing.”

Favorite: Joey Logano (+1000, per FanDuel)

Logano has a Daytona 500 win to his credit (2015), but that shockingly stands as the three-time champion’s lone win at the track in his career. Don’t let that fool you, though, as he always seems to be in contention at drafting-style tracks.

Although Logano is concerned with the push-ability of the cars after his Duel 1 win on Thursday night, he has already put his No. 22 Mustang in Victory Lane this week. When everything is on the line Sunday, expect nothing less than Logano to be up front and in position for his second Harley J. Earl Trophy.

Underdog: John Hunter Nemechek (+5000, per FanDuel)

Nemechek quietly has the best average finish (11.0) of all active drivers at Daytona and has never finished worse than 17th in six Daytona races. In three Daytona 500 starts, Nemechek has the second-best average finish (7.67) among all drivers with more than two starts in the history of the track.

The 28-year-old driver of Legacy Motor Club is still searching for his first Cup Series win and only finished 25th in points last season. However, with so much attrition in superspeedway racing under the current package, Nemechek always seems to avoid the carnage and be there at the end. Who says it cannot happen once again?

William Byron looking to make history

The two-time defending Daytona 500 winner is one of five drivers (Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Sterling Marlin and Denny Hamlin) to claim consecutive victories in the "Great American Race." If he completes the trifecta on Sunday, Byron would become the first driver in the sport's history to win three Daytona 500s in a row.

Although Byron only led a combined 14 laps in those wins, he led the most important ones and avoided the crashes when he needed to. A crash in Thursday's Duel forced him to go to a backup car, but if Byron has showed us anything, he knows how to be there when the race is up for grabs.

Kyle Busch looking to finally break through

The two-time champion enters Sunday's race as one of five active Cup Series champions without a Daytona 500 win. However, after picking up his first career Daytona 500 pole on Wednesday night, this may be his best opportunity yet.

Busch has a best finish of second in the prestigious race, but he has never been able to put everything together for one reason or another. With a fast No 8 Chevrolet underneath him, don't count him out this time.

Multiple drivers going to backup cars

Thursday's Duel qualifying races were not without some incidents, forcing Daniel Suarez, Ross Chastain, Chris Buescher and Byron to bring out their backup cars for Sunday.

It will likely not be an issue for either of them during the race, but it shows what can happen when one wrong move is made. Based on recent results, expect the chaos to carry over to Sunday's race as the intensity picks up.