61st daytona 500
1:30 p.m. Sunday • Daytona International Speedway • Ch. 9
Youth reigns in front row
The essentials
What: Race 1 of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup season
Race distance: 500 miles (200 laps) around the 2½-mile oval
The pole and beyond: Driving the No. 24 car made famous by Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon, 21-year-old William Byron turned a lap at 194.304 mph last weekend to edge teammate and 2018 pole sitter Alex Bowman (age 25) by fewer than two-tenths of a second. The front row is the youngest in 500 history. Byron gave Chevrolet its seventh straight Daytona 500 pole. Rows 2, 3 and 4 are all Fords.
2018 in review: Austin Dillon won the Daytona 500 for just his second career win. The series title went to Joey Logano, who beat out fellow finalists Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick — all former champions. It was Logano's first Cup title and Ford's first in 14 seasons.
The new NASCAR
This Daytona 500 highlights the dramatic loss of star power from just four years ago. The 2015 race featured Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Bobby Labonte, Michael Waltrip and Danica Patrick. All are now retired. Some of the big-money sponsors in that race included Lowe's, Target, Dollar General, GoDaddy and 5-Hour Energy. All have since pulled out of NASCAR. This will be the final NASCAR race for restrictor plates, the horsepower-sapping devices that reduce speed and were intended to improve safety at the nation's fastest tracks. NASCAR is switching to tapered spacers to keep speeds in check.
Other story lines
• Among active drivers, Martin Truex Jr. has raced in the most 500s (14) without winning. Perhaps his luck will change now that he's racing for Joe Gibbs Racing.
