NASCAR News: 2025 Daytona 500 Entry List and Qualifying Order

2025 is the 77th year of NASCAR Cup Series racing and the 67th year of the DAYTONA 500. Below is this year’s Race Insights, Entry List and Qualifying Order.

Daytona 500 Insights:

• 2025 is the 77th year of NASCAR Cup Series racing and the 67th year of the DAYTONA 500.
• Hendrick has won 16 poles, 10 more than any other organization. Hendrick Motorsports won the pole in eight of the last 10 Daytona 500s, didn’t win the pole in 2024 but won the race.
• The last two seasons that Hendrick Motorsports failed to qualify a driver on the front-row in the Daytona 500, the team won the race (William Byron in 2024, Dale Earnhardt Jr in 2014).
• The pole winner finished 14^th or worse in nine of the last 10 Daytona 500s and failed to finish due to accidents in four of the last six. Alex Bowman finished fifth from the pole in 2023, the only pole winner to finish top-five in the last 23 races.
• Alex Bowman has three Daytona 500 poles, the record is four by Bill Elliott, Buddy Baker and Cale Yarborough.
• Joey Logano won the pole for the 2024 DAYTONA 500 ending an 11 year streak of Chevrolet poles in the DAYTONA 500, it was Team Penske’s first DAYTONA 500 pole.
• The DAYTONA 500 winner started 10^th or worse in six of the last seven races.
• Ty Gibbs, Carson Hocevar, Chandler Smith and Todd Gilliland were not born the last time the Daytona 500 pole winner won the race (Dale Jarrett in 2000).
• Michael McDowell won the pole for the last five races at drafting tracks, most since Bill Elliott’s six straight in 1985/1986 (the record is seven straight by Cale Yarborough).
• Ford won the pole for the last nine races on drafting tracks.
• Only three of the last 10 DAYTONA 500s had at least 44 drivers on the entry list with only one of the 10 having more than 44 with 49 in 2015.
• Eight of the last 10 Daytona 500s were won by drivers getting their first Daytona 500 win.
• Nine drivers have posted their first career NASCAR Cup Series victory with a win in the DAYTONA 500 – Tiny Lund (1963), Mario Andretti (1967), Pete Hamilton (1970), Derrike Cope (1990), Sterling Marlin (1994), Michael Waltrip (2001), Trevor Bayne (2011), Michael McDowell (2021) and Ausitn Cindric (2022).
• Lee Petty, who won the inaugural DAYTONA 500, and Trevor Bayne, 2011 DAYTONA 500 champion, are the only two drivers to win the DAYTONA 500 in their first appearance.
• Denny Hamlin is the only repeat winner in the last 15 Daytona 500s, he won three of the last nine. Denny Hamlin starts 2025 with new crew chief Chris Gayle, Two of Hamlin’s three Daytona 500 wins came after an off-season crew chief change. Denny Hamlin’s best Daytona 500 finish in the Next Gen car is 17th in 2023.
• Ford (four) and Toyota (three) combined to win seven of the last 10 DAYTONA 500s, Chevrolet won the last two.
• A Chevrolet driver has not led the most laps in the Daytona 500 since 2015 (Jeff Gordon)
• Five reigning NASCAR Cup Series champions have gone on to win the DAYTONA 500 the season after winning the championship: Lee Petty (1959), Richard Petty (1973), Cale Yarborough (1977), Jeff Gordon (1999) and Dale Jarrett (2000).
• The Daytona 500 winner made the Championship Four three times in Elimination style Playoffs: William Byron (2024) and Denny Hamlin (2019 and 2020).
• Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing are within 43 laps of each other in most laps led by an organization all-time in the DAYTONA 500, Joe Gibbs Racing is currently the all-time leader with 1,387 laps led and Hendrick is at 1,344.
• Three times the DAYTONA 500 winner led only the final lap, all three came in the last eight races, – Michael McDowell (2021), Kurt Busch (2017) and Austin Dillon (2018).
• The eventual winner didn’t lead for the first time until lap 157 or later in seven of the last eight DAYTONA 500s (four the last eight didn’t lead for the first time until lap 200 or later).
• Dale Earnhardt holds the record for most starts before getting a DAYTONA 500 win, winning in his 20th start; Martin Truex Jr is making his 21st and Kyle Busch is making his 20th DAYTONA 500 start (21^st year after missing the 2015 500 due to injury) and both are winless (Dave Marcis holds the record for most DAYTONA 500 starts without a win at 33)
• Kyle Busch leads all drivers in laps led among drivers that are winless in the DAYTONA 500 with 342
• Only once has a stage winner in the DAYTONA 500 gone on to win the race (Denny Hamlin in 2020 after winning stage 2)
• The leader at halfway has only gone on to win the DAYTONA 500 twice since 1992: Denny Hamlin in 2016 and 2020
• The 2023 DAYTONA 500 went 530 miles due to two attempts at overtime, the longest DAYTONA 500 in history.
• Christopher Bell became the first driver to finish inside the Top 3 consecutively in the DAYTONA 500 without winning since Dale Earnhardt Jr in 2012-13 (he would win in 2014)
• The three Next Gen DAYTONA 500s have averaged 43 lead changes – the most since the tandem drafting era.
• The driver leading the most laps won one of the last eight DAYTONA 500s (Denny Hamlin – 2020)
• Chase Elliott, with nine Daytona 500 starts, will look to become the sixth driver to win the Clash and the DAYTONA 500 in the same season joining Bobby Allison (1982), Bill Elliott (1987), Dale Jarrett (1996 and 2000), Jeff Gordon (1997), Denny Hamlin (2016)
• Ford drivers led 57% of the laps raced at Daytona in the Next Gen car.
• DAYTONA 500s won in a backup car: 1969 (LeeRoy Yarborough), 1983 (Cale Yarborough), 1992 (Davey Allison), 2009 (Matt Kenseth), 2018 (Austin Dillon), 2024 (William Byron).
• 13 of the 66 DAYTONA 500s ended with a last lap pass (20%), and four of the last nine DAYTONA 500s ended with a last lap pass.
• Five of the last seven DAYTONA 500s ended in overtime, the other two ended under caution.
• Since 2014, five times a driver missed the Playoffs by seven or fewest points (points are awarded in the Duel and the fastest lap in the DAYTONA 500 will receive an additional point).
• Team Penske won at least one race on a drafting track each of the last 11 seasons, the longest ever streak by a team.
• Five different drivers have won the Daytona 500 in the last five years – Denny Hamlin (2019), Michael McDowell (2021), Austin Cindric (2022), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (2023) and William Byron (2024).
• William Byron will look to become the fifth different driver to win back-to-back DAYTONA 500s this weekend joining Richard Petty (1973-74), Cale Yarborough (1983-84), Sterling Marlin (1994-95) and Denny Hamlin (2019-20).
• New Zealander and former Supercars Champion Shane Van Gisbergen is competing in his first full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series.
• Four-time INDY500 Champion and Three-Time Rolex 24 Winner Helio Castroneves will compete in Saturday’s ARCA Menards Series Ride the ‘Dente 200 with Pinnacle Race Group before switching gears to head-up Trackhouse Racing’s PROJECT91 for Sunday’s Great American Race, the fifth time the #91 raced for Trackhouse and the first time not on a road course.
• Trackhouse Racing will have four entries in the DAYTONA 500 from four countries, the first time in series history a team had four drivers from different countries – New Zealand, Mexico, United States and Brazil. Four countries in the 2025 DAYTONA 500 ties the record for the most set in 2010.
• An impressive lineup of drivers are looking to attempt to qualify for the DAYTONA 500, including seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, 2017 Cup Series Champion Martin Truex Jr. and last year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Champion Justin Allgaier.
• JR Motorsports and TRICON Garage will both attempt to make their Cup Series debut in the DAYTONA 500 this season.

Daytona 500 Entry List

* Required to qualify on time, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Daytona 500 Qualifying Order

* Required to qualify on time, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series