The 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season is set to get underway on Sunday afternoon with the Daytona 500. Defending series champion Kyle Busch will look to take the first step to defend his title, while it will be the first opportunity to see the new charter system in action.


SCHEDULE (ALL TIMES EASTERN)

Wednesday, Feb. 17

5:00 p.m. – Practice

6:10 p.m. – Practice

Thursday, Feb. 18

12:00 p.m. – Practice

7:00 p.m. – First Can-Am Duel

9:00 p.m. – Second Can-Am Duel

Friday, Feb. 19

12:00 p.m. – Practice

2:00 p.m. – Practice

Saturday, Feb. 20

12:15 p.m. – Final Practice

Sunday, Feb. 21

1:00 p.m. - Race (FOX)


TRACK INFO

Track: Daytona International Speedway

Track Size: 2.5 Miles

Race Length: 500 miles/200 laps

Banking/Corners: 31 degrees

Banking/Straightaways: 3 degrees

Banking/Tri-Oval: 18 degrees


WEEKEND NOTEBOOK

- This will be the 58th running of the race, the first edition of which was held in 1959. Despite that, it has only been the season-opening race since the 1982 season.

- The race is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Sunday, and will be broadcast on FOX. Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip, and Jeff Gordon will be in the broadcast booth, along with the rest of the FOX crew.

- Tony Stewart will not race in the 500 after suffering a back injury while riding ATV’s in California. Brian Vickers will drive the Stewart Haas Racing 14 car for the 500, with a driver for the rest of the races Stewart will miss still to be announced. Vickers hasn’t raced in the Sprint Cup series since March due to blood clots.

- Defending series champion Kyle Busch will take the track for the first time since winning the championship at Homestead-Miami in November. Busch missed the 500 last season after he broke his leg in a crash in the season opening Xfinity Series race.

- This will be the first race under the new charter system which guarantees 36 teams a spot in all of this seasons races. It will also be the first race with the new 40 car field, which is down from 43 teams in the past. It will be interesting to see how it works with the unusual qualifying methods used for the 500.

- Speaking of qualifying, rookie Chase Elliott, who is taking over the 24 car for the now retired Jeff Gordon, won the pole for the 500. Elliott now becomes the youngest driver ever to win the pole for The Great American Race. This will be the second straight year that the 24 car will start on the pole with Gordon having won the pole for last year’s edition.

- Even if Elliott wins the race, he will not be the youngest race winner. That honor belongs to 2011 winner Trevor Bayne, who was two months younger at the time of his win than Elliott will be on Sunday. The odds of this happening are not in his favor, as the pole sitter has only won the race nine times, with the last being Dale Jarrett in the 2000 edition.

- Even though he is retired, Gordon is still very much a part of the sport. He is doing analysis work on the FOX broadcasts. In his first few broadcasts, he has had a hard time remaining completely neutral, but as time goes on, he should develop the ability to remain neutral, even when talking about the car he drove for so long.

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About the author
Stevie Larson
NASCAR Editor, Minnesota sports fan. Contact: [email protected]