Roger Diez: NASCAR Cup opens 75th season with 65th Daytona 500

Sunday is the first race of the official 75th NASCAR Cup season with the 65th running of the Daytona 500. There were 42 entries for Wednesday’s qualifying and Thursday’s twin Duel races.

Qualifying set the front row with Alex Bowman on pole and teammate Kyle Larson starting alongside, a reversal of last year’s result. It was also Bowman’s sixth consecutive front row start for the Great American Race and his third pole.

There were also two very happy non-charter drivers, Jimmie Johnson and Travis Pastrana, who locked into the field with their qualifying times. So 38 cars are locked into the 500 field with the final two spots going to the highest scoring non-franchise drivers in Thursday’s Duels which ran after press time.

The field includes six former Daytona 500 winners, three of whom (Johnson, Joey Logano, and Kevin Harvick) are also former Cup champions. Other former 500 winners in the field are Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon, and Michael McDowell. Cup champions Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, and Chase Elliott are still looking for their first Daytona 500 win.

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Denny Hamlin has won more Daytona 500s than any current driver with wins in 2016, 2019, and 2020. His three 500 wins tie him for third with the likes of Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett, and Bobby Allison. The only two drivers have won the classic race more than three times are Cale Yarborough with four and King Richard Petty with seven.

Can Hamlin join Yarborough in second place Sunday? The oddsmakers seem to think so, giving him the best starting odds at 12-1. Also at 12-1 are Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney with Joey Logano, Larson and Busch at 14-1. William Byron and Ross Chastain open at 16-1 with Keselowski and Bubba Wallace at 18-1. Tyler Reddick is at 22-1 with Harvick, Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, and Truex 25-1.

This year my dark horse pick is a trio of drivers starting at 40-1. They are the Kaulig Racing partners, Justin Haley and A.J. Allmendinger, along with old Seven-time, Jimmie Johnson. Of course all these odds were release on Tuesday and I’m sure they’ll have changed somewhat based on the results of Thursday’s Duels.

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Of course, anything can happen in this race and often does. Dark horse McDowell was the surprise winner in 2021 when he escaped the “big one” and Trevor Bayne had just turned 20 and was in his second Cup race when he won it in 2011. And there are no holds barred on the last lap. Cindric took the 2022 win by running teammate Blaney into the wall in the final run to the checker and Austin Dillon did the same to Aric Almirola in 2018.

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Saturday the ARCA Menard’s series Brandt 200 will air at 10:30 a.m. with the NASCAR Xfinity series Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner 300 at 2 p.m., both on FS1. Sunday FOX will broadcast the 2023 Daytona 500 beginning at 11:30 a.m.

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And in other racing news:

• IndyCar driver Conor Daly is entered in the Daytona 500 and six other NASCAR Cup races this year. He did not post a qualifying time and was relegated to the tail end of the grid for Duel 2.

• Pole sitter Bowman has signed a three-year extension with Hendrick Motorsports and Ally Bank is committed to another five years of sponsorship.

• Daniel Suarez has renewed his contract with Trackhouse Racing for what is reported as a multi-year deal.

• Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner Tony Stewart has committed to a full season of drag racing in the NHRA’s Top Alcohol class in the Lucas Oil Drag Racing series.