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February 12, 2026
By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service
William Byron ready to try for unprecedented DAYTONA 500 three-peat
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — William Byron doesn’t think he’s the best driver in the NASCAR Cup Series garage at drafting on superspeedways.
That said, the driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has been good enough to win consecutive DAYTONA 500s. He’ll try for an unprecedent third straight victory in the Great American Race on Sunday (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Byron has five career victories at drafting tracks—two at Atlanta Motor Speedway and three at Daytona International Speedway, including a win in the 2020 summer race. At Talladega Superspeedway, Byron has posted five top-five results in 16 starts.
“I don’t know if I’ve figured it out,” Byron said of his past success on superspeedways. “I feel like we’ve had some things go our way, and then we’ve been good at the speedways. Really, it started at Talladega. I think we were better at Talladega for a while.
“We weren’t finishing at Daytona, and once we figured out a way to finish the races at Daytona, it seemed like it started to go the other way. You just try to do the best job you can, learning the little nuances of the draft. I don’t think I’m the best at drafting at the moment. I think there’s still more to learn.”
Byron’s crew chief, Rudy Fugle is acutely aware of what’s on the line in Sunday’s race.
“Everybody understands how cool it would be, how historic it would be to win three in a row,” Fugle said. “We know a lot of that’s out of our control, but you’re still putting forth that amazing effort in every corner of the shop.”
Byron isn’t the only competitor driven by numbers. Veteran Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin is trying to win his fourth DAYTONA 500, a feat that would tie him with Cale Yarborough for the second-most all-time victories in NASCAR’s biggest race.
Only seven-time winner Richard Petty has more.
“Every win that you get here puts you in a certain list,” Hamlin said. “The list is so small at that four number, it certainly was on my mind on the last lap last year when we were leading, that we are going to get another one.
“I’ve just been really lucky to have the opportunities I’ve had to win these races, but also been very unfortunate in the NextGen era (starting in 2022) to not have won more. I feel as though the opportunity will be there, and hopefully we can put ourselves in position to move ourselves up that Daytona 500 winners board.”
Kyle Busch, who won the pole position for Sunday’s race in Wednesday night’s qualifying session, will have to overcome a couple of statistical challenges to claim his first Harley J. Earl trophy.
Busch is racing in his 21st DAYTONA 500. No driver has ever won the race for the first time in more than 20 attempts, the number it took the late Dale Earnhardt to add that elusive victory to his resume (1998).
“Yeah, it’s a box we’ve got to check,” said Busch, who ran second to Hamlin in 2019. “Here we are. This is an opportunity to be able to do that. I’ve come down here a lot of years. I think I finished in about every position possible. It would be nice to close out 2026 with a victory here in the Daytona 500.”
No driver has won the DAYTONA 500 from a front-row starting position since Dale Jarrett won from the pole in 2000.
Austin Hill looks to rebound in NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts season opener
Austin Hill comes to Daytona with the same confident attitude that carried him to three straight season-opening victories from 2022 through 2024—a streak that ended last year because of a rear end gear failure.
The pre-eminent superspeedway racer in the newly-entitled NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, Hill will try for his 11th career drafting track victory in Saturday’s United Auto Rentals 300 at 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway (5 p.m. ET on CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Hill succeeds at Daytona in part because he enjoys the inevitable close-quarters racing.
“I actually have a lot of fun with it,” said Hill, who is embarking on his fifth full-time season in the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. “Everyone talks about pressure and questions if the pressure is going to get to you. But for me, I just go into Daytona weekends with the same mindset that I always do.
“We try to run up front, do our thing, stay out of wrecks, and hope that it’s enough at the end.”
Hill didn’t win last year’s Daytona opener. RCR teammate Jesse Love did. Love went on to claim the series title at Phoenix Raceway, providing perfect bookends to a season otherwise dominated by rookie phenom Connor Zilisch, who won 10 of his 32 starts.
Zilisch has moved on to the NASCAR Cup Series with Trackhouse Racing, to the delight of Love and his fellow championship contenders.
“Obviously there is a lot of want and desire to go back-to-back at Daytona, a lot of want and desire to start the year off with a win and get RCR’s fifth win in a row,” Love said. “Definitely looking forward to it. I’m kind of tired of the offseason. I’m just ready to get back in my swing of things.
“I’m excited, not nervous or anything like that, which is different from past years where I typically feel like I am a little bit nervous to start the season. But now I have my feet under me, I know what to expect and what not to expect, and mostly I am a little bit wiser now to understand similar things that can happen that I don’t normally think of.”
Zilisch’s departure also should be a boon for JR Motorsports veteran Justin Allgaier, who won the series championship in 2024. Allgaier is running both the DAYTONA 500 and O’Reilly Auto Parts race.
On Wednesday, Allgaier locked into the DAYTONA 500 field in the No. 40 JRM Chevrolet, one of eight Open cars trying to make the race.
Tony Stewart supports Ram brand debut as both return to NASCAR Truck Series
For the first time since 2005, 54-year-old Tony Stewart will take the green flag in a NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race in Friday night’s Fresh from Florida 250 at Daytona International Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The start will be Stewart’s first in a NASCAR national series since the NASCAR Cup season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2016. Since then, the driver of the No. 25 Kaulig Racing Ram has earned admission into the NASCAR Hall of Fame and embarked on a successful career as a top fuel drag racer.
The truck Stewart will drive is new to the series. Kaulig will field five Ram trucks in the brand’s first NASCAR competition since 2012. Other Kaulig drivers include Justin Haley, Daniel Dye, Brenden “Butterbean” Queen and Mini Tyrrell, who earned his ride in the No. 14 Ram through Kaulig’s Race for the Seat competition.
“This is Ram’s coming-out party,” Stewart said Thursday at Daytona International Speedway. “So, what better way to support Ram and Dodge and (parent company) Stellantis and to do it in the biggest showcase of the year in the first race at Daytona?
“…It’s fun to do it with a group I’ve never worked with before. It’s fun to do it with a brand I’m passionate about at a track that we’ve had some success at. All in all, it’s nice to be back.”
Last year’s dominant driver and series champion Corey Heim has moved on from the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota after winning a series-record 12 of 25 races in 2025. That leaves an enormous void that such drivers as Kaden Honeycutt (Heim’s successor in the No. 11), Layne Riggs and Chandler Smith of Front Row Motorsports and the Kaulig contingent will be eager to fill.
