Madison Marsh, the recently crowned Miss America, will drive the pace car ahead of the marquee Daytona 500 race. The 22-year-old will be leading the field around the 2.5-mile oval of the Daytona International Speedway before the green flag waves on February 18. Marsh is the only active-duty Air Force officer to ever receive the national title of the beauty pageant contest.

Apart from Miss America’s feature on the mega event Sunday, the co-owner of Trackhouse Racing and musical sensation, Pitbull will also grace the event with his pre-race live show. Adding to the celebrity appearances, we have Dwayne Johnson taking up the duties of Grand Marshal, while DJ Khaled will be waving off the green flag to kickstart the 66th running of the Daytona 500.

Before the stars light up the stage on the weekend, the drivers will become part of the racing action by 14th Feb. Starting the weekend, we will have the Daytona 500 qualifying session presented by Busch Light. This will be followed by Bluegreen Vacations Duel on the 15th Feb. The ARCA Menards and the Xfinity Series will get underway on Feb 17, serving the fans with a double-header event before the big day on Sunday.

Marsh is thrilled to be part of the historic race

Daytona began the tradition of adding the honorary pace-car drivers to the race in 2006. It was American TV host and comedian, Jay Leno who got the initial role. Since then the baton has been passed on to well-known personalities like Tom Cruise, John Cena and even NASCAR legends like Richard Petty, Jeff Gordon, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Now it will be Miss America, Madison Marsh taking up the duties of the pace-car at Daytona International Speedway.

“I’m thrilled to be a part of a historic moment and to represent the tradition of speed, skill, and Americana at such an iconic event”, Marsh said in a press release. Speedway’s President, Frank Kelleher expressed his delight with Marsh taking up the pace-car duty, “It’s an honor to have someone like Madison who has so much spirit, passion and national pride, join us for the Daytona 500.”

Marsh, prior to her Miss America title was crowned Miss Colorado in 2023. She is an Arkansas native and also holds a degree in physics from the Air Force Academy, serving as a second lieutenant. Moreover, she is on her journey to earn a master’s degree at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Public Policy.

Which NASCAR Manufacturer Has the Best Performance in the Daytona 500?

While the celebrities will add a touch of glamour and light to the event, the onus will and attention will soon shift to the drivers. With ‘The Great American Race’ on the horizon, let us find out how does the drives fair going into this mega event.

Daytona 500 power rankings

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The Daytona 500 race is a start from scratch for all the drivers kickstarting the new NASCAR Cup Series season. All the disappointments and triumphs become a thing of the past. So it can become a tricky task to predict and identify the front runners and favorites to win this event. However, we have the backing of statistics that can somehow help us draw the winning scenario.

Leading the charts with career average finish we have Bubba Wallace with an average finish of 12.9 in his 13 starts. We also look at the most laps led at the Daytona, leading the charts here is Denny Hamlin with 666 laps led and is followed by Kyle Busch with his 519 laps. DNF do play a major role in this race and Martin Truex Jr with the best ratio of 37 starts and 8 DNFs. Busch also makes his case with 37 starts and 12 DNFs. Talk about top-10 finishes, again apart from Jimmie Johnson, it’s Busch with 12 top-10s and he also has 8 top-five finishes at the venue.

The Daytona win has long eluded the 2-time Cup champion Kyle Busch, and maybe this year he could well put an end to that drought. You also have Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski and Truex Jr who can all make their case for the win at the upcoming event.

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