The first event of the season, the Daytona 500, is finally set to take place this weekend. Here’s all you need to know about the complete weekend schedule for the biggest race of the year.

The race week is going to take place from Wednesday, February 11th, to Sunday, February 15. NASCAR will hit the track for the first time during the practice session on Wednesday, marking the start of the 2026 Cup Series season.

The qualifying session will also be on the same day. Thursday will see the two duels in the evening. Before them, ARCA and Truck Series will have their practice races.

Friday has a longer timetable. Both the ARCA Menards Series and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will host their qualifying sessions to start the day. Meanwhile, the Cup will have its second practice session, and the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series will have its first. The day will end with the Fresh from Florida 250 Craftsman Truck Series race.

Saturday will start with the qualifying session for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. It will be followed by the Daytona ARCA 200 race in the ARCA Menards Series. Finally, the track will host the final practice session for the Cup Series and the O’Reilly Auto Parts United Rentals 300 race.

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On Sunday, the nation will witness the Great American Race. It is the most important event throughout the entire NASCAR calendar; only the NASCAR Cup Series championship race comes close to the Daytona 500 in when it comes to its significance in the Cup Series.

Where to watch the Daytona 500 weekend in 2026?

The entire Daytona 500 weekend will be scheduled on multiple apps and broadcast platforms throughout the speedweek. Wednesday and Thursday’s sessions will be broadcast on FOX FS1 as mentioned in the official schedule. The next day will notice a slight change. FS1 will broadcast the two Daytona duels for the Cup Series.

On Friday, too, FS1 will broadcast the second Cup practice and the Truck race. The O’Reilly Auto Parts practice will be streamed on The CW network.

CW will also cover the qualifying and the main race for the O’Reilly Auto Parts series on Saturday. Daytona ARCA 200 will be covered by FOX, while FS1 will cover Cup’s third practice.

To watch Sunday’s Daytona 500, users will need to tune in on FOX or HBO Max.

NASCAR Daytona 500: TV timings for each session

As per Bob Pockrass on X, here are the timings for the sessions with the scheduled number of laps in each stage:

• Wed-FS1 10 a.m.-Cup practice;  8:15 a.m. -Cup qualifying
• Thu 4 p.m.-ARCA practice; 5 p.m. -Truck practice; 7 and 8:45 p.m. Cup duels
• Fri 1:30 p.m.-ARCA qualifying;  3 p.m. -Truck qualifying;  4:30- p.m. OR practice;  5:35 p.m. -Cup practice;  7:30 p.m.-Truck 20-20-60
• Sat 10 a.m. -OR qualifying;  12 p.m.-ARCA 80; 3 p.m.-Cup practice;  5 p.m. -OR race 30-30-60
• Sun- FOX 12:30 p.m. -RaceDay 2:30 p.m. -Cup 65-65-70

NASCAR Daytona 500: How the teams line up for the race

NASCAR Daytona 500 Purse

The 2026 Daytona 500 purse hasn’t been revealed yet. But following the trends, the prize pool should increase considerably compared to the previous season. The 2025 Daytona 500 had a purse of $30,331,250 encompassing the total prize money available to the 40-car field. Whereas, the Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series had a purse of $3,762,952 and $1,262,900, respectively.

NASCAR Daytona 500: Odds for the race

According to reports from FanDuel, the odds for the Daytona 500 are:

Even though Kyle Larson is the defending champion, the odds clearly favor Joey Logano to win the race this year. He is followed by Ryan Blaney, whose best finish at the Daytona 500 race was a runner-up in 2020. Surprisingly, Connor Zilisch is expected to have much better odds at winning the race compared to some of the other veteran drivers in the series.

Note: These are the odds for the Daytona 500 2026 as of February 8, 2025. They are subjected to change during the week.

So, who is your favorite driver heading into the Daytona 500 as the NASCAR Cup Series 2026 season nears its start? Do you agree with the above odds for the race winner? Let us know in the comments.