The Daytona 500, known as “The Great American Race”, is the most prestigious event on the NASCAR Cup Series calendar. Held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, the 68th running of the race took place on 15 February 2026. The 200-lap, 500-mile contest around the 2.5-mile superspeedway serves as the season-opening race for the NASCAR Cup Series and regularly attracts one of the largest television audiences in American motorsport.
What to Expect
The Daytona 500 is a 200-lap race around Daytona International Speedway’s high-banked 2.5-mile tri-oval. Pack racing and drafting at speeds exceeding 200 mph make the event one of the most unpredictable in motorsport. The 2026 edition delivered exactly that drama, with a record 25 different leaders and 65 lead changes before Tyler Reddick made a decisive last-lap pass on Chase Elliott to claim victory for 23XI Racing, co-owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin. Reddick won by just 0.308 seconds over Ricky Stenhouse Jr., with Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, and Brad Keselowski rounding out the top five.
The race is part of the wider Speedweeks programme, which runs for several days before the main event and includes practice sessions, qualifying, and the Daytona Duel qualifying races on Thursday. The full Speedweeks schedule offers fans extensive on-track action beyond the main race itself.
Richard Petty holds the record for the most Daytona 500 victories with seven, while Cale Yarborough sits second with four. Among active competitors, Denny Hamlin is a three-time winner. The Daytona 500 first ran in 1959, when Lee Petty won in a photo finish so close that the result was not confirmed for three days.
How to Watch
In the United States, the Daytona 500 is broadcast live on Fox, with streaming available through Fox Sports and the Fox Sports App. Cord-cutting viewers can access Fox through YouTube TV, Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, and FuboTV. The 2026 race drew 7.49 million viewers, an 11% increase on the previous year.
In the United Kingdom, NASCAR is broadcast on Viaplay and Premier Sports. In Canada, CTV carries the race live. Internationally, the Daytona 500 is available in more than 185 countries and territories in 23 languages, with coverage through DAZN, SuperSport (Africa), Abema (Japan), Coupang (Korea), SPOTV (Southeast Asia), and Fox (Mexico and Latin America).
Venue and Tickets
Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, has a permanent seating capacity of 101,500 following the $400 million “Daytona Rising” renovation completed in 2016. The facility includes expanded grandstands, modern hospitality suites, and a large infield area where fans traditionally watch from atop recreational vehicles. Tickets for the Daytona 500 are available through the official Daytona International Speedway website, with general admission typically starting from around $135 and grandstand seats ranging from $193 to $328 depending on location. VIP hospitality packages start from approximately $895, with premium VVIP experiences available from $3,500.