NASCAR Cup Series

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Ford Mustang -- YOU SPENT THE DAY AT DISNEY YESTERDAY, HOW WAS IT? “It was fun. We did all the parks yesterday. We had a guy walking us around. I like that stuff. We saw the makings of Star Wars Land. I can’t wait for that. We didn’t get to go there but there is Toy Story Land now and one of the rides you can kind of see over the fence into Star Wars Land and it looks amazing. I wanted to jump over the fence. It opens in December of this year. I might stay down there next year. That would be a good off-season vacation. I will have to go back down.”

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series head to Daytona International Speedway this weekend to kick off the 2019 season.

Sunday’s Daytona 500 single-car qualifying set only the front row for the “Great American Race” — Hendrick Motorsports teammates William Byron (Busch Pole Award) and Alex Bowman will lead the field when the green flag drops Feb. 17 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

DIBENEDETTO BY THE NUMBERS: In seven Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career starts at Daytona, Matt DiBenedetto has an average start of 31.0 and an average finish of 22.1.

The 61st running of the Daytona 500 is scheduled for Sunday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway (2:30 p.m. Eastern on FOX) and it will feature the points racing debut of the new NASCAR Mustang. Ford has won the Daytona 500 a total of 15 times, including four of the last eight. Team Penske driver Joey Logano is the defending series champion while Ford looks to build off a 2018 season that saw it lead the series with 19 victories and claim the manufacturers’ title.

Wyndham Destinations, the world's largest vacation ownership and exchange company, today celebrated the extension of their sponsorship of Richard Petty Motorsports through 2020. As the longest serving hospitality sponsor of the team, Wyndham Destinations will continue supporting "the King" and driver of the iconic #43 car Darrell "Bubba" Wallace, Jr. for the vacation company's 19th and 20th years as a sponsor, starting with the season opening race the Daytona 500 on February 17.

Newman will make his 35th regular season start at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, and 18th start in the Daytona 500.

Front Row Motorsports (FRM) today announced an expanded partnership with CITGO® Petroleum Corporation and its CITGARD® brand that began last season with David Ragan and the No. 38 team.

Thirty-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) winner Kurt Busch announced plans today for the KB100 Ticket Giveaway, which will offer 100 tickets for each MENCS race in 2019. All currently serving military members and veterans are eligible to register to be selected for tickets. The KB100 program is part of a relationship with the Veteran Tickets Foundation (Vet Tix) and will begin with this weekend’s 61st running of the DAYTONA 500.

Stenhouse qualified 18th during Sunday’s qualifying session for the front row. The Fastenal Ford will line up in the 10th position for the Gander RV Duel 1 on Thursday, which will set the field for the Daytona 500.