Dale Earnhardt Jr. opens the NASCAR season at the top of the charts in the first Daytona 500 practice. The driver of the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 46.364 and a speed of 194.116 mph.
Crew chiefs drew their drivers' starting positions for the race on Friday -- the Sprint Unlimited (75 laps, 187.5 miles) is set for the green flag Saturday at 8:15 p.m. ET (FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Crew chief Chad Knaus landed the prime position for Jimmie Johnson, who will start from the pole position. Johnson has visited Victory Lane at the 2.5-mile track three times in his career.
This week, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads down to Daytona International Speedway to kick off the annual ritual of Speedweeks. This consists of 10 days of activity that culminates on Feb. 21 with the 58th running of the Great American Race, the Daytona 500. But before we officially start the season, we need to get back into the racing mindset. To do that, we run the Sprint Unlimited.
NASCAR returns this week with the Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Raceway Saturday night followed by Sprint Cup qualifying for the Daytona 500 on Sunday. FOX will provide television coverage for both events while all practices can be seen on FS1. Please see the complete schedule and the driver lineup for the Sprint Unlimited below.
The curtain has fallen on the 2015 season and Kyle Busch is standing atop the NASCAR world. The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota scored both his 34th career victory and first championship in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Only nine months removed from suffering a broken right leg and left foot in an accident at Daytona, Kyle Busch won at Homestead-Miami Speedway to capture the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. The title is the first for Busch and Toyota.
Joey Logano topped the final practice session of 2015. The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 30.786 and a speed of 175.404 mph.
Kyle Larson posted the fastest time in second practice. The driver of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 30.680 and a speed of 176.010 mph.
Denny Hamlin will lead the field to the green flag for Sunday's race. The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota won the pole with a time of 30.568 and a speed of 176.655 mph.
Carl Edwards posted the fastest time in the rain-shortened first practice in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 30.832 and a speed of 175.143 mph.
Kaden Honeycutt was able to drive back through the field after an early pit road speeding penalty and led Toyota with a fourth-place finish in the NASCAR Truck Series race at Dover Motor Speedway on Friday evening.
Reigning Top Fuel world champion Doug Kalitta made the quickest run on Friday at Route 66 Raceway, taking the provisional No. 1 spot at the 26th annual Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by PEAK.
