Last year, Denny Hamlin won the closest Daytona 500, edging Martin Truex Jr. by one-hundredth of a second.
What will this year's race bring?
Chase Elliott has won the pole for the second year in a row, with the fastest one-lap qualifying time of 192.872 miles per hour.
Elliott, son of racing great Bill Elliott, will start in the front row of NASCAR's signature race, next to Hendricks Motor Sports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr., whose best single-lap time of 192.864 mph, was just 0.002 seconds than Elliott's lap that won the pole.
In 2016, Elliott led for three laps but he crashed out early and finished 37th.
Hamlin led for 95 laps and had enough left at the end to eke out the dramatic win.
This is how it looked at the finish:
Imagine racing for 499.99 miles & it comes down to this pic.twitter.com/PLi6988Yiq
-- Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) February 21, 2016
Qualifying coverage is on FS1 (in Portland: Comcast 723/408, DirecTV 219), beginning on Thursday.
Sunday is the big day in Daytona Beach, Fla., with the Daytona 500 on Fox (in Portland: Comcast 712/12, DirecTV 12).
Coverage begins at 10 a.m. Pacific (1 0.m. Eastern) and the race is set to begin at 11 a.m. (2 p.m. Eastern).
Here's the the qualifying and race schedule:
Friday, Feb. 24
NASCAR XFINITY Series practice, 9 a.m. to 9:55 a.m. (noon to 12:55 p.m. Eastern).
Daytona 500 practice, 10 a.m. to 10:55 a.m. (1 p.m. to 1:55 p.m. Eastern).
XFINITY Happy Hour, 11 a.m. to 11:55 a.m. (2 p.m. to 2:55 p.m. Eastern).
Daytona 500 practice, Noon to 12: 55 p.m. (3 p.m. to 3:55 p.m. Eastern).
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series qualifying for the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at 1:30 p.m. (4:30 p.m. Liderbahis Eastern)
NextEra Energy Resources 250, 4:30 p.m. (7:30 p.m. Eastern)
TV: FS1
Saturday, Feb. 25
The NASCAR XFINITY Series qualifying, 7:30 a.m. (10:30 a.m. Eastern)
Power Shares QQQ 300, Noon (3 p.m. Eastern).
Daytona 500 Happy Hour practice, 10 a.m. to 10:55 a.m. (1 p.m. to 1:55 p.m. Eastern).
TV: FS1
Sunday, Feb. 26
Daytona 500, 11 a.m. (2 p.m. Eastern).
TV: Fox
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