The 2026 NASCAR season is fully underway, an eventful week of racing beginning at the Duels on Thursday, Truck racing on Friday, and Saturday held the newly rebranded NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, leaving just the headliner, the Daytona 500. Qualifying saw Kyle Busch land on the pole after leading the field through both rounds of qualification. But as any fan will know the race won’t be single cars racing around but the whole field together separated by just one second. Chevrolet introduced the new body style of the defunct Camaro and anytime a manufacturer introduces body changes there are a lot of unknowns. But practice times indicates the bowties might have a chance to topple the Ford domination of superspeedway racing. Last year the Fords were dominate in just about every superspeedway race, most laps lead were almost all Fords in each race, Team Penske continues to lead the field in team cooperation with all three drivers constantly fighting for the win and leading laps at the end of these races. In the 2025 Daytona 500 Team Penske led for 125 of the 201 laps ran, but did not score the victory. I think the 2026 Daytona 500 will feature another Team Penske/Ford performance but the Chevrolets stand to have a better chance to dominate the lap leader category, Hendrick Motorsports have a chance to go three in a row with William Byron but look for Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson to be towards the front at the end, RCR looks competitive with Austin Dillon finishing first in second practice, and finishing third in Duel One on Thursday. Teammate Kyle Busch protected his car in the duels but look for the two to link up early in the race and stay together throughout the race. Superspeedway racing is a gamble and the runs are the most important competitor, a the end of the Daytona 500 it is all about survival and cooperation is out the door. Joe Gibbs Racing appears to be the strongest of the Toyotas, followed by Legacy MC, and last, 23XI. The cars from 23XI appeared to be slower then the other Toyotas throughout all the sessions held and I do not expect it to change at today’s race. I believe Ford will score the 500 victory ending Byron’s streak, Joey Logano looks to be the strongest of the Fords every time we race at Daytona, Echopark, or Talladega. Look for Austin Cindric to lead laps and possibly score his second victory at Daytona, Ryan Blaney seems to have a knack at scoring superspeedway wins in the final laps.

My Picks

Winner: Joey Logano

Dark Horse: Austin Dillon

-Adam Shelton (AZSRacing.com Owner)