NASCAR kicks off its 2024 season this weekend and the Cup Series will run the Daytona 500. The Great American Race airs this Sunday on Fox with the green flag dropping at 2:30 p.m. ET. The race will be preceded by two separate qualifying formats and two days of practice.
The race features two rounds of one qualifying format and two short races for the other qualifying format. Wednesday features two rounds of single-car qualifying to determine pole position for Sunday’s race and the lineups for Thursday’s Bluegreen Vacations Duel races. The order for Wednesday’s qualifying is determined on Tuesday and the starting lineup behind the pole position is determined in Thursday’s twin Duels.
Denny Hamlin enters Wednesday qualifying as the favorite to win Sunday’s race at DraftKings Sportsbook. The three-time champ is +900 and is followed by Kyle Busch at +1100, and Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski at +1200.
Here’s a full rundown of how the starting lineup is set for the 2024 Daytona 500.
Draw
On Tuesday, NASCAR held a random draw to determine the order in which Cup Series cars will leave pit road for Wednesday qualifying. The full entry list with qualifying order is available here.
Wednesday qualifying
Qualifying starts at 8:15 p.m. ET and will air on FS1. Each driver will get one timed lap around the 2.5-mile superspeedway. The two fastest qualifiers will secure the top two spots for Sunday’s race, which puts them on the front row. The rest of the drivers will compete in the twin Duels on Thursday to determine the rest of the starting lineup for Sunday’s race. The order of the twin Duels will be determined by their qualifying finish on Wednesday.
Thursday Bluegreen Vacation Duels
The Duels are a pair of races, each consisting of 60 laps that cover 150 miles. The first Duel runs at 7 p.m. and the second Duel starts at approximately 8:45 p.m. ET, with both airing on FS1. The results of the first duel determine the inside rows of Sunday’s race and the results of the second duel determine the outside rows.
Points Awarded for Qualifying
The top ten finishers in each Duel will be awarded points that count toward the regular season, but they receive no playoff points. The winners of the duels will receive 10 points, the second-place finishers get nine points and so on down to the tenth-place finisher in each race.
Delays/Cancellation/Rules
There is rain in the forecast for Saturday practice and Sunday’s race, but qualifying and the Duels should not feature any rain. If something happened to cause a cancellation, Wednesday’s qualifying results would determine the full Sunday starting lineup. If Wednesday’s qualifying event was also canceled, the starting lineup would be set per the NASCAR Rule Book.