Unlike any other race in motorsports, the qualifying procedure that sets the Daytona 500 starting lineup will be finished before the weekend.

So, you won’t have to wait until the green flag waves for the 66th running of the “Great American Race” at 2:30 p.m. Sunday to see the NASCAR Cup Series in action.

How is the Daytona 500 lineup set?

Tuesday afternoon, a random draw will determine the order in which cars will roll off pit road for Wednesday’s Cup Series qualifying session. The final 20 spots, however, will be held for the Top 20 in owners points from last season.

During the qualifying session, at 8:15 p.m. Wednesday on FS1, each entrant will run one timed lap around Daytona’s 2.5-mile tri-oval superspeedway. The fastest two qualifiers will be locked into the top two starting positions for Sunday’s race.

Starting at 7 p.m. Thursday, the Bluegreen Vacation Duels will set the third to 40th positions. There will be a pair of 60-lap, 150-mile races with lineups set from Wednesday night’s qualifying session. The drivers in Duel 1, in order of their finishes, will set the inside rows, while the finishers of Duel 2 will make up the outside rows.

Full schedule for the 2024 Daytona Speedweeks

All times are Eastern.

Wednesday, Feb. 14

— 8:15 p.m.: Cup Series qualifying for Sunday’s Daytona 500. Watch on FS1; Listen on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR.

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