RYAN BLANEY DRIVING HIS FORD DARK HORSE MUSTANG FOR TEAM PENSKE IN 2025 AT TALLADEGA – MOTORSPORT AMERICA PHOTO
Friday, February 13 – NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, 7:30 p.m. ET
(FS1)
Saturday, February 14 – NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, 5 p.m. ET
(CW)
Sunday, February 15 – NASCAR Cup Series, 2:30 p.m. ET (FOX)
The NASCAR season gets started full speed this weekend as all three of
the sport’s top touring series hit the track for the first time in
2026. Daytona Speedweeks will feature the debut of O’Reilly Auto Parts
as a series title sponsor and culminate with the 68th running of the
Daytona 500.
FORD AND THE 500
Ford has won the Daytona 500 a total of 17 times with the last being
four years ago when Austin Cindric (2022) captured the race in just his
second attempt. Tiny Lund registered Ford’s first win in ‘The Great
American Race’ when he subbed for Marvin Panch and drove the Wood
Brothers to their first 500 win in 1963. Bill Elliott, Dale Jarrett and
Matt Kenseth are the only drivers to win the event more than once with
Ford, but that could grow by one if either Joey Logano or Cindric find
Victory Lane on Sunday.
BLANEY GOING FOR CONSECUTIVE DAYTONA WINS
Ford driver Ryan Blaney will be making his 12th start in the Daytona 500
this weekend and he would like nothing better for it to end up the way
it did a few months ago. That’s when Blaney came from 13th to first in
the final two laps of the regular season finale to win the Coke Zero
Sugar 400 in August. That marked his second career summer Cup win at
Daytona, a facility that has been feast or famine for him throughout his
career. That’s because in 21 all-time series starts, he has nine
finishes of seventh or better, seven finishes of 30th or worse, and nine
DNFs. The last Cup driver to win consecutive races at DIS was Jimmie
Johnson in 2013.
PREECE RIDING HIGH
Ryan Preece comes into this weekend’s Daytona 500 still riding high
after his win in last week’s Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. The
Connecticut native successfully navigated rain, sleet, ice and other
obstacles to lead the final 45 laps and post the first win of his NASCAR
Cup Series career. As a result, he will try to become the first driver
to win the Clash and 500 since Denny Hamlin did it in 2016. In six
career Daytona 500 starts, Preece has a pair of top 10 finishes with his
best effort being sixth in 2021.
BUESCHER ON TOP 10 RUN AT DAYTONA
Ford Mustang Dark Horse driver Chris Buescher has been on a roll of late
with RFK Racing at Daytona International Speedway, coming into this
weekend’s “Great American Race” having finished 10th or better
five times in his last six starts at the superspeedway. That includes a
victory in the 2023 regular season finale when he got a decisive push
from teammate and co-owner Brad Keselowski, and led the final two laps
of overtime. In 10 Daytona 500 starts, Buescher’s best finish is third
(2020).
SMITH HOPING TO JOIN CINDRIC ON FORD DAYTONA LIST
Zane Smith will be making his third Daytona 500 start and a victory on
Sunday would make him the second active Ford driver to win at the World
Center of Speed in multiple series. Smith has a pair of NASCAR Craftsman
Truck Series victories with those coming in back-to-back seasons (2022
and 2023) while Cindric registered his Daytona wins in Cup (2022) and
NOAPS (2021).
RYAN PREECE: “For me, it’s going out for qualifying night, try to get it
on the pole, and keep this momentum going. When you have this good
feeling, you want to harness it and keep capitalizing on it, just let it
set the bar for the season, how you want to continue to be. The people
that know me from racing modifieds and where I come from, how I won
races, they know my passion, they know my drive and how I hate losing
more than I love winning. I want people nationally, around the country,
to see that, too. I’m looking forward to it.”
RYAN BLANEY: “You work with your guys through the week and in the
winter, but nothing is better than working with them at the racetrack,
kind of getting that camaraderie back, the communication side down, just
getting back to what you’re used to. I look forward to getting back with
my guys, getting the year rolling, and seeing how the week goes in
Daytona.”
CINDRIC KICKS OFF ROOKIE SEASON IN STYLE
Austin Cindric started off his first full-time season in the NASCAR Cup
Series with Team Penske with a bang by winning the 2022 Daytona 500 in
only his second attempt. Cindric got a push and then had to fend off his
teammate, Ryan Blaney, coming to the checkered flag to become the first
rookie to win the Great American Race. Blaney made contact with Cindric
and hit the outside wall, sealing the No. 2 driver’s fate to claim his
first career Cup Series victory. It was a stellar day for Ford overall,
claiming four of the top-five and seven of the top-10 finishing
positions. Chase Briscoe came home 3rd, Blaney 4th and Aric Almirola 5th
to complete the top five.
LOGANO GIVES FORD FIRST SWEEP OF DAYTONA SPEEDWEEKS
Joey Logano survived an intense final 10 laps, including a
green-white-checkered finish, to give Ford a sweep of Daytona Speedweeks
by winning the 57th running of the Daytona 500 in 2015. The win came on
the heels of Tyler Reddick winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
and Ryan Reed taking the checkered flag for the first time in the NASCAR
XFINITY Series event. It also capped an undefeated month of racing at
Daytona for Ford, which also won the season-opening Rolex 24 Hours.
NOAPS CHANGES
NASCAR’s second tier series is now known as the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto
Parts Series, but that isn’t the only change happening in 2026. Ford
will have a pair of new drivers in addition to one new race team as
Hettinger Racing joins the roster. The team announced that Luke Fenhaus
will drive the No. 5 Ford Mustang Dark Horse at Daytona as they compete
for the first time in the series. AM Racing is back and will have a new
driver with Nick Sanchez getting behind the wheel for his Ford Racing
debut.
SHIFTING NUMBERS
ThorSport Racing has seen two drivers shift numbers for 2026. Ty Majeski
is moving over to take the wheel of the No. 88 Ford F-150 that
three-time series champion Matt Crafton piloted for 25 years. Going into
the No. 98 that Majeski drove the past three seasons is Jake Garcia, who
will be competing in his third full-time campaign with the organization.
Rookie Cole Butcher will assume Garcia’s No. 13 while two-time series
champ Ben Rhodes, who joined ThorSport in 2016, stays in his familiar
No. 99 for the eighth straight year.
FRONT ROW DUO RETURNS
This will mark the second straight season Layne Riggs and Chandler Smith
team up at Front Row Motorsports. Both drivers made the playoffs a year
ago and combined to win all five of Ford’s series races with Riggs
winning three times and Smith twice. Riggs, who has five career series
victories in two full seasons, will be back in his No. 34 Ford F-150
while Smith prepares for double duty this weekend as he drives his
regular No. 38 truck and attempts to qualify for the Daytona 500 in the
No. 36 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for FRM.