In addition to NASCAR, the track also hosts races of ARCA, AMA Superbike, USCC, SCCA, and Motocross.

The track was built in 1959 by NASCAR founder William "Bill" France, Sr. to host racing held at the former Daytona Beach Road Course.

Lights were installed around the track in 1998 and today, it is the third-largest single lit outdoor sports facility.

The project, named "Daytona Rising", was completed in January 2016, and it costed US $400 million, placing emphasis on improving fan experience with five expanded and redesigned fan entrances (called "injectors") as well as wider and more comfortable seating with more restrooms and concession stands.

[12] Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 46.553 seconds and a speed of 193.328 mph (311.131 km/h).

Ryan Sieg and Cole Whitt suffered engine failures on lap 10, bringing out the first caution of the race.

Denny Hamlin made an unscheduled stop a lap later for a loose wheel, which was a result of having only one lug nut.

Exiting Turn 4 on lap 49, Michael McDowell and Daniel Suárez made contact and both wound up on the apron.

[16] Earnhardt cut down a tire and hit the wall in Turn 1 on lap 51, a result of contact with Paul Menard.

Rounding Turn 2 on lap 71, Kyle Busch suffered a left-rear tire failure and spun out in front of most of the field, resulting in a 10-car wreck, which brought out the fifth caution.

Brendan Gaughan made contact with the wall in Turn 2 on lap 90, bringing out the seventh caution.

Caution #9 flew a lap later when Harvick suffered a rear tire blowout and spun out in Turn 2, collecting Earnhardt and three others.

[15] When the field reached the backstretch on the lap 121, Kasey Kahne was turned by David Ragan and spun down onto the apron, bringing out the 11th caution.

Caution flew for the 12th time a lap later when Matt DiBenedetto when he suffered a right-front tire failure and slammed the wall.

Coming to the line with eight to go, Kyle Larson got turned into the tri-oval wall, lifting his car into the air for a few seconds.

[27] Dillon lacked draft help on the ensuing restart with three to go, while Ragan got an excellent push to take the race lead.

[15] Heading down the backstretch in overtime with two to go, Ragan jumped to the high line and left the bottom open.

At the same time, coming to the line second, I thought I had a shot at (Stenhouse) but just they had such a big run behind I couldn't hold them off.”[34] Ragan, who finished sixth after leading on the final restart, said he "made one bad move," and a few other "bad moves tonight," but that he was in a damned if he did and damned if he didn't scenario.

"So if it was Thursday and you said ‘We'll give a sixth-place finish,’ I probably would have taken that coming down to Daytona because my record hasn't been that great the last several years here," he added.

Dave Burns, Parker Kligerman, Marty Snider and Kelli Stavast report from pit lane during the race.