The inaugural Daytona 500 was held in 1959 coinciding with the opening of the speedway and since 1982, it has been the season-opening race of the Cup series.

[1] The Daytona 500 is regarded as the most important and prestigious race on the NASCAR calendar, carrying by far the largest purse.

It is also the series' first race of the year; this phenomenon is unique in sports, which tend to have championships or other major events at the end of the season rather than the start.

[3][4] The 2006 Daytona 500 attracted the sixth largest average live global TV audience of any sporting event that year with 20 million viewers.

Daytona International Speedway is 2.5 miles (4 km) long and a 500-mile race[11] requires 200 laps to complete.

In 2005, a new television contract was signed, which made Fox the sole broadcaster of the Daytona 500 for eight years, from 2007 to 2014.

The changing track conditions caused by the onset of darkness in the closing laps in these years forced the crew chiefs to predict the critical car setup adjustments needed for their final two pit stops.

Due to a two–hour red flag period after a jet dryer fire on the track with 40 laps remaining, the race did not end until about 12:40 a.m. on Tuesday, February 28.

As an example, new affiliates WDJT in Milwaukee and WGNX in Atlanta — both cities that are home to NASCAR races — and WWJ in Detroit, close to Michigan International Speedway, were on the UHF band (channels 14–69), meaning that they had a significantly reduced broadcast area compared to former affiliates WITI, WAGA-TV, and WJBK, respectively.

Rain delays forced the 2025 Daytona 500 race to go on longer, with television coverage cutting into numerous Fox Animation Domination shows.

‡ – Record for fastest Daytona 500 before the stages era at 177.602 mph (285.823 km/h) set by Buddy Baker in 1980.

† - Record for fastest Daytona 500 during the stages era at 157.178 mph (252.953 km/h) set by William Byron in 2024.