Who's In, Who's Out: Daytona 500 Qualifying Explained

The Clash is over. On to Daytona. How is the lineup set for the Daytona 500? It can be a little complicated. Or a lot complicated. And we’re here to explain everything to you. Related: Daytona 500 Odds & Insight The Daytona 500 field will consist of 41 cars. There are 37 drivers who know they are in the field: — The 36 drivers of teams that have charters: AJ Allmendinger, Christopher Bell, Josh Berry, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Chase Briscoe, Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, Cole Custer, Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon, Chase Elliott, Ty Gibbs, Todd Gilliland, Noah Gragson, Denny Hamlin, Riley Herbst, Carson Hocevar, Erik Jones, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Michael McDowell, John Hunter Nemechek, Ryan Preece, Tyler Reddick, Zane Smith, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Daniel Suarez, Shane van Gisbergen, Bubba Wallace, Cody Ware and Connor Zilisch. — Jimmie Johnson, driving a non-chartered (open) car, is guaranteed a spot in the field by using the open exemption provisional, which is available to an elite driver in motorsports who doesn't race full time. By electing to use the provisional (the rules changed from a year ago to require him to commit to using the provisional before the race weekend), he forfeits all points and purse. There are eight open entries (disclaimer: the entry list won’t be final until Wednesday) that will vie for the final four spots: Anthony Alfredo, Justin Allgaier, Corey Heim, Corey LaJoie, B.J. McLeod, Casey Mears, Chandler Smith and JJ Yeley. Those four spots are determined in the 150-mile duels on Thursday, with the top-finishing open car in each duel earning a spot in the field and then the final two spots allocated to the two remaining drivers who were fastest in single-car qualifying Wednesday. Wednesday: Front Row Set On Wednesday, drivers will make single-car, single-lap qualifying runs. The order will be selected by random draw, with the drivers who were in the top 20 in 2025 owner points filling the final 20 spots in the order. The top 10 in qualifying speed will advance to a final round. The fastest car in the final round will be on the pole for the Daytona 500. The second-fastest car will be beside him on the front row. The two fastest among the open drivers know they will be in the Daytona 500 because their speeds will get them in, even if they are not the best-finishing open drivers in their duel. The third-fastest and fourth-fastest open drivers have a chance to get in on speed if one of the top-two open drivers also finishes best in their duel. The worst four open drivers will only get into the Daytona 500 if they are the highest finisher in their duel. Thursday: The Duels Beyond the front row, the remainder of the field is set by 150-mile qualifying races, commonly referred to as The Duels. The 45 cars will be split relatively evenly, with 23 cars in the first duel and 22 cars in the second duel. The lineups are set by the qualifying times Wednesday. The 36 charter teams, plus Johnson, will be split among the two duels, with the first duel lined up with those ranking first, third, fifth and so on, from qualifying while the second duel having those ranking second, fourth, sixth and so on. The eight open cars will be split among the two duels, with those first, third, fifth and seventh in qualifying speed in the first duel; those second, fourth, sixth and eighth in the second duel. Where they line up in those duels will be where their qualifying speed puts them among the chartered cars. The duel results determine the starting order for the Daytona 500 as well as determines which open cars make the field. Again, the highest-finishing open car in each duel earns a spot. The results of the first duel, using the finishing order of the guaranteed cars and the top open car, will set the Daytona 500 inside rows 2-20; the results of the second duel will set the Daytona 500 outside rows 2-19. The 40th and 41st spots in the field will go to those two open cars who weren’t the top-finishing open car in their duel but made the Daytona 500 based on their qualifying speed.