75th Diamond Anniversary season officially begins with the DAYTONA 500

Fire up the engines, queue the confetti machines and pop the champagne, it is time to celebrate the 75th Diamond Anniversary of NASCAR and no better place to ring in such a special time than the ‘World Center of Racing’ – Daytona International Speedway – with the biggest event of the season, the DAYTONA 500 on Sunday, February 19 at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Last weekend, NASCAR jump started the 2023 season with a return to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum quarter-mile for a spectacular Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum, that not only saw Martin Truex Jr. grabbing the checkered flag in a wild short track showdown, but also performances by Cypress Hill, Wiz Khalifa, Cheat Codes and Dixie D’Amelio.

Now the NASCAR Cup Series is headed to the sunny beaches of Central Florida to officially kick-off the 36-race points-paying championship season and will do it in style as multi-platinum recording artist Dierks Bentley will take the stage ahead of the 65th running of the DAYTONA 500. The 14-time Grammy-nominated entertainer will perform a setlist of hit songs just before drivers take the green flag.

“I’m ready to get back to Daytona with all the biggest NASCAR fans,” Bentley said. “The energy there is unmatched, and I know we will have a blast getting them ready for the race.”

And once that green flag waves it will be quite the race in Daytona. Last season’s DAYTONA 500 was action-packed with 104 green flag passes for the lead, and over 6,400 total green flag passes, but it was Team Penske’s Austin Cindric who crossed the finish line first, just 0.36-second ahead of runner-up Bubba Wallace driving for 23XI Racing – the third closest finish of the DAYTONA 500 since advent of electronic scoring in 1993.