2022 Daytona 500: Start time, weather, how to watch and stream

NASCAR will kick off its 2022 Cup Series on Fox Sunday afternoon with the 64th annual Daytona 500, the unofficial “Super Bowl of Stock Car Racing.”

All the talk leading up to the race has been focused around NASCAR’S so-called Next Gen cars, which made their debut earlier this month at the Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Coliseum. In addition to offering faster acceleration and more control, the new machines — which are replacing the Gen 6 cars used from 2013 to 2021 — will allow Fox to offer views from a lower “Bumper Camp” and a new “Spoiler Cam” on the rear spoiler.

Kyle Larson, the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion, took the pole position for the race on Wednesday. And for the fifth straight year, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman earned a front-row starting position in the Daytona 500, starting second in his No. 48 Chevrolet.

Among the notable drivers Sunday will be Greg Biffle, who will be behind the wheel at the Daytona 500 for the first time since leaving the Cup Series at the end of 2016. The 52-year-old had been racing in a sand series and won at Texas Motor Speedway during a Truck Series race in 2019. He was recruited to compete in his first Cup Series race in nearly six years by start-up team New York Racing.

“It’s been a while,” Biffle told the Associated Press.

Fox is hoping for the positive weather forecasts to hold steady after last year’s rain-delayed race drew a record-low 4.83 million viewers. According to Sports Media Watch, that was down 34% from 2020, when a then-record low 7.33 million viewers watched when most of the race was run on a Monday afternoon.

While weather is obviously an important factor, Daytona 500 ratings have been steadily declining since 2013, when over 16 million viewers tuned in to watch former driver Danica Patrick, the first female to earn a pole position in NASCAR’s top circuit.

Here’s everything you need to know to watch or stream this year’s Daytona 500:

The green flag at the Daytona 500 is scheduled to wave at 2:30 p.m. Eastern, and the race will air live on Fox. The race will also stream live on the Fox Sports app, though it’s only available there for cable subscribers.

The Daytona 500 can also be streamed on a host of services, including Hulu With Live TV, DirecTV Stream, FuboTV, Sling TV, and YouTube TV.

Longtime NASCAR announcer Mike Joy will be calling his 43rd Daytona 500, and will be joined in the booth by analyst Clint Bowyer, who is entering his second year with Fox Sports after retiring from NASCAR in 2020.

Also calling the race will be NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart, who joined Fox last year and is calling his first Daytona 500. Stewart got some reps in with Bowyer last season, when the duo called the season-opening 2021 Xfinity Series race at Daytona alongside Adam Alexander. They also worked alongside Joy calling the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum earlier this month, which drew over 4 million viewers on Fox.

“What I add in the booth is hopefully the driver’s perspective and what the drivers are thinking at different points during the race,” Stewart told Robb Report magazine. “A lot of times the fans think they know what’s going on from what’s on TV, but having that driver’s perspective adds to it, something to make them go, ‘Wow, I never thought of it that way.’”

The trio won’t be the only voices viewers hear during the race. Former crew chief Larry McReynolds, a two-time Daytona 500 winner, will return as the broadcast’s technical analyst. Pit reporters Jamie Little, Vince Welch, and Regan Smith will also chime in during the broadcast.

Coverage begins at 11 a.m. on FS1 with NASCAR Raceday, which switches over to Fox at 1 p.m. Shannon Spake will host, joined by analysts Larry McReynolds and Jamie McMurray. Cohosting from the track will be longtime NASCAR host and NFL play-by-play announcer Chris Myers, alongside analyst Clint Bowyer. Tom Rinaldi will also contribute to Fox’s prerace coverage.

Country music star Trace Adkins will sing the national anthem, while Luke Combs will perform during a prerace concert for the second consecutive year. WWE star Big E (real name Ettore Ewen) will serve as the honorary pace car driver and lead drivers to the green flag, which will be waved by Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch.

The last two runnings of the Daytona 500 were forced into lengthy delays by heavy rain, but fortunately the weather forecast this year is a lot more favorable.

According to the National Weather Service, it’s expected to be mostly sunny when the race gets underway, with temperatures in the low 70s and winds at 10 to 15 mph. There is a slight chance of sprinkles, but nothing strong enough that’s expected to impact the race.