2:54 PM ET Associated Press DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump gave an election-year embrace to NASCAR and its fans Sunday when he became the second president ever to attend the Daytona 500. Given the honor of commanding drivers to start their engines, Trump made a grand entrance before the start of the race.

9:19 AM ET DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — “Does anyone have an update on Ryan Newman?” Joe Gibbs, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, Denny Hamlin‘s car owner and, as of about 10 minutes earlier, a four-time Daytona 500 champion, had slipped into the racetrack’s Victory Lane unnoticed. That’s how he wanted it. He refused to

1:16 PM ET Associated Press DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. spent decades taking risks on the track and in the air. He’s trying to minimize both these days. Earnhardt said Sunday before the Daytona 500 that he’s changed his approach to flying following a harrowing crash landing near Bristol Motor Speedway last August.

7:16 PM ET DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — It is race day at Daytona! Perhaps you are a hardcore NASCAR fan who watches every race from Valentine’s Day to Thanksgiving. But chances are higher that your Daytona 500 viewing habits are much more of a Kentucky Derby/Olympics figure skating-kind of approach. You watch because it’s a

10:51 PM ET Associated Press DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — After Joe Gibbs Racing swept last year’s Daytona 500 with a trio of Toyota drivers, Joey Logano angrily marched to the car of fellow Ford driver Michael McDowell and pointed at the blue oval. Logano’s message was clear to McDowell: If he couldn’t win the race,

5:45 PM ET Associated Press DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Noah Gragson won his first career Xfinity Series race when Saturday’s opener was stopped on the final lap by a crash well behind the winning JR Motorsports Chevrolet. It was the third consecutive win at Daytona for a car fielded by Dale Earnhardt Jr., his sister

10:05 AM ET DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — When Jimmie Johnson is asked a question that requires some deep thought, a topic that requires him to pull from a memory, he does this thing with his eyes, head and brain. He will clamp his eyelids shut, tilt his head to the side, or even tilt it

11:25 PM ET Associated Press DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR opened the Truck Series season with one fiery crash, a truck stuck on its roof and Grant Enfinger in Victory Lane following overtime and a door-to-door race to the finish line. Enfinger beat Jordan Anderson in a frantic push to the finish that drew sparks

11:58 AM ET Associated Press DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR will dole out a record $23.6 million to the 40 drivers racing in the Daytona 500. The sanctioning body released the total purse Friday, an about-face for an organization that hadn’t released payouts since the 2015 season. NASCAR’s charter system with teams had previously prohibited

9:14 AM ET DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — As the sun rises over Daytona and a new NASCAR season, there is still a hint of the golden hues from last week’s Academy Awards in the atmosphere. Perhaps that is why, as Kyle Busch blew into the World Center of Racing for Thursday night’s 150-mile Daytona 500