Two of the national NASCAR series hit the track Friday afternoon and evening at Daytona International Speedway.
Xfinity Series and Cup Series teams will both qualify for races at the 2.5-mile Florida track. Xfinity teams will then close out the day's schedule with a race under the lights. Daytona is a superspeedway, so it will not feature practice sessions for either series.
Justin Allgaier is the defending winner of the Xfinity summer race at Daytona. Austin Hill won this season's first race at Daytona. Sheldon Creed, who moves to Haas Factory Team next season, finished second in the last two Daytona races.
The Xfinity entry list features 38 cars for 38 spots on the starting grid. None will miss the race.
The list of guest drivers includes Jordan Anderson in the No. 32 Chevrolet, Caesar Bacarella in the No. 45 Chevrolet, Akinori Ogata in the No. 35 Chevrolet, Jeffrey Earnhardt in the No. 26 Toyota, Ryan Truex in the No. 20 Toyota, Joe Graf Jr. in the No. 19 Toyota, and Gus Dean in the No. 15 Ford.
The Craftsman Truck Series is also in action this weekend, albeit at a different track. The Truck drivers will kick off the playoffs Sunday afternoon at Milwaukee Mile Speedway.
Daytona International Speedway Friday forecast and schedule
Weather: The WeatherUnderground forecast calls for rain showers early in the day and mostly cloudy skies into the night. A high of 82 degrees and a 14% chance of rain at the start of the Xfinity Series race.
Friday, Aug. 23, schedule (Eastern Time)
- 10:30 a.m. - 7 p.m. -- Cup Series garage hours
- 12 p.m. -- Xfinity Series garage hours
- 3 - 4:30 p.m. -- Xfinity Series qualifying (USA Network, streaming on NBC Sports app)
- 5:05 - 6:30 p.m. -- Cup Series qualifying (USA Network, streaming on NBC Sports app. Radio coverage on Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
- 7:30 p.m. -- Xfinity Series race (100 laps, 250 miles. USA Network, streaming on NBC Sports app. Radio coverage on Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)