It's finally time for the 2022 NASCAR season to kick off.   Two weeks ago the NASCAR Cup series kicked off with the Clash at the LA Coliseum, so we had a brief preview of the new car.  

The real kick off to the NASCAR Cup series will begin Sunday, February 20, with the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.   This has been the official begin to the Cup series since 1982.   In previous years Daytona International Speedway has held a two week event schedule which we have called Speedweeks.   

In previous years, single car qualifying for the Cup series has been held on the Sunday prior to the Daytona 500, and Thursday before the big race has held the Duel races to set the field.   This year is a little different.  For 2022 the first time the Cup series cars will take the track was Tuesday February 15 with two practice sessions at 5:05 PM and 6:35 PM.  For the first practice, last year's Daytona 500 winner, Michael McDowell, was the fastest followed by David Ragan, Todd Gilliland, Brad Keselowski, and Chris Buescher.  

The second practice started at 6:35 PM Eastern and was shown on FS1, so we caught a few minutes of it.   The practice started off with mostly single car runs as teams prepare for qualifying tonight.   There were a few teams that were making group runs; however, most of the groups seemed to be only three to four cars and I wouldn't expect many big group runs until later practice sessions.   The practice #2 finished around 7:30 PM eastern, with Ryan Blaney as the fastest car followed by Joey Logano, Cole Custer, Cody Ware, and Chris Buescher.

As I mentioned, the NASCAR Cup series will hold single car qualifying tonight, February 16, at 8:05 PM Eastern and it will be shown on FS1.   This will set the front row for the Sunday's race, and will set the two fields for the Duel races which will be shown tomorrow, February 17 at 7 and 8:45 PM eastern on FS1.  Also of note, there are 42 cars entered for the Daytona 500, and there are only 40 spots, so there will be two cars that will go home after the Duel races tomorrow (Daytona 500 entry list).  After the Duel races, there will be two more practice sessions on Friday and Saturday for the Cup series. 

As for the rest of Speedweeks, the ARCA series will have a one hour practice session Thursday, February 17 at 4:05 PM followed by a single car qualifying session Friday at 1:30 PM.   This qualifying session will set the field for the Lucas Oil 200 which will be shown on FS1.  

At last count the ARCA series entry list for Daytona contains 37 cars which is below the maximum 40 car field count, so no one will be sent home after qualifying.   The field also contains 13 rookies which will make the race an interesting one.  There are some familiar names returning to the series this year; however, many of these names are new to me and I am interested to see how things shake out this season. 

The NASCAR Truck Series season will also be starting at Daytona.  This series is returning to Daytona to run under the lights once again.   This race is typically one of the most exciting races of the weekend, so be sure to tune into FS1 at 7:30 PM Eastern to catch the 100 lap race.   

(Truck Series On Track Schedule)

The truck series will take their first laps at Daytona tomorrow, February 17 at 4:35 for practice followed by a qualifying session on Friday, February 18 at 3 PM Eastern.   There are 42 trucks entered for Friday night's race; however, there are only 36 spots for the field, so there will be 6 trucks going home after qualifying (Truck Series Daytona Entry List).  

As mentioned earlier, the race will be on FS1 Friday night at 7:30 PM Eastern.