Daytona 500 offers a variety of storylines

The 65th running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday is not short of storylines, ranging from those trying to score their first win in this event to the talented list of drivers just trying to make the 40-car field.

Here are some things to watch this week at Daytona International Speedway:

Dale Earnhardt won his lone Daytona 500 in his 20th start in the race, the record for most starts by a driver before winning this race. 

Martin Truex Jr. will make his 19th career Daytona 500 start Sunday. Kyle Busch will make his 18th career start in the race. Brad Keselowski will make his 14th career start in the Daytona 500. None has won this race.

Truex lost the 2016 race by 0.01 seconds, the closest finish in Daytona 500 history. He has not finished better than 13th in this race since that day.

Busch, who is with Richard Childress Racing after having spent the last 15 seasons with Joe Gibbs Racing, has led 324 laps in the Daytona 500, the most by a driver who has not won the 500. He finished second in the 2019 race by .138 seconds. Busch finished sixth in last year’s race. He’s never had back-to-back top 10s in the Daytona 500.

Keselowski has won six times at Talladega and the summer Daytona race once but has never finished better than third in the Daytona 500.

Hendrick Motorsports has eight Daytona 500 victories — second in series history to Petty Enterprises’ nine — but has not won the race since Dale Earnhardt Jr. did in 2014. 

Hendrick Motorsports has won the Daytona 500 only twice since 2007 (Jimmie Johnson in 2013 and Earnhardt in 2014). Team Penske and Joe Gibbs Racing both have three Daytona 500 wins during that time.

Only once since 2016 has Hendrick Motorsports had a car finish the Daytona 500 in the top five. Chase Elliott