Good news, bad news for NASCAR Cup teams head of 2025 Daytona 500

The NASCAR Cup season officially begins with the 67th running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday (2:30 p.m. ET on Fox)

A new season presents new hope and also new lineups. 23XI Racing, Trackhouse Racing, RFK Racing and Front Row Motorsports have each added a full-time Cup team. Haas Factory Team makes its debut this season. Team Penske seeks its fourth consecutive Cup title.

Here is a look at the good news and bad news for Cup teams heading to Daytona.

23XI Racing —Good news: Both Bubba Wallace (fifth) and Tyler Reddick (eighth) finished in the 10 in the Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. … The organization expands to three cars with the addition of rookie Riley Herbst. … Bubba Wallace has finished second three times at Daytona, including twice in the 500. Bad news: Reddick has finished 27th or worse in each of his first six Daytona 500s. The only other drivers to do that were eventual NASCAR Hall of Famers Buddy Baker and Red Farmer.

Front Row Motorsports — Good news: The team expands to three cars in 2025 with drivers Todd Gilliland, Zane Smith and Noah Gragson. … Smith has two Truck wins at Daytona. … Crew chief Drew Blickensderfer followed Gragson from Stewart-Haas Racing to Front Row in the offseason. … Gragson was ninth in last year's Daytona 500. Bad news: Gilliland has failed to finish all three of his Daytona 500 starts due to accidents.

Haas Factory Team — Good news: Cole Custer returns to the Cup Series after spending the past two seasons in the Xfinity Series. He won the Xfinity title in 2023 and finished second in 2024. Bad News: New team that comes from the remnants of Stewart-Haas Racing.

Hendrick Motorsports — Good news: William Byron won last year's Daytona 500. … Kyle Larson's fourth-place finish at Talladega in last year's playoffs ended a 14-race streak without a top 10 at a drafting track (Daytona, Talladega and Atlanta). … Alex Bowman has three Daytona 500 poles, one shy of the record four held by Bill Elliott, Buddy Baker and Cale Yarborough. … The organization has won the Daytona 500 pole eight of the past 10 years. … Chase Elliott is coming off his win in the Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. Bad news: Larson ran out of fuel while leading on the last lap of the 2017 Daytona 500 and lost that race. He has never finished better than seventh in the 500.

Hyak Motorsports — Good news: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the most recent race on a superspeedway, taking the checkered flag at the playoff race last October at Talladega. Bad news: Stenhouse has failed to finish five of his last six Daytona starts due to accidents.

Joe Gibbs Racing — Good news: Denny Hamlin has won three of the last nine Daytona 500s. … The previous two times Hamlin started a season with a new crew chief, he won the Daytona 500 (2016 with Mike Wheeler and 2019 with Chris Gabehart). Hamlin enters this year with Chris Gayle as his new crew chief. … Christopher Bell has placed no worse than sixth in the last three races at drafting tracks: Talladega and Atlanta in the playoffs and the August Daytona race. … JGR has led 1,387 laps in the Daytona 500, the most of any organization. Bad news: The team is winless in the last 18 points races. … Chase Briscoe finished last in the 23-car field field at at the Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium due to steering issues. … Hamlin's best Daytona 500 finish in the Next Gen car is 17th in 2023. … Ty Gibbs has not finished better than 17 in his two Daytona 500 starts.

Kaulig Racing — Good news: AJ Allmendinger has finished in the top 10 in his last four Daytona 500 starts. … Three of Ty Dillon's seven career top-10 finishes have come at Daytona. Bad news: Both cars failed to advance to the Clash feature at Bowman Gray.

Legacy Motor Club — Good news: John Hunter Nemechek has finished 11th and seventh in his two Daytona 500 starts. … Jimmie Johnson is entered for the Daytona 500, which would be his 699th career start. Bad news: Erik Jones is coming off a 2024 season that saw him score a career-low two top-10 finishes.

Richard Childress Racing — Good news: Dale Earnhardt won his lone Daytona 500 in 1998 in his 20th start in the race. Kyle Busch, still seeking his first Daytona 500 win, will make his 20th start in the Great American Race this weekend. Is this the year for Busch? … Two of Austin Dillon's five career Cup wins have come at Daytona, including the 2018 Daytona 500. Bad news: Dillon finished a career-worst 32nd in points last year. … Busch enters this year with a 57-race winless streak.

Rick Ware Racing — Good news:  Corey LaJoie, who is running a partial schedule in the No. 01 car, has scored five of his 11 career Cup top 10s at Daytona, including three top 10s in the Daytona 500. … Both of Cody Ware's Cup top-10 finishes came in his last three Daytona starts, including a career-best fourth there last August. … Seven of the organization's 10 career top-10 finishes have come at Daytona. Bad news: Organization did not have a car finish in the top 20 in last year's Daytona 500.

RFK Racing — Good news: Chris Buescher made it to the Clash feature at Bowman Gray Stadium, marking the first time he's advanced to the Clash feature in four years. … Ryan Preece joins the team this year, giving RFK Racing three cars. … Brad Keselowski has seven wins at drafting tracks, most among active drivers. Bad news: Keselowski has failed to finish six of the last eight Daytona 500s due to accidents.

Spire Motorsports — Good news: Michael McDowell, who is new to the team this season, won the pole for the last five races at drafting tracks. … Crew chief Rodney Childers, who has won a Cup title, joins the team and will lead Justin Haley's team this season. Bad news: McDowell has only one top-10 finish in his last eight races on drafting tracks. … Carson Hocevar placed 40th in last year's Daytona 500, his only start in the race.

Team Penske — Good news: All three team cars finished in the top 10 in the Clash at Bowman Gray: Ryan Blaney was second, Joey Logano placed fourth and Austin Cindric was seventh. … Cindric, the 2022 Daytona 500 winner, has placed second in his Daytona qualifying race in each of the past three seasons. … Logano won the pole for last year's Daytona 500. Bad news: Blaney has failed to finish the last three races at Daytona due to accidents. … The last time a reigning Cup champion won the Daytona 500 the next season was Dale Jarrett in 2000. Logano will try to snap that drought this year.

Trackhouse Racing — Good news: Team will have four cars in the Daytona 500: Ross Chastain, Daniel Suarez, Shane van Gisberben and Helio Castroneves. Bad news: Chastain has one top-10 finish in his last 11 starts at drafting tracks.

Wood Brothers Racing — Good news: The last time the series raced at Daytona, the Wood Brothers won with Harrison Burton driving the car last August. … Josh Berry joined the team in the offseason. Bad news: Driving for Stewart-Haas Racing last year, Berry failed to finish 10 races — most in the series.