DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Saturday night's Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway is full of unpredictability. Drivers have a new aero package on their cars, and they have no idea what will happen when they take the green flag shortly after 7:30 p.m. ET.
Videos by FanBuzz
As it turns out, that's pretty exciting for many of these competitors who just want to get out on the track and show their skills.
"Man, we're going to have 40 cars deep into this thing and have no idea how it's going to drive and how the draft is gonna work," Joey Logano said with a smile before qualifying.
"Nothing scienced out. It's kind of fun. It's just kind of old school. Like, go figure it out. I like it."
The new package will feature a 4-inch spoiler on the Cup Series instead of the 7-inch version used in past superspeedway races. The horsepower will drop to 465 with a smaller engine taper, yet NASCAR expects to see higher speeds both with single cars and packs.
A new Cup Series superspeedway package debuts at @DAYTONA.
The Inside the Race crew previews the changes ahead of the weekend. pic.twitter.com/PcMKF8lvUU
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 28, 2026
The goal for this change is to eliminate — or at least reduce — the constant fuel saving and to put the drivers on offense. NASCAR wants Daytona to race more like Atlanta, which puts more emphasis on car control.
"I'm just excited to try something new," Kyle Larson said about the package. ""For so long in the Next Gen era, every track we go to is just the same thing.
"I'm happy for a change. I'd be open to changing packages at other tracks just to spice things up."
While some drivers have nervousness about the new superspeedway package, others have said today that they are genuinely excited about the unknowns surrounding Saturday night's race.
Todd Gilliland and Austin Dillon both lean more toward that view. pic.twitter.com/Ao6Pj45XRL— John Newby (@JohnNewby_) August 28, 2026
Drivers and teams will not get an opportunity to see if these changes have the intended effect before Saturday night. Daytona does not have practice before the summer race. Drivers just qualify and then line up to race.
What happens once the green flag waves? None of them really know.
"I'm really excited to see what happens," Ryan Blaney said. "You know, in our sport, it's over-scienced sometimes, right? There's just so much technology out there, and so much information and data, you can just keep pouring into these things.
"And you know, we watch data 'til we're blue in the face, and you know it's nice to kind of go into things with a little bit of unknowns. That stuff's fun."
This excitement is not universal. Some drivers are taking a more cautious approach to the weekend. Denny Hamlin indicated that the drivers should have probably practiced before just starting the race.
Erik Jones said that he didn't know if the altered speeds would offset the aero problems when trying to make a pass.
"It'll be interesting," Jones said. "I don't know how it's all going to play out. So, but other than that, I'm not super worried about how the car is going to drive here."
Still, it's hard to deny that the new package already creates a compelling storyline. It's shaking up what has been the status quo. The battle for the final Chase seeding only takes the intrigue to another level.
The top four drivers in the standings — Hamlin, Blaney, Ty Gibbs, and Tyler Reddick — are all relatively locked into their respective seeds.
The drivers currently ranked fifth through 14th in the standings could all move several spots based on how Saturday night's race plays out.
Additionally, the drivers situated around the cutline — Austin Cindric, Shane van Gisbergen, Ryan Preece, and Brad Keselowski — are by no means secure in their positions.
This has the potential to create some chaos early as drivers try to score some stage points and make moves on their competitors.
It could also force the entire field to cautiously approach the opening laps as they try to balance scoring points with making a mistake and wrecking a large portion of the field.
"I think everybody will be pretty hard at it from the start, and I think just because we have to... I think it will be a cautiously aggressive opening stage because I think that we don't know how our cars are going to drive," Chase Elliott said.
"I think it's going to be fun, honestly. Like just not knowing what it's going to be going into Turn 1 is kind of fun, but I think that it's going to evolve and it's going to evolve quick."
