Daytona 500 2017: Schedule, Lineup, Thursday's Duels Start Time For Nascar’s Flagship Event

The 2017 Nascar season gets underway at the Daytona 500 in Florida this weekend, with officials hoping that some big changes during the offseason can add fresh sparkle to the series.

The point system has been revived in an attempt to add increased significance to the regular season, prior to the 10-race playoffs. It also means there will be even greater motivation for success in Nascar’s flagship event at Daytona Beach.

As will now be the case with every race, 40 points will be awarded for claiming victory and, with each race now split into three stages, a further 10 points will be on offer for leading at both intervals. But for the Daytona 500, an extra 10 points will be handed out for winning each of the preliminary Duels. It means a potential haul of 70 points is at stake at the famed Daytona International Speedway.

The two Can-Am Duels will take place Thursday evening over 60 laps, or 150 miles. Beyond just the 10 points for winning each one, they will decide how the vast majority of drivers will line up come race day Sunday.

The only exception is the first two on the starting grid, which were decided in Sunday’s qualifying. And, for the second year in a row, Chase Elliott will start from the pole in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

But Elliott, who is now two-for-two in claiming Daytona 500 poles, will be hoping that his weekend has a different ending this time around, having crashed out in the early laps of the race a year ago.

“I obviously hope the race goes better this time than it did last year," he said, reports Fox Sports. As you go along, obviously last year going the way it did, having such a great beginning of Speedweeks, qualifying well, and getting to the XFINITY race and running good in it, things were just going really good, and as the Sunday rolled around, that just kind of went to prove how fast things can go south.

Elliott will be joined on the front row this time around by teammate and two-time Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Daytona 500 TV Schedule
Can-Am Duels
Thursday, starting at 7 p.m. EST (Fox Sports 1)

Race
Sunday, 2 p.m. EST (Fox)