Today is the day, the 65th Daytona 500 shall start the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season! I don't even know where to start on all the hype for this race. This is the race EVERY driver wants to win at least once in their careers. If they have won before, they want to add more victories in what is known as "The Great American Race". A 500 win would mean so much to so many drivers for different reasons, regardless of whether you are champions like Truex, Busch, Larson, Elliott, or Keselowski, who are currently winless in this event; they want to add this race to the list of accomplishments. Or previous winners like Logono, Hamlin, Austin Dillon, Austin Cindric, and many others they want to add another Harley J Earl trophy to their collection. So many drivers are capable of winning where you could honestly make a case for anybody to win. But for me, my picks are simple.

Jimmie Johnson: 7-time champion in his first Cup race since 2020 but was fastest in 1st practice. If a Cinderella story could happen for Michael McDowell 2 years ago just maybe it'll happen to Johnson today

Kyle Busch: RCR looks energized and fast since they unloaded. After wrecking from the lead in his qualifying race the 8 team are determined to take that backup car to 500 victory lane.

Denny Hamlin: A 3-time 500 winner. Denny is a pro at superspeedways. Looking back, there are several 500s he could have won. Denny is in the top 10 as far as most laps lead in the Daytona 500 ever. It's possible that he could do something that hasn't been done since 1984, winning 4 Daytona 500s.

Who do you think/want to win?