NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at DAYTONA Watch FREE Live Stream Online & Listen: Live Coverage: STARTING GRID

Tonight at 7:45 p.m. ET under the lights at Daytona International Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will sit atop the pole for this week's race on NBC, which can be live streamed for free by clicking this link.

This week's top storyline is the return of Kyle Busch to Daytona more than four months after he smashed into a wall and suffered a broken leg and broken foot. Busch will start tonight's run in 13th position, and will be driving a backup car after another mishap in practice.

Busch expressed some frustration about mixing up with Brad Keselowski so early in his practice run.

"I just wanted to get out there and make some laps and feel my car on the long run and get the tires to where they would wear out a little bit and you would kind of slide around some," Busch said.

"[I] never even got that far. It was a bit disappointing and frustrating all at the same time because our guys, they work really hard and they build great race cars as do all the teams out here."

The concrete wall Busch crashed into has been replaced with a SAFER barrier, but not everything has been converted. NASCAR says the process is underway to make every track safer.

"These race tracks know what needs to happen," Busch said.

"It's not a secret. It's not us drivers telling them where we'd like to see a wall. It's kind of taking a survey driving around a race track and looking at different ways that a race car may happen to hit that wall. It's not rocket science, it just needs to happen."

Starting Grid

1 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet N/A
2 Austin Dillon Chevrolet N/A
3 Clint Bowyer Toyota N/A
4 Paul Menard Chevrolet N/A
5 Trevor Bayne Ford 6 N/A
6 David Gilliland Ford N/A
7 AJ Allmendinger Chevrolet N/A
8 David Ragan Toyota N/A
9 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet N/A
10 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet N/A
11 Sam Hornish Jr. Ford N/A
12 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet N/A
13 Kyle Busch Toyota N/A
14 Brett Moffitt Ford N/A
15 Casey Mears Chevrolet N/A
16 Kyle Larson Chevrolet N/A
17 Ryan Newman Chevrolet N/A
18 Michael Annett Chevrolet 46 N/A
19 Matt Kenseth Toyota N/A
20 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet N/A
21 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet N/A
22 Landon Cassill Chevrolet N/A
23 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet N/A
24 Carl Edwards Toyota N/A
25 Greg Biffle Ford N/A
26 Brian Scott Chevrolet N/A
27 Danica Patrick Chevrolet N/A
28 Kurt Busch Chevrolet N/A
29 Cole Whitt Ford N/A
30 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford N/A
31 Tony Stewart Chevrolet N/A
32 Brad Keselowski Ford N/A
33 Joey Logano Ford N/A
34 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet N/A
35 Denny Hamlin Toyota N/A
36 Aric Almirola Ford N/A
37 Alex Bowman Chevrolet N/A
38 Bobby Labonte Ford N/A
39 J.J. Yeley Toyota N/A
40 Jeb Burton Toyota N/A
41 Matt DiBenedetto Toyota N/A
42 Josh Wise Ford N/A
43 Brendan Gaughan Chevrolet 62 N/A

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