DAYTONA 500 Watch Live Stream FREE Online & Listen: NASCAR 2014 Live Coverage from Daytona International Speedway; STARTING GRID

Today at 1:00 p.m. ET one of NASCAR's premier events, the Daytona 500, will get underway on Fox from Daytona International Speedway. Fans of the high-speed action can live stream the race for free by clicking this link.

Leading up to today's race, much of the attention was focused on Danica Patrick. She was criticized by Richard Petty, a NASCAR legend and the sport's all-time wins leader. Petty said the only way Patrick could win was if "everybody stayed home."

He added, "If she'd have been a male, nobody would ever know if she'd showed up at a racetrack. ... This is a female deal that's driving her. There's nothing wrong with that, because that's good PR for me. More fans come out, people are more interested in it. She has helped to draw attention to the sport, which helps everybody in the sport."

He was derided as sexist, and Patrick chose the high road, but Petty recently drummed up the controversy one more time by saying he'd be willing to race her. "I'm 76 years old, OK?" Petty said. "It's been 25 years since I've been in a race car. But I'll take that challenge."

Beyond Patrick and Petty, there are other storylines to keep track of. Tony Stewart is back on the track after breaking his leg last season in a January race. "All I did was break my leg," Stewart said, clearly tiring of all the questions. "I didn't break my spirit; it didn't break my mind or my thoughts. It just broke my leg. No different than a lot of other people that have an injury."

Also, a fresh face will begin the race in first. Despite NASCAR luminaries such as Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson all being in the field, rookie Austin Dillon snagged pole position earlier in the week.

Dillon took it easy in the Budweiser duels after running in front for most of it, preferring to save the car he's confident in for the big boy race today.

"I wanted to know that we had something I can move around with in the race,'' Dillon said. "And now we get to have some fun. Man, that car is super-fast. I think we could get to the draft from anywhere we wanted to.''

STARTING GRID:

 

1.Austin Dillon

2.Martin Truex Jr.

3.Matt Kenseth

4.Denny Hamlin

5.Kasey Kahne

6.Jeff Gordon

7.Marcos Ambrose

8.Kurt Busch

9.Dale Earnhardt Jr.

10.  Paul Menard

11.  Josh Wise

12.  Brian Scott

13.  Aric Almirola

14.  Trevor Bayne

15.  AJ Allmendinger

16.  Kyle Larson

17.  David Gilliland

18.  Landon Cassill

19.  Ryan Newman

20.  Clint Bowyer

21.  Tony Stewart

22.  Jamie McMurray

23.  Cole Whitt

24.  Terry Labonte

25.  Greg Biffle

26.  Bobby Labonte

27.  Danica Patrick

28.  Casey Mears

29.  Alex Bowman

30.  Carl Edwards

31.  Brian Vickers

32.  Jimmie Johnson

33.  Brad Keselowski

34.  Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

35.  Joey Logano

36.  Michael Annett

37.  Kyle Busch

38.  Kevin Harvick

39.  Reed Sorenson

40.  Justin Allgaier

41.  Parker Kligerman

42.  Michael Waltrip

43.  David Ragan

 

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