No other racing event on the NASCAR calendar matches the heritage, prestige and excitement of the Daytona 500. Since 1959, this has remained the most consistent and fundamental circuit of NASCAR and has more recently become the venue for a month-long festival of speed known as 'Speedweeks', which culminates with the NASCAR season opener. Teams prepare the season to come around Daytona and spend a month preparing for the event. They'll first go into an unconventional qualifying, which gives pole position to the driver who posts the fastest speed and not the fastest lap. And they'll race on a track that has produced an unprecedented series of dramas, upsets and spectacular crashes. Nothing is assured, not even on the final lap where so many have lost it all in the dying seconds. It draws one of the biggest spectator crowds, but an even larger TV audience of up to 20 million, often surpassing that of Indianapolis 500. Daytona will never be left out of the NASCAR schedule as no other course has equalled the consistent level of drama and exuberance.