The day is here: glorious, high-speed American stock-car racing is back for a new season. But that new season comes with a lot of changes, from a major rules overhaul to alarming driver swaps over the offseason. Let’s get you caught up on everything you need to know before the Daytona 500.

Here’s a quick rundown of stuff that happened over the offseason, and you can find all of the technical aspects you need to know about the Daytona 500 and upcoming NASCAR season right .

After more than 10 years of title sponsorship from Nextel and then Sprint, the company’s sponsorship deal ended at the end of 2016. The new sponsor was , and then while the NASCAR and the new sponsor debated what to call it. Monster Energy took the title sponsorship over for what reported to beless than half of the amount Sprint was paying, and the series became . The first in-race Cup Series wreck of the season was, oddly, the Monster Energy car.

Finally, we know what NASCAR’s top-level series will be called next year. The series formerly known

All three of NASCAR’s national divisions, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series and the Camping World Truck Series, got a . The points are complicated and the repairs will be quick in 2017, and you can .

The biggest day in American stock-car racing is here, and you may have noticed that it’s going to…

In those new rules, NASCAR mandated that every race in all three of its top divisions will be broken into three stages. . Points will be awarded to winners and top finishers of each of those stages, and NASCAR introduced a new green-and-white checkered flag to end the first two stages. The regular checkered flag will still end the races. Stage lengths for the entire 2017 season can be found .

Like an impending dentist appointment on the calendar, I’ve been trying to forget about NASCAR’s…

After a wreck at Michigan International Speedway in 2016, Dale Earnhardt Jr. . The Daytona 500 will be Earnhardt’s , and he starts on the outside pole. With Earnhardt’s full support, NASCAR also for the 2017 season.

One of the biggest stories of last year’s NASCAR season wasn’t on track, but rather, about who was…

Out of nowhere, Joe Gibbs Racing driver and a favorite for the 2016 Cup Series title, Carl Edwards, . He didn’t give much of a reason, and —the retirement was so random that NASCAR allowed JGR a substitute driver for the Advance Auto Parts Clash last weekend in Edwards’ place. Since the Clash has special driver qualifications and JGR was already in the final stages of preparation for it when Edwards retired, NASCAR had to give JGR a pass and allow a driver who didn’t qualify to race it for him. That driver was NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Daniel Suarez, who for the 2017 season. Edwards .

One fast Mexican has become NASCAR’s reminder that driving talent knows no borders. This year,…

Tony Stewart’s , and Clint Bowyer, who prior to taking Stewart’s spot at Stewart-Haas Racing, will drive the No. 14 car for the 2017 season. Stewart-Haas Racing also .

The $2.223 million lawsuit filed by NASCAR driver Clint Bowyer against HScott Motorsports and team…

Jimmie Johnson , tying him with both Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Richard Petty in the ranks of seven all-time championships. In the Xfinity Series, Mexico’s Daniel Suarez . Johnny Sauter won the Camping World Truck Series title.

With a victory in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Jimmie…

Enjoy the race. Here’s hoping that you understand it a bit more now.