Many venues in the Monster Energy Supercross series have rich histories, but none more so than the annual round held on the frontstretch of the Daytona International Speedway. This is the only race run uninterrupted in the 51-year history of the sport and dirt bike riders want to win it as much as any NASCAR driver ever wanted the Daytona 500 trophy or a sports car racer wants the Rolex that goes along with the 24 Hours of Daytona.
Unfortunately for most of the riders in the field, Eli Tomac has kept them from achieving their goals. He entered last year’s Daytona Supercross with a record seven wins. Tomac was unseated last year by Jett Lawrence.
Fortunately for the competition, a new Daytona winner is guaranteed this year since neither Tomac nor Lawrence is healthy enough to mount their bikes. For the first time since 2004, the field is open, unless Justin Brayton unexpectedly comes out of retirement.
The favorite this week depends on how one looks at the numbers.
Chase Sexton is the only active rider with a current three-race podium streak after finishing third behind Lawrence and Tomac last year as well as behind Tomac and Cooper Webb in the two races preceding 2024. Sexton has momentum on his side and is highly motivated to win.
Webb finished one position off the podium in 2024 but prior to that he was second to Tomac for three seasons, from 2021 through 2023, and stood on the podium in six consecutive races. Given Webb’s two-round winning streak in 2025, it is easy to make a case for him as the favorite. In fact, Webb’s worst performance on this track was his fourth-place finish last year.
Sexton finished eighth in his first attempt in 2021.
According to Clinton Fowler at WeWentFast.com, Webb will be hard to beat if he leaves Daytona with the red plate. The las two times he did so, in 2021 and 2019, he never gave it up. Meanwhile, Sexton has been mistake-prone during his 450 career and is more so when he is trying to overcome a deficit such as last week in the third race of the Arlington Triple Crown.
The downside is that Webb has won three consecutive races only once in his career and that was in the 2021 Arlington residency occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.
But Ken Roczen’s name also graces the podium list in recent years and he is arguably more motivated than Sexton to win. Roczen finished second in 2020 and 2014. He barely missed the podium in 2021 with a fourth-place result and finished fifth last year. Roczen remains in the title hunt after scoring five podiums in seven rounds but he continues to lose a few points each week as Webb and Sexton rack up victories.
In the 250 division, the Eastern division returns after two rounds of West competition.
Max Anstie has the red plate and momentum on his side. If not for an 11th-hour and 59th-minute red flag, he would enter the weekend with a sweep of the first two races. He was passed by Levi Kitchen after a caution waved with seven seconds remaining in Detroit but Anstie has a nine-point lead because Kitchen struggled in the East opener in Tampa.
Three is the operative number for Anstie. This will be his third Daytona start. His best effort netted a third in 2023.
Tom Vialle won last year’s edition of this race and needs success to rise from third in the points.
Austin Forkner has also won on this track in 2019 and this is a type of course that factors well into his wide-open riding style.
Kitchen and Maximus Vohland will make their Daytona debut this week.
2025 Top-10 finishers
450s
Cooper Webb (2 wins; 5 podiums, 6 top-fives, 7 top-10s)
Chase Sexton (2 wins, 4 podiums, 6 top-fives, 7 top-10s)
Jett Lawrence (1 win, 2 podiums, 2 top-fives, 3 top-10s)
Eli Tomac (1 win, 1 podium, 3 top-fives, 4 top-10s)
Malcolm Stewart (1 win, 1 podium, 2 top-fives, 7 top-10s)
Ken Roczen (5 podiums, 6 top-fives, 6 top-10s)
Jason Anderson (3 podiums, 3 top-fives, 5 top-10s)
Hunter Lawrence (2 podiums, 3 top-fives, 4 top-10s)
Justin Cooper (3 top-fives, 5 top-10s)
Justin Hill (1 top-five, 5 top-10s)
Justin Barcia (6 top-10s)
Aaron Plessinger (5 top-10s)
Dylan Ferrandis (3 top-10s)
Joey Savatgy (3 top-10s)
Shane McElrath (1 top-10)
250s
Haiden Deegan (2 wins, 4 podiums, 5 top-fives, 5 top-10s)
Julien Beaumer (1 win, 3 podiums, 4 top-fives, 5 top-10s)
Jordon Smith (1 win, 3 podiums, 4 top-fives, 4 top-10s)
Max Anstie (1 win, 2 podiums, 2 top-fives, 2 top-10s)
Jo Shimoda (1 win, 1 podium, 2 top-fives, 5 top-10s)
Levi Kitchen (1 win, 1 podium, 1 top-five, 1 top-10)
Cole Davies (2 podiums, 3 top-fives, 5 top-10s)
Coty Schock (1 podium, 2 top-fives, 5 top-10s)
Michael Mosiman (1 podium, 2 top-fives, 4 top-10s)
Daxton Bennick (1 podium, 1 top-five, 1 top-10)
Cameron McAdoo (1 podium, 1 top-five, 1 top-10)
RJ Hampshire (1 podium, 1 top-five, 1 top-10)
Ryder DiFrancesco (2 top-fives, 2 top-10s)
Tom Vialle (2 top-fives, 2 top-10s)
Garrett Marchbanks (1 top-five, 3 top-10s)
Nate Thrasher (1 top-five, 2 top-10s)
Seth Hammaker (1 top-five, 1 top-10)
Chance Hymas (2 top-10s)
Anthony Bourdon (3 top-10s)
Hunter Yoder (2 top-10s)
Carson Mumford (2 top-10s)
Drew Adams (1 top-10)
Parker Ross (1 top-10)
Cole Thompson (1 top-10)
Cullin Park (1 top-10)
Levi Kitchen (1 top-10)
Austin Forkner (1 top-10)
Maximus Vohland (1 top-10)
Henry Miller (1 top-10)
Enzo Lopes (1 top-10)
Lux Turner (1 top-10)
Jett Reynolds (1 top-10)
Previous Daytona Winners
450s
2024: Jett Lawrence (Followed by Eli Tomac, Chase Sexton)
2023: Eli Tomac (Cooper Webb, Chase Sexton)
2022: Eli Tomac (Cooper Webb, Chase Sexton)
2021: Eli Tomac (Cooper Webb, Aaron Plessinger)
2020: Eli Tomac (Ken Roczen, Cooper Webb)
250s
2024: Tom Vialle (Cameron McAdoo, Seth Hammaker)
2023: Hunter Lawrence (Max Anstie, Haiden Deegan)
2022: Jett Lawrence (Stylez Robertson, Cameron McAdoo)
2021: Cameron McAdoo (Stylez Robertson, Pierce Brown)
2020: Garrett Marchbanks (Chase Sexton, Jeremy Martin)
Previews
Arlington
Detroit
Tampa
Anaheim 2
San Diego
Anaheim 1
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Arlington Supercross Preview
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