DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Another impressive crowd of road racers will fill the Daytona International Speedway garage area next week as the World Karting Association hosts their annual Daytona KartWeek Vega National Road Race Series at the famed 3.56-mile DIS super speedway road course.

By our count WKA processed 570 race entries for this latest edition of Daytona Road Race, a once-a-year show every December 27-30 that brings karts to the same circuit as the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona minus the backstretch chicane.

Daytona KartWeek is a legendary one and likely the longest running in road race karting. While summer events at Mid-Ohio and Pittsburgh International have produced larger total entry counts in recent years, next week’s Daytona Road Race has stood the test of time and remains an important event on hundreds of racers’ calendars every year. For many, Daytona continues as the biggest and most prestigious race of the year.

Seven race groups plus LO206 cadets complete each race day’s schedule Thursday and Friday, Dec. 29-30.  A full day of practice is offered for Wednesday, Dec. 28 with parking, registration and pre-tech taking place Tuesday, Dec. 27.

Click here for the Daytona Road Race timeline.

Click here for the Daytona Road Race race day schedules.

Racing action will be fierce from the drop of the first green flag next Thursday with two of the event’s largest classes — CIK LO206 Sprint and Yamaha Senior — in the first and second race groups of the day. 

CIK 206 Final 1 has 31 pre-entrants while Yamaha Senior Final 1 for laydown enduros has 24. Both classes will likely produce two of the most hotly contested races of KartWeek.

Other divisions to watch include 100cc Air Cooled TaG Senior with 27 pre-entries, CIK 206 Heavy has 21, TaG Heavy has 18, 125 Sprint Shifter has 17 and IAME Sprint has 13. 

Margay Ignite Masters (12), CIK 206 Medium (12), Animal Sprint (10) and B Stock (10) are other categories with double-digit pre-entry counts heading into Dec. 27 when at-track registration opens.

Daytona kicks off a four-race 2023 National Road Race Series schedule for WKA. The series will head to Georgia’s Roebling Road Raceway the first weekend of March and close out the month with a new event at New Jersey Motorsports Park March 31-April 2. A Sept. 1-3 Labor Day weekend return to Kershaw, S.C.’s Carolina Motorsports Park will close out the series’ regular season. Dart Kart Club-hosted AKRA Nationals at Mid-Ohio June 16-18 and Pittsburgh Sept. 22-24 will serve as bonus points races for WKA members following the series.

For all information on the 2022 Daytona Road Race, including the event timeline, race day schedule, pre-registration list and more, go to worldkarting.com/daytona-kartweek/daytona-kartweek-road/.