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The Daytona 500 will be beamed into 18 million UK homes on free-to-air television for the first time this year thanks to the new FreeSports channel.

The February 18 event is the traditional season opener of the NASCAR Cup Series, where drivers will fight for a winner's prize of at least $1,400,000 (£1,000,000) at speeds of over 200mph, with FreeSports viewers able to watch every minute of the action for free.

The channel is also offering one lucky prize winner a seven-day trip to Orlando, Florida to the Daytona 500 in 2019, which can be entered on the FreeSports Facebook page.

There's also a £1 subscription offer for Sky customers to the sister channel Premier Sports on offer which will show the remainder of the NASCAR Cup Series races in 2018 live.

The season kicks off in Daytona Beach, Florida, before taking in 25 other races across America, from Las Vegas to Texas.

Following the regular season is NASCAR's championship playoffs, The Chase, where 16 drivers are whittled down to a final five for the season-ending the finale on November 18 at Homestead Miami, where the champion will be crowned live on Premier Sports.

As well as watching the action with Free Sports and Premier Sports, fans of the series can enjoy the action with like-minded fans in Britain, via the NASCAR Fans UK Facebook page.

A live chat occurs to supplement each event while fans can discuss America's biggest motorsport between races. Over 4500 fans populate the group.

Both Freesports and Premier Sports will be showing a range of motorsport coverage in 2018, including NASCAR Xfinity and Truck Series, Australian Supercars, Polish and Swedish Speedway, Formula E, Monster Jam and AMA Supercross.

FreeSports is slated to become a full HD channel on Sky by summer 2018, with the long term objective of becoming a top three sports channel.

Other programmes in its portfolio include NHL, Football, Boxing, Rugby League and Rugby Union, MMA, British Wrestling and Basketball, Tennis, Pool and Cricket. It plans to show 1000 hours of sporting events.

To claim the £1 Premier Sports subscription on Sky, quote NASCARFANSUK when signing up on premiersports.com or on the phone at 0871 663 9000 before February 24.