There are three cities between Daytona Beach and Orlando: DeLand, Orange City, and Sanford. There are also several smaller towns.
Ormond Beach, Flagler Beach, Palm Coast, Bunnell, St. Augustine, and Ponte Vedra are the larger cities/towns between Daytona and Jacksonville.
72 miles taking this route:Take FL-40 EAST, from Ocala, to I-95 SOUTH.Take I-95 SOUTH to Daytona Beach.
The shortest route is 78.5 miles if you take FL-40 E.
Google Maps estimates the driving time as 1 hour and 36 minutes.
MapQuest gives the driving time as 1 hour and 32 minutes.
Flagler Beach, Bunnell, Pierson, Ocala
It is 555.27 miles according to MapQuest which surely means that several cities lie somewhere in between such as Savannah, Jacksonville and Ocala.
Ocala, Leesburg, The Villages
82 miles taking this route:Take A1A NORTH (or FL-441 NORTH), from Daytona Beach Shores, to INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY BLVD. Turn left onto International Speedway Blvd.Take International Speedway Blvd across to I-95 NORTH. Follow signs.Take I-95 NORTH to FL-40 to ORMOND BEACH and OCALA off EXIT 268; turn left off the exit ramp onto FL-40 WEST to OCALA.Take FL-40 WEST to Ocala.
The driving distance from Ocala, Florida to Cocoa Beach, Florida is 137 miles.
Ocala, Orlando,
Ocala
These are probably not all the cities but I know that Orlando is, and Ocala might be.