DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The intensity level is unmistakable as the NASCAR Cup Series nears its regular season conclusion with two races remaining to set the 16-driver 2024 Playoff field and the always exciting superspeedway edition of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on tap Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Storylines abound as the series prepares for Saturday’s big event around the 2.5-mile Daytona high banks from a tight four-driver contest to decide the Regular Season Championship to an incredible points battle to decide the final Playoff-eligible points positions. And if there’s ever a venue ripe for a new winner. … Daytona could once again be the place to really shake up the Playoff lineup.23XI Racing
Last week’s Michigan race winner, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick moved into the driver standings lead for the first time in his career and holds a 10-point edge on 2020 series champion, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott heading into Saturday night’s race. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin – a three-time Daytona 500 winner – is third, 28 points back. Hendrick’s Kyle Larson, who has led the standings 14 times this season, is now fourth, 32 points behind Reddick after a 34th-place finish last week.
Among those four, Hamlin is the only one to have won a NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona. Reddick, Elliott and Larson have all won NASCAR Xfinity Series races at the speedway.
The last two summer Daytona race winners – Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher (2023) and Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon (2022) – are both still looking to solidify a championship chance. Buescher is currently ranked 15th among the 16-driver in the Playoffs with a slim 16-point advantage on the cutoff line as of now.
Dillon won the Richmond, Va. race two weeks ago but an appellate panel ruled Wednesday to uphold NASCAR’s decision that although he can keep the win, it did not automatically make him Playoff eligible because of the rough last lap driving he used. He’s ranked 29th in the regular season standings and the team said it would take this week’s decision to a final appeal.
“NASCAR represents elite motorsports and, as such, its drivers are expected to demonstrate exemplary conduct if its series’ championships are to be validated. In this case, the ‘line’ was crossed,” the Appeals Panel said in its decision.
Dillon could still race his way into Playoff contention and is always considered a threat at Daytona having already earned a Daytona 500 win (2018) and a 400-mile win at the famed track.
Buescher, Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain and 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace are racing hard at the Playoff cutoff line – their positions in the standings changing weekly. Going into Daytona, Chastain holds the final Playoff position by a mere 1-point over Wallace. The pair have had vastly different success rates at the track – Chastain has never finished among the top-five in 12 Daytona starts and Wallace has a pair of runner-up finishes – one each in the Daytona 500 and Coke Zero Sugar 400.
For Chastain, a native of Alva, Florida, Daytona is one of his “home races,” and the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series championship runner-up says he tries to maintain a calm, cool philosophy on racing there. Even when the stakes are high – as they are now.
“[It’s] a lot like the (Daytona) 500, where I’ve learned to just enjoy it for what it is,” said Chastain, driver of the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet. “There’s just no way around it. … You just have to know that if you finish bad, you get less points, and if you finish good in the stages and the race, then you get more points. It’s just simple math.”
There have been seven different race winners in the last seven Daytona races – three of those by drivers (Michael McDowell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Dillon) not currently among the Playoff 16. Five of the last seven Daytona summer races have been won by drivers that needed the clutch showing to qualify for the Playoffs.
Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch, a two-time series champion, is ranked 18th in the Playoff standings (93 points behind Chastain) but is coming off back-to-back top-five finishes heading to Daytona and won this summer race in 2008.
Busch Light Pole Qualifying is scheduled for Friday at 5:05 p.m. ET (USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe won the pole position last year.
Source: Holly Cain | NASCAR Wire Service
