NASCAR Cup Series at Daytona International Speedway Preview

Race Preview:

The Coke Zero Sugar 400 is a 400-mile, 160-lap race around the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway. Stage cautions will be on laps 35 and 65, and the final stage will end on lap 160. The prize purse for this race is 9,797,935 dollars. Teams will have seven sets of tires, six for the race and one set used in qualifying that transfers over. The Goodyear tires are the same tires that have been used at Michigan, Talladega, and Daytona already this year.

The Track-Daytona International Speedway:

The Daytona International Speedway, opened in 1959, as NASCAR Founder Bill France Sr.’s masterpiece. One of the most iconic palaces of motorsport in the world. With its 2.5-mile length and 31 degrees of banking, it was like nothing anyone had seen when it opened. There have been 67 summer Daytona races.

Fireball Roberts won the first race in 1959, driving a Pontiac. David Pearson holds the all-time wins record for the summer Daytona race, with five victories. No active driver has won this race more than once. Erik Jones holds the record for the fastest lap, with a 43.682-second lap set in 2020.

Cup Series Playoff Standings:

With William Byron winning the regular season championship last week at Richmond, we are not including the top of the point standings. Here is the battle at the cutoff line:

15. Tyler Reddick: +89

16. Alex Bowman: +60

——Cut-Off Line——

17.  Chris Buescher: -60

18. Ryan Preece: -94

19. Kyle Busch: -148

20. Ty Gibbs: -173

Drivers To Watch:

There are four drivers joining the field. They are:

• Austin Hill, #33 Chevy, Richard Childress Racing
• Joey Gase #44 Chevy, NY Racing
• Casey Mears, #66 Ford, Garage 66
• BJ McLeod, #78 Chevy, Live Fast Motorsports

The winner of this race has to have great drafting track skills, lots of teammates, who are also great at these tracks, and just pure luck. You don’t know when the wreck is coming, it could be in the front, the middle, or the back. There are few in the field that have all three.

I think Kyle Busch has the right stuff. He has the skill, he finished second in this race last year. He has a teammate locked into the playoffs in Austin Dillon, and a teammate in Austin Hill who isn’t running for Cup points. It just the luck, which I don’t think has been on his side this year. But regardless, I would keep an eye on that #8 Chevy on Saturday night.

RFK has been strong on drafting tracks this year. They have three cars, so they have strength in numbers, but they have three cars below the cut line. Which car wins? The one that is leading out of turn four. I think they have to think big picture for the team and only one can lock into the playoffs. Look out for RFK for the Fords.

The battle amongst Alex Bowman and Tyler Reddick to make the playoffs on points is a tricky one. 23XI has some great drafters in Bubba and Riley Herbst, but you have both Herbst and Reddick not locked in. Again its just who is leading those two. That’s where I think Bowman has the advantage. Three teammates who are locked in, that’s one more than 23XI has.

If I’m picking, i think that fourth teammate is that much more of an advantage. I’m going Bowman to make the final spot on points.

How To Watch The Cup Series at Daytona:

Here is the weekend schedule for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona:

Friday, August 22nd:

• Qualifying:
  • 5:05 PM Eastern
  • Coverage is on TruTV and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio provided by MRN

Saturday, August 23rd:

• The Coke Zero Sugar 400:
  • 7:30 PM Eastern
  • Coverage is on NBC, Peacock, and HBOMax
  • Radio coverage is on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio provided by MRN