With just two races left in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series regular season, one point is all that separates Ross Chastain and Bubba Wallace on the playoff bubble.
A season that started at Daytona in February will now face a crucial juncture at Daytona on Saturday night, where the Cup Series field will take on the 2.5-mile oval for 400 heart-pounding miles.
The Southern 500 at Darlington looms as the official regular-season finale next week, but for Wallace and Chastain, the playoff hunt must be taken lap by lap.
A win for either driver at Daytona would lock them into the playoffs and toss aside points racing the following week, but both drivers have a complicated relationship with the high banks of Daytona.
It’s not just the two bubble drivers who have fallen victim to the chaotic nature of NASCAR’s most prestigious venue, but they’ve both found heartbreaking ways to lose at the facility in big moments.
Chastain was running inside the top-five coming to the white flag in February’s Daytona 500 before spinning in the tri-oval, while Wallace has two runner-up finishes in the Great American Race, along with a second-place finish in Daytona’s second race in 2021.
It’s these gut-wrenching losses that give the two men even more motivation going into Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400, as if the prospects of competing for a Cup Series championship and winning at Daytona weren’t enough.
From a comparison standpoint, Wallace seems to have the edge on superspeedways such as Daytona. The No. 23 car is almost always a sure bet to lead laps and run inside the top-10, as evidenced by top-five efforts at both Daytona and Atlanta to begin the 2024 season.
Despite his drafting acumen, Wallace only has one win at either Daytona, Atlanta or Talladega — his first Cup Series win at Talladega in October 2021. The next time the Cup Series raced at Talladega in April 2022, it was Chastain who navigated the chaos to score his second career win.
Chastain’s close call at Daytona in February paints a picture of how Daytona can rip away a triumph in an instant. If there was ever a track that encapsulated the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, it’s Daytona, which has long played host to monumental wins and sobering losses.
The postseason fate of Wallace and Chastain won’t officially be decided on Saturday, but whoever leaves the beaches of Florida with the points advantage will have the edge at Darlington, a track notorious for letting the cream rise to the top.
Chastain and Wallace are both solid bets to run inside the top-10 at Darlington, but the Lady in Black typically doesn’t lend itself to an unexpected victor. Daytona offers the biggest threat to both Wallace and Chastain’s playoff hopes — the likelihood of a winner from below the cut line that would knock both drivers out.
Darlington is a challenge by itself, but adding the pressure of a playoff hunt to the Track Too Tough To Tame would only add heat to the pressure cooker of the postseason.
The only way for Wallace or Chastain to feel 100 percent confident that they’ll be a part of the playoff field? Find a way to mitigate mistakes and claim the win at Daytona on Saturday night.
It’s not a task for the faint of heart, but it’s what’s necessary in order to save a season.
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One day removed from undergoing surgery for a broken collarbone, Carson Hocevar is racing in Wednesday night’s Battle at Berlin 2025. Not only is he racing, but he’s providing some highlight reel clips after a great save following a Bubba Pollard spin-out. Pollard and Hocevar were side by side, before Pollard dropped back and spun Hocevar out. He however saved it nicely and dropped just one spot in the race. He let Pollard know how he felt about the move loud and proud, as Hocevar stuck his middle finger out of his driver’s window to let him know he didn’t appreciate the move. Hocevar won last year’s running of the Battle of Berlin, which has been run 12 different times since 2010 (the race was not run in 2018, 2020 or 2021). This race has been won by name brand drivers such as Kyle Busch (who won the first three editions of the race), Erik Jones and the aforementioned Bubba Pollard. The winner of the race receives $40,000, while the total purse sits at $125,000. A few notable names in this year’s edition of the Battle of Berlin are Hocevar, Pollard, Erik Jones, Blake Rowe and Ty Majeski.
With the regular season approaching, the Dallas Cowboys should be aiming to extend EDGE Micah Parsons promptly. But they're still in no rush to do that. Parsons is set to play on the fifth-year option of his rookie contract in 2025 and has requested a trade. Dallas insists it has no plans to move the 26-year-old pass-rusher but hasn't clarified when it will extend him. Giving him a new deal before the regular-season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sept. 4 at 8:20 p.m. ET (NBC, Peacock) seems wise. Dallas owner Jerry Jones, however, said that's not the team's deadline, nor does it need one. "No, not at all," Jones said Wednesday, via Jonah Javad of WFAA-TV in Dallas. "You don't have deadlines when you're playing under contract." Parsons is under contract, but that doesn't mean he must suit up. The EDGE could hold out of regular-season games, like former Cowboys star running back Emmitt Smith did in 1993. The Pro Football Hall of Famer missed the first two games of the season before becoming the league's highest-paid RB at that time. Parsons hasn't said whether he would hold out of regular-season games, but it's apparent he's unhappy with where things stand. "My mouth is closed," Parsons said Wednesday while leaving the practice field in Oxnard, California, via Field Level Media. Jones didn't say if talks with Parsons would resume when the Cowboys return to Texas for their second preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens. The matchup is scheduled for Saturday at 7 p.m. ET. The owner still seems confident Parsons will play on the fifth-year option if Dallas doesn't sign him before the start of the regular season. "Again, all you've got to go on are contracts," Jones said. "We are negotiating for a contract. When you do a contract, you would hope that after a negotiation, that's what both the team and player look to see what our obligations are. I have a lot of respect for the contract." Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb played the last years of their rookie contracts. Perhaps Jones wants Parsons to do the same. Still, that would be silly. Paying the four-time Pro Bowler should be a no-brainer for the Cowboys, so they should stop wasting time and show him the money.
Oregon wide receiver Jurrion Dickey has struggled to live up to expectations in his first two seasons with the Ducks, and he is now in a terrible position heading into 2025 as well. Dickey has been suspended indefinitely by Oregon, head coach Dan Lanning announced on Tuesday. Lanning also suggested that Dickey may not play for the Ducks again. "We have two team rules; that’s respectful, be on time,” Lanning said, via James Crepea of The Oregonian. “There’s some pieces of that where I felt like he needed a break from us and we needed a break from that so we could focus on what’s in front of us right now. "Wishing him nothing but the best, as far as success and want to see him get back to where he can be a contributor somewhere; that might be here that might be somewhere else.” Dickey was a five-star recruit and rated as one of the top wide receivers in the country when he came out of Menlo-Atherton High School in Atherton, California, in 2023. He suffered an injury in his senior year in high school and redshirted as a freshman at Oregon. Dickey has two catches for 14 years during his time with the Ducks. Oregon went 13-1 in Lanning's third season with the program last season. The Ducks lost to eventual national champion Ohio State in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals.
Josh Gorges retired from the NHL after the 2017/18 season, and now the long-time Canadiens blue liner has joined the Kelowna Rockets as an assistant coach. Despite going un-drafted, Kelowna native Josh Gorges entered the NHL way back in 2005/06, and would go on to have a very solid career as a defenseman in the worlds top hockey league. In that time, Gorges would play 783 games for the San Jose Sharks, Buffalo Sabres and most notably the Montreal Canadiens, retiring after the 2017/18 campaign, posting a combined 17 goals and 124 points throughout his career. A new role in hockey for former Canadiens blue liner Josh Gorges Now, the 40-year old officially has a new role in hockey, as he has been hired as an assistant coach by the Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League, rejoining not only his home town team, but the team he played with for four seasons before entering the NHL, including a title winning squad back in 2002/03. Gorges will join a team that's set to host the Memorial Cup and is clearly preparing themselves to be competitive for that opportunity, and with the wealth of experience he's got at the NHL level and his connection to the team, they couldn't have found a more perfect person for the role. Since retirement, Gorges has worked in player development with the West Kelowna Warriors in the BCHL, but now he gets the opportunity in the WHL, and given how much the city means to him and what a talented group they're set to have this season, it should be a fun campaign for the fans in Kelowna.