NASCAR Coke Zero Sugar 400 preview: Favorite, underdog, top storylines

On Saturday night, the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series head to the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway for the running of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Peacock).

Here is what you need to know ahead of the regular-season finale.

Favorite: Brad Keselowski (+1000, per DraftKings)

Like every other driver below the cutline, Keselowski enters Daytona in must-win territory. He was runner-up to Chase Elliott in the most recent drafting-style race at EchoPark Speedway in June and is a previous winner of the Daytona summer race in 2016.

With three top-10s in his last four races in 2025, momentum is clearly on Keselowski's side. The only downside for him is his two drivers, Chris Buescher (-60) and Ryan Preece (-94), are the first two drivers outside the current playoff field, so it could be a battle amongst teammates for that final spot.

Underdog: Austin Dillon (+4000, per DraftKings)

He may have delivered a clutch performance at Richmond to punch his playoff ticket, but Dillon is no slouch on the high banks of Daytona as a two-time winner, most recently in the 2022 summer race.

The priority for Richard Childress Racing this weekend should be getting Dillon's teammate and runner-up in the 2024 summer race, Kyle Busch, into the playof fs as well, but if that does not come to fruition, Dillon could have a realistic shot at back-to-back wins for the first time in his career.

It all comes down to this

Going into the 26th and final race of the regular season, Tyler Reddick (+89) and Alex Bowman (+60) hold the final two playoff spots. Unless there is a new winner, they will be two of the 16 drivers going for the championship.

With that said, this is Daytona, where unpredictability and chaos are expected. Past winners there like Buescher, Busch, Keselowski, Michael McDowell, Erik Jones, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Justin Haley have their backs against the wall, but have proven before they can find Victory Lane, something they must do again at the conclusion of Saturday's 400-miler.

Will Daytona produce another surprise winner?

Justin Haley (2019) and Harrison Burton (2024) scored their fir st Cup Series wins in the summer race, while Dillon surprised everyone with his playoff-clinching win in 2022. Don't be surprised to see something similar take place when the checkered flag waves Saturday night.

Surprise winners are not unexpected at Daytona and have, in fact, become fairly common over the years. Considering the position many drivers find themselves in, perhaps another upset emerges once again.

Can anyone slow down Team Penske?

Since the Next Gen Car's inception in 2022, Team Penske has been a frequent presence toward the front on drafting-style tracks. In that span, Joey Logano (two wins), Austin Cindric (two wins) and Ryan Blaney (one win) have combined for five victories.

While the average finishing positions do not jump off the page because of multiple crashes, the trio has three of the top four driver ratings in the series on superspeedways, per NASCAR.com's Neil Paine. If they can avoid the "Big One" that is bound to strike, expect Team Penske to be one of the teams in contention for the win.