• Thursday, August 22nd, 2024
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Unpredictable Daytona raises level of intensity in penultimate regular season race

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.

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.

• Saturday, August 24th, 2024
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

All Front Row Motorsports Front Row

Former Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell captured the pole position for Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway, his fourth career pole, but first at the sport’s iconic track.

It will be an all Front Row Motorsports front row thanks to McDowell’s qualifying lap of 183.165 mph around the 2.5-mile high banks in the No. 34 FRM Ford during Friday evening’s Busch Light Pole Qualifying session. His teammate Todd Gilliland will start beside him in the No. 38 FRM Ford – the two actually posting the exact same time in the first round of qualifying.

Ford Motor Company swept the top-six positions in time trials and had seven cars in the top 10 on the Daytona speed chart.

“Qualifying has never been a strength at superspeedways for us [as a team] but racing has,’’ McDowell said with a smile. “We just decided, okay, we are going to take as much time as we possibly have available to execute everything we can to the best of our ability.’’

“We just proved to ourselves with a lot of extra time put in, it has paid off,’’ he said of the team’s emphasis on improving qualifying at the big tracks such as Daytona.

Joey Logano, the 2015 Daytona 500 winner, will start third in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford, followed by Ryan Preece in the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford and teammates Josh Berry in the No. 4 SHR Ford and Chase Briscoe in the No. 14 SHR Ford.

This year’s Daytona 500 winner William Byron was seventh fastest in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, with Team Penske’s Austin Cindric – the 2022 Daytona 500 winner – starting from the eighth position. Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott rounded out the top 10.

The starting positions are key for Front Row Motorsports who is still trying to qualify for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs and will need a race win to jump into the 16-driver Playoff field with only two races remaining to settle the championship eligibility.

“When it comes to tomorrow night, we’ll do what we always do. We’re going to race and help ourselves get to the front and stay in the front and be in good position,’’ McDowell said, adding. “The best thing we can do for our team and ourselves is work together because we have fast cars.”

Defending race winner, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher holds a 16-point advantage in 15^th place and Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain takes a mere one point lead into Saturday night’s race. They will start 13^th and 24^th, respectively. 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace, who sits just behind Chastain a single point back, will start 18^th.

• Coke Zero Sugar 400
• Busch Pole Award Pole Winner: Michael McDowell
• Age: 39
• Team : No 34 - Long John Silver's Ford
• Owner: Bob Jenkins
• Crew Chief: Travis Peterson
• Michael McDowell won the Pole Award for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 with a lap of 49136 seconds, 183165 mph
• This is his fourth pole in 490 NASCAR Cup Series races
• This is his fourth pole and 12th top-10 start in 2024
• This is his first pole in 27 races at Daytona International Speedway
• Todd Gilliland (second) posted his fourth top-10 start of 2024 and his first in six races at Daytona International Speedway
• Joey Logano (third) posted his 14th top-10 start at Daytona International Speedway It is his 12th in 25 races this season
• Josh Berry (fifth) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Drivers Entered: 40
• Laps Scheduled: 160
• Laps Actual: 164 - NASCAR OVERTIME!
• Margin of Victory: 0.047 Seconds
• Time of Race: 3 Hours 1 Minutes 40 Seconds
• Average Speed: 135.413
• Cautions: 7 for 34 laps
• Lead Changes: 40
• Green Flag Passes: 11,362 (87.4 passes per green flag lap)

• Coke Zero Sugar 400
• Race Winner: Harrison Burton
• Age: 23
• Team : No 21 - DEX Imaging Ford
• Owner: Eddie Wood
• Crew Chief: Jeremy Bullins
• Harrison Burton won the Coke Zero Sugar 400, his first victory in 98 Cup Series races
• This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in 2024
• This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in six races at Daytona International Speedway
• Kyle Busch (second) posted his 13th top-10 finish in 39 races at Daytona International Speedway It is his eighth top-10 finish in 2024
• Christopher Bell (third) posted his third top-10 finish in ten races at Daytona International Speedway
• Carson Hocevar (11th) was the highest finishing rookie
• Tyler Reddick leads the point standings by 17 points over Kyle Larson