Weekend Preview: Daytona International Speedway

The intensity and gamesmanship is increasing weekly with nine races remaining to set the 16-driver Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff field and Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 (7:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) has typically provided a dramatic summer twist in this title hunt.

Twice in the last five years – including last year with Erik Jones and 2014 with Aric Almirola – winning the summer Daytona race represented a driver’s automatic entry in the Playoffs – both times the drivers jumped over several otherwise higher ranked drivers for the Playoff berth.

A solid and safe position in the standings is obviously valued, but this season especially, “safe” is difficult to come by.

Nine positions among the championship Top-16 changed just this week as a result of last Sunday’s dramatic race at Chicagoland Speedway.

Chicago race winner Alex Bowman guaranteed his Playoff spot with a victory. But the bigger shakeup happened farther down in the standings – with all 11 positions from 12th to 22nd changing in one form or another – all potentially affecting the crucial Playoff cutoff mark.

Stewart-Haas Racing’s Clint Bowyer took the biggest tumble – falling four positions from 12th to 16th in the standings after a frustrating 37th-place finish at Chicago in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.

On the upside, Jimmie Johnson’s fourth place at Chicago vaulted him three positions upward in the series driver standings. Now instead of sitting one position off the cutoff in 17th – as he was before the Chicago race – he’s now 14th and looking ahead – only 15 points behind 13th place Kyle Larson.

As with Johnson, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver Larson is still looking for his first win of the 2019 season, but his runner-up finish at Chicago was good enough to move him up two positions in the standings.

Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron, who led nine laps and ran up front for much of last week’s race, also benefitted from the effort. His eighth place at Chicago places him 12th in the championship, 27 points shy of 11th place Aric Almirola – the highest standing in the series championship the second-year driver Byron has ever achieved.

On the downside, Daniel Suarez lost two championship positions – falling from 13th to 15th following a 24th place showing at Chicago. He trails 14th place Johnson by two points but holds only a three-point cushion on 16th place Clint Bowyer.

Similarly, Ryan Newman lost two places in the standings, falling from 16th to 18th. He now trails Bowyer in the last Playoff transfer position by 20 points.

 

XFINITY SERIES AT DAYTONA

The championship situation in the NASCAR Xfinity Series continues to be an intense game of one-upmanship between three of the brightest young racing stars.

Friday night’s Circle K Firecracker 250 Powered by Coca-Cola (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) may be a good opportunity for a new driver to celebrate in Victory Lane and earn a shot at this year’s title.

Entering the race, three drivers – Tyler Reddick, Cole Custer and Christopher Bell – have combined to win 11 of the season’s 15 races, including Custer’s win at Chicagoland Speedway just last week. A member of this trio has hoisted trophies in the last nine consecutive races.

But Daytona International Speedway always presents a unique challenge/opportunity. Only one time in the last decade has an Xfinity Series regular won this summer Daytona race – William Byron in his 2017 Xfinity championship season. Last year, Cup star Kyle Larson held off Xfinity title contender Elliott Sadler by a mere .005-second in the closest July race finish in history.

Ironically, Reddick’s win in February of 2018 – also over Sadler – marked the closest finish in NASCAR national series history – a photo finish .0004-second. The driver of the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet is the only one of this year’s Triumphant Trio to have won an Xfinity race previously at Daytona. He has a pair of top-10 finishes in five starts here.

Bell, who drives the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, has two top-10 finishes in three Daytona starts and his team is undoubtedly eager to rebound from a disqualification last week at Chicago that dropped him from second to third in the title standings.

Custer, the driver of the No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, has yet to earn a top-10 in five starts at Daytona. His best showing is 14th and he’s done that twice – in February, 2018 and 2019.

Five other drivers scored their best result of the season at Daytona earlier this year, including Justin Allgaier – a five-time race winner in 2018 – that is still looking for his first victory of the year. He finished runner-up this February.