It’s now become normal for NASCAR to end its regular season at Daytona, but racing at the superspeedway is always anything but normal.
And being the race to end the regular season, the last chance to earn a spot in the Playoffs, means that the intensity will be even higher than usual in Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 (airing at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Why? A Playoff spot is the ultimate regular season prize. It offers a chance to fight for the chance to become a NASCAR champion – and it’s a real chance, given the level of parity in today’s NASCAR. But just getting in automatically boosts a driver into the top 16 in the standings. That has major benefits for sponsorship and prize money at the end of the season.
Since a full-time race winner now automatically earns a Playoff spot, regardless of previous points position, that could mean climbing from outside the top 30 to inside the top 16. In fact, that’s exactly what happened in this race last year.
Harrison Burton entered the Coke Zero 400 sitting 34th in points but went on to win the race with a decisive block over Kyle Busch at the line. It was an emotional first Cup Series win for the driver and secured his Playoff spot. It also gave him a Playoff spot and Burton finished the season in 16th, much higher than he would have otherwise.
That secured a significant financial boost for his Wood Brothers Racing team. This year, the team has been secure in the Playoffs for most of the season thanks to a win from Josh Berry, Burton’s replacement, at Las Vegas early in the year. It’s not the only reason, but a Playoff spot can certainly help turn a team around.
A similar story played out this year, just one week before Daytona. Austin Dillon, who sits 25th in regular season points entering Daytona, will finish the season no worse than 16th thanks to a guaranteed Playoff berth by virtue of his win at Richmond Raceway.
Plenty of drivers and teams will be hoping for a similar story for themselves. And with the unpredictability of Daytona, it just might.
Odds via BetMGM
+1000 – Joey Logano
+1000 – Ryan Blaney
+1200 – Austin Cindric
+1300 – Brad Keselowski
+1400 – Kyle Busch
+1600 – William Byron
+1600 – Kyle Larson
+1600 – Chase Elliott
+2000 – Chris Buescher
+2000 – Denny Hamlin
One driver in that category is Cody Ware, who competes for Rick Ware Racing. He enters Daytona 36th and last of all full-time drivers, 671 points back from points leader William Byron and 369 points below the provisional Playoff cutline if the Playoffs were set ahead of the race.
But the drafting tracks, including Daytona, are the great equalizers on the schedule. Ware has just one top-25 finish this season, and it came at EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway), which races like a superspeedway after a recent reconfiguration.
That leaves Ware hopeful that he can deliver another strong performance at Daytona and the stars can align to propel him into both victory lane and the NASCAR postseason.
“We always seem to do well at Daytona every time we go there, but I think even more so in the summer, so why not us?” Ware said.
“I don’t know what it is about the night race, whether it’s the heightened aggression of the field and being able to capitalize on it even more than in the Daytona 500, but I’d say we have just as good a shot as anybody to win on Saturday night.”
Indeed, why not anyone? A case can be made for just about every driver in a must-win position. Take the Legacy Motor Club teammates of Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek. They sit 3rd and 26th respectively in the regular-season points, but their team owner Jimmie Johnson was able to finish third in the Daytona 500 in a one-off in the same equipment, so why can’t they finish two spots better?
In a sense, that takes some of the pressure of the race off. There’s a very clear goal to win at the end, and it’s not a question of maximizing stages or racing specific cars on the track. Instead, it’s about seeing the checkered flag at the end.
John Hunter Nemechek explained that, in a situation like that, running around the back and hoping for a ‘big one’ is not his style.
“My theory is, the less cars in front of you, the less chance you have of running into something,” Nemechek said.
“But you also have guys behind that are pushing you and we’ve seen a lot of bad pushes and things of that sort. I wouldn’t say there really is a safe place at Daytona, you’ve just got to kind of run your own race and if you feel good in the spot you’re in that’s probably we’re you’re going to stay and just kind of manage it.”
Playoff Bubble Entering Daytona
15. Tyler Reddick (+89)
16. Alex Bowman (+60)
—————————-
17. Chris Buescher (-60)
18. Ryan Preece (-94)
That’s the decision that every driver who doesn’t have a win this season will have to make, since they’re all in must-win positions, except two.
position for every driver who doesn’t have a win yet this season, except two. Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman enter above the cutline and no other driver can reach them on points, so Buescher, Preece, and the rest of the field below are in must-win position.
But while Reddick and Bowman enter high and dry, there’s no guarantee they’ll both leave that way. Any new winner will get a Playoff spot, but that comes at the expense of one spot being available on points. If there’s a new winner, Reddick and Bowman will have to duke it out amongst themselves on track for what would then be the one remaining points spot.
That’s not a comfortable position. But no one’s comfortable heading into Daytona, especially with this one on the line.
The only driver who might be comfortable in knowing their points position is William Byron. NASCAR pays Playoff points to the drivers in the top ten in the regular season standings before the start of the Playoffs in descending amounts, and those points give an advantage at the start of each round of the Playoffs which can prove critical in advancing each round.
William Byron locked up the regular season championship and the 15 Playoff point bonus at Richmond last week, meaning he doesn’t have much to worry about at Daytona. Still, Byron said he doesn’t intend to hang around at the back.
Qualifying will start on Friday at 5 p.m. ET and will air on truTV, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. There is no practice.
Connor Zilisch Is Back in the Xfinity Series Picture at Daytona
Connor Zilisch proved that NASCAR’s still dangerous, even off the track, when he won at Watkins Glen and fell when trying to climb on his car. The scary incident left him with a broken collarbone but prompt medical attention at a local hospital meant he was quickly on the mend and readily joking about the incident on Twitter.
Now, just two weeks on and in the very next race for the series, he’s still on the entry list for Friday night’s Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola (730 p.m. ET on The CW, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), ready to qualify and at least start the race, though a reserve driver will be available.
Zilisch remains the championship leader despite all of the obstacles this season. That includes not only the Watkins Glen incident but also a back injury sustained at Talladega that did take him out of the car at Texas Motor Speedway.
That means that Zilisch, who’s won six races, twice as many as any other driver, is leading the regular season points despite being credited with one fewer start than every other full-time driver, a hugely impressive feat. Then remember he’s a 19-year-old Xfinity series rookie to make it all the more incredible.
Second-place Justin Allgaier trails by just seven points entering Daytona , very much in range with three races to go in the regular season. Third-place Sam Mayer is only 24 points back and is also in range.
If he can race on Friday night, Zilisch will be going for seven wins on the year. But while he’s looked unbeatable on just about every track type this season, Zilisch has yet to win on a superspeedway and the unpredictability of the drafting tracks mean that it’s anyone’s game and the field has a chance.
The field includes last year’s Cup Series winner in the Daytona summer race, Harrison Burton, who’s now racing in the Xfinity Series and is locked in a tight bubble battle.
Burton enters with just a 30-point advantage over Jeb Burton in the twelfth and final spot of the provisional Playoff standings, not a tiny gap but certainly not as large as Burton would like with three races still to go before the postseason roster is determined.
Xfinity Playoff Bubble Entering Daytona
9. Carson Kvapil (+112)
10. Sheldon Creed (+77)
11. Taylor Gray (+76)
12. Harrison Burton (+30)
——————————-
13. Jeb Burton (-30)
14. Ryan Sieg (-38)
15. Christian Eckes (-72)
16. Dean Thompson (-82)
With three races to go, there are four spots available on points entering Daytona. However, any new winner would automatically earn a postseason berth and take away one of those points spots. With a new winner in all three races, there is only one guaranteed points spot in the Playoffs at this point.
Just to add something else to the picture, there are three former Cup Series winners at Daytona in the field. That includes Burton, as well as Justin Haley and Aric Almirola.
Qualifying will start on Friday at 3 p.m. ET and air on The CW App. There is no practice.
- Slimmed Playoff Field Faces the Grind of the Magic Mile - September 18, 2025
- From Spinning to Winning: Riggs Punches Ticket to Next Round - September 11, 2025
- Denny Hamlin Knows His Career Expiration Date - September 8, 2025