NASCAR Cup Series Regular Season Comes Down to Daytona
By David Morgan, Associate Editor
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Win or go home.
This is it, end of the road. For the drivers on the outside of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff grid, Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway either ends in Victory Lane or their championship hopes will have to wait until 2026.
Among those needing to pull off the walk off win on Saturday night are some of the drivers that have tasted victory at Daytona before, along with those that have been consistently some of the best on the superspeedways in recent years.
Chief among them being the RFK Racing duo of Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher, along with the third RFK car in Ryan Preece. Not to mention former Daytona 500 winners Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and Michael McDowell.
Then there’s the likes of Kyle Busch, Justin Haley, and Erik Jones, all of whom have won on a superspeedway or been extremely competitive on these types of tracks.
“There is confidence, for sure. But we also have all been here enough to know that there’s a lot that can happen,” said McDowell, who starts in 20th place after qualifying was cancelled due to inclement weather.
McDowell earned much of his superspeedway success in his years with Front Row Motorsports, but that has not quite translated over to his new home at Spire Motorsports, where both he and teammate Justin Haley will be among those fighting for the win to advance into the Playoffs.
Nonetheless, McDowell remains confident that he’ll be in the mix on Saturday night.
“I was just watching last year’s race here — we led with, I think 10 laps to go and we were in position to kind of control the race and ended up almost upside down and finished in the 20s, right? So, I come here confident that we can be up front and put ourselves in position. I feel like situationally being aware of just how these things play out and where to be and all those things; I feel really comfortable and confident in. But it all goes out the window when things get crazy,” said McDowell.
“So, you know, I think there’s a level of confidence and angst that you bring to places like this because there’s so many variables that are not controllable, but I feel good about it being the cutoff race and giving us an opportunity to go race for it.”
McDowell has also been around long enough to know when there are a bunch of drivers desperate to win, something is going to have to give eventually. For now, McDowell is content to embrace the chaos that is inevitable to come.
“It’s going to be a mess, right? I mean, we all know it,” said McDowell.
“We’ve all lived it and seen it. It’s not like that’s going to be a big shock to us, and that’s why this race is so unpredictable, just because the desperation is high for everybody. So those moments where you’re like — yeah, I’ll give a little bit because whether I’m second or third in line here isn’t going to really matter, does matter in this race, so the intensity just ramps up. I think some of the decision-making is processing changes here with everything on the line.”
A year ago, Kyle Busch came agonizingly close to punching his ticket to the Playoffs with a win at Daytona, only to watch Harrison Burton snag it instead.
Despite all of the frustration that has come with Busch’s experience of racing at Daytona and having the win snatched from his grasp, the driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet is embracing it and using it as motivation to go out and get it done on Saturday.
“I mean it’s frustrating for sure having so many times that we’ve been close and not being able to get the job done. That makes it frustrating,” said Busch. “But it gives you a sense of optimism as well too, knowing that you’ve been so close and you can probably be close again, you just need to put yourself in the circumstance that gets you to Victory Lane first.”
After his RCR teammate Austin Dillon won at Richmond last week to secure his spot in the Playoffs, the focus for the RCR Chevrolets, which includes Austin Hill this weekend will be doing what they can to help Busch to win and give RCR two cars in the postseason.
“We’ve talked as a group and those guys are our team players and want to be there and want to help out,” said Busch. “And so, if you can orchestrate it, perfect. I feel like Austin and I did that, not this 500, but last year’s 500. I mean we were in the catbird seat; we were going to win. We were going to finish first and second, and then I think Suarez spun off of (Turn) 4 and made a green-white-checker finish and we messed up on that.
“So, I mean, you can have all the ducks in a row and all the stars align and it still not work out.”
Should Busch be able to accomplish that feat and get into the Playoffs, he won’t be content with just making it there. Rightfully so, he wants to make a deep run in the postseason to prove he and his team were worthy of being among those with a chance at fighting for the championship.
“If you Harrison Burton your way into the Playoffs and then you’re out the first round, that doesn’t mean shit. You know what I mean?
“So, for me, a successful season for me is obviously making the Playoffs and making it into the Round of 8. Making it from the Round of 8 to the (Championship 4), there’s a lot of situations that can come into play that can get you there or get you out of there.
“So, a successful season is being in the Playoffs, winning races and being in the final eight. So, not getting to those levels last year and right now, not this year. That’s definitely frustrating.”
Busch will start from 14th place on Saturday night. The Coke Zero Sugar 400 is scheduled for 7:30 pm ET on NBC.
