Heading into Daytona, the factors battle across the few remaining spots within the playoffs is extremely shut. Martin Truex Jr. enters the weekend within the most secure place, 77 factors forward of the cut-line. His Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs is in an okay spot except misfortune befalls him at 39 factors up. However the battle between Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain and Bubba Wallace is way from over. Buescher is simply 16 factors clear whereas Chastain holds the sixteenth and last spot with a one-point margin over Wallace. These drivers will all be chasing stage factors at Daytona, and determined to keep away from the inevitable carnage.
Nonetheless, from Kyle Busch on down, the objective is far less complicated — win in any respect prices. Whereas some might have a possibility to win the Southern 500 at Darlington, many look to Daytona as their solely remaining likelihood to snag a 2024 playoff berth. There are 17 drivers in a must-win state of affairs, so let’s check out these more than likely to drag off a dramatic eleventh-hour victory on the 2.5-mile superseedway.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – JTG Daugherty Racing
Stenhouse Jr. will be the driver everybody ought to regulate. His aggressive type has earned him two wins on the historic speedway, together with final 12 months’s Daytona 500, but it surely’s additionally resulted in catastrophe many occasions. In his final 5 begins at Daytona, he crashed out 4 occasions. The one time he did not, he was victorious. Whether or not he wins or not, the JTG driver will completely play a task on this weekend’s showdown.
Watch: Stenhouse wins longest Daytona 500 in NASCAR historical past
Kyle Busch – Richard Childress Racing
A 2x Cup champion, but, finds himself going through a winless season for the primary time in his full-time Cup profession. However this season has been a wrestle for him and RCR. He has one victory at Daytona, however that got here again in 2008. Throughout his brief time with RCR, he has proven to be robust on the superspeedways and simply missed out on victory in final 12 months’s Daytona 500. Being essentially the most skilled and profitable driver beneath the cut-line, it could be silly to guess towards KB this weekend.
Kyle Busch, Richard Childress Racing, Cheddar’s Patriotic Chevrolet Camaro and Randall Burnett, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet Camaro
Photograph by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images
Michael McDowell – Front Row Motorsports
The 2021 Daytona 500 winner has all the time been a power to be reckoned with at drafting tracks. Earlier this 12 months, he crashed simply moments away from profitable at Talladega. Additionally a confirmed winner on the highway programs, McDowell’s solely shot to make the playoffs in back-to-back years is to seize one other checkered flag at Daytona.
Watch: Tyler Reddick steals Talladega victory after last-second wreck
Austin Dillon – Richard Childress Racing
Dillon might have been the obvious alternative, if not for current occasions. He gained his means into the 2022 playoffs with a victory at Daytona, and he additionally gained the 2018 Daytona 500. Nonetheless, current occasions at Richmond have made him a little bit of a pariah within the storage, and at a spot like Daytona, you are not going to win with out pals. It additionally does not assist that Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano are two of essentially the most succesful superspeedway racers within the subject, and each have a rating to settle with the motive force of the No. 3.
Watch: Austin Dillon takes the checkered flag after bumps for the lead
Erik Jones – Legacy Motor Membership
2024 has been nothing however a wrestle for the workforce co-owned by NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson. Jones has a Cup win at Daytona and his solely top-ten this 12 months got here within the season-opening Daytona 500. The truth that the Toyotas are outnumbered will not assist his trigger. And with drivers like Gibbs and Wallace nonetheless in playoff peril, Jones might have to make his personal means.
Erik Jones, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB, Household Greenback Toyota Camry
Photograph by: Danny Hansen / NKP / Motorsport Images
Corey LaJoie – Spire Motorsports
There have been two airborne crashes in the course of the 2024 season, and each belong to this driver. LaJoie certainly is not involved in going for the hat trick at Daytona, however he will probably be motivated to show he nonetheless belongs within the high degree of the game, after Spire Motorsports introduced they are going to half methods with LaJoie on the conclusion of the 12 months. Over his profession, he has 4 top-fives and 9 top-tens — each single one got here on drafting tracks. A fourth-place end on this 12 months’s 500 is his solely end greater than eleventh in the course of the 2024 season. It is now or by no means for LaJoie. If to not make the playoffs, then merely to save lots of his profession.
Corey LaJoie, Spire Motorsports, Schluter Methods Chevrolet Camaro
Photograph by: David Rosenblum / NKP / Motorsport Images
Justin Haley – Rick Ware Racing
Haley could be fairly the upset, as RWR has by no means gained on the Cup degree. Nonetheless, he has. Though rain-shortened, he gained the summer season Cup race at Daytona in 2017. Within the Xfinity Collection, he has loved loads of success in pack races. He has 4 Xfinity wins with two at Daytona and two at Talladega. If anybody goes to take a Rick Ware Racing automobile to Victory Lane, it should be Haley.
Watch: Justin Haley squeezes out a win over teammates at Daytona
Noah Gragson – Stewart-Haas Racing
Whereas a case will be made for any of the 4 SHR drivers on the skin of the playoffs, Gragson appears to be your best option. His first top-five got here at Daytona whereas operating a partial Cup schedule in 2022. His solely top-five of the 2024 season got here at Talladega, ending third in a career-best end. In 2020, he earned his first Xfinity win at Daytona and all the time appears to look close to the entrance of those superspeedway races. Nonetheless, the truth that SHR is shutting down on the finish of the 12 months and that each one 4 drivers face the identical must-win state of affairs, teamwork is not prone to be a factor when the checkered flag is in sight.
Noah Gragson, Stewart-Haas Racing, Bass Professional Retailers Winchester Ford Mustang
Photograph by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images
All people else
Daytona loves surprises, so it is very attainable {that a} bracket-busting winner might come from a driver not even named within the above record. There have been seven totally different winners within the final seven Daytona Cup races, and 4 of them had been drivers who didn’t win anyplace in the course of the season. Whereas the factors battle rages on, I will be maintaining a tally of these 17 who will probably be swinging for the fence this weekend in hopes of pulling off a Daytona miracle.
The remaining: Chase Briscoe, Todd Gilliland, Carson Hocevar, Josh Berry, Ryan Preece, Daniel Hemric, John-Hunter Nemechek, Zane Smith, and Harrison Burton.
