2024 NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 Preview
NASCAR heads to the World Center of Racing at Daytona International Speedway, where it’s essentially the chopping block for most drivers as they look to punch their ticket into the Playoffs. Coverage of the ‘Coke Zero Sugar 400’ begins at 7:30PM EST on NBC.
Last year’s race was won by Chris Buescher with Brad Keselowski finishing 2nd, earning RFK Racing their first 1-2 finish since they rebranded in 2022. But that was overshadowed by Ryan Preece’s violent flip down the backstretch.
Best Bets for Cup
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Best Bets for Cup |
Denny Hamlin +1000 | Top 5 +130 | Top 10 -225
Denny Hamlin enters this weekend as the co-favorite, but has a lot of work to do. It was announced on Thursday that Denny Hamlin was being assessed an L2 penalty after TRD rebuilt Hamlin’s race winning engine from Bristol earlier this year. Hamlin and team owner Joe Gibbs were both given 75 point penalties, dropping Hamlin from 3rd to 6th in points, and crew chief Chris Gabehart was fined a hefty $100,000. Hamlin will have to work his way out of this deep hole Toyota dug him in on Saturday.
Joey Logano +1000 | Top 5 +130 | Top 10 -225
Joey Logano enters as the co-favorite to win on Saturday. Logano most notably has won a Daytona 500 back in 2015 and is an aggressive superspeedway racer when he’s leading. He led the most laps in the Daytona 500 in February with 45, but was caught up in a crash late in the race. He finished 5th in this race last year, but expect Logano to be up front looking to build as many playoff points as he can.
Bubba Wallace +1600 | Top 5 +210 | Top 10 -150
Bubba Wallace was caught up in a crash just before the end of Stage 2 after Kyle Larson spun right in front of him, finishing 28th. He enters only -1 point outside of the Playoffs with two races remaining, with Daytona being one of his better tracks. He finished 5th in the 500 earlier this year, and finished 2nd in the 400 back in 2021. Bubba and 23XI will look to bounce back as the regular season nears its end.
Tyler Reddick +2000 | Top 5 +260 | Top 10 -120
Tyler Reddick finally broke through for his second win of the season, taking over as the points leader with two races left in the regular season. Reddick won earlier in the year at Talladega, despite his AVG finish being 21st heading into that race. At Michigan, Reddick’s AVG finish was 26th before winning on Monday, and his AVG finish at Daytona heading into the weekend is 24th. He’ll look to keep his points lead after Saturday.
Alex Bowman +2800 | Top 5 +360 | Top 10 +105
Alex Bowman has been underrated his entire career, even at Hendrick Motorsports where the likes of Larson, Elliott, and Byron outshine him, even at the Daytona 500 earlier this year. Byron won after the caution was thrown on the final lap, with Bowman finishing 2nd, marking his third straight Top 10 finish at Daytona. Bowman finished 6th in the 400 last year and after three weeks of finishing 27th or worse, he’ll look to Daytona to steer his momentum in the right direction.
Carson Hocevar +5000 | Top 5 +650 | Top 10 +180
Carson Hocevar is coming off his fourth Top 10 finish of the season at Michigan, along with a Top 10 finish the weekend prior at Richmond. Daytona is often known as the great equalizer with its pack racing, seperating all 40 cars within two seconds of each other, but Hocevar only had five laps at the Daytona 500 before being caught up in a crash. He’s 22nd in points and with his only way of making the Playoffs is by winning, Daytona is the best place for that to happen.
Zane Smith +7000 | Top 5 +900 | Top 10 +260
Since Zane Smith’s 2nd place finish at Nashville, his season has turned around where he’s finished 17th or better three times since. Smith has a great history with Daytona as well, something that’s in his favor as his only way of making the Playoffs is via a win. He’s finished 13th in both Cup starts and won the Truck race at Daytona in 2022 and 2023. Zane Smith could put the whole field on upset alert this weekend.