The final NASCAR Cup Series Playoff position will be decided at the sport’s most iconic track in what is annually one of the most thrilling and unpredictable races. That’s the scene for Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.
This regular season finale will formally decide the regular season champion. Currently Martin Truex, Jr. holds a 39-point advantage Denny Hamlin. Meanwile, the race will also settle the other end of the Playoff standings. Bubba Wallace is hoping to earn his first ever Playoff-berth and holds a 32-point advantage over Ty Gibbs for the final Playoff transfer position.
The following drivers have already secured a place in the 2023 Playoffs with a victory: Truex, Hamlin, William Byron (who boasts a series-best five wins), Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, Chris Buescher, Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Joey Logano, Michael McDowell, and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
Clinching a Playoff position already based on points are Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick, who will be retiring at the end of the season.
And while Wallace currently sits in that final points position, a new season winner on the 2.5-mile Daytona high banks could claim that pivotal position as well, with Dawsonville, Georgia’s Chase Elliott and Austin Cindric still hoping for a clutch win. Past Daytona summer race winners Justin Haley, Aric Almirola, Erik Jones and defending race winner Austin Dillon are also primed to hoist another Daytona summer trophy and take that final Playoff spot.
Among those with more than four Daytona starts, Wallace – who has three runner-up showings in Daytona races – boasts the best average finish (13.0). Dillon, the 2018 Daytona 500 winner, averages a 15.6 place finish, followed by Haley (17.1), Almirola (20.2) and Jones (22.8). Cindric has a 10.5-average finish in four starts at the track.
Beyond Gibbs in the standings is Daniel Suarez, only 43 points behind Wallace. Gibbs’ best finish at Daytona (13th) came last year in this race. Suarez’ best work was seventh place, just this February.
“We know what we have to do and that’s win,” said Suarez. “It’s pretty simple and we plan to give it our best shot.”
There are 14 former NASCAR Cup Series Daytona race winners entered this week with Hamlin’s three Daytona 500 wins topping the list. Stenhouse, Dillon and Harvick have each won a Daytona 500 and the summer event.
Blaney, Byron, Haley, Jones, Keselowski, Almirola, and Busch have all won summer races at Daytona. Among those, Byron, Haley, Jones, and Almirola all scored their career first series victories in the Daytona summer race. No driver on Saturday’s grid has won multiple summer races.
And the last back-to-back summer Daytona winner was Tony Stewart in 2005-06.
“Everybody’s in a must-win situation,” said Wallace.
NXS: Three Races To Go In The NASCAR Xfinity Series Regular Season
The NASCAR Xfinity Series returns to action at Daytona’s big track following back-to-back weeks of high-drama road course style racing. The series takes center stage at the Daytona International Speedway on Friday night.
There are still three races remaining to set the 12-driver 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff field – but much to the pleasure of race fans, these drivers have been competing as if each race was a cut-off event.
Sam Mayer claimed last week’s win at the Watkins Glen International road course with a full-contact overtime re-start knocking the day’s most dominant driver and defending series champion Ty Gibbs from the lead. Mayer took the lead position from Gibbs after the contact and held off Sheldon Creed to claim his second career victory in the series in only the last four races.
It’s worth noting, Gibbs, a fulltime Rookie of the Year contender in the NASCAR Cup Series, will not be back in the Xfinity Series this week at Daytona, rather in his stead will be 2011 Daytona 500 winner, Trevor Bayne, driving the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Last week’s race was as impactful for the top of the championship standings as it was for those drivers competing for the last Playoff position. Winston, Georgia’s Austin Hill – who won the series’ February season-opener at Daytona – holds a slim nine-point lead over John Hunter Nemechek for the regular season title and all-important 15-point Playoff bonus. Both drivers had action-packed days at Watkins Glen, with Hill being collected in the final restart and finishing 14th and Nemechek taking a hard-earned sixth-place finish.
Jeremy Clements is the defending summertime race winner at Daytona. However, Hill has won two of the last three series events there – both February races in 2022 and 2023. They are the only two current fulltime drivers with a past Daytona trophy. NASCAR Cup Series regular Justin Haley – who has a pair of Daytona Xfinity Series wins – is the only other former winner who will be competing in Friday night’s race.
Should Hill win Friday night, he would be only the second driver ever to sweep both Daytona races in a season. NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is currently the only one to accomplish the feat.
Eight drivers have already clinched a position in the Playoffs with victories, including Nemechek – who boasts a series best four wins – plus Hill, Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer, Mayer, Talking Rock, Georgia’s Chandler Smith, Sammy Smith, and Jeb Burton.
Josh Berry, Creed, Daniel Hemric, and Riley Herbst are currently inside the Playoff points cutoff. Herbst, however, holds only a slim three-point advantage over Parker Kligerman. Herbst was sixth in the Daytona season-opener, Kligerman was 23rd.
NCTS: Next Stop For The Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs Is The Milwaukee Mile
The 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs resume this weekend at the Milwaukee Mile Speedway on Sunday. This is race number two in the seven-race Playoff run to crown the series champion.
Ty Majeski earned his first win of the season in the Playoff opener at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park two weeks ago to claim the automatic bid into the second round of postseason action.
This marks the series’ first race at the famed Milwaukee Mile Speedway since 2009 – an event won by NASCAR Hall of Famer and multi-time series champion Ron Hornaday, Jr.
The event included a 16th-place finish by three-time series champion and current Playoff contender Matt Crafton – the only current fulltime series driver to have competed there previously. Crafton was runner-up to Johnny Benson, Jr. in 2008 – one of five top-10 finishes in nine starts. Crafton is ranked ninth among the 10 Playoff drivers, two-points behind rookie Nick Sanchez in that all-important eighth-place transfer position to the Round of 8.
Regular season champion Corey Heim of Marietta, Georgia holds the Playoff standings lead just ahead of Majeski, followed by Christian Eckes, Carson Hocevar, Zane Smith, Grant Enfinger, Ben Rhodes, and Sanchez.
Crafton and Matt DiBenedetto are ranked ninth and 10th – two points and three-points behind Sanchez in an already-tight Playoff run.
“It’s going to be a challenge, for sure,” said Christian Eckes.
“Not many people have raced at Milwaukee recently, so there’s not much of a notebook to look at other than some visual similarities to Gateway or Phoenix. We’d love to get another win with our Gates Hydraulics Chevrolet and we’re certainly capable of that.
“Hopefully, we can take another step forward from how we ran at IRP and Gateway earlier this year and be one of the trucks to beat this weekend. Another great points day like we had at IRP would be great to help us get close to advancing, but getting back to victory lane is the priority for our team.”
NASCAR Weekend Preview
NASCAR Cup Series
Next Race: Coke Zero Sugar 400
The Place: Daytona International Speedway – Daytona Beach, FL
The Date: Saturday, August 26
The Time: 7 p.m. ET
The Purse: $8,778,583
TV: NBC, 7 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
Distance: 400 miles (160 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 35), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 95), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 160)
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Next Race: Wawa 250
The Place: Daytona International Speedway – Daytona Beach, FL
The Date: Friday, August 25
The Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
The Purse: $1,640,749
TV: USA, 7 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
Distance: 250 miles (100 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 30), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 60), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 100)
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Next Race: Clean Harbors 175
The Place: Milwaukee Mile Speedway – West Allis, WI
The Date: Sunday, August 27
The Time: 4 p.m. ET
The Purse: $644,030
TV: FS1, 3 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
Distance: 177.625 miles (175 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 55), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 110), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 175)
WDUN will carry live MRN Radio coverage of Saturday night's NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 from Daytona International Speedway at 6 pm on 102.9 FM, AM 550 and streaming live on AccessWDUN.
