NASCAR drivers expect intensity at Daytona
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — There is no easy way to predict the flavor of the final laps of races at NASCAR’s two giant tracks: Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.
Some finishes at the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series restrictor-plate tracks are the definition of chaos — huge wrecks, dramatic blocking and passing, wins by crazily small margins. Then there are the races where one or two cars dominate, despite the nature of the draft, and the race out of turn four to the checkered flag is basically by the book.
Daytona’s summer race — Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 (7 p.m ET, NBC) — is quite different from the February Daytona 500 in that the weather is much warmer, the track is slicker, the track lights are on and the event — 100 miles shorter — speeds by significantly faster.
Predicting winners is a perilous enterprise. Eight drivers have won the past eight Cup summer races at Daytona: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Brad Keselowski, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Aric Almirola, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, David Ragan and Kevin Harvick.
Austin Dillon was a surprise winner of the 500 this year. Almirola led on the final lap and was trying to block Dillon’s advance, but Dillon bumped Almirola into a spin and into the wall and won the race.
Almirola limped home in 11th. He returns to Daytona with unfinished business, particularly after leading 70 laps last week at Chicagoland Speedway and falling out of contention because of two loose wheels.
Dillon, who is trying to become the sixth driver in NASCAR Cup Series history to sweep both races at Daytona in a season, said there are almost no limitations on what is considered OK by drivers on the final lap. And he said he expects similar actions Saturday night.
“This race weekend probably will be one of the most aggressive you’ll see,” he said. “Everybody has opportunities here they don’t get every other weekend.”
Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson engaged in an epic battle for the win last Sunday at Chicagoland, Busch winning after the two drivers were involved in two encounters on the final lap.
“You’ve got to do everything you can to win,” said Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr., who finished second in the Daytona 500.
“Look at last weekend. Respect was thrown out the window, and it ended up being a pretty good race. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.
“I remember firing off on that last restart and kind of minding my own business. The biggest thing is making sure you’re in turn three coming to the checkered. We can wad them up quick.”
The generally unpredictable nature of racing here could put more drivers in position to challenge the so-called Big Three in the race that marks the halfway point of the season. Kyle Busch (five), Kevin Harvick (five) and Martin Truex Jr. (three) have won 13 of the 17 races to date.