NASCAR Cup race at Daytona prediction: Who will win, and drivers to watch

NASCAR’s Cup Series regular-season finale is Saturday at Daytona’s oval. While the rules package has been altered to slightly reduce speeds in the name of safety, drivers are predicting some dicey racing and a chaotic finish to the regular season.

That’s no surprise given the history of superspeedway races and Daytona’s reputation of producing first-time winners. The latest three summer Cup races at the track have been first wins in the series for the drivers. William Byron won the Coke Zero Sugar 400 last season, Justin Haley won the race in 2019 and Erik Jones won it the year before that.

Tyler Reddick, a Daytona winner at both the Truck and Xfinity level, could continue the trend. He enters the race aiming to defend a plus-25 points position over Richard Childress Racing teammate Austin Dillon for the final spot in the 16-driver playoff lineup. (Although Dillon, a Daytona 500 winner with three top three Cup career finishes at the track, would be considered a safer bet.)

Matt DiBenedetto, Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain have all led laps at a superspeedway race this season and haven’t yet won in the series.

Sure, it’s anyone’s race. But my prediction is that Denny Hamlin scores his first win of the season on Saturday. Hamlin is a proven Daytona winner. All three of his victories there were at the Daytona 500, but he still finished in the top five in his last three appearances at the track. Further, Hamlin is dueling Kyle Larson for the regular season championship (Larson leads by 28 points), so I expect the competitive dial to be turned all the way up at the No. 11 team’s superspeedway stomping grounds. The series has nearly made it to the end of the regular season. Now, teams just have to make it to the end of the race, but that’s easier said than done.

NASCAR Cup race at Daytona how to watch

• Race: Coke Zero Sugar 400
• When: Saturday, Aug. 28
• Time: 7 p.m. EST
• TV: NBC
• Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
• Distance: 400 miles (160 Laps) with stages ending on laps 50, 100 and 160)

NASCAR at Daytona Cup starting order

Alexandra Andrejev

The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR and Charlotte FC beat reporter Alex Andrejev joined The Observer in January 2020 following an internship at The Washington Post. She is a two-time APSE award winner for her NASCAR beat coverage and National Motorsports Press Association award winner. She is the host of McClatchy’s podcast “Payback” about women’s soccer. Support my work with a digital subscription