NASCAR podcast: Previewing the Coke Zero Sugar 400 race at Daytona
The guys break down race week at Daytona International Speedway. How does the NASCAR playoff picture look? Who needs to win the Coke Zero Sugar 400?
- A bunch of NASCAR Cup Series drivers need a win at the Coke Zero Sugar 400 to make the playoffs.
- The race at Daytona International Speedway will determine the final playoff field.
For more than half the drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series, the playoffs essentially begin early.
Without a win in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway, they won’t crash the official postseason party when it fires up at Darlington next week. A victory buys them time.
And no one needs it more than these five guys.
Two remain right on the playoff bubble. Two are legends of the sport with longtime championship traditions to uphold. And one is searching for clarity on his future.
The regular-season finale will receive the green flag shortly after 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Buckle up.
Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman
Let’s lump these gentlemen together.
If the regular season ended today, they would secure the final two playoff invitations. But don’t count on that. The regular season features one more race, and if a new winner emerges at Daytona, either Reddick or Bowman drops out. If a driver who already possesses a victory this season collects another one, both could sneak in on points.
Why not take matters into their own hands?
Reddick holds a 29-point edge over Bowman for 15th place in the postseason standings. In points, Reddick slots seventh and Bowman follows in ninth.
In his No. 45 23XI Toyota, Reddick has five top-fives this season. His best performance of the year happened during the first week with a second-place finish in the Daytona 500.
Bowman captured sixth in that same event. In his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, he has six top-fives and two runners-up this season. He trailed only winner Austin Dillon at Richmond last weekend.
Kyle Busch
Twenty-six months have passed since Busch won a Cup Series race.
He found Victory Lane three times in his first three months with Richard Childress Racing in 2023, but since then, nothing. His last triumph occurred on June 4 of that year.
But Busch has gotten close on several occasions, including runner-up at the 2024 Coke Zero Sugar 400. He claimed a Daytona summer race victory in 2008.
He is 19th in the playoff standings, 148 points below the cutline, so unless he takes the checkered flag at Daytona, he’ll miss the playoffs for the second season in a row.
His teammate, Dillon, stormed from way down the leaderboard to snatch a Richmond win last weekend. RCR will focus on Busch this week.
Brad Keselowski
Keselowski suffered through a terrible start to 2025. He did not register his first top-10 until late May, 13 races in.
The 41-year-old has showcased good speed this summer, though. Since that first top-10, Kez has picked up seven more. He ranked as the runner-up at Atlanta in late June and put forth a third at Iowa three weeks ago.
That early slump simply took him out of the points running, so he requires a Daytona win to reach the postseason. Keselowski has missed the playoffs in their current format only once.
He hasn’t scored a dub since May 2024. But like Busch, he’s a former Coke Zero Sugar 400 champ from 2016.
Daniel Suarez
We saw this last summer.
After Wood Brothers Racing announced it was moving on from Harrison Burton at the end of last season, Burton responded with a stunning first career victory at the Daytona summer race. He went to the playoffs as a result.
Now, it’s Suarez in that situation, with Trackhouse and the 33-year-old driver declaring an upcoming parting of ways last month.
See this as a 2026 audition for other clubs — and a chance to stick it to his soon-to-be former bosses.
Suarez also placed seventh each of the last two weeks, locking down his first top-10s since May.
