The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and the Xfinity Series will head back to Daytona for some Superspeedway racing under the lights. This will be the first race for the MENCS in the 550 HP engines with higher downforce aero package at Daytona. I do not expect a huge change in the racing but it could cause more drivers to lead the race. It should be fun to watch. The Coke Zero 400 can be seen Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
There will be two practices on the 4th of July for the MENCS. The first is at 2 p.m. ET (NBC Sports Net) and final practice will be at 4 p.m. ET (NBC Sports Net). Qualifying will be Saturday at 5 p.m. ET (NBC Sports Net). There will be NO Garage Talk Notes this week since practice does not mean much at Daytona and I will not be available on the 4th of July to scan the radios for information.
My early week pick for the pole is William Byron. Hendrick Motorsports has dominated the poles at Daytona for the last 4 seasons. They have won the last 5 poles at the track and it will likely be a HMS car that starts on the pole Saturday night. Byron won the pole for the Daytona 500 and he has won 3 poles this season. I am sure Chad Knaus will set the No. 24 car up to qualify well this week.
Each week I use different stats in my model to create the best rankings possible to give you an edge on the completion. This is a hard race to predict. There are drivers who have had a lot more success on the Superspeedways than others. I am using the Driver Rating, Average Finishing Position and Average Running Position in the last 8 Superspeedway races to figure out my rankings this week.
Here are the early week driver rankings for Daytona…
|
Driver |
| 1. Joey Logano |
| 2. Ryan Blaney |
| 3. Alex Bowman |
| 4. Ricky Stenhouse |
| 5. Kevin Harvick |
| 6. Aric Almirola |
| 7. Chase Elliott |
| 8. Denny Hamlin |
| 9. Jimmie Johnson |
| 10. Erik Jones |
| 11. Martin Truex Jr. |
| 12. Kyle Busch |
| 13. Brad Keselowski |
| 14. Kurt Busch |
| 15. Clint Bowyer |
| 16. Paul Menard |
| 17. William Byron |
| 18. Michael McDowell |
| 19. Kyle Larson |
| 20. Ryan Newman |
| 21. Austin Dillon |
| 22. Daniel Suarez |
| 23. Ty Dillon |
| 24.David Ragan |
| 25. Brendan Gaughan |
| 26. Matt DiBenedetto |
| 27. Chris Buescher |
| 28. Bubba Wallace |
| 29. Daniel Hemric |
| 30. Ryan Preece |
| 31. Corey Lajoie |
| 32. Parker Klingerman |
| 33. Landon Cassill |
| 34. Matt Tifft |
| 35. Ross Chastain |
| 36. B.J. McLeod |
| 37. Cody Ware |
| 38. Reed Sorenson |
* I will post my final driver rankings Friday night.
**Stats from Driveraverages.com and NASCAR Media. Career stats from Racing-Reference.Info…
*** Photos from NASCAR Media
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