The clock is ticking on the Cup regular season and the hands will strike midnight Saturday at Daytona International Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on NBC).
The series’ regular-season finale is the last chance for teams to lock themselves into the 16-driver playoff field. While William Byron, Jimmie Johnson and Matt DiBenedetto race to potentially get in on points, a slew of drivers hope to play spoiler and add themselves to the playoffs and Daytona’s recent history of Cinderella winners.
More: Cup playoff grid heading into Daytona
Here’s a look at drivers who have surprised us with Daytona wins and other impressive performances.
First time
Two of the last four Cup races on the Daytona superspeedway have delivered first-time visitors to victory lane.
The most recent came last year on July 7 and was delivered by way of rain, lightning and fortunate pit strategy.
Justin Haley, a full-time Xfinity driver making just his third Cup start, inherited the lead under caution when Kurt Busch pitted after NASCAR initially declared they would go back to green a lap later. But then the red flag was displayed for lightning in the area, stopping the race with 33 laps to go.
Later, with rain falling on the track, Haley was declared the winner.
Spire Motorsports, the team Haley was racing for, will soon become a two-car team.
#NASCAR …. the moment @Justin_Haley_ found out he had been declared the winner. pic.twitter.com/Atp2Xyr4FP
— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) July 7, 2019
Haley’s win was preceded the previous July by Erik Jones‘ victory.
In his first year with Joe Gibbs Racing at the Cup level, Jones started the race in 29th. The next 167 laps saw incidents that included 26 cars, seven cars and nine cars. Jones made it to the final overtime restart on Lap 168 and passed Martin Truex Jr. on the backstretch thanks to a push from Chris Buescher. Jones went on to take the checkered flag in his 57th Cup start.
Going into Saturday’s race at Daytona, Jones is 50 points behind the cutoff spot for the playoffs. He’s not only racing for his playoff hopes, but for potential employers in 2021.
20-Year Tribute
Before 2018, no Cup driver had ever earned their first two career Cup wins in the Coca-Cola 600 and then the Daytona 500.
Austin Dillon changed that.
Nine months after winning the Coke 600, Dillon delivered Richard Childress Racing another win in the “Great American Race.”
After contact with race leader Aric Almirola sent Almirola into the wall on the last lap, Dillon assumed the lead going into Turn 3. He would go unchallenged, taking the checkered flag 20 years after Dale Earnhardt won the Daytona 500 for the only time in his career.
Behind him, Bubba Wallace and Denny Hamlin locked doors coming to the checkered flag with Wallace barely beating Hamlin across the line.
Wallace, making his first start in the 500 for Richard Petty Motorsports, became the highest finishing Black driver in the history of the race.
Now in a contract year and 22nd in points, Wallace will try to make the playoffs via a win on Saturday.
The Year of Stenhouse
In 2017, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. emerged as a talented – and aggressive – superspeedway driver. In May, he won from the pole at Talladega to earn his first Cup Series victory.
Two months later, Stenhouse doubled down and went to victory lane again at Daytona.
Stenhouse hasn’t found victory lane since, but the JTG Daugherty Racing driver is a constant threat on superspeedways. He finished second at Talladega in June for his eighth top five on a superspeedway.
With Stenhouse 23rd in points, he will have to find a way to win Saturday to be playoff eligible.
One More for The King
In Richard Petty’s Cup career, he won at Daytona International Speedway 10 times, including his 200th and final career win in the July 1984 race.
Thirty years later, Petty’s No. 43 went back to Daytona’s victory lane thanks to Aric Almirola and rain.
Almirola earned his first career Cup win on July 6, 2014 when rain ended the race on Lap 112.
It was the most recent win for Petty as an owner.
Other Notable Performances
There are many other noteworthy Cup drivers who need to win Saturday in order to make the playoffs.
Michael McDowell – The Front Row Motorsports driver is 24th in points. He has three career Cup top fives. Two came at Talladega and his career-best finish, fourth, came in the July 2017 Daytona race.
Ryan Newman – The Roush Fenway Racing driver is 25th in points. He won the 2008 Daytona 500 and was moments away from winning it earlier this year before he was injured in a horrific wreck that caused him to miss the next three races.
Ty Dillon – Germain Racing driver is 27th in points. Career-best finish of fourth in July 2019 Daytona race.
Matt Kenseth – The Chip Ganassi Racing driver is 28th in points after 21 starts in the No. 42 car. He won the Daytona 500 in 2009 and 2012.
Corey LaJoie – The Go Fas Racing driver is 29th in points. His career-best finish is sixth in the July 2019 Daytona race.
Two weeks after NASCAR competed on the Daytona road course, Cup and Xfinity teams return to Florida to race on the 2.5-mile oval for the second time this season.
Meanwhile, the Truck Series travels to Madison, Illinois to race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.
More: Daytona home to many Cinderella stories
Here are the Daytona and Gateway weekend schedules:
(All times Eastern)
Weekend schedule for Daytona:
Thursday, Aug. 27
4:30 p.m. – Xfinity rookie meeting (electronic communication)
5 p.m. – Xfinity driver crew chief meeting (electronic communication)
5:30 p.m. – Driver motorhome parking (screening in progress)
Friday Aug. 28
8 – 10 a.m. – Xfinity haulers enter (screening in progress)
10 a.m. – Xfinity garage opens
10 a.m. – 6 p.m. – Xfinity garage access screening in progress
4:30 p.m. – Cup rookie meeting (electronic communication)
5 p.m. – Cup driver-crew chief meeting (electronic communication)
7:15 p.m. – Xfinity drivers report to cars
7:30 p.m. – Xfinity race; 100 laps/250 miles (NBCSN, Motor Racing Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
10:30 p.m. – Xfinity haulers exit
Saturday, Aug. 29
10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. – Cup haulers enters (screening and equipment unload)
12:30 p.m. – Cup garage opens
12:30 – 6:30 p.m. – Garage screening in progress
7:05 p.m. – Cup drivers report to cars
7:30 p.m. – Cup race; 160 laps/400 miles (NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
11:30 p.m. – Cup haulers exit.
Weekend schedule for Gateway:
Friday, Aug. 28
5 p.m. – Truck Series driver-crew chief meeting (electronic communication)
Saturday, Aug. 29
7 – 9 a.m. – Truck haulers enter (screening in progress and equipment unload)
2 – 6 p.m. – Truck garage open
2 – 5 p.m. – Truck garage access screening in progress
3:30 – 4 p.m. – Truck rookie meeting (teleconference)
Sunday, Aug. 30
9 a.m. – Truck Series garage opens
9 – 11 a.m. – Truck Series garage access screening in progress
11:50 a.m. – Truck Series drivers report to vehicles
Noon – Truck Series race; 160 laps/200 miles (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
5 p.m. – Truck Series haulers exit
The National Motorsports Press Association has selected Bubba Wallace as the winner of the second-quarter Pocono Spirit Award for his advocacy to make NASCAR more diverse and inclusive.
The NMPA Pocono Spirit Award is designed to recognize character and achievement in the face of adversity, sportsmanship and contributions to motorsports.
Wallace called for NASCAR to ban the Confederate flag shortly before officials announced they would do so in June. He competed in the Martinsville race with Black Lives Matter on his No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports car.
MORE: Bubba Wallace fans at Talladega: “We were there for him”
“It’s an honor to accept the Spirit Award, for sure,” Wallace said. “Looking back, I thought just by standing up for what’s right and speaking out on the problems the nation faces and how we can be better, not only as a sport but also as a society, is powerful.
“And I encourage everybody to use their voices to speak up for what’s going on wrong in the world and try to make this a better place for all. So, thank you for the opportunity, and we’ll try to keep pushing the envelope to make things better.”
Wallace was selected in a vote by the NMPA membership.
Receiving votes was Bobby Bennett, publisher and editor of CompetitionPlus.com. He survived COVID-19 and established the C19 to encourage plasma donations from fellow coronavirus survivors. Also receiving votes was the Ford Motor Company. The company launched a Donation Match program in April. Ford committed to match up to $500,000 in employee contributions to designated community organizations engaged in the fight against COVID-19.
Wallace is eligible for year-end NMPA Pocono Spirit Award. Wood Brothers Racing won the award in the first quarter for charitable work in helping seniors in and around its home base of Stuart, Virginia. The team spearheaded a campaign to provide COVID-19 quarantined seniors in nursing homes and assisted living facilities with electronic tablets to communicate with family members unable to visit.
Rookie Zane Smith, who has won the past two oval races in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series, will be on the pole for the Truck starting lineup at Gateway on Sunday afternoon.
Smith scored his first series win Aug. 7 at Michigan International Speedway in overtime. After finishing 13th the following weekend on the Daytona road course, Smith came back to win last week’s race at Dover.
Click here for Truck starting lineup at Gateway
Brett Moffitt starts second and is followed by Matt Crafton, Austin Hill and Ben Rhodes.
The Truck starting lineup at Gateway is set by using a new formula based on three statistical categories: owner points position, the finish and fastest lap from the most recently completed race.
The three are weighted and averaged to determine the starting order with points position counting 35 percent, finishing position at 50 percent and fastest race lap at 15 percent.
NASCAR Truck Series at Gateway
Race Time: 12 p.m. ET Sunday
Track: World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway; Madison, Illinois (1.25-mile speedway)
Length: 160 laps (200 miles)
Stages: Stage 1 ends Lap 55. Stage 2 ends Lap 110.
TV coverage: FS1
Radio: Motor Racing Network (also SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Streaming: Fox Sports app (subscription required); mrn.com and SiriusXM for audio (subscription required)
Starting lineup at Gateway: Click here for starting lineup
Next Cup race: Saturday at Daytona (160 laps, 400 miles), 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC
Next Xfinity race: Friday at Daytona (100 laps, 250 miles), 7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN
The Xfinity starting lineup at Daytona International Speedway will have Chase Briscoe leading the field to green Friday (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN).
Briscoe starts on the pole after his win last Sunday at Dover International Speedway. That marked his sixth victory of the season, breaking his tie with Austin Cindric for most wins in the series this year.
Ross Chastain starts second. Cindric, who has won five of the last eight series races, starts third. Noah Gragson is fourth. Justin Allgaier, who won last Saturday’s Xfinity race at Dover, starts fifth.
Click here for starting lineup at Daytona
The Xfinity starting lineup at Daytona is set by using a new formula based on three statistical categories: owner points position, the finish and fastest lap from the most recently completed race.
The three are weighted and averaged to determine the starting order with points position counting 35 percent, finishing position at 50 percent and fastest race lap at 15 percent.
NASCAR Xfinity Series at Daytona
Race Time: 7:30 p.m. ET Friday
Track: Daytona International Speedway; Daytona Beach, Florida (2.5-mile speedway)
Length: 100 laps (250 miles)
Stages: Stage 1 ends Lap 30. Stage 2 ends Lap 60
TV coverage: NBCSN
Radio: Motor Racing Network (also SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Streaming: NBC Sports app (subscription required); mrn.com and SiriusXM for audio (subscription required)
Starting lineup at Daytona: Click here for starting lineup
Next Cup race: Saturday at Daytona (160 laps, 400 miles), 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC
Next Truck race: Aug. 30 at Gateway (160 laps, 200 miles), 12 p.m. ET on FS1
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