By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service
Under lights at Daytona the NASCAR Cup Series will set the field of the 2026 Chase
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – There is a certain unmistakable drive that characterizes the Daytona International Speedway which both kickstarts the NASCAR Cup Series season and then months later, serve as the regular season finale to decide which 16 of sport’s most worthy will now run for the season championship.
This Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 (7:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) marks the pivotal season marker for those racers hoping to hoist a championship trophy.
So much is on the line Saturday night at the sport’s most famous 2.5-mile high banks. And that’s what makes this race unfailingly exceptional.
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin has admirably claimed the No. 1 seed in the Chase in what will long be considered one of the most determined and amazing title efforts in recent memory. Months ago, the driver of the No. 11 JGR Toyota had a more than 100-point deficit to early-season championship leader, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, but Hamlin – a four-race winner – now comes to Daytona with a remarkable 77-point advantage on the entire field. The DAYTONA 500 winner Reddick ranked fourth.
Beyond Hamlin in the standings, however, there is plenty of potential for movement – both in swapping positions inside the heart of the Chase lineup – and absolutely with the final two positions still very much left to be settled.
There is something for everyone – reason for fans to hold their breath and reasons for them to exhale and cheer loudly. All in the form of high-stakes high-banks, high-drama that Daytona inevitably delivers.
Team Penske’s Austin Cindric and Trackhouse Racing’s Shane Van Gisbergen are in the 15th and 16th positions in the standings heading into the race. Cindric, the 2022 DAYTONA 500 winner, is 44 points up on 17th place, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Ryan Preece. And Van Gisbergen holds a tenuous 31-point lead on Preece, who cut that advantage nearly in half with a top-10 run at New Hampshire last week.
Cindric has to be encouraged by his work at Daytona, claiming that career-defining win in the 2022 DAYTONA 500. The 27-year-old has led laps in seven of his 10 career Daytona starts, including four of the last five. His eighth-place finish in 2025’s DAYTONA 500 was the only top-10 he’s had, however, in the last seven races here.
Cindric’s third-place showing at Richmond, Va. two weeks ago is the only top-10 he’s earned in the last 13 races of this season.
“If it was up to me, I know exactly what I would want to do,”’ Cindric said of the weekend’s race strategy, “I’m the guy who begged my crew chief to let me race after being on the front row in the DAYTONA 500, but, obviously, there’s a lot at play for the race and a lot of factors to come in.
“I think qualifying will probably play a factor in some of those decisions, maybe, and maybe some of those decisions have already been made and I just haven’t been informed yet.”
The 37-year-old former multi-time Australian Supercars Series champion Shane Van Gisbergen has been raising his game in recent weeks, in particular. More accustomed to road racing, he’s steadily qualifying better on the ovals and has a pair of top-10 finishes this year at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta), which races like the superspeedways in Daytona and Talladega. He’s led nine laps at Daytona, but doesn’t yet have a top-10 finish in his four career starts there.
It’s really hard to know, it’s such an unknown track,” Van Gisbergen said of the team’s approach. “It’s typical Daytona, but also the rule package change as well. Just a lot of unknown. Would have loved to leave New Hampshire last weekend with more of a cushion of course, like we entered with.
“But being in season long championships all my life, it’s a cool feeling knowing that we have a shot at making The Chase,” he added. “It’s a cool pressure to feel.”
As for Preece, the 35-year-old RFK racer has three top-10s and a top-five in 13 Daytona starts, his best showings of sixth place and fourth place came in the 2021 set of races. He’s led 10 laps in the seven races since, his only top-20 finish – 14th in the No. 60 RFK Racing Ford in this race last year.
“From a points perspective, we have a chance, a Hail-Mary chance, but for the Owner’s Chase we have a real chance so we’re going to race hard next week,” Preece said.
The intensely tight margins are indicative of many positions well above the cutoff line. Other than Hamlin’s established work leading the championships, there could be significant movement in the standings.
Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney is 44-points up on JGR’s Ty Gibbs for second place. JGR’s Christopher Bell holds an 11-point edge on his teammate Chase Briscoe for fifth place and is only 20 points ahead of reigning series champion, Kyle Larson who is in seventh place just a mere 1-point ahead of his Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott in eighth.
Ninth place, Penske’s Joey Logano holds a slight six-point edge over RFK’s Chris Buescher and is only 10 points up on Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar.
Hendrick’s William Byron is ranked 12th, but only six points ahead of Spire’s Daniel Suarez.
Half of the top 14 drivers in the championship are past Daytona winners – many with top-shelf resumes. Hamlin has won three Daytona 500s. Byron has won two Daytona 500s and a Coke Zero Sugar 400. Blaney is a two-time winner on the high banks and the defending winner in Saturday’s 400-miler.
Reddick (2026), Cindric (2022), Logano (2015) have won Daytona 500s. Buescher won the 2023 summer 400-miler.
There will be no practice this week. Busch Light Pole Qualifying is set for Friday at 5 p.m. ET (truTv, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Blaney won from pole position in this race last year.
Final four spots are still up for grabs in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Part Series Chase
Daytona International Speedway has long been considered one of the most dramatic, high-action venues in all of auto racing and this Friday night, it’s likely to live up to the hype, hosting the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series regular season finale, the Winn Dixie 250 Powered by Coca-Cola (7:30 p.m. ET on the CW, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Eight drivers have clinched a position in the 12-driver Chase field with six drivers vying for the final four opportunities to race for a title.
And in one of the most compelling subplots to this regular season finale, positions 11th through 13th are all separated by a single point – and all of the drivers vying for those spots compete for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Viking Motorsports driver Parker Retzlaff need only gain 10 points in Friday night’s race and he claims the ninth Chase seed to make his first career championship run. Haas Factory Team’s Sam Mayer, a perennial title contender, sits 10th in the points and holds a 33-point advantage on 14th place Rajah Caruth.
Those 11th through 13th positions feature that tight tussle between JGR teammates William Sawalich, Brent Crews and Taylor Gray.
None of the six drivers – Retzlaff, Mayer, Sawalich, Crews, Gray or Caruth – has ever won an O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Daytona. Among them, Caruth earned the best finish (10th) in February’s first visit to the speedway.
The 2024 series champion, JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier, has turned in one of the most dominant seasons in recent memory earning a career high and season-best six wins and holding a massive 238-point advantage on the field heading into Daytona. This will be his record 11th title run.
JR Motorsports Carson Kvapil, reigning series champion, Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love, Haas Motorsports’ Sheldon Creed, Hendrick Motorsports rookie Corey Day, JGR’s Brandon Jones, RCR’s Austin Hill and JR Motorsports’ Sammy Smith have all clinched a shot at the 2026 title.
Daytona has traditionally proven to be a place Hill shines and this would be a prime week to do so, having been named to drive fulltime at the NASCAR Cup Series in 2027 for the RCR team.
He is a four-time Daytona winner, including this February. Love (2025) and Allgaier (2023) have also visited Daytona’s famed Victory Lane
The last two Daytona O’Reilly Series races have been won from pole position. Kennametal Pole Qualifying is set for Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. ET.
