Following Kevin Harvick’s dominant win at Sonoma Raceway in the first road-course race of the season, the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series switches coasts and styles for the restrictor-plate racing of the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Brad Keselowski won here last year as the race went to overtime for the third time in four years, which tends to happen at Daytona where everything gets bunched up at the end. David Pearson’s five wins leads all drivers in the summer Daytona race, which was first run on July 4th in 1959, while Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s two wins leads all active drivers.
Details
Event: Coke Zero 400
Category: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Date: Saturday, July 1st, 2017 – 7:30 PM ET
Location: Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, FL
Harvick worked his way up from 12th and led a race-high 24 laps at Sonoma as he won his first race of the 2017 season, followed by Clint Bowyer, Keselowski, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch. Kyle Larson still leads the points standings with 659 over 646 for Martin Truex Jr., who finished 37th out of 38 cars at Sonoma, while Larson only finishsed 26th. Harvick’s win put him in third place with 548 points, just six points ahead of Busch, who has yet to win a race, and Keselowski is fifth with 519 points.
Past Five Winners
2016: Brad Keselowski
2015: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
2014: Aric Almirola
2013: Jimmie Johnson
2012: Tony Stewart
What To Know About The Track
Daytona International Speedway is the most prestigious track in NASCAR and it opened back in 1959. It sits at 2.5 miles long and is banked 31 degrees in the corners, 18 degrees through the tri-oval and two degrees on the back straightaway, which means lots of speed. There is so much speed that the restrictor plates have to go on the cars to keep them from going airborne, which also puts the field into a big pack for most of the race. The first 130 or so laps of the race will be pretty civil as most drivers just want to keep in the draft and save their car until the end. The last 30 laps are usually chaos and there will be plenty of cautions and wrecks.
The Field
Kevin Harvick enters the week as our favorite for this race. While he’s favored to win this week, he’s actually just third in the Monster Energy Cup Standings with 548 points. On the year, he has 10 Top 10’s, six Top 5’s and one win. Next in line according to the betting odds is Jimmie Johnson. Johnson now finds himself in seventh place in the standings on the strength of 10 Top 10’s and five Top 5’s. Rounding out the top five in terms of the odds to win the Coke Zero 400 are Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr. Truex Jr. is currently in second place in the standings, closely tailing Kyle Larson. He enters the week 13 points behind the NASCAR standings leader.
A Good Matchup To Bet: Austin Dillon over Trevor Bayne
Of course, Bayne has the 2011 Daytona 500 win on his resume, and he finished 10th at the 500 earlier this year. Bayne also has a 23.2 finishing average in 13 starts at Daytona, including three DNFs. Dillon has no DNFs in eight starts at Daytona with an average finish of 12.6, and he has a win at Charlotte already, which means he can be more aggressive than usual.
Top-Five Pick: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
This could be Earnhardt Jr.’s last race at Daytona as he is retiring from full-time racing, although if he is going to come back for any races, it’ll be here or Talladega Superspeedway. Earnhardt Jr.’s finishing average at Daytona is 14.3 in 35 races, including four wins, two of which have come in the summer. The only driver with a better finishing average at Daytona is Dillon and he has 27 fewer starts here.
Odds To Win The Coke Zero 400
Kevin Harvick +600
Jimmie Johnson +500
Kyle Busch +700
Joey Logano +800
Martin Truex Jr +600
Brad Keselowski +800
Chase Elliott +1100
Matt Kenseth +2500
Dale Earnhardt Jr +12500
Denny Hamlin +1800
Daniel Suarez +10000
Clint Bowyer +2500
Kyle Larson +600
Erik Jones +7500
Kurt Busch +2500
Kasey Kahne +10000
Austin Dillon +5000
Ryan Blaney +2500
Ryan Newman +5000
Field +3000
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