Adhering to a high-speed, rain-delayed race at Chicagoland Speedway, the Dragon Energy NASCAR Cup Series continues its pedal to the metal approach in Daytona International Speedway this Saturday night in the Coke Zero Sugar 400.
Alex Bowman earned his first Cup series victory last week and he’s +1800 chances to repeat, but it is Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski with chances of +700 who top the oddsboard.
Intertops has Logano and Keselowski as the favorites at +700 followed by Denny Hamlin in +1000, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick in +1100 and Kurt Busch, Ryan Blaney and Clint Bowyer at +1400 to round out the top drivers on the oddsboard.
Standout Stats
Ford has won five of the last ten races at Daytona and Toyota has won three runnings over that interval, including the last two in a row, while Chevrolet has just two victories.
There has not been a repeat winner in this course since Jimmie Johnson did so in the 2 races in 2013. Denny Hamlin appears to become the most recent driver to do it as he won the Daytona 500 in February.
Only once over the last 17 races in Daytona has the winner started on the pole and that was Dale Earnhardt Jr. at 2015. The average starting place for the motorist who carried the checkered flag during that span was 12.53.
Alex Bowman (+1800) picked up the first checkered flag of his Cup series livelihood last week at Chicagoland and has had great qualifying speed at Daytona recently. He’s begun first or second in each of the last three runnings in this track, but has finished 10th or worse, therefore until he will come across the same speed from the race, I will stay away.
Logano (+700) has had greater success throughout the Daytona 500 than he’s at the midseason race at this course. In the 500, he’s an average finish position of 13.28, for example winning in 2015, but he has an average finish position of 21.2 from the July race and has crashed in each of the past two runnings.
Keselowski (+700) has experienced a string of bad luck at Daytona lately, having dropped in four of the last five races but six races back in this course, he drove to victory lane. He’s five wins at Talladega, yet another restrictor-plate monitor, so he knows how to compete in those races. Look for him to be at the search Saturday night.
Kyle Busch (+1100) less a favorite seems like an automated wager, but Daytona has gotten the better of him most of his career. Busch won the July race in 2008, marking the only time he’s forced to victory lane at Daytona, and he’s just three top-five finishes there over the last 14 races, but he was the runner-up in this year’s Daytona 500.
I’ve been evaporating Kevin Harvick (+1100) all season long since he hadn’t shown signs of his former dominant self until last week. He seemed powerful at Chicagoland, leading 132 of the 267 laps, but ultimately finished 14th. Harvick has dropped in four of the five races in Daytona since switching to Ford at 2017 however he led multiple laps in three of those runnings. Assuming he keeps his nose clean, this could be a fantastic place for Harvick.
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