GFT Facts & Stats Friday: NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway
23 AUGUST 2024
By Bob Francis, Managing Editor
Go Full Throttle Racing News
DAYTONA BEACH, FL — Outlasting the competition in a rain-delayed Michigan race, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick secured his second win of the season, his seventh of his career and the first at the 2-mile track, and to top it all off, he moved into the NASCAR Cup Series point standings lead for the first time in his career. With just two races to go in the regular season, Reddick holds a 10-point lead over Hendrick Motorsport’s driver Chase Elliott in second and up 28 points on Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin in third.
Previous points leader, Hendrick Motorsport’s Kyle Larson, dropped to fourth in the standings 32 points back from Reddick, following an incident at Michigan that left him with a 34th-place finish.
Reddick will look to close out these last two races and hold onto the points lead and win the Regular Season Championship, becoming the sixth different driver to accomplish the feat.
NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400
Daytona International Speedway
Saturday, August 24 at 7:30 p.m. ET
The Purse: $9,193,568
TV: NBC, 7 p.m. ET, Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
Distance: 400 miles (160 Laps)
— Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 35)
— Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 95)
— Final Stage (Ends on Lap 160)
Track Facts
Track Length: 2.5 Miles
Race Length: 400 Miles (160 laps)
Grandstand Seating Capacity: 101,500
First Race: February 22, 1959 — Daytona 500
Banking in Corners: 31 degrees
Banking on Straights: 3 degrees
Banking on Tri-Oval: 18 degrees
Frontstretch: 3,800 feet
Backstretch: 3,000 feet
Qualifying & Race Records
Qualifying: Bill Elliott, Ford, 210.364 mph (42.783 sec.); Feb. 15, 1987
Race: 400 Miles — Bobby Allison, Mercury, 173.473 mph (2:18:21); July 4, 1980.
500 Miles — Buddy Baker, Oldsmobile, 177.602 mph (2:48:55); Feb. 17, 1980
Track Records
Most Wins: 10 — Richard Petty
Most Poles: 12 — Cale Yarborough
Most Top Fives: 28 — Richard Petty
Most Top 10s: 37 — Richard Petty
POLES
· A total of 65 different drivers have won the pole in the NASCAR Cup Series at Daytona International Speedway; 25 drivers have won more than one pole at Daytona.
Chase Elliott (Feb. 2016, Feb. 2017, and July 2018) and Alex Bowman (Feb. 2018, Feb. 2021 and Feb. 2023) leads all active series drivers in poles at Daytona with three each.
· This weekend, 10 of 65 NASCAR Cup Series Daytona pole winners are active.
WINS
· A total of 70 different drivers have posted at least one NASCAR Cup Series win at Daytona International Speedway; 32 drivers have multiple Cup Series wins at Daytona.
· This weekend, 13 of the 70 NASCAR Cup Series Daytona International Speedway winners are active.
· Hendrick Motorsports has the most wins at Daytona in the NASCAR Cup Series with 16 victories.
· A total of 23 NASCAR Cup Series races at Daytona International Speedway have resulted in Overtime finishes:
Statistical Advance: Analyzing the Coke Zero Sugar 400
DRIVER RATING
DAYTONA-SPECIFIC STATISTICS
(Driver loop stats in the below section are from 2005-Present)
Christopher Bell (№20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota)
· Two top fives, two top 10s
· Average finish of 19.444, eighth-best
· Average Running Position of 17.071, eighth-best
· Driver Rating of 79.8, ninth-best
· 852 Laps in the Top 15 (50.9%), 10th-most
Ryan Blaney (№12 Team Penske Ford)
· One win, four top fives, seven top 10s
· Average finish of 19.222, seventh-best
· Average Running Position of 15.949, seventh-best
· Driver Rating of 83.5, sixth-best
· 1,937 Laps in the Top 15 (58.5%), sixth-most
Alex Bowman (№48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet)
· Two top fives, six top 10s; three pole
· Average finish of 15.250, second-best
· Average Running Position of 17.873, 13th-best
· Driver Rating of 76.6, 13th-best
· 1,338 Laps in the Top 15 (46.8%), 12th-most
Kyle Busch (№8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet)
· One win, eight top fives, 12 top 10s; one pole
· Average finish of 18.553, sixth-best
· Average Running Position of 13.602, second-best
· Driver Rating of 91.0, series-best
· 4,503 Laps in the Top 15 (66.1%), second-most
Austin Cindric (№2 Team Penske Ford)
· One win, two top fives, two top 10s
· Average finish of 16.833, third-best
· Average Running Position of 13.547, series-best
· Driver Rating of 87.5, fourth-best
· 755 Laps in the Top 15 (66.5%), series-most
Chase Elliott (№9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet)
· Three top fives, five top 10s; three poles
· Average finish of 20.529, 10th-best
· Average Running Position of 15.918, sixth-best
· Driver Rating of 81.4, seventh-best
· 1,786 Laps in the Top 15 (57.5%), seventh-most
Denny Hamlin (№11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota)
· Three wins, 11 top fives, 12 top 10s
· Average finish of 17.108, fourth-best
· Average Running Position of 14.880, fourth-best
· Driver Rating of 87.9, third-best
· 3,947 Laps in the Top 15 (59.3%), fifth-most
Brad Keselowski (№6 RFK Racing Ford)
· One win, four top fives, seven top 10s
· Average finish of 22.733, 13th-best
· Average Running Position of 17.135, 11th-best
· Driver Rating of 79.0, 10th-best
· 2,955 Laps in the Top 15 (54.5%), eighth-most
Joey Logano (№22 Team Penske Ford)
· One win, eight top fives, 11 top 10s; one pole
· Average finish of 17.548, fifth-best
· Average Running Position of 14.564, third-best
· Driver Rating of 89.6, second-best
· 3,483 Laps in the Top 15 (62.5%), third-most
Ricky Stenhouse Jr (№47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet)
· Two wins, three top fives, four top 10s; one pole
· Average finish of 20.417, ninth-best
· Average Running Position of 17.289, 12th-best
· Driver Rating of 78.2, 11th-best
· 1,987 Laps in the Top 15 (45.7%), 13th-most
Martin Truex Jr (№19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota)
· Three top fives, six top 10s; one pole
· Average finish of 21.263, 12th-best
· Average Running Position of 17.091, 10th-best
· Driver Rating of 78.0, 12th-best
· 3,556 Laps in the Top 15 (51.8%), ninth-most
Bubba Wallace (№23 23XI Racing Toyota)
· Five top fives, five top 10s
· Average finish of 12.429, series-best
· Average Running Position of 17.078, ninth-best
· Driver Rating of 80.2, eighth-best
· 1,239 Laps in the Top 15 (48.7%), 11th-most
PLAYOFF Top 16 with 2 races remaining
NASCAR PLAYOFFS BUBBLE WATCH:
Ross Chastain is back in at P16 on the bubble with Bubba Wallace just outside the Playoff grid at -1 in P17. The battle between
Chris Buescher, Chastain, and Wallace is going to be intense at Daytona!
GFT NASCAR BOX SCORES
After 24 Races …
Manufactures Box Score:
Chevrolet = 11
Toyota = 8
Ford = 5
Team Box Score:
Hendrick Motorsports = 9
Driver Box Score:
Kyle Larson = 4 wins
GFT AI NASCAR Fantasy LIVE — back in the top 15%
Initial GFT NASCAR Fantasy Live Picks for Daytona
**NOTE** Be sure to follow us on X (aka Twitter) to see the updated GFT NASCAR Fantasy Live picks AFTER our AI models ingest the Practice and Qualifying data. For a Sunday race, this usually happens overnight Saturday and is published Sunday morning at least 2 hours before the green flag.
