The NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series will return to the high banks of Daytona International Speedway this weekend.  This is the second time the Next-Gen car will hit the high banks, so it will be interesting to see what the teams have learned since the previous race.   This Saturday night race will be the final race of the regular season for the NASCAR Cup Series; however, the Xfinity Series still has four races remaining in their regular season schedule.  

There will be no practice sessions this weekend at Daytona, so the first time we will see cars on the track will be tomorrow afternoon.   The NASCAR Xfinity Series will begin their qualifying session at 3:05 PM Eastern.  The qualifying session will be single car qualifying consisting of two rounds.   Each car will get a single lap, and the top ten fastest cars will transfer into a final round to determine the pole winner.  

There are currently 43 cars entered for the Wawa 250, for a 38 car field. (Xfinity Series Entry List)  This means that 4 cars will be sent home following Xfinity qualifying.  The last two Daytona Xfinity winners, Justin Haley (August 2021), and Austin Hill (February 2022), are entered in the field.   All cars will be impounded following qualifying, and the Wawa 250 will begin at 7:30 PM Eastern.  Prerace will begin around 7:00 PM Eastern can be watched on USA , or listen on MRN/Sirius XM NASCAR.

The Wawa 250 will consist of three stages of 30 laps, 30 laps, and 40 laps for a total of 100 laps at the 2.5 mile track. 

(Xfinity Track Schedule)

The NASCAR Cup Series will also have some track time tomorrow for their qualifying session.   As mentioned above, the series will not have a practice session prior to qualifying.  The Cup Series qualifying will also consist of two rounds of single car, single lap runs with the top ten fastest cars transferring into the final session to determine the pole winner.   The series will begin their qualifying session tomorrow, August 26th, at 5:05 PM Eastern.  

There are currently 37 cars entered for the 40 car field, so no cars will be sent home following qualifying (Cup Series Entry List).  The last two Daytona Cup Series winners, Ryan Blaney (August 2021), and Austin Cendric (February 2022), are entered in the field.   All cars will be impounded following qualifying.   

(Cup Series Track Schedule)

The Coke Zero Sugar 400 will be held Saturday, August 27th, at 7 PM Eastern.  The race can be watched on NBC or listened on  MRN/ Sirius XM NASCAR.  The Coke Zero Sugar 400 will consist of three stages of 35 laps, 60 laps, and 65 laps for a total of 160 laps. 

As mentioned previously, this is the final race of the NASCAR Cup Series regular season schedule.   This means that this is the last week for drivers to lock themselves into the playoffs.   Currently there are 14 different drivers that have won races this season that are locked into the playoffs.  It is noted that Kurt Busch is not eligible for the playoffs due to missing multiple races this season, so that leaves two spots open for the playoffs.   

If we have a new winner at Daytona this weekend the driver will gain a spot in the playoffs if they are eligible and the final spot will go to either Ryan Blaney, or Martin Truex, JR. based on points (unless they are the "new" winner).  If Blaney and Truex end up tied in points with a new winner at Daytona, the tie will be broken by whichever driver has a better finish during the regular season.   Currently Blaney holds the tiebreaker, so he would enter the playoffs. 

If we do not have a new winner this weekend at Daytona, the final two spots will go to Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. since no one will advance past them in the current standings.  

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