All You Need to Know About the NASCAR Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona

This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series regular season is set to conclude at the Daytona International Speedway. This race marks the final race of the season before the playoffs kick off. The weekend schedule kicks off on Friday, August 28 with the Xfinity Series Wawa 250 at 7:30 p.m.

The NASCAR Xfinity stages are divided into three, as always. The first stage lasts around 30 laps, before a short break. The next stage lasts another 30 laps, before the final stage kicks off with 40 more laps.

This isn’t the first time the NASCAR paddock had made landfall at the speedway. As it turned out, the Daytona 500 kicked off the 2020 season, before heading to the road course earlier this year.

NASCAR is also racing on Saturday as well

With the Xfinity race done and dusted, the Cup Series drivers are set to have a crack at the Daytona International Speedway. Over the past couple of races, NASCAR has abandoned the random draw qualifying system.

Instead, the series opted to field a performance-based formula to decide the starting lineup. According to the calculations, Kevin Harvick is set to lead the pack as he chases yet another victory.

However, all eyes will be trained on the battle between Jimmie Johnson and William Byron. The Hendrick Motorsports teammates are locked in a fight for the final playoff spot. Truthfully, this is do or die for Johnson, because he is set to walk away from a full-time NASCAR career at the end of the season.

If he fails to outscore Byron, his hopes will be dashed and he will have lost a chance to make it to his final playoff. Admittedly, Byron is no pushover and will definitely try and make Jimmie Johnson work for it. However, the 44-year old will be determined not to go down without a fight and one last hurrah.