DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The NASCAR Cup Series returns to Daytona Int’l Speedway for the iconic summer night race on Saturday. Here’s what to watch for:
Denny Hamlin Penalized
In a rare late-week penalty report, Denny Hamlin and Joe Gibbs Racing were penalized regarding an infraction from his early season victory at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
The No. 11 team was hit with an L2 violation as his race-winning engine wasn’t inspected by NASCAR before it got torn down by Toyota Racing Development.
“Each race-winning engine must be inspected by NASCAR once the race team determines that its life cycle is complete,” NASCAR issued in a statement. “In this instance, prior to presenting the engine to NASCAR for inspection, Toyota Racing Development disassembled and rebuilt the No. 11’s Bristol-winning race engine. Per the NASCAR Rule Book, this violation results in an L2 penalty to the race team and driver. Toyota Racing Development self-reported this violation.”
Hamlin and JGR lost 75 driver and owner points, 10 playoff points and crew chief Chris Gabehart got fined $100,000.
While the victory still stands, it doesn’t count toward playoff eligibility. However, unlike the penalties to Austin Dillon from his Richmond (Va.) Raceway win, Hamlin remains in the playoffs because of two other victories this year.
The infractions drop Hamlin to sixth in the championship standings and takes him out of contention for the regular-season title. He now trails Tyler Reddick by 103 markers.
Austin Dillon Appeal Upheld
On the note of penalties, Dillon and Richard Childress Racing’s appeal was essentially upheld by the National Motorsports Appeals Panel.
Dillon intentionally wrecked Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin in the final two corners to win at Richmond and temporarily lock into the playoffs. But NASCAR deemed the move as actions detrimental to the sport and revoked his eligibility, along with the loss with 25 driver and owner points and a three-race suspension to spotter Brandon Benesch.
The appeals penalty reduced Benesch’s suspension to one race, meaning he’ll return to the spotter’s stand this weekend at Daytona. Veteran spotter Brett Griffin replaced him last week at Michigan Int’l Speedway.
A final appeal will be heard next week.
A New Leader
There’s a new sheriff in town atop the standings.
With his victory Monday at Michigan, Tyler Reddick grabbed the points lead, pacing Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott by 10 with two regular-season races remaining. The win was his second of the year, and entering Daytona, Reddick has finished sixth or better in each of the last seven races.
Kyle Larson made an uncharacteristic mistake at Michigan, losing control of his car on a restart and triggering a crash. He earned only three points with a 34th-place finish and dropped from first to third in points. It’s the first time he’s been outside the top two in the standings since missing the Coca-Cola 600. Larson is 32 points behind.
Ryan Blaney and William Byron are fourth and fifth, respectively, but have seemingly dropped out of contention for the regular-season title. Blaney trails by 82 and Byron by 86, but valuable playoff points are still on the line.
Bubble Update
The playoff bubble remains as tight as ever heading into arguably the biggest wild card race of the season.
Martin Truex Jr. sits comfortably at 77 points above the cutline, meaning only significant circumstances would knock him out of the playoff picture between now and next weekend. Ty Gibbs finished third at Michigan and increased his margin from +18 to +39.
Chris Buescher overcame an early crash last week to finish sixth, moving from a tiebreaker with Ross Chastain to 16 points above the cutline. Chastain holds the final playoff spot by one point after coming home 25th at Michigan. He was battling for a top-10 finish until he got spun during the first overtime restart, putting a damper in what was looking like a strong points day. According to a post on X, Chastain has dropped 73 positions in overtime this season — by far the most of any driver.
Bubba Wallace dropped below the cutline after finishing 26th at Michigan. He seemingly had one of the cars to beat last week but caught up in Larson’s crash as he ran midfield due to pit strategy.
While Kyle Busch recorded his first top-five finish since Kansas Speedway in the spring, he’s still 95 points below the cutline. He, along with Chase Briscoe, Todd Gilliland, Michael McDowell, Carson Hocevar, Josh Berry, Noah Gragson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Preece, Erik Jones, Justin Haley, Dillon, Daniel Hemric, Corey LaJoie, John Hunter Nemechek, Zane Smith and Harrison Burton must win one of the final two races to make the playoffs.
Body Change
In the aftermath of LaJoie’s flip at Michigan, NASCAR made a small body adjustment heading to Daytona. LaJoie spun backward and air got underneath the car, resulting in the vehicle flipping on its roof and going for a long slide.
Consequently, the sanctioning body will now require a right-side rear window air deflector. It matches the left-side rear window air deflector and NASCAR supplied the parts.
The deflectors are meant to help keep the cars on the ground during the early part of a spin.
Race Information
Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC. It’s the first of two Saturday night races this season (Bristol on Sept. 21). It’ll also be the first Cup Series race with Leigh Diffey serving as the play-by-play commentator.
Stage breaks for the 160-lapper are after laps 35 and 95. The purse is $9,193,568.