Beat The Experts: Coke Zero 400 At Daytona

The Sprint Cup Series returns to Daytona this weekend for one of the best races of the season. Sunday evening, drivers will go racing under the lights at one of the most famous tracks in all of NASCAR. The Coke Zero 400 is one race that all drivers definitely have circled on their calendar and this year will be no different. See who the BTF staff picked to win this weekend:

John Harlow – Tony Stewart – Sooner or later he has to get a win. Stewart loves his hot tracks and he is always great at Daytona in the summer.

Brian Thornsburg –Kevin Harvick – He is known as the closer and won the Daytona 500 in 2007 while also coming close to victory in this years race. If he can stay out of trouble, the win should be his.

Joseph Shelton – Dale Earnhardt Jr. – Jr. has been tough to beat on plate tracks this year. He got third in the 500 in February and won at Talladega. He’s a smart pick to win the 400.

Zach Roethlisberger – Matt Kenseth – Kenseth is a very underrated plate racer and had a top 3 car through speedweeks in February. His ability to lead laps and run out front is phenomenal and he’s your winner Sunday night if he can stay out of trouble.

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Mike Hutton – Dale Earnhardt Jr. – The last 3 times the race has been held on July 5th, the winners were Kyle Busch (2008), Greg Biffle (2003) and John Andretti (1997). Add up their car numbers 18 + 16 + 98 = 132 and divide by 3 to get an average car number of 44. Multiply by 2 because this is the second time we’ve visited Daytona this year and you arrive at 88. Jr. also has the best average finish in restrictor plate races over the last two years. Crazy and weird but then again so is the Daytona summer race!

Christopher Olmstead – Danica Patrick – If she is going to win this season it’s going to be here. Might as well go with the No. 10 car and some NASCAR history.

Cole Mentzel – Jimmie Johnson – This isn’t really that hard of a pick to make but I can see Johnson winning this Sunday. He had a really solid run at Sonoma last week and just got stuck in a bad position in the final laps. Johnson is having such a good year and I believe we will see him win another one at Daytona.

Underdog of the Weekend – Jamie McMurray – He won here in 2007 and 2010 so McMurray certainly knows what it takes to make it to Victory Lane at Daytona. He has had a really solid year so far this season with some really good finishes. Look for McMurray to shock some people on Sunday.

Daytona always gives us excitement and you have to watch out for “The Big One” because sometimes it’s inevitable. This week is another opportunity for an under-the-radar driver to get a win and sneak in the Chase due to all the crazy things that can happen at Daytona. We could very well see one more Chase spot get taken this weekend!

Can You Beat The Experts?

Do you agree with our experts this weekend or do you think that you can beat them? If you think that someone else is going to win the race be sure to let us know via one of our social media accounts which can be found below. If you’re right we will feature you in this piece next weekend and you might even receive some cool stuff in the mail from us.

Remember, the only way to beat us is to send your pick (not mentioned above) to one of the below social media accounts. Good luck and Happy 4th of July to our readers.

Next: NASCAR Looking To Add Another Road Course To Schedule?

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