Five drivers are set to battle for the final four spots in Saturday night's Coke Zero Sugar 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway, marking just the third time since November 2018 that a race other than the Daytona 500 has featured more than 40 cars on the entry list and therefore one driver will ultimately fail to qualify.
Either Joey Gase, Casey Mears, Gray Gaulding, Corey Heim, or Daniel Dye will fail to make it into the 160-lap regular season finale around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona Beach, Florida oval.
Because the qualifying order was determined by NASCAR's qualifying metric, which is based on each car's rank in the owner standings (30%) and its finish in the most recent race (70%), coupled with the fact that none of these drivers' cars were entered in the most recent race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, they are set to lead off Friday's qualifying session.
In other words, unless all five somehow qualify inside the top 10 to advance to the second round (and even if that happens, the slowest of the five would still fail to qualify), the DNQ will be decided within the first five qualifying runs of the session.
Follow along with our Coke Zero Sugar 400 qualifying updates from Daytona International Speedway.
NASCAR Cup Series starting lineup at Daytona
Round 1 results
Order | Driver |
|---|---|
1 | Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford |
2 | Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota |
3 | Austin Hill, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet |
4 | Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
5 | Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford |
6 | Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
7 | Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
8 | Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford |
9 | Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
10 | Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford |
11 | Corey Heim, No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota |
12 | Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
13 | William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
14 | Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
15 | Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota |
16 | Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet |
17 | Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota |
18 | Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
19 | Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford |
20 | Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
21 | Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford |
22 | Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
23 | Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
24 | Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford |
25 | Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet |
26 | Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota |
27 | John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota |
28 | Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
29 | Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet |
30 | Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
31 | Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet |
32 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet |
33 | Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
34 | Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
35 | Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
36 | A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet |
37 | Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
38 | Casey Mears, No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet |
39 | Daniel Dye, No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet |
40 | Joey Gase, No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet |
41 | Gray Gaulding, No. 66 Garage 66 Ford |
Daytona International Speedway is scheduled to host the Coke Zero Sugar 400 this Saturday, August 28, with live coverage set to be provided by NBC beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET. Start a free trial of FuboTV today and don't miss any of the action from the "World Center of Racing"!
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