NASCAR to wrap up regular season under the lights at Daytona

It’s NASCAR Playoff time, and there’s only spot left to be decided in Saturday’s regular season finale at Daytona.

The Coke Zero 400 (6:00 p.m. CT NBC) on Saturday night will decide the final field of 16 drivers that will make their way into the NASCAR Playoffs for the 2021 season.

We wanted to break down everything that could happen – and where it would leave the final field of 16 as we go into the biggest 10-race stretch of the year. This is the ARD Playoff Primer:

The Pair that can make it on Points

The biggest thing to look for on Saturday is the points battle between Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick.

The teammates currently sit 25 points apart, with Reddick holding the final spot currently over the No. 3 team.

Now, this is a race that Dillon has won before, and it’s not secret that he has played a role in racing up front during his time at superspeedway tracks. He’ll look to race out front on Saturday night as much as he can to try and take some space out from that 25-point deficit he’s facing through stage points.

It’s a sizeable gap, but if Reddick gets into trouble early or isn’t that close to Dillon late, it could bounce the wrong way for the No. 8 team.

I’d also go as far to say that it’s just as likely we see a current playoff driver or someone not running for points for the entire season to win as it is one of those 13-top 30 drivers that aren’t locked in to spoil it for the RCR teams.

Watch out for Denny

That brings us to three-time Daytona 500 champion Denny Hamlin.

The veteran is coming into the race 28 points out of the regular season championship spot behind Kyle Larson. And, I know what you’re thinking – don’t mention that we haven’t seen him win on a superspeedway yet, because it might end up happening now.

But Larson historically hasn’t done amazing at Daytona. Hamlin historically has, and that 15-point bonus the regular season champion gets going into the playoffs would play a big role for both of them.

If Hamlin can win and grab that, he’ll instantly gain 20 bonus points. It’s far-fetched, but don’t be surprised if it goes that way.

Oh, and if Larson has it, he’s an obscene the playoff favorite – even if he already was one.

What about the others locked in?

So, 13 drivers are essentially locked into the Playoffs and have nothing but seven extra playoff points to fight for – one from each stage and five for the win.

While that’s not entirely true – Kevin Harvick and Hamlin would both gain a lot of momentum with a win, Michael McDowell is gunning for his third top five finish of the year, and Kurt Busch may or may not be racing to find a job for next season – on the surface, this race doesn’t matter a whole lot for them.

There is definitely a chance that a few of these drivers decide to play it safe and hang back – especially during the first two stages.

So, who are the longshots that pose a threat?

There will be 13 drivers that are searching for a win on Saturday night to qualify last-minute for the 2021 playoffs.

Aside from Dillon, a few of them pose as bigger threats to win than others.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. may be one of the top three drivers to pick from when looking at the field for any given superspeedway race. The veteran has showed his savviness at the big tracks in a way where he fears little about what may or may not go right for him. We’ve definitely seen both sides over the years, but nothing tells me that he won’t be a threat this week.

Bubba Wallace’s best career finish came at this very track and the driver showed a lot of speed there early this season ahead of the Daytona 500. Maybe the 23XI team can finally put an entire race together.

I suppose we can mention Erik Jones, who won this race in 2018. However, he hasn’t shown much on superspeedway races during his career and lead just one lap in that race, too. I don’t think he has what it takes to bring the 43 to victory lane on Saturday.

I do want to throw some light at Matt DiBenedetto, though. I mentioned Kurt Busch earlier, but he’s rumored to have his plans for 2022 figured out to an extent already. DiBenedetto will literally be racing for his job, and he’s going for his first cup win with decent results under his belt at the big tracks. Something weird happens – and who knows.