The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series goes to prime time on Saturday night as the 2018 Coke Zero Sugar 400 will get underway at 7:00pm Eastern time on NBC. Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch enter this year’s 18th race tied for the lead with wins, with five victories each. NASCAR hasn’t had two drivers with five or more wins at this point in a season since 2010, when Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson both had five after 17 races in 2010. Busch won the Overton’s 400 at Chicagoland Speedway last week, but it came down to the last lap, as he edged out Kyle Larson down the stretch. This week’s action takes place at Daytona International Speedway, which features restrictor-plate action, which makes things more unpredictable than usual. We’ve put together a list of drivers for you to consider as you make your NASCAR betting choices for this week’s NASCAR action.
2018 Coke Zero Sugar 400 Betting Preview
Kevin Harvick has fallen into a bit of a lull this season, going through a winless streak since Kansas. He did win this race eight years ago and has four top-4 finishes in his last 10 starts at Daytona International Speedway. He has top-5 finishes in eight of his last nine finishes, so even with the slight dip in wins, he has been right there ach race, which means he’s worth adding to your list of bets. Clint Bowyer win the FireKeepers Casino 400 and finished in the top five of the other two most recent races as well. That gave him two wins on the season, and he is in the middle of the most consistent racing he has put up in his career. In 2017, he was the runner-up at the Coke Zero 400 and has five consecutive top-10 finishes at this race — and six top-10 finishes in his last 10 races at Daytona International Speedway overall. With that consistency lately and with that history at this track, he’s someone to bet on. Denny Hamlin is still looking for his first win of the 2018 campaign, but he has five top-10 finishes in his last seven starts, so he’s definitely due. Hamlin has only gone this long in a season without a win once in the last four seasons. He won the Daytona 500 in 2016 and has six top-six finishes in his last nine races at Daytona International Speedway. He has been right there at the end of the Daytona 500 in four of the last five races, so expect him to make things interesting once again this week. Brad Keselowski won this race two years ago and has cracked the top ten three other times at the Daytona International Speedway. This track has been feast or famine for him, but having that recent victory here is likely to give him some confidence. Keselowski is also winless on the season this year, his longest drought since 2011, so if you’ve been betting on him to win as of late, hold steady, because he could be due this week as well. Austin Dillon did win the Daytona 500 but hasn’t done much of note since, as he has only finished in the top 10 one other time this season, and he has failed to crack even the top 30 in three of his last eight starts. I wouldn’t even think about Dillon if this race were on any other track. Not only did he win NASCAR’s biggest race in 2018, but he has finished in the top 10 in six of his last nine races here. He’s definitely a value pick worth considering. Kyle Busch is also worth considering for this race. He took first place here in 2008 and, along with Harvick, is one of the hottest drivers in the sport right now. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is the defending champion, and he has six of his 13 career top-five finishes at Daytona and Talladega, so he’s got a shot to come in well here too.“Everything gets hotter when the sun goes down.” 🎶#CokeZeroSugar400 pic.twitter.com/1A5dQ5CZTd
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 5, 2018
