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2024 Daytona NASCAR odds, lineup, predictions, start time: Model gives surprising Coke Zero Sugar 400 picks
By CBS Sports Staff,
8 hours ago
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With only two races remaining until the start of the 2024 NASCAR Playoffs, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to its most iconic and unpredictable venue on Sunday for the 2024 Coke Zero Sugar 400. Daytona International Speedway is the cornerstone of stock car racing and they'll be racing under the lights shortly after the green flag drops at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. Denny Hamlin, Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski have all shown a penchant for superspeedway racing in their careers and they're 10-1 co-favorites in the 2024 Coke Zero Sugar 400 odds. Meanwhile, Tyler Reddick is the new leader in the NASCAR standings after his win in Michigan last week and he's priced at 16-1 in the NASCAR at Daytona odds.
Developed by daily Fantasy pro and SportsLine predictive data engineer Mike McClure, this proprietary NASCAR prediction model simulates every race 10,000 times, taking into account factors such as track history and recent results.
It called its first winner of the 2024 season with Kyle Larson in Las Vegas for a 21-5 payout and predicted Denny Hamlin's wins in Bristol at 5-1 and Richmond at 17-4. It also impressively nailed five of Larson's wins during his historic season in 2021. All told, the model has nailed a whopping 18 winners since 2021, including nine last year and three in the first seven races this season. Anyone who followed its lead on those NASCAR picks saw huge returns.
For the second 2024 NASCAR at Daytona race, the model is high on Bubba Wallace, even though he's a 20-1 longshot in the latest 2024 Coke Zero Sugar 400 odds. He's a target for anyone looking for a huge payday. Wallace enters the weekend sitting one point behind Ross Chastain for the final spot in the 2024 NASCAR Playoffs but any first-time winner would force him to make up what is currently a 16-point gap to Buescher over the next two weeks.
That means Wallace's best shot of securing a postseason position is to win and he's had a lot of success in his career at superspeedways. His first career NASCAR Cup Series victory came at Talladega in 2021 and he's had five top-five finishes in his career at Daytona. That includes a fifth at this year's Daytona 500 and runner-up finishes in the 2018 and 2022 Daytona 500 as well as the 2021 Coke Zero Sugar 400.
Another massive shocker: Brad Keselowski, one of the Vegas co-favorites at 10-1, fails to crack the top five. There are far better values in the 2024 NASCAR Daytona starting lineup. The 40-year-old captured his 36th career Cup win and ended a 110-race winless drought at Darlington earlier this year. He also won the Daytona night race in 2016.
However, he's also had a penchant for getting tangled up at Daytona recently, having his race ended by a crash 10 times and also suffering a DVP over his last 15 starts at the iconic 2.5-mile oval. Keselowski finished 33rd at the 2024 Daytona 500 and has finished outside the top 10 in 23 of his 30 career starts there in the NASCAR Cup Series. See which other drivers to avoid and the rest of the projected NASCAR leaderboard at SportsLine .
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