Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain face critical Daytona race amid tight points battle

With just two races left in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series regular season, one point is all that separates Ross Chastain and Bubba Wallace on the playoff bubble.

A season that started at Daytona in February will now face a crucial juncture at Daytona on Saturday night, where the Cup Series field will take on the 2.5-mile oval for 400 heart-pounding miles.

The Southern 500 at Darlington looms as the official regular-season finale next week, but for Wallace and Chastain, the playoff hunt must be taken lap by lap.

A win for either driver at Daytona would lock them into the playoffs and toss aside points racing the following week, but both drivers have a complicated relationship with the high banks of Daytona.

It’s not just the two bubble drivers who have fallen victim to the chaotic nature of NASCAR’s most prestigious venue, but they’ve both found heartbreaking ways to lose at the facility in big moments.

Chastain was running inside the top-five coming to the white flag in February’s Daytona 500 before spinning in the tri-oval, while Wallace has two runner-up finishes in the Great American Race, along with a second-place finish in Daytona’s second race in 2021.

It’s these gut-wrenching losses that give the two men even more motivation going into Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400, as if the prospects of competing for a Cup Series championship and winning at Daytona weren’t enough.

From a comparison standpoint, Wallace seems to have the edge on superspeedways such as Daytona. The No. 23 car is almost always a sure bet to lead laps and run inside the top-10, as evidenced by top-five efforts at both Daytona and Atlanta to begin the 2024 season.

Despite his drafting acumen, Wallace only has one win at either Daytona, Atlanta or Talladega — his first Cup Series win at Talladega in October 2021. The next time the Cup Series raced at Talladega in April 2022, it was Chastain who navigated the chaos to score his second career win.

Chastain’s close call at Daytona in February paints a picture of how Daytona can rip away a triumph in an instant. If there was ever a track that encapsulated the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, it’s Daytona, which has long played host to monumental wins and sobering losses.

The postseason fate of Wallace and Chastain won’t officially be decided on Saturday, but whoever leaves the beaches of Florida with the points advantage will have the edge at Darlington, a track notorious for letting the cream rise to the top.

Chastain and Wallace are both solid bets to run inside the top-10 at Darlington, but the Lady in Black typically doesn’t lend itself to an unexpected victor. Daytona offers the biggest threat to both Wallace and Chastain’s playoff hopes — the likelihood of a winner from below the cut line that would knock both drivers out.

Darlington is a challenge by itself, but adding the pressure of a playoff hunt to the Track Too Tough To Tame would only add heat to the pressure cooker of the postseason.

The only way for Wallace or Chastain to feel 100 percent confident that they’ll be a part of the playoff field? Find a way to mitigate mistakes and claim the win at Daytona on Saturday night.

It’s not a task for the faint of heart, but it’s what’s necessary in order to save a season.