NASCAR.com breaks down the final race before the postseason and which driver has the best shot of racing their way into the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs at Daytona International Speedway.
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00:00 Regular season finale.
00:02 So many storylines coming in.
00:04 Frisco goes around right at the front of the field.
00:06 But the field is coming apart.
00:08 Easy, easy. Bottom, bottom, bottom.
00:09 Roll. Go, go, go, go.
00:10 I don't know how you did that, man, but that was awesome.
00:12 Shindrick gets moved out of the way.
00:14 Checkered flag in the air.
00:15 Austin Dillon wins at Daytona.
00:18 Woo-hoo-hoo!
00:19 [cheering]
00:21 [engine revving]
00:23 [cheering]
00:24 [music playing]
00:28 Hey, everybody.
00:29 Welcome to Studio 3.
00:30 I'm Alex Weaver.
00:31 That is Alan Kavanaugh.
00:32 And this is "The Preview Show," delivered by DoorDash.
00:35 And the lucky number this week is 1,
00:37 because there's 1 race left in the regular season
00:40 and 1 spot to fill to make the playoff.
00:43 And it's happening at Daytona International Speedway.
00:46 As you said, 15 of the 16 playoff spots are spoken for.
00:50 One more, one driver, will earn that final playoff spot
00:54 on Saturday night.
00:55 And the best part is, nearly half the field is still eligible,
00:58 because you can win and in.
01:00 I can't think of a better spot to do it than Daytona
01:02 International Speedway, because it's going to be crazy.
01:04 So many of these drivers can win it.
01:06 There are 5 drivers who don't have a win,
01:07 who have won at Daytona before.
01:09 That doesn't include names like Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman--
01:12 big names that need a victory if they want to chase a championship.
01:15 We all know that Daytona provides this chaos and this survive
01:18 and advance just to make it to the final stage on a super speedway.
01:22 But it's also an opportunity, as Alan mentioned,
01:25 for these smaller teams to maybe punch a ticket
01:28 into the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
01:30 Austin Dillon wasn't even in the conversation last year.
01:33 He wins at Daytona, and he's into the playoffs.
01:35 So it can happen.
01:36 He can do it. He can do it again.
01:38 Think of Eric Jones and Legacy.
01:39 I mean, teams that haven't had the best season,
01:41 they still have that shot to go out there and win.
01:43 And some of these drivers, a lot of them, they've done it before at Daytona.
01:47 Now, one driver will still get in on points.
01:49 Right now, that driver is Bubba Wallace, 32 points ahead.
01:54 To the good.
01:55 What do you think of his shot on Saturday?
01:57 I like it.
01:58 Bubba is obviously a very good super speedway racer.
02:01 He's going to have the help of Denny Hamlin there,
02:03 which we know they tend to work together.
02:05 But I talked to Bubba after Watkins Glen.
02:07 He had two races to just make his car be there at the end and stay clean,
02:13 and it was Indy Road Course and Watkins Glen.
02:16 So the 23 of Bubba Wallace showed up when it counted most.
02:19 So just survive Daytona, Bubba. No big deal.
02:22 Yeah, no big deal.
02:23 And then when he did Talladega, he was leading on that final lap,
02:26 but crashed and finished 28th.
02:28 So much can go wrong at the end.
02:30 That would erase his big point lead if that were to happen.
02:33 What do you think of his strategy?
02:34 Because there's one strategy that says go out there and win it.
02:37 There's one strategy that says go out there and protect your points lead.
02:40 What's the best thing for Bubba to do?
02:42 I think stage one is okay to be a little aggressive.
02:45 Stage two, stage three, until the end of stage three,
02:48 just ride around in the back.
02:50 Just wave at the fans, take it all in, enjoy the beach.
02:53 Just do whatever you got to do to make it to the end of the race.
02:57 So that is my strategy with Bubba.
02:59 We'll see if he actually listens to me.
03:01 I'm not his crew chief.
03:02 Booty, just tell him to ride around.
03:03 That's all you got to do.
03:04 Well, that's the beauty of this format.
03:05 He could win both stages.
03:06 He could finish second and still miss the playoff.
03:10 Because if some other driver goes out there and gets his first win of the season,
03:13 Bubba misses out.
03:14 That's what's so crazy about Saturday night.
03:16 And we saw Keselowski and Kevin Harvick lock up and clinch a spot
03:20 into the NASCAR Cup Series playoff.
03:22 So what's their strategy this week?
03:24 They don't even have to worry about points.
03:25 Go out there and get playoff points, worry about nothing.
03:27 Kevin Harvick's last Daytona race, right?
03:29 I mean, there's so many storylines going on.
03:31 Got to talk about the biggest one, Chase Elliott.
03:33 He's one of those names.
03:34 Doesn't have the win yet.
03:36 Doesn't have a win at Daytona ever.
03:38 This would be a big one for him to get.
03:40 All right.
03:41 Well, if I'm standing in victory lane with a nine,
03:42 I think we'll have a lot of happy NASCAR fans out there.
03:44 Well, speaking of a lot of happy NASCAR fans,
03:47 AC, let's throw it back to our NASCAR 75 flashback.
03:50 It's a Dale Jr. win at Daytona.
03:52 Dale Jr., 2001, maybe the biggest,
03:54 one of the biggest moments in NASCAR history.
03:57 Summer Daytona 2001, the first race back there since we lost Dale Earnhardt.
04:02 And it was just magical.
04:03 Dale Jr. moved from sixth to first in the final six laps to win this race.
04:08 And it was the moment it felt like the entire racing world needed.
04:11 It was like we could breathe again.
04:12 We could finally celebrate, be happy.
04:14 You saw tears.
04:15 You saw hugging.
04:16 Just one of those moments, Alex, if you saw it in a movie,
04:19 you wouldn't believe it could ever come true.
04:21 But it actually happened in reality.
04:22 Dale Jr. getting the win the first race back at Daytona.
04:25 It was magical.
04:26 It was magical.
04:27 And we're in store for another magical night at Daytona.
04:29 The lights come on.
04:30 The sun goes down.
04:31 And the pressure of the playoffs, one race left in the regular season.
04:35 Make sure and tune in to the Coke Zero Sugar 400.
04:37 Don't forget, the Saturday night show, 7 p.m. Eastern on NBC.
04:42 And make sure you join us right back here next week for our playoff preview.
04:45 It's the preview show delivered by DoorDash.
04:47 She's Alex.
04:48 I'm Alan.
04:49 We'll see you then.
04:50 [music]
04:56 (explosion)
04:58 (upbeat music)