Zero Sugar, Zero Chill at the Coke Zero 400

While majority of sports fans are locked into week 0 of College Football, some of us are locked into the final race before The Chase starts. At 7:30pm ET on NBC the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway takes place. "...absolute fucking chaos." is what one of the drivers in my play tonight had to say about the potential of this race, and I really hope he's right.

My play for tonight is as follows:

Ross Chastain - More than 17.5 Laps Led: The watermelon man secured the pole yesterday for the first time this season. Ross has not led a ton of laps this season with a total of 88 (I believe). Like I said though, he has not started P1 yet so I think he covers that line today. He also may have had some witchcraft magic over him after going to Buffalo, NY on Thursday where he caught an oil covered watermelon thrown by Buffalo Bills Defensive Tackle Dion Dawkins!

Chris Beuscher - Finishing Position Better than 13.5: In 7 races at Dayton Chris has an average finish of 8.1 with an average start of 17.6, since 2023. Tonight he is starting P2 and with an average finishing position of 13.9 this season I think he covers this line.

Brad Keselowski - Finishing Position Wrose than 13.5: Brad has covered this line in 3 of the last 5 races, but at Dayton he has an average finish of 21.7, in his 34 career Cup Series races. This season alone he has an average finish of 18.8. I don't see how he finishes better than this. I do want to add something positive to my talk on Brad. Yesterday during his media appearance with Ryan Preece, they both pledged to donate $500 each to The Teardown's dunk tank which is raising money for Kyle and Samantha Busch's Bundle of Joy Foundation. Media members will be have a chance to dunk Jeff Gluck and Jordian Bianchi thanks to Brad and Ryan!

Denny Hamlin - Finishing Position Better than 12.5: If there is anyone in today's race I trust to drive through the field and finish above this line, it's Denny. Now I am not a Denny Bro but I am not a Denny hater. We have seen at a handful of different races start at or near the back of the pack and win the race. He has raced here 41 times, which tells me that he knows a thing or two about the track. Denny did have something to say about tonight's race that is sticking with me while making these picks...

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. - Finishing Position Worse than 15.5: Ricky has covered this line ONCE this season and that was the third race of the year. He has raced at Daytona 28 times and has a career average finish of 20.6. Honestly, I could see him crashing in tonight's race.

Chase Brisco - Finishing Position Better than 12.5: It wouldn't be a Pick6 lineup without my guy Chase. He didn't have a great race last week but that isn't going to stop him tonight. Chase has raced at Daytona 11 times and has an average finish of 20.5 but this season he has an average finish of 14.64. He has a fast car and has the skills to finish above this line.

I am excited to see how the drivers feel about not having practice and how this new package will perform.