The NASCAR Cup Series completes the regular season with the Coke Zero 400 on Aug. 29 at Daytona.
The race for the final Chase berths will come down to four drivers for two spots (Austin Cindric, Shane van Gisbergen, Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski). Keselowski is 66 points out of 16th, so he's a long shot. But Preece is 31 points behind SVG and 44 behind Cindric.
Denny Hamlin has locked into the top seed in the Chase, while Ryan Blaney has a large cushion in second.
Here are The Tennessean's expert picks for Saturday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona:
NASCAR predictions for Daytona Cup Series race: Here's who wins the Coke Zero 400
Mike Organ's pick: Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
Reddick started the regular season strong at Daytona with the first of three straight wins
and will finish it strong at Daytona. He’s been in or near the top-10 in four of the last six races and is ready to break through.
Nick Gray's pick: Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
The Google random number generator landed on the number 48. Bowman does OK at pack racing when still running at the finish (14 top-10s in 32 career races in which he was running at the finish at Daytona and Talladega). Good enough for me.
Tom Kreager's pick: William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Can Chevrolet find speed this week? If they can't do it this week, forget about Chevrolet drivers competing for a championship title in the Chase. Byron figures it out and gets to Victory Lane.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: NASCAR Daytona predictions 2026, expert picks for Coke Zero 400 Cup race
