MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Twenty-four drivers earned their first NASCAR Cup Sequence win at Daytona Worldwide Speedway.
Twelve of them did it within the summertime 400-miler. When the checkered flag drops on Saturday evening’s Coke Zero Sugar 400, Cody Ware desires to be the one to make it a baker’s dozen of first-time winners.
Ware has made 131 profession Cup Sequence begins, and the motive force of the No. 51 Arby’s Jamocha Shake Ford Mustang Darkish Horse for Rick Ware Racing has had Daytona circled on his calendar ever since final yr’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 when he earned his career-best end result.
The 29-year-old from Greensboro, N.C., completed fourth, just some ticks on the stopwatch behind race winner Harrison Burton, who scored his maiden victory in his 98th profession Cup Sequence begin.
“We all the time appear to do nicely at Daytona each time we go there, however I believe much more so in the summertime, so why not us?” mentioned Ware about his probabilities on this yr’s race. “I don’t know what it’s in regards to the evening race, whether or not it’s the heightened aggression of the sphere and having the ability to capitalize on it much more than within the Daytona 500, however I’d say we’ve got simply pretty much as good a shot as anyone to win on Saturday evening.”
The heightened aggression Ware refers to is as a result of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 marks the final race of the common season and, extra particularly, the final likelihood for drivers to win their means into the ultimate spot of the 16-driver, 10-race playoffs.
Final yr’s race was a living proof: 40 lead adjustments and two huge, multicar accidents that collected almost half the sphere.
“That was a little bit of survival and a little bit of racing exhausting,” mentioned Ware about securing his fourth-place end. “It was actually in regards to the timing of after I made choices. It wasn’t about racing exhausting versus not racing exhausting. It was realizing when to race and when to trip, and that performed quite a bit into our end result.”
Parity reigns at Daytona. At different tracks, drivers stability each mechanical and aerodynamic particulars to seek out the candy spot of their automobile’s dealing with.
This results in a handful of drivers being quick and gapping the sphere, a bunch of drivers whose vehicles are an precise handful, after which a gaggle that’s within the center. At Daytona, your entire 40-car discipline will be lined with a blanket.
“At Daytona, it’s about as equal because it will get,” Ware mentioned. “The secret is survival, and it’s extra of a psychological sport. It’s like enjoying chess at 200 mph versus beating and banging. It’s not conventional inventory automobile racing.
“I really feel like I’ve honed my craft on the superspeedways and the outcomes present. And now greater than ever, we’ve put ourselves in place the place we’ve had nice outcomes. Now could be the time to capitalize and put the 51 in victory lane.”
Succeeding at Daytona will not be performed alone. The draft is essential. When you’re in it, you’ll be able to win it. When you’re out by yourself, you’re adrift.
“Final yr, we had a very good drafting accomplice behind us in Brad Keselowski,” Ware mentioned. “He helped us race exhausting and get a very good restart. That’s a big a part of it – who you’ve bought behind you and who you’ve bought in entrance of you, who you’ll be able to push and who’s going to push you.”
RWR is a single-car staff, that means Ware has no default drafting accomplice. He has to work on the fly to safe an alliance that can assist him and his accomplice run quick and maneuver to the entrance.
“Discovering a drafting accomplice is situational, particularly on this race with it being the final race earlier than the playoffs,” Ware mentioned. “There are guys who will take much more danger making an attempt to win their means into the playoffs. Realizing which guys are on the bubble and who’s already locked into the playoffs is essential. Some guys could be much less aggressive, some could be keen to take all the danger, both as a result of it’s their final likelihood to make the playoffs, or as a result of they’re already in and so they really feel like they’re enjoying with home cash, in order that they go exhausting for one more win. So, simply having good consciousness and navigating all that’s essential. You do a very good little bit of homework main as much as the race simply to grasp the place everyone seems to be within the factors.”
Preparation, together with confidence from previous Daytona performances, has Ware prepared for the Coke Zero Sugar 400.
“I’ve constructed up a variety of confidence at Daytona and its sister monitor, Talladega. Superspeedway racing simply fits my driving type,” Ware mentioned.
“In years previous, I took a way more cautious strategy to those races. However the final handful of instances we’ve been to Daytona and Talladega, I’ve ramped up my aggression stage with out placing myself in dangerous spots. I’ve bought the boldness to only race exhausting, stand up entrance, and keep up entrance.
“I believe you both wish to be on the very entrance or the very again. Anyplace else is form of no man’s land. My purpose is stand up entrance and run in that top-10, and I believe so long as we execute and don’t make errors, we’re going to be in a very good place to do exactly that.”
A.J. Foyt, the racing icon recognized for all the time being up entrance in something he drove, scored his first Cup Sequence win within the 1964 Firecracker 400 at Daytona. The opposite drivers who adopted Foyt in incomes their first victories in Daytona’s 400-miler had been Sam McQuagg (1966), Greg Sacks (1985), Jimmy Spencer (1994), John Andretti (1997), Greg Biffle (2003), David Ragan (2011), Aric Almirola (2014), Erik Jones (2018), Justin Haley (2019), William Byron (2020) and Harrison Burton (2024).
