“Why not us?” Cody Ware eyes shock win...

For higher or worse, the ‘win and also you’re in’ facet of the NASCAR Cup playoffs has turned the common season finale at Daytona into the final word wildcard race. There are 20 drivers in a must-win situation, and if any reach Victory Lane on Saturday night, then they would be guaranteed a spot in the postseason.

That assertion holds true for drivers like Chris Buescher and Kyle Busch, but additionally for Cody Ware, who sits thirty sixth (final amongst full-time drivers) within the championship standings. Ware, together with Riley Herbst, are the one two drivers with no top-ten end this 12 months.

And but, a win at Daytona would vault both of them into the playoffs, changing both Tyler Reddick or Alex Bowman. It could seem to be a stretch, nevertheless it’s primarily what occurred one 12 months in the past. Harrison Burton got here from exterior the highest 30 in factors, profitable his means into the playoffs at Daytona. Ware was not far behind in that race, securing a career-best end of fourth.

And whereas a victory by the No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford would absolutely fire up controversy as debate surrounding the present playoff format continues, Ware is raring to play the position of spoiler.

Why not us?

“We all the time appear to do effectively at Daytona each time we go there, however I feel much more so in the summertime, so why not us?” stated Ware in his weekly group advance. “I don’t know what it’s in regards to the evening race, whether or not it’s the heightened aggression of the sector and with 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.”

Ware has simply two prime ten finishes in 131 Cup begins, and each of these got here in the summertime race at Daytona (sixth in 2022 and fourth in 2024).

“That was a little bit of survival and a little bit of racing laborious,” stated Ware about his prime 5 from one 12 months in the past. “It was actually in regards to the timing of once I made selections. It wasn’t about racing laborious versus not racing laborious. It was realizing when to race and when to journey, and that performed so much into our consequence.”

Daytona has been often called the good equalizer, and for good purpose. 24 totally different drivers have earned their first Cup win at Daytona, together with six since 2018. 

“At Daytona, it’s about as equal because it will get,” continued Ware. “The secret is survival, and it’s extra of a psychological recreation. It’s like enjoying chess at 200 mph versus beating and banging. It’s not conventional inventory automotive 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.”

Cody Ware, Rick Ware Racing Ford

Photograph by: Meg Oliphant / Getty Photographs

Ware could not have any teammates, however he has loads of producer allies as a member of the Ford camp this weekend. Team Penske and the Wooden Brothers are the one Ford-backed organizations with drivers locked into the playoffs, so they are going to be seeking to help groups like RFK Racing, Haas Manufacturing facility Workforce and RWR of their quest for victory.

Ware famous how he has gained “lots of confidence at Daytona and its sister monitor, Talladega.” Drafting tracks have resulted in Ware’s six greatest finishes on the Cup stage, with Bristol Motor Speedway being his greatest non-drafting monitor.

“I feel you both need to be on the very entrance or the very again,” stated Ware as for the place he needs to run all through the evening. “Anyplace else is form of no man’s land. My objective is to stand up entrance and run in that top-10, and I feel so long as we execute and don’t make errors, we’re going to be in an excellent place to just do that.”

Each first-time winner at Daytona