DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Recent Cup Series Superspeedway races have featured drivers aggressively saving fuel and racing two-wide. However, Saturday night's race at Daytona could have a different tone early.
"Stage 1 here is interesting, so I've thought about that," Daytona 500 winner William Byron said Friday at the track. "Just the fact that you don't have to save fuel. I think you'll see a different style race and some crashes in stage 1 just because of the nature of how aggressive you can be pushing."
Saturday night's race is 160 laps, equaling 400 miles. The first stage is the shortest at 35 laps. The fuel window is around 48 laps. This means that the drivers will have plenty of fuel to make it to the stage.
For comparison, the opening stage of the Daytona 500 in February was 65 laps.
The drivers -- if they are willing -- will have the ability to try to gain track position and form a third line instead of just riding around waiting for the next pit stop. The lap times should be faster.
"It'll be a little different," Alex Bowman said. "Kind of nice to not have to sit there riding around."
Bowman noted that being able to be more aggressive will potentially shake up the strategy but that it won't fully create opportunities for drivers to gain track position. He said they would be wide open but would remain stuck unless this third lane materializes.
A shorter stage allows drivers to race around instead of conserving fuel early. Will this lead to an uptick in crashes as drivers make aggressive moves?
AltDriver polled several drivers throughout the Cup garage. None had the same expectations for the opening stage at Daytona.
Daniel Hemric believes the drivers will make calculated moves while trying to figure out what their cars will do in traffic while Byron just wants to know if there will be more aggressiveness throughout the field.
Josh Berry expects to see a mix of approaches by his fellow Cup Series drivers depending on a variety of reasons.
"I think it'll probably be a little more aggressive and you'll have some guys racing for points," Berry said about the opening stage. "But still, the least amount of fuel used in the first stage still shortens your pit stop at the end of that."
Regardless of how the opening stage unfolds, the reigning champion expects to see similarities between Saturday night's race and many other Daytona races in the past.
Ryan Blaney expects to see a lot of aggressive moves.
"We're getting close to the playoff time, so you're gonna have some cars that it's just that normal thing," Blaney said. "I really don't think this race changed as much from whether it was the last cutoff race for the regular season or the second to last one.
"I think people are gonna be pretty desperate, which, that's what this race is, right? It gives a lot of people a chance to get in."