The NASCAR Cup Series returns to Daytona International Speedway for Saturday night's Coke Zero Sugar 400 (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC).
Tonight's race will be the final opportunity for drivers below the playoff cutline to qualify for NASCAR's postseason, so expect very intense and aggressive racing, especially as the laps wind down.
NASCAR odds for Daytona show Chase Elliott as the race favorite with a logjam of drivers – namely Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney – just behind.
However, I'm pivoting to a top manufacturer prop bet to find value for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona tonight.
NASCAR Pick for Daytona
*NASCAR odds as of Saturday afternoon
Austin Cindric is known for his road-racing background, though it's drafting at superspeedways that may be his best style of racing.
Over the course of 10 total races at Daytona, Atlanta and Talladega in the Next Gen car, Cindric has posted the seventh-best average running position and the eighth-best driver rating.
Additionally, he checks in as the third-best Ford, trailing just Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano, in those two statistical categories.
This is important because Logano and Blaney are +475 and +525, respectively, at bet365 to finish as the top Ford in tonight's race at Daytona.
Cindric, on the other hand, is considerably longer at +1200.
And while we do tend to group the three drafting tracks together in order to build a sample size of data to analyze, it's also important to note that Cindric has had success at Daytona throughout his career.
Back in 2021, Cindric won the XFINITY Series' season-opener at Daytona.
One year later, the driver of the Team Penske Ford piloted his car to victory lane in the Daytona 500, NASCAR's biggest race.
At +1200 odds, we're getting a talented superspeedway driver in top equipment who is very capable of finishing first among the Ford stable of cars.
The bet: Austin Cindric to finish as top Ford (+1200 at bet365)
