NASCAR Q&A: Matty D, Bubba, Ross ... will Daytona see another first-time winner?

Could we really have four straight first-time winners at the Coke Zero 400?

Of course we could, but will we? Matt DiBenedetto, Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain … each of them, and some others, are capable of winning a Daytona plate-race.

The past three winners at Daytona’s summer race are Erik Jones, Justin Haley and William Byron, but don’t forget they were preceded in 2017 by Ricky Stenhouse, who had just one win prior to that. Michael McDowell won the Daytona 500 six months ago, proving that it really is a bit of a roulette wheel.

DAYTONA LOOKBACK:From Firecracker to Pepsi to Coke, Daytona's summertime NASCAR race creates memories

Why does the name Ramo Stott ring a bell?

Stott, who died last week at 87, made here-and-there NASCAR appearances in the 1960s and ’70s — mostly at Daytona and Talladega — and was occasionally a factor. In fact, he had 17 top-10s in just 35 career Cup starts. He finished third and fifth in back-to-back Daytona 500s, and had second- and third-place finishes at Talladega, all back before restrictor plates equalized the field.

Stott won two ARCA championships (1970-71) and won USAC’s old stock-car championship (1975). The native Iowan was also a member of the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame. He was what the regulars call a racer’s racer.

— Ken Willis, ken.willis@news-jrnl.com