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5 Underdog Drivers Who Could Win Daytona 500

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5 Underdog Drivers Set To Win Daytona 500

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It's never too early to look ahead, and with just 40 days remaining until NASCAR's season-opening Super Bowl, the Daytona 500, it's about time to start preparing. Daytona is a restrictor-plate track where chaos often rules, leaving the door open for unlikely winners -- just ask Trevor Bayne. Here are five drivers a bit under the radar who could win this year's trophy.

5. Danica Patrick

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5. Danica Patrick

Danica Patrick Daytona 1
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So maybe Danica Patrick isn't a complete underdog considering her first Sprint Cup start in a full-time ride with Stewart-Haas racing was an eighth-place finish in the 2013 Daytona 500. She finished 13th in the Summer race that season and eighth again in the summer race last year. With three solid finishes out of four races with Stewart-Haas, Patrick has certainly emerged as a driver to watch at Daytona.

4. Ryan Blaney

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4. Ryan Blaney

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The 21-year-old has but just two NASCAR Sprint Cup starts under his belt, but the second was a 22nd-place finish at Talladega in which he ran up front for a long stretch of the first half of the race. Blaney is running a limited schedule in the Wood Brothers No. 21 car, the same car Trevor Bayne drove to perhaps the most unlikely Daytona 500 win ever in 2011. Could lightning strike twice?

3. David Gilliland

David Gilliland Daytona 1
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3. David Gilliland

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Gilliland's Front Row Motorsports teammate David Ragan may have earned the victory and the fame after delivering the organization's first win at Talladega in May of 2013, but people easily forget that it was Gilliland who pushed Ragan to that win, finishing second in the process. Both are consistently among the fastest cars at plate tracks, so one would have to think Ragan owes Gilliland a push next time around.

2. Justin Allgaier

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2. Justin Allgaier

Justin Allgaier Daytona 1
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Allgaier quietly flashed some big potential at times in his first full-time season last year in the No. 51 car and had some solid plate finishes in his four full years in the Nationwide Series. The 51 has had speed at plate tracks in the past with Landon Cassill and Kurt Busch among others behind the wheel. The pieces are clearly there for Allgaier to pull the upset next month.

1. Casey Mears

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1. Casey Mears

Casey Mears Daytona 1
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Mears registered three top 10s and a 14th-place finish at the four plate races last season, including a fourth-place at the summer race at Daytona. Mears has shown consistent speed at Talladega and Daytona in his four full years with Germain Racing and in his early days on the Sprint Cup circuit, registering a second-place in the Daytona 500 for Ganassi Racing in 2006. This is the safest bet among the sleepers.

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