Daytona Beach, Florida – the birthplace of NASCAR. It is home to two of the most popular races on the Sprint Cup Series schedule each year, the Daytona 500 and the Coke Zero 400 on Fourth of July Weekend. As America celebrated its 239th birthday, NASCAR’s best were preparing to do battle with each other, and Mother Nature.
Florida may be home to many popular sporting events in the summertime, but it is also home to soaking afternoon and evening thunderstorms. Those storms rained out qualifying for the Sprint Cup Series and delayed the Xfinity Series race on Saturday, putting Dale Earnhardt Jr. (#88 Nationwide Chevy) on pole. But the weather wasn’t done just yet.
Mother Nature reared her ugly head again on Sunday night, delaying the start of the Coke Zero 400 for over three hours. Waiting out the rain, NASCAR remained committed to getting the race in on Sunday, and fired the engines of the cars at 11:27 pm eastern time. Racing was set to begin at Daytona.
The race was finally underway, and it was the famous #3 of Austin Dillon (#3 Bass Pro Shops Chevy) who took the lead in the initial laps. However, green flag racing would be halted on lap 4 as multiple cars spin off turn 4, wadding up nearly half a dozen cars and bringing out the caution.
Once back to green flag racing, the pied piper of NASCAR, Dale Jr., returned to his spot at the front of the field. Meanwhile, troubles hit last week’s winner Kyle Busch (#18 Interstate Batteries Toyota), who slapped the wall in Turn 1 under green and cut a tire. However, Busch would soon have an opportunity to play catch up with a competition caution at lap 26.
As night turned into day at Daytona, two more single car incidents would slow the field near 100 laps to go, as both Carl Edwards (#19 Subway Toyota) and David Gilliland (#38 Florida Lottery Ford) would spark yellow flags. However, the race continued early on to be a display of Hendrick Motorsports dominance, led by all four cars spending time in the top five.
Carl Edwards’s troubles were not over. As the race passed halfway, he was involved in a four car incident in turn 2 that sent cars spinning and caught Brian Scott’s car (#33 Shore Lodge Chevy) on fire, and caution returned to Daytona International Speedway.
While many thought that the Sprint Cup Series had avoided the notorious “Big One” wreck at Daytona, the incident occurred on lap 105. With cars spinning and crashing off turn 4 in the front of the pack, nearly a dozen cars were taken out in an instant, including contenders Matt Kenseth (#20 DeWalt Toyota) and Kasey Kahne (#5 Great Clips Chevy). Among those wrecked included a number of drivers on the bubble for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
With under fifty laps to go, drivers began to worry if they would have enough fuel to make it to the finish. Those worried were alleviated by a caution sparked by Danica Patrick (#10 GoDaddy Chevy), leading to a potential shootout among the leaders.
The drivers remained single file as the laps counted down, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. continuing to lead. Could anyone pass the pied piper? They would get their chance with under ten laps to go, as David Ragan (#55 Aaron’s Toyota) spun to bring out a late race caution. Another late spin, this time by Sam Hornish Jr. (#9 Twisted Tea Ford) would send the race to a green-white-checkered finish.
No one was able to touch the pied piper as the laps wound down, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. took the victory in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona. But the celebration was muted, as over half the field crashed across the finish line at the checkered flag, sending Austin Dillon flying over two rows of cars into the catchfence. Dillon’s car was obliterated, with his engine landing on the infield grass and the rest of his car upside down at pit exit. All drivers walked away, but fans were reportedly injured in the incident.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series moves next weekend to Kentucky Speedway for a Saturday night special. Tune in to NBCSN for all the action.
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