Brad Keselowski positioned his #2 Miller Lite Ford out front only ten revolutions in and never looked back, winning the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona on Saturday night. It was clear from the start that this year’s event would not be dominated by Hendrick Motorsports.
Brad Keselowski led 115 of the 161 laps turned around the 2.5 mile paved oval. The 2013 Sprint Cup Champion’s car was clearly the class of the field. The only other car to lead over ten laps was the defending Sprint Cup champion, Kyle Busch. Busch managed to stay out in front of the field for only 16 circuits during the contest.
After the race’s fourth caution the drivers were lined up with only ten laps to go. Brad Keselowski was first in the line with re-start specialist Kyle Busch on his outside. “Rowdy” Busch had his big brother Kurt Busch behind him to help bump him into the lead. The advantage was nullified because the eventual race winner had his teammate Joey Logano right behind him.
The green flag was waved and Brad Keseloski jumped out to the lead with Logano’s help. It looked as though he was going to drive on to glory until Carl Edwards wrecked and brought out the fifth and final caution. Finally the cars were realigned for a green, white, checkered sprint to the finish. It was more of the same from the Team Penske driver. Brad Keselowski drove away from the pack and crossed the finish line out in front. The victory was Keselowski’s first ever at the hallowed venue and Team Penske’s 100th Sprint Cup triumph.
The impressive victory was overlooked by the massive wreck that occurred at the mid-way point of the contest. Jamie McMurray drifted down into Kyle Larson causing Jimmie Johnson to get into McMurray’s bumper. The melee took place in the middle of the 40 car field that was grouped together turning laps at 200 miles per hour.
Consequently, utter calamity followed as the group piled themselves up heading into the first turn. 22 cars were caught up in the fiasco, which was more than half of the starting line-up. Furthermore, the chaos included all four of the Hendrick Motorsports teammates and the Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolets of Kevin Harvick and Danica Patrick.
The #20 Dollar General driven by Matt Kenseth and his teammate Martin Truex Jr. were also victims of the unfortunate error. As a result, the costly mistake made by Jamie McMurray, also eliminated 14 other drivers and their chances to compete any further. Jimmie Johnson, six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, tried to make sense of the devastation in his post race interview.
“The #1 McMurray car was on the outside lane and came across my nose and got to the 42 Kyle Larson a little bit and we were all straight and fine, but they slowed up more than I could and my momentum carried me back into the back of 1 and around we went,” said six-time Cup champ Johnson. “Just hard racing, the cars are slipping and sliding a lot, the race track is aging, the handling is becoming an issue. I’m excited about that and think it’s going to put on a good race, but those slips turned into a big crash for everybody. We were in a big wad.”
Kyle Busch managed to keep his #18 M&M Toyota Camry behind Brad Keselowski and finished in second. He was followed by Trevor Bayne, who took third and teammate Joey Logano who crossed the finish line in fourth. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished with his best placement of the year in fifth.
The Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway took two hours and 40 minutes to complete. The average speed of the field was 150.320 miles per hour and the margin of victory was .159 seconds. Greg Biffle captured the Coors light Pole Award for his qualifying efforts on Friday afternoon. Rousch-Yates Engines were awarded the Mahle Clevite Engine Builders of the Race. There were five cautions that chewed up 28 laps.
Final running Order for the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway:
1 5 Brad Keselowski Ford 161 running 115
2 3 Kyle Busch Toyota 161 running 16
3 13 Trevor Bayne Ford 161 running 0
4 11 Joey Logano Ford 161 running 6
5 4 Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. Ford 161 running 0
6 17 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 161 running 0
7 6 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 161 running 0
8 1 Greg Biffle Ford 161 running 1
9 31 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 161 running 1
10 37 Michael McDowell Chevrolet 161 running 0
11 35 Cole Whitt Toyota 161 running 0
12 20 Casey Mears Chevrolet 161 running 2
13 26 A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 161 running 0
14 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 161 running 0
15 14 Aric Almirola Ford 161 running 0
16 38 David Ragan Toyota 161 running 1
17 9 Denny Hamlin Toyota 161 running 7
18 23 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 161 running 0
19 28 David Gilliland Ford 161 running 0
20 33 Michael Annett Chevrolet 161 running 0
21 16 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Chevrolet 161 running 0
22 39 Reed Sorenson Toyota 161 running 0
23 10 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 161 running 0
24 32 Bobby Labonte Ford 160 running 0
25 2 Carl Edwards Toyota 155 crash 8
26 19 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 148 crash 1
27 22 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 130 running 0
28 7 Matt Kenseth Toyota 127 running 0
29 15 Martin Truex, Jr. Toyota 127 running 1
30 18 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 122 running 0
31 34 Landon Cassill Ford 119 running 0
32 24 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 113 running 0
33 36 Matt DiBenedetto Toyota 108 running 0
34 29 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 91 crash 0
35 8 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 89 crash 0
36 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 89 crash 0
37 30 Brian Scott Ford 89 crash 0
38 40 Regan Smith Chevrolet 89 crash 1
39 21 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 89 crash 1
40 25 Chris Buescher Ford 89 crash 0
