Winners and Losers from NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Daytona

Sprint Cup restrictor-plate racing usually ends with one thing—and one thing only: one winner and a bunch of torn-up racecars and angry drivers in his wake.

The Coke Zero 400 was no exception.

In honor of that, as well as the amount of top drivers whose days were ended early due to accident, this week's winners and losers will be a little different than it normally is. Sure, there's a winner at the start, and there's an offbeat winner and loser pair at the end of the article. Everybody else listed is a loser.

Winner: Jimmie Johnson

Jimmie Johnson led more than half of Saturday's race—more than doubling his career laps led at Daytona in the process—and scored his fourth win of the season, sweeping both Daytona races and extending his points lead in the process. What more is there to say? (Besides the fact that he's going to be nearly impossible to beat for the championship this year?)

Loser: Paul Menard

Paul Menard's Chase hopes may have literally gone up in flames early on at Daytona, as the No. 27 car barely lasted an eighth of the race before losing a motor.

Six races ago, he was eighth in points; after failing to finish better than 14th in any of the past six races, including three runs of 30th or worse, he's now hanging on the edge of the top 20. Unless he can win a couple of races, this stretch of the season may be—as it normally is—the deciding factor in whether or not Menard makes the playoffs.

Loser: Matt Kenseth

Matt Kenseth's quest for three NASCAR wins in a row (he took last weekend's checkered flag in Kentucky and Friday's Nationwide victory) ended with 11 laps to go at Daytona, when he attempted to dodge spinning teammate Denny Hamlin and slid right into Jeff Gordon and David Reutimann in the tri-oval.

The two-time Daytona 500 winner still has four wins and is basically a lock for the Chase, but losing out on a chance to make a move for a fifth win still has to hurt.

Loser: Denny Hamlin

If you're still betting on Denny Hamlin to make an underdog Chase run, it might be time to cut your losses.

Hamlin was involved in both the Lap 96 accident that claimed Martin Truex Jr. and the major Lap 149 accident, the latter of which ended his day after significant contact from the rear. Now hopelessly out of the top 20, he's racing only for pride the rest of this season, hoping to avoid the first winless full season of his Sprint Cup career.

Loser: Kasey Kahne

What a shame that Kasey Kahne can't seem to catch a break on superspeedways. Twice, he's been wrecked by Kyle Busch this year, and now, he's been wrecked by contact with Marcos Ambrose (who had to duck, thanks to a swooping Jimmie Johnson, Kahne's Hendrick Motorsports teammate) late on Saturday night.

Much like Danica Patrick's wreck last year in the Gatorade Duels, Kahne slid head-on into the inside wall on the backstretch, making heavy contact. In both cases, the driver was fine, but Kahne must be wondering what it will take to actually finish a restrictor-plate race.

Loser: Martin Truex Jr.

A Lap 96 accident ruined Martin Truex Jr.'s hopes to score his fourth consecutive top-10 finish, as well as his hopes to climb further up the top 10 in Sprint Cup points. Truex spun in front of Denny Hamlin, perhaps before contact was made between the two, and took both Hamlin and Juan Montoya with him.

With a race win already under his belt, Truex's Chase hopes are still very much alive. That being said, a single bad race at this stretch of the season can put a driver in a position he/she really doesn't need to be in.

Loser: Aric Almirola

Aric Almirola had been quietly running in the pack until there were 33 laps to go, when an incident triggered by David Stremme—who made contact with Marcos Ambrose, Almirola's Richard Petty Motorsports teammate—collected a handful of other cars, including the No. 43.

A.J. Allmendinger, ducking to try to avoid the accident, ran into Almirola, who then spun into Greg Biffle's left front. The incident ended any hopes of a good finish for Almirola, who has been quietly assembling a decent season, but lacks the top finishes to challenge for a Chase run.

Loser: Joey Logano

Just when things were really starting to come together for Joey Logano at Penske Racing, this had to happen.

The brazen young driver, a big story throughout most of the year, had been getting settled in comfortably over the past few weeks, even climbing to 10th in points and a Chase spot. Unfortunately, a mid-race wreck ended his hopes to improve on that spot, putting him on the edge of the top 40 in the race results.

Winner: Old-School NASCAR Fans

It's a crying shame that James Finch plans to exit NASCAR at the end of July, because he brought back a ton of great memories for the fans this weekend.

On Friday, Phoenix Racing fielded a Days of Thunder-themed car for Kurt Busch in the Nationwide Series race, scoring a fourth-place finish in the City Chevrolet-backed No. 1 machine. On Saturday, A.J. Allmendinger drove a car inspired by the late Neil Bonnett's old Country Time scheme, carrying bright yellow and pink swatches.

The only question that remains: Seeing as City Chevrolet is one of his real dealerships, why doesn't Rick Hendrick use that paint scheme every time his car dealership network backs a race team?

Loser: NASCAR Fans Watching at Home

TNT's "Wide Open Coverage" of the Coke Zero 400 didn't return this year, meaning fans were subjected to normal commercial breaks throughout the race.

It may not have been the biggest innovation in racing television, but the decrease in commercials, or at least the decrease in time that racing was off the screen, was a welcome sight every July at Daytona.

Though racing is and always will be about dollars and sense, it's a shame that the function couldn't produce enough advertising revenue for TNT to justify keeping it around this year.

For more from Christopher Leone, follow @christopherlion on Twitter.