NASCAR at Daytona 2015: Winners and Losers from the Coke Zero 400
It’s a good thing that caffeine is one of the active ingredients in Coke Zero because it was 11:42 p.m. when the field for the Coke Zero 400 went green at Daytona International Speedway.
Carl Edwards said prior to the start of the race on the NBC broadcast from the cockpit of his No. 19 Toyota, “Considering how late it is, I think it’ll be a race of mistakes. It’s been a long day for everyone so everyone will have to stay focused and get a bit of luck. I think because of how late we’re starting, there will be long green-flag runs.”
After nearly a four-hour delay, they got to racing, and it was Dale Earnhardt Jr. who took the checkered flag in dominant fashion. However, that was overshadowed by the grisly crash that launched Austin Dillon into the catch fence. Yes, he walked away from the wreckage, and no fans were seriously hurt.
Power naps and coffee were a premium before the start of Sunday’s race. Read on for this week's winners and losers.
Loser: The 2015 Daytona 500 Winner
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A wreck on Lap 3 chunked out Joey Logano’s right rear quarter panel and put him a lap down just a few minutes after the race finally went green.
David Gilliland tried to slide down to draft behind Dale Earnhardt Jr. Moving from the outside to the inside, Gilliland was spun out by Clint Bowyer, and the resulting smoke screen affected Danica Patrick, Greg Biffle, Sam Hornish Jr. and, of course, the 2015 Daytona 500 winner.
Logano went to the pit road and had his car jacked up on two wheels as his team scurried to replace that quarter panel. Just a few laps later, his left front tire went down and forced him to pit.
Logano never recovered and finished 22nd.
Winner: The (Early) Big One
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The Big One always wins, and it often leaves different impressions. For the purposes of this slide, we look at the ones that merely took the bite out of some drivers' chances.
There were a few crashes considered “big” during Monday morning’s Coke Zero 400, but the one that gashed the field just after Lap 100 consumed Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski, Aric Almirola, Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr.
That was the Big One (until later, but we'll get to that).
The leaders, which included Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kurt Busch, had the added benefit of seeing this melee unfold in the rearview mirror.
Truex, second in the Chase standings, suffered a wreck in practice and then got sucked into this truly big crash.
“I’m not sure; it’s just another situation where I was running outside minding my business and getting caught in someone’s wreck,” Truex said during the NBC broadcast. “It’s the way it is here. We didn’t have quite the speed as the other guys, but we had a great handling car.”
That’s the nature of the Big One. It’s the great X-factor at Daytona and Talladega, simultaneously opening and closing doors on drivers.
Loser: Kyle Busch Gets Loose
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According to the NBC broadcast, Kyle Busch needed to average finishes of 14th or better in the final 10 races of the season to qualify for the Chase. He had already won at Sonoma and next needed to find his way into the top 30 in points. Win and you’re in does not apply to Busch since he missed so many races with an injury.
Then on Lap 17 in the Coke Zero 400, Busch went into the wall, jeopardizing his entire season with one bad swivel.
“That’s exactly what Kyle Busch could not afford to have happen, obviously,” USA Today’s Jeff Gluck tweeted. “Looks like he just got loose and lost it up high.”
For Busch to even get into a race car this year given the gruesome injuries suffered at this very track back in February is a victory unto itself, but he knew he’d be walking on a tightrope for the entire summer, and that would always leave little margin for error.
It’s not out of the equation for Busch to still make the Chase, but he’s going to have to win more races, and the more he presses, the less likely he’ll be able to finish in front of these fields.
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Winner: The Catch Fence
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How does Austin Dillon walk away under his own power after soaring from the inside line all the way into the catch fence? How then does he still walk away when Brad Keselowski spun into the No. 3 car making an already awful scene even worse?
Dillon’s car was upside down and torn up after one of the scariest crashes you’ll ever see at a track known for its gnarly—and sometimes fatal—crashes.
“I’ve never seen a car stop,” NBC NASCAR analyst Jeff Burton said. “That’s what scared me. When a car stops that quickly, the driver has got to feel that. That scared me.”
Three fans reportedly had minor injuries from the debris that sprayed off Dillon’s car.
It was Denny Hamlin, the race's third-place finisher, who was spun out and catalyzed this crash.
"It wrecked a bunch of stuff," he said afterward on the broadcast. "At some point you have to hit the concede button. Austin took one heck of ride. Wow."
He was referring to Kevin Harick, who gave Hamlin the bump that sparked the chain reaction. All those drivers had wins, are already in the Chase and had nothing to gain by getting aggressive at the end.
The catch fence saved incalculable loss to those still in the grandstands, a crash that was truly the Big One, far more violent and dangerous than any crash we had seen throughout the night/morning.
You rarely want to see these safety features in action, but it’s heartening to know they work and that everyone was up on their feet when the smoke cleared.
Loser: Carl Edwards
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Carl Edwards exited Turn 4 a third of the way through the race, and his car’s handling betrayed his No. 19 Toyota. There was no explanation as to why his car lost friction with the road. That was the nature of the track. We saw this with David Gilliland and even Kyle Busch earlier in the race.
“He got loose all by himself,” NBC NASCAR analyst Kyle Petty said during the broadcast.
Edwards, who finished off the track in 38th, hasn’t had a good season to date, this his first with Joe Gibbs Racing. That matters little since he managed to win the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, thus, securing a spot in the Chase no matter how poorly he drives the rest of the season.
During the extended rain delay, Edwards was asked on the NBC broadcast how his strategy has changed since he already won. He said something to the effect that because he had earned that spot in the Chase, there was no need to be conservative and rack up points. He could drive hard for his sponsor.
Well, he drove hard and lost control of his car, squandering his chances at back-flipping into Victory Lane.
A late wreck with Brian Scott took the No. 19 car out of the race altogether.
"Nobody got hurt so we’ll go race at Kentucky next week," Edwards said at the garage during the broadcast. "I think it's best I get a sandwich. Our night is over."
Winner: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
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Shortly after Dale Earnhardt Jr. crossed the finish line as the dominant winner of the Coke Zero 400, it was his own crew—much to the chagrin of NASCAR officials—who sprinted out to Austin Dillon’s mangled car to help pry him out.
The crowd cheered as they all gave the thumbs up.
There was no burnout after Earnhardt's win, just a sober Junior happy to see that Dillon and the fans walked away with minor injuries at worst.
He said during a post-race interview on NBC:
"That scared the hell out of me. You’re looking in the mirror the whole last lap. That was terrifying to watch. With a wreck like that there’s high potential to get injured and you worry about people in the grandstands. I was more thankful that everyone is okay instead of standing here in Victory Lane.
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And he meant it.
Junior has now won two restrictor-plate races this year, both with the same rig. He led 97 laps on the night, and it was a fitting win given his success at Daytona over the years.
“I had a lot of fun tonight,” he said on the broadcast. “You hate to see a wreck like that at the end of the night. You hate to see that. I’m just so thankful that nobody was hurt.”
The win was his second of the year and firmly secures him as a Sprint Cup contender. This was a race overshadowed by Dillon’s crash, and Earnhardt showed his true colors by voicing his concern for a fellow driver.
Now it’s on to Kentucky.
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