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[/media-credit]From drivers on ‘baby watch’ to the suspension of A.J. Allmendinger for failing his random substance abuse test, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the Coke Zero 400 powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona.
Surprising: One of the most sought after drivers for this race weekend was surprisingly Kenny Wallace. This Nationwide driver and Speed on-air personality actually had two offers to drive, first as back up for Kevin Harvick, whose wife DeLana held off on delivering ‘Baby Otis’ (now Keelan Paul Harvick) until after the race and then for Sam Hornish, Jr., just in case he did not make it to the race track to sub for suspended driver Allmendinger.
“Well, that was drama,” Wallace said. “It was a feather in my cap for these car owners to think of my superspeedway driving.”
“It was a little uncomfortable for everybody,” Wallace continued. “What happened with all the sponsors and all the automakers, this was all people helping people at this point.”
Not Surprising: In the midst of a heat wave and in spite of starting at the back of the field due to post-qualifying tech issues, the proverbial Smoke rose to the top, of the leader board in this case.
Tony Stewart, in the No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet, sliced and diced his way to the checkered flag to score his 47th victory in the Cup Series, now 14th on the all-time win list.
This was Smoke’s third victory of the season, putting him in a tie with Brad Keselowski for Cup Series wins this year. This was also Stewart’s 18th win at Daytona International Speedway, second most all-time to Dale Earnhardt.
“The great thing about restrictor-plate racing is that 43 cars all have the same shot at winning the race,” Stewart said. “But that’s also part of what makes it frustration too.”
“It’s just being at the right place at the right time,” Smoke continued. “And when those last two big wrecks happened, we were in the right spot.”
Surprising: In spite of wrecking both on the track and on pit road, this driver salvaged a surprisingly good finish. Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Pepsi Max Chevrolet, survived the melee of the race and the final laps to bring his bruised vehicle to the checkered flag in 12th place.
“There were moments tonight when I felt like we had a car that could win,” Gordon said. “And then that wreck happened when we were trying to come to pit road that just changed our night.”
“I even got in the wreck on that last lap and still finished 12th,” Gordon said. “We don’t have much of a race car, but we got a 12th place finish.”
Not Surprising: Dale Earnhardt, Jr. continued to keep his streak of consecutive laps finished alive, in spite of being caught up in the final wreck of the race like so many others.
Although poised for a top-five, the driver of the No. 88 National Guard ‘An American Salute’/Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet crossed the finish line in 15th.
“My mama told me she hoped the Cup race wasn’t as wild as the Nationwide race, but they always are, you know?” Junior said. “All these races are always like that and you just try to survive.”
“We just came up a little short.”
Surprising: After a tough season to date, Jeff Burton, in the No. 31 Wheaties Chevrolet, had a surprisingly good second place finish. This was his 11th top-10 finish in 38 races at Daytona and his best finish of the season to date.
“Well it certainly feels good to have a good finish,” Burton said. “We’ve had a miserable year.”
“To get out of Daytona with a second tonight is probably more than I can expect with all the wrecks and stuff,” Burton continued. “Hopefully we can build on this.”
Not Surprising: From starting from the pole to having a car at the front of the field for much of the race, it was not surprising that Matt Kenseth scored a strong third place finish. Yet it was also not surprising to see just how bereft the driver of the No. 17 Zest Ford was when the race was done.
“I’m really disappointed,” Kenseth said. “We thought we had one of the best cars.”
“I was hoping it was going to be me or the 16 in Victory Lane,” Kenseth continued. “I feel like my team kind of deserved to be down there holding the hardware.”
“We were in contention but we just didn’t get it done that last lap.”
Surprising: After a pit road mishap that turned this driver backwards and almost into Brad Keselowski’s pit stall and crew, Ryan Newman made a surprising recovery. The driver of the No. 39 Aspen Dental Chevrolet managed to finish top-five.
“After what happened on pit road, I really didn’t know what to expect,” Newman said. “But the guys did a great job with the repairs.”
“I’m just happy to bring a car home in one piece from one of these races.”
Not Surprising: Joey Logano, driver of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota, continued to dig for a potential Chase spot, finishing fourth. Logano moved up two spots to 14th in the point standings after the Daytona race.
“It didn’t go as planned, but ended up pretty good,” Logano said. “So, we’ll take that for sure – a fourth place finish.”
“That’s how we’ve got to keep fighting.”
Surprising: Two drivers known primarily for past glories did surprising well at Daytona. Michael Waltrip, driving the No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota, and Bobby Labonte, behind the wheel of the No. 47 Kingsford Charcoal Toyota, finished ninth and tenth respectively.
“At the end of the race, I was confident I could push,” Waltrip said. “We just had a damaged car and probably pretty lucky we got a top-10.”
“We got close, but that was all we could do is get close.”
“We were a tortoise out there tonight,” Labonte said. “We just ended up missing those wrecks and that’s all that saved us tonight.”
Not Surprising: There were plenty of hard hits out there to no one’s surprise and one particularly hard hit befell five-time champ Jimmie Johnson. The driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet was involved in one of the ‘big ones’ on lap 123.
“We were all getting ready to pit so I was waving my hand out the window,” Johnson said. “And as soon as I let off the gas, someone got into the back of me.”
“I went down on the inside wall,” Johnson continued. “As I was spinning, I could see a lot of other cars were collected too.”
Surprising: Father of Chase Elliott, who has been tearing up the NASCAR ladder, made some headlines himself in the No. 50 Walmart Chevrolet. ‘Awesome Bill from Dawsonville’ was having a heck of a good race until crashing with many others on lap 123.
“We were just a victim of circumstances,” Elliott said. “But man I was proud of all those guys on Turner Motorsports and Walmart.”
“That’s the best I’ve run in a long time.”
Not Surprising: Frustration, to no one’s surprise, was the feeling of the day at Daytona International Speedway under the lights. Perhaps Carl Edwards, driving the No. 99 Subway Ford Fusion, summed it up best.
“Frustrating describes this whole type of event,” Edwards said. “It’s very difficult.”
“You’re just really trying hard not to wreck and ruin your day or other people’s day,” Edwards continued. “It’s a tough race.”
