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  • Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona postponed to Sunday

    Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona postponed to Sunday

    The Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway that was originally scheduled for Saturday night has been postponed because of persistent rain and a bleak forecast. It has been moved to Sunday, July 7 at 1 p.m. and will air live on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

    Rain moved into the area a couple of hours before the scheduled start time of 7:40 p.m. Although NASCAR made an effort to dry the track, the race was eventually postponed.

    Qualifying for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 was canceled Friday due to inclement weather and the starting grid will be set by based on owner points. Team Penske driver Joey Logano will lead the field to green from the pole position in his No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford. Kyle Busch will join Logano on the front row in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota.

    Erik Jones is the defending race winner while Busch enters the race with the highest driver rating of 91.2.

    Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.

  • Opinion: Daytona in July too much of a tradition to change

    Opinion: Daytona in July too much of a tradition to change

    In no way is anyone obligated to stick with a tradition no matter how fixed it is. Change can often bring about positive results and could lead to a greater appreciation for how much that tradition has truly meant to some. When the Southern 500 at Darlington was moved from Labor Day to being the penultimate race in 2004, there was a lot of negative feedback on the move. When it returned as a Labor Day weekend event in 2015 it quickly became one of the most anticipated events of the season.

    But there are some things that just shouldn’t be changed regardless of intent or expectation and Daytona in July is a perfect example, considering NASCAR’s recent announcement that the Coke Zero Sugar 400 would cap off the regular season before the Playoffs in 2020.

    If you ask anyone about the Coke Zero Sugar 400 or the Coca-Cola Firecracker 250, they immediately get that picture in their head of a group of stock cars pouring onto the straightaway while the sun sets behind them, casting a deep blue/red hue across the sky. That is the defining image of summer for NASCAR’s fans. Back in the day, they’d even imagine Pepsi-Cola’s lettering on the catch fence or even the Pepsi globe right outside the fence. These days it’s the Coke Zero bottle-shaped trophy that was last held by Erik Jones.

    This is no reflection on Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but there is no way a July 4th NASCAR tradition can ever fully be rooted than at one of racing’s oldest tracks. NASCAR is a sport with deep roots in American lore and our love for the American V8 and Daytona Beach will forever be linked to the sport because of that love.

    NASCAR was birthed in Daytona. Some of NASCAR’s defining moments occurred in Daytona. What better way for the sport to celebrate our nation’s independence than to go back to where it all began at the high banks of the World Center of Speed?

    This isn’t to say that nothing good will come of the race as the regular season finale. In a way, the logic does make sense. To begin and end the regular season at Daytona is an approach that is understandable. It will still be a huge event with tremendous pressure to perform and a reason to revere the circuit’s return to Daytona.

    But the Playoff/Chase format is not one of NASCAR’s biggest accomplishments. If anything, it pales in comparison to the legacy and impact that the Daytona International Speedway has left on the sport.

    Daytona and the July event had been around for years before the advent of the Playoff system and to use Daytona as the ending of the regular season is an underwhelming idea. Daytona doesn’t need to be brought down by extra gimmicks. Daytona and all of its glory needs to be left to be as it is on the schedule.

    This is all speculation. I could be wrong – I hope I’m wrong. This may turn into something that is nothing short of amazing. But when we fell in love with NASCAR, the July event at Daytona became the epitome of summer for us. It was supposed to be fun in the summer sun, cooled down by a soft drink, Pepsi or Coke Zero Sugar, does it matter at this point?

    It has always been 40 of the world’s greatest drivers racing down the Superstretch while the sun fades into the July night and a reminder of why we love our country and our sport. It doesn’t get much better than that.

  • Multi-car wreck swallows half the field at Daytona

    Multi-car wreck swallows half the field at Daytona

    Brad Keselowski’s frustration was hidden behind a veil of sarcasm, as he stood outside the infield care center at Daytona International Speedway.

    “I’ve got to wreck more people and then they’ll stop blocking me late and behind like that. That’s my fault,” Keselowski said. “I’ll take the credit for my team and we’ll go to Talladega and we’ll wreck everybody that throws a bad block like that.”

    The bad block he referred to was thrown by race leader William Byron, who shifted from the top lane to the bottom to stall Keselowski’s run on the bottom. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who was right behind him, caught his right-rear corner panel as he moved back towards the bottom and hooked him into the outside wall, triggering a 26-car wreck on Lap 54 of the Coke Zero Sugar 400.

    “Ricky was doing the best he could to give me a good push and had a great run to take the lead and the car in front of me just threw a late, bad block,” Keselowski added. “I made the mistake of lifting instead of just driving through him and that’s my fault. I know better than that.”

    “Yeah, I thought he (Byron) blocked him, but I did that here in February and threw an aggressive block down the back straightaway that in turn caused a big crash like that too,” Stenhouse said after the race. “I can see it from Byron’s side and from my side I was a little frustrated he threw the block, but then again I can’t be too mad because I felt like I did that in February.”

    Keselowski’s car turned up the track, clipped Kurt Busch’s car and slammed into the outside wall, going into Turn 3. Chase Elliott t-boned him, veered down into the path of Denny Hamlin, which gaggled up Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano and Daniel Suarez.

    “…I don’t know, I think the best I can remember Brad (Keselowski) had a pretty big run on William (Byron) and I don’t think William was clear, but he didn’t know he wasn’t clear and then Brad tried to get on the brakes really hard to stop for him. We were getting really close to the corner so he couldn’t enter on the apron and whoever was behind him hit him and turned him up the track. Not really a whole lot you can do about that.”

    Officially, 26 cars suffered some level of damage in the Lap 54 incident.

    For Keselowski and Busch, the wreck didn’t hamper them in points. Both leave Daytona in the Top-10. Elliott’s points loss from his 34th-place finish was compounded by teammate Alex Bowman finishing in the Top-10 and Stenhouse finishing the race. He leaves 37 points ahead of the Playoff cutoff spot.

  • Erik Jones grabs first Monster Energy Series win in OT finish at Daytona

    Erik Jones grabs first Monster Energy Series win in OT finish at Daytona

    Reid Spencer | NASCAR Wire Service

    DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — In a wild war of attrition that went to two overtimes, Erik Jones outdueled Martin Truex Jr. on Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway to seize the first victory of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career.

    In a Coke Zero Sugar 400 that went eight laps beyond its scheduled 160, Jones passed the reigning series champion on the backstretch of the final lap and held on to win by .125 seconds. Jones battled back from damage sustained in a multicar wreck on Lap 65, an accident that cost him a lap.

    The final circuit was the only one Jones led.

    “How about that race, boys and girls?” Jones shouted to the fans in the grandstands after his celebratory burnout in front of the flag stand. “My first Cup win, my first win at Daytona, my first superspeedway win — what an awesome day, man!

    “There’s so much smoke in the car from that burnout, I can hardly breathe, but what an awesome finish.”

    AJ Allmendinger ran third after a nine-car wreck ended the first overtime attempt with Truex approaching the finish line just short of the end of the white-flag lap. That wreck provided the coup de grace for Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Jimmie Johnson and Trevor Bayne.

    Only 20 of the 40 cars that started the race were running at the finish, and only 13 finished on the lead lap. Kasey Kahne came home fourth after leading 17 laps, and Chris Buescher ran fifth, matching his finish in the season-opening Daytona 500.

    With a push from Kahne, Truex got the lead after the final restart on Lap 167 but couldn’t hold it. The outside lane was more organized as the final lap unfolded, and Jones got a strong run through Turns 1 and 2.

    “He (Jones) got a big run getting into (Turn) 1 and through the center, and I just didn’t block him good enough in the middle of 1 and 2,” Truex said. “He got to my right rear quarter — just barely — enough to slow me down off of 2, and then the race was on from there.

    “Just missed that block a little bit. I’ve got to get better at my mirror-driving. I’ve never really been good at that, and unfortunately, that’s part of this racing here, but I’m really proud to get to the end.”

    Truex had posted only one other top-five finish — a second in the 2016 Daytona 500 — in 26 previous starts at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

    Two massive wrecks in Stage 2, both involving Ricky Stenhouse Jr., eliminated the majority of the contending cars and opened the door for a new winner.

    On Lap 54, Brad Keselowski was running behind leader William Byron when his No. 2 Ford turned off the front bumper of Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s Fusion, slammed into the No. 41 of Kurt Busch and ignited a Turn 3 wreck that involved 24 cars and wiped out all three Team Penske entries, along with Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Daniel Suarez and pole winner Chase Elliott.

    But Keselowski didn’t blame Stenhouse. He pointed the finger at Byron, who moved down the track to put a late block on the No. 2 and forced Keselowski to check up.

    “Ricky was doing the best he could to give me a good push and had a great run to take the lead, and the car in front of me (Byron) just threw a late, bad block,” Keselowski said. “I made the mistake of lifting instead of just driving through him, and that’s my fault.

    “I’ve got to wreck more people, and then they’ll stop blocking me late and behind like that. That’s my fault. I’ll take the credit for my team, and we’ll go to Talladega, and we’ll wreck everybody that throws a bad block like that.”

    Byron didn’t stay up front for long. He was leading again on Lap 65 when Stenhouse tapped the left rear of series leader Kyle Busch’s Toyota and sent the No. 18 Camry spinning into Byron’s Chevrolet. Both Byron and Busch were knocked out of the race in that accident.

    “I tried to side-draft the 18 (Busch) in the wrong place,” a subdued Stenhouse said on his team radio.

    Byron lost a good chance to improve on his 21st position in the standings.

    “The No. 17 car (Stenhouse) just kind of, I guess, hooked the No. 18 into me,” Byron said. “It seemed like he was being really aggressive, and that’s the second time we’ve kind of been on the wrong end of something with him.

    “Unfortunate for us, but we had a good race going. We needed to really have a really good day, because of the points position we’re in, but that is just part of speedway racing, I guess. But it stinks to be on that side of it. But at least we led some laps (12), so that was good.”

    Notes: Stenhouse won the first and second stages, garnering his first playoff points of the season, before sustaining serious damage in a Lap 124 wreck. He finished 17th, one lap down. … Harvick’s No. 4 team did yeoman work to repair his car after it suffered extensive body damage in the Lap 54 accident. Harvick led the field to green on Lap 162 to start the first overtime, but he fell victim to the nine-car wreck before that circuit was completed. … Despite a 33rd-place finish, Kyle Busch retained the series lead by 57 points over Harvick.

    RELATED: Race results | ‘Big One’ erupts at Daytona

  • Chase Elliott earns Busch Pole Award at Daytona; Hendrick sweeps front row

    Chase Elliott earns Busch Pole Award at Daytona; Hendrick sweeps front row

    Reid Spencer | NASCAR Wire Service

    DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A sprained ankle didn’t prevent Chase Elliott from putting his foot to the floorboard Friday at Daytona International Speedway.

    Elliott powered around the 2.5-mile track in 46.381 seconds (194.045 mph) to win the pole position for Sunday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 (7 p.m. on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) by a whopping .24 seconds over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman (193.046 mph).

    The Busch Pole Award was Elliott’s first of the season and the fourth of his career, all of which have come at restrictor-plate superspeedways — three of them at Daytona.
    With Jimmie Johnson qualifying fourth at 192.361 mph, Hendrick Chevrolets took three of the top four starting positions for the 18th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of the season. Third-place qualifier Brad Keselowski broke up the monopoly with a lap at 192.802 mph in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford.

    Earlier in the week, Elliott sprained his right ankle — the one that mashes the accelerator — while “horsing around at the pool.” He had the ankle X-rayed at the infield care center at the track.

    “I didn’t really want to do that, so I’ve been trying to draw as least amount of attention as possible to that,” Elliott said. “But it’s all good. Yeah, had a little ankle sprain, but we are good and ready to go.”

    Saturday’s race will mark Elliott’s 95th start in NASCAR’s top series. Those 94 events have produced 26 top five’s — including eight runner-up results — but no wins.

    “I think it gives everybody confidence,” Elliott said of the pole-winning effort. “Having a good pit stall is certainly nice. That can matter at the end of these races. Sharing the front row with your teammate is also nice, too. 

    “So we’ll just have to see. The race is a whole different ballgame, but to have speed in our Chevrolet is nice, and to have (sponsor) Hooters for their first race of the season on the pole is cool, too. Looking forward to (Saturday) night.”

    Kevin Harvick qualified fifth, followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Newman, Michael McDowell and Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon. Seven Fords and five Chevrolets made the final round. Reigning series champion Martin Truex Jr. will start 13th in the top-qualifying Toyota.

    With rain wiping out Thursday’s second Cup practice, Friday’s time trials were more of a question mark than they otherwise would have been.

    “It was OK, I think — you never know what you’re going to get here,” Truex said of his starting position. “Not much practice yesterday, and we didn’t do any qualifying runs, so we just kind of winged it. I think 13th will be an OK starting spot.”

    Series leader Kyle Busch earned the 15th spot on the grid.

    RELATED: Full qualifying results