Official Release

Ryan Reed, a two-time Daytona Champion, put forth a valiant effort Friday evening. Reed started in the back of the field and worked his way forward through the pack multiple times throughout the 100-lap event before being collected three laps shy of the checkered flag. The damage was too severe to finish and Reed was credited with a 26th-place finish in his No. 16 Drive Down A1C Lilly Diabetes Ford Fusion.

Ryan Blaney and the Pirtek Ford Mustang started second in the Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 after qualifying was washed out by an afternoon thunderstorm and the starting lineup was set by owner points.

Matt Tifft and the No. 2 KC Motorgroup Camaro Team Salvage Top-20 Finish at Daytona International Speedway - "We had a great No. 2 KC Motorgroup Chevrolet Camaro tonight and ran in the top 10 for the majority of the race. We started off too heavy on the splitter but worked to get it exactly where it needed to be for the final stage."

Austin Cindric’s strong, top-five run was cut short Friday night at Daytona International Speedway after his Odyssey Battery No. 60 Ford Mustang was caught up in a late-race caution ending the night early.

Chase Elliott captured the Busch Pole Award on Friday night for the Coke Zero Sugar 400, his third career pole at Daytona International Speedway.

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 60 Odyssey Battery Ford Mustang – “I’m fine. It’s just unfortunate. We have such a strong run like that and it comes to an end early. There are plenty of things I can complain about, but I have to be thankful that Roush and NASCAR and everybody else who puts safety first really comes to fruition in situations like that. It’s definitely the biggest wreck I’ve ever had. It’s unfortunate I keep having those at Daytona. I’ve got to quit going to this infield care center here. I know all the people and all the faces. They’re very nice, but it’s just a shame. We were giving Odyssey Batteries and the Ford guys and Roush guys a great run and it’s too bad to see us come up short.”

Christopher Bell finished third in Friday night’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway and was the highest-finishing Camry driver.

Chase Elliott scored his fourth career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) pole putting the No. 9 Hooters Camaro ZL1 in the top spot at Daytona International Speedway with a lap of 46.381 seconds and an average speed of 194.045 mph. The run marks Elliott’s third pole in six races at the ‘World Center of Racing’ and his first pole win of the 2018 MENCS season.

MARTIN TRUEX JR, No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing - Qualifying Position: 13th - How was your car in qualifying? “It was okay I think -- you never know what you’re going to get here. 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 okay starting spot.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 HOOTERS CAMARO ZL1 – Pole Winner - YOU KNEW THE CAR WAS FAST GOING INTO QUALIFYING, BUT DID YOU KNOW IT WAS TWO AND A HALF TENTHS FASTER THAN THE REST OF THE FIELD? “No, I didn’t know it was that fast. Our Hooters Chevy has been nice all weekend. We made a couple of changes actually at the end of that last practice before the rain and made it go a little faster. I hope that translates to a good driving car tomorrow night. Obviously, a lot of speed in our Chevrolet’s. I’ve said this before, but we have put a lot of effort into our speedway program at Hendrick Motorsports. The engine shop, chassis shop, body shop, we take a lot of pride in coming to these races. They pay the same amount of points as the rest of them, so it matters and our team treats it that way and their hard work pays off.”