With drivers wishing their teams good morning due to the night race that went into the wee hours of the next morning, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the Coke Zero 400 on the July 4th, 2015 holiday weekend.
Everyone has to still be stunned to see Austin Dillon walk away from the horrifying last-lap crash that sent his No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet flipping into the catch fence at the end of the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. endured a weekend of rain, a three-hour-plus pre-race delay, and nine caution flags to win the Coke-Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway early Monday morning.
Austin Dillon led just nine laps Saturday night, including the one that mattered most. Dillon, grandson of legendary team owner Richard Childress, outlasted Elliott Sadler and Chase Elliott during a green-white-checkered finish to claim the crash-filled Subway Firecracker 250, the NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Daytona International Speedway.
Qualifying for Sunday night’s Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca Cola was rained out Saturday, giving the pole position to Dale Earnhardt Jr., based on his chart-topping, 200 mph-plus practice speed.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Danica Patrick led the two practice sessions Friday at Daytona International Speedway, in preparation for Sunday night’s Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and XFINITY Series travel to Daytona International Speedway this weekend. NBC Sports Network will carry each practice, qualifying session and race. The Camping World Truck Series is off. Please check below for the full schedule.
NBC will be covering its first Sprint Cup race since 2006 and I’m excited to see what they have after FOX kicked the season off with some of the worst coverage I’ve ever seen. Constant production mistakes, announcers giving false or misguided information, biased studio analysts, constant commercials, and a terrible pre-race “grid walk.”
As the action returns to Daytona, Florida this weekend, I must admit something. I love the look of the Confederate battle flag. I love the stories of Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and James Longstreet. I loved the Dukes of Hazzard, good ole boys, and good ole girls even better.
Johnson finished sixth at Sonoma, passed by eventual winner Kyle Busch with six laps remaining. Johnson is fourth in the Sprint Cup points standings, 70 out of first. “Maybe we should have pitted during that final caution,” Johnson said. “But we had a strategy and we wanted to stick to it.
The 2019 Truck Series regular-season champion from Fairhope, Alabama, led five of 100 laps and fended off Landen Lewis during a three-lap shootout to notch his first Truck victory in 40 races in Lakeville, Connecticut.
Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell were made available to the media on Saturday prior to the NASCAR Cup Series race from EchoPark Speedway near Atlanta.
The 2023 Cup Series champion from High Point, North Carolina, clocked in a pole-winning lap at 179.912 mph in 30.815 seconds for his second Cup pole of 2026 at Atlanta's EchoPark Speedway.