As Dale Earnhardt Jr. crossed the finish line to claim his second win of the season at Daytona International Speedway, celebrating the victory was the last thing on his mind. He had just driven the last two laps of the race focused on the traffic behind him, moving around the track as needed to protect his position when he saw the wreck unfolding in his rearview mirror.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
