The Coke Zero Sugar 400 was scheduled for Saturday night (7/6) at Daytona International Speedway. NASCAR had to postpone the race due to rain. Sunday (7/7) the race took place, but again the weather would play a role as Justin Haley got his first ever Cup Series win.
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series finally got things rolling for the weekend Sunday afternoon. It was obvious that the teams and drivers were not sure if the entire race would be able to be completed. The intensity could be seen almost as quickly as the green flag was waived. While car manufacturers tried to work together, and did quite a bit, when it came to scoring stage points those “teammates” became rivals. Joey Logano was able to claim the win in stage one. Austin Dillon was the lead car at the end of stage two.
The final stage is when things really began to become more and more intense. With weather visibly in the area, the drivers and teams were unsure how long it would be before NASCAR would have to stop the race. The urgency to get out front before that happened led to the sixth and final caution period of the race for the “big one.” A wreck at the front of the field gathered up a total of 18 cars with some damage and many with severe damage.
During the caution for the massive wreck some cars chose to pit some remained on the track. Kurt Busch was one that remained on the track and became the race leader as a result. However, when the field was given the “one to go” sign indicating the race would re-start on the next pass of the start-finish line Kurt (and others) made the trip to pit road handing the lead to Justin Haley.
Before the race could get re-started lightning hit within eight miles of the track requiring NASCAR to put the race under the red-flag conditions. After a lengthy delay, the drivers were back in their cars hoping to re-start the race. Lightning again struck close enough to the track to force NASCAR to continue the delay.
Rain began falling at the track during this delay and eventually causing NASCAR to call the race complete 33 laps shy of the scheduled 160 laps at Daytona. That gave Justin Haley his first ever Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win in just his third ever race in the series. Since Justin is not a full-time cup series driver the win will not give him entry into the post-season for a chance to win the championship.
William Byron was scored with a second place finish. Jimmie Johnson got the third place finish with Ty Dillon and Ryan Newman being scored with fourth and fifth places respectively. See the complete results for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona here.
Joey Logan (1st) and Kyle Busch (2nd) hold their positions in the point standings. Kevin Harvick moves back up to third place while Brad Keselowski falls back to fourth place as the two swap spots for a second week in a row. Martin Truex Jr. holds steady to round out the top five. See the complete Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series point standings here.
With just eight races remaining before the Chase Grid is set for the NASCAR post-season, racing each week will likely get more and more intense. The next shot for drivers not locked in for a chance to win the championship will come this week at Kentucky Speedway in the Quaker State 400 Presented by Walmart Saturday night, July 13th.
By: Buck Stevens
