Welcome to beautiful Daytona Beach, Florida!
First, let’s talk about our playoff standings. In order, we have Kyle Larson (5), Christopher Bell (20), Denny Hamlin (11), William Byron (24), Tyler Reddick (45), Ryan Blaney (12), Austin Cindric (2), Chase Elliott (9), Joey Logano (22), Daniel Suárez (99),Brad Keselowski (6), and Alex Bowman (48), being locked in to race for a championship come November. This leaves Martin Truex, Jr. (19), Ty Gibbs (54), Chris Buescher (17), and Ross Chastain (1), on the playoff bubble. However, that means Bubba Wallace (23), Kyle Busch (8), Chase Briscoe (14), and Todd Gilliand (38) on the cutline, which means in order to race for a championship, they need a win.
Now, let’s recap the Coke Zero Sugar 400, shall we?
Michael McDowell (34) leads us to green! Our starting top-10 was as follows: Michael McDowell (34), Todd Gilliand, Joey Logano, Ryan Preece (41), Josh Berry (4), Chase Briscoe, William Byron, Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson, and Chase Elliott. The whole of stage one goes with no cautions, but 13 lead changes. Our first caution comes out on lap 35 for the end of the first stage, which Josh Berry wins.
Stage 2 starts with trouble for Suárez, who had a fire in his rear that had to be extinguished, as well as him having to exit his car, ending his day. Then, on lap 61, we have our second caution, and our first wreck of the evening. Ross Chastain gets turned, and collects 18 cars, including the 11, 10, 34, 9, and 19, resulting in an early end to their Coke Zero Sugar 400. Next, on lap 86, the 43 of Erik Jones, and Truex Jr. each blow a tire, and Shane Van Gisbergen (16), blows an engine, also ending his day. Stage 2 ends with a Joey Logano win, and a caution for the stage.
Now onto stage 3, it was mostly smooth sailing until lap 153, where McDowell gets turned in turn one and nearly flips over, sliding on two tires briefly, and ending the night for Joey Logano. Then, on lap 160, the 4 of Josh Berry gets turned and flips, hits the wall, and lands upside down to bring out the red flag. This puts us into NASCAR Overtime.
Harrison Burton (21) gets his first career cup win and will be racing for a NASCAR Championship come November!
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