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NASCAR Daytona results: Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins late-night Coke Zero 400 – USA TODAY
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A recap of all the results and action from Sunday night/Monday morning’s rain-delayed Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway:
WINNER: That Dale Earnhardt Jr. guy is pretty darn good at restrictor-plate races. Earnhardt won his second straight plate race early Monday morning, taking the Coke Zero 400 in similar fashion to his May victory at Talladega Superspeedway. Earnhardt dominated the race and was able to control the lead as others jockeyed behind him. The Hendrick Motorsports driver now has 10 career victories in restrictor-plate points races, including four at Daytona.
TERRIFYING: The finish of the race was marred by a horrifying crash that sent Austin Dillon sailing into the catch fence. Dillon walked away and waved to the crowd after his car got airborne and was torn apart by the fence. NBC reported three fans were being attended to by medics; their condition was not immediately known. The fence was torn down in the section where Dillon hit. Crew members from many teams ran out to check on Dillon, then gave a thumbs up when they saw he was OK.
THE BIG ONE: With 55 laps to go, Kasey Kahne appeared to either make contact with Matt Kenseth or get him loose. Either way, it set off a huge wreck which also took out Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Sam Hornish Jr., Jamie McMurray, Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski and Josh Wise. Danica Patrick also had a flat tire in the incident after hitting debris.
WANT A RIDE?: After Larson got loose and spun out with 73 laps to go, it started a wreck which left Carl Edwards and several other cars with damage. Edwards and Brian Scott got the worst of it after Edwards slid up the track and Scott ran into the back of him – with the No. 19 car on top of the No. 33’s hood. “I think it’s best just to go get a sandwich,” Edwards said back in the garage following the wreck. “I think our night is over.” Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Austin Dillon also couldn’t avoid the crash unscathed.
CAUTION THAT WASN’T: On a restart with just under 100 laps to go, there was a caution light still on in Turn 1. Some drivers, including Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer and Brendan Gaughan, saw the light and lifted (and other spotters said there was a caution). But NASCAR kept the race green, which cost those drivers track position after obeying the light.
GREAT SAVE: Edwards suddenly spun out of the middle of the pack on lap 53, which sent him straight toward the inside wall off Turn 4. But Edwards righted the car just in time and slid around, sustaining just slight damage to his left rear. It wasn’t ideal, but it could have been much worse.
COSTLY MISTAKE: Kyle Busch won at Sonoma Raceway last week and gave his longshot Chase for the Sprint Cup hopes a boost. But on the 16th lap of his return to Daytona — where he broke his right leg and left foot in a February accident — Busch got loose and slapped the wall. His car was damaged and he lost a lap but was able to get the lucky dog on the next caution as his team continued to work on his No. 18 Toyota.
THAT DIDN’T TAKE LONG: Despite the long wait to start the race, the cars wasted no time crashing. At the end of lap 2, David Gilliland tried to cut from the middle to the bottom lane in front of Bowyer, but instead spun across his nose. That set off a multi-car crash, which 11 damaged cars including Daytona 500 winner Logano, Patrick, Hornish Jr., Gaughan, AJ Allmendinger, Jeb Burton, Michael Annett, Greg Biffle, and Bobby Labonte.
LATE START: The original green-flag time for the race was 8:10 p.m. Eastern, but typical Florida summer weather resulted in rain that delayed the race for several hours. Twenty of NASCAR’s Air Titans were dispatched at 9:23 p.m., and they, along with 10 jet dryers , got the track ready in two hours. Drivers started their engines at 11:27 p.m. and finally took the green flag at 11:42 p.m. — what is thought to be the latest start in NASCAR history.
NEW BROADCASTER: The race marked the debut for NBC Sports, which took over the second half of NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series schedule from TNT and ESPN. Broadcasters Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Rick Allen had to fill several hours of rain delay time before actually getting to broadcast the race.
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