And there you have it, folks. The final July race for Daytona International Speedway has come and gone and so has an entire era. An era spanning 61 years that brought us NASCAR fans many great and memorable moments from over the years. Richard Petty’s 200th and final NASCAR win, Dale Jr and Michael Waltrip running 1-2 at the Pepsi 400 after Dale Earnhardt’s death earlier in the season at the same track. As well as numerous drivers earning their first cup series wins, such as Erik Jones, Trevor Bayne and Justin Haley (yes, Justin Haley) to name a few. Typically run on the weekend of Independence Day, the Coke Zero Sugar 400 will switch dates with the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard in 2020.
The second race of the season at Daytona will be moved to August 29th, becoming the final regular season race before the playoffs. The final July Daytona race went down in fitting Daytona fashion. Rain delays, plenty of action, scorching heat, an unpredictable finish and of course the infamous “big one” made for a race to remember.
Leading Up to the Coke Zero Sugar 400
Before the race even started, there was drama. In practice, Brad Keselowski didn’t hesitate to run right through William Byron, sending Byron sliding through turn three. When asked about the incident after practice, Keselowski stated that he was “not going to lift for these guys anymore”. Brad also stated that he was tired of getting a run and being forced to let off the gas for cars in front of him and getting wrecked. Byron ended up having to go to his backup car because of the incident.
Typically run on Saturday night, the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona was delayed to Sunday due to rain and lightning. Many fans were optimistic about this move since the race was once ran on Sunday afternoons in years past. For the final July Coke Zero Sugar 400 to be run during the day on a Sunday would be a fitting end to a tradition. Because qualifying was cancelled due to rain, the field was made up in order of points standings, with Joey Logano, the current points leader, starting on the pole and eventually winning stage one.
After a memorable Xfinity series win by fan-favorite Ross Chastain on Friday night, fans were hoping that this was a sign that the cup race would be equally or more memorable. It was memorable alright, but not in the way many were expecting.
The Race
There was talk leading up to the race of manufacturers working together against other manufacturers (Fords helping Fords, Toyotas helping Toyotas, etc). As soon as the race started, we saw just that. Manufacturers even went as far as to pit together, with Chevies pitting first alongside Toyotas with Ford in tow behind them.
Later in the stage, we saw Keselowski give Kevin Harvick a good bump, similar to the one he gave to Byron in practice. Somehow, to Dale Earnhardt Jr’s amazement, Harvick was able to hang onto it and save his car. Soon after the incident we’d see a similar situation. Harvick got a good run, got up behind Keselowski and sent him into the fence, ending his day early. Live by the sword, die by the sword, right?
Two standout drivers we saw throughout the day were Austin Dillon and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Stenhouse, true to form at plate tracks, ran like a madman the entire day, not giving a damn about forming alliances with other drivers or being courteous, finishing p2 at the end of stage one after climbing back from a spin earlier in the stage. Dillon, also, turned some heads while making his way to the front and leading the most laps out of anybody on the day, making a bold move on Ryan Newman to move up a few positions and eventually winning stage two.
Dillon continued to lead into stage three until an aggressive move on Clint Bowyer to attempt to protect his lead resulted in Dillon getting turned going into turn one and creating a 19-car wreck. Rather than bring out the red flag as they typically would after a wreck of this scale, NASCAR decided to only throw the yellow flag and have what was left of the field run some caution laps while the safety crews cleaned up the mess. Here’s where things get confusing.
The Controversial Finish
While under caution, Matt McCall, crew chief of race leader Kurt Busch, made the decision to bring Busch down pit road. NASCAR had stated that the field was coming to one to go before the green flag. With that in mind, Kurt Busch, Landon Cassill and several other drivers made their way down pit road in hopes of refueling and getting new tires before the final 30+ laps of the race. While those drivers pitted, other drivers, including one Justin Haley, made the move to stay out on the track.
This led to Justin Haley taking the lead under caution. Halfway through what was thought to be the next-to-last caution lap, NASCAR made the call to bring the entire field down pit road and stop the race after receiving news of lightning within an eight-mile radius of the track. So, with Justin Haley, William Byron and Jimmie Johnson making up the top three, the field came down pit road to wait out the weather in hopes of restarting the race soon. After waiting and waiting, with the drivers all out of their cars and numerous air titans on the track, NASCAR called the race, declaring Justin Haley, driver of the number 77 FOE Spire Motorsports Camaro, the race winner.
Reactions and Aftermath
Many fans were, and still are, skeptical of the call to end the race there and not try to continue on later in the evening. Some claim that the win will have an asterisk next to it in the record books and is illegitimate. Others, like myself, are happy for Haley and are glad he was able to find redemption at the same track he had gotten a win stripped away from him a year prior in the Xfinity series. To me, it’s a harmless win that doesn’t affect the playoff picture, as he decided to only compete for Xfinity series points at the beginning of the season, not cup.
In 2020, the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona will be run on August 29th, ending a 61 year tradition of the race being run on the weekend of Independence Day. Even though the race won’t be run on July 4th, you can still expect to see fireworks on the track in the future.
