Complete news and notes on all 43 drivers in the Coke Zero 400
RELATED: Full race results | Series standings | Chase Grid
Breaking down how the full 43-car field fared at Daytona International Speedway
1. Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. It was initially a muted celebration for Earnhardt’s second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory of the year as he watched Austin Dillon‘s horrifying crash from his rear-view mirror after the checkered flag at Daytona International Speedway. His No. 88 ride dominated, leading six times for 96 laps in the 161-lap main event. | WATCH: Dale Jr. on big week, scary crash
2. Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Earnhardt’s stablemate was one of few drivers within striking distance at the finish. Johnson paced 35 laps, the only other driver with more than 10 laps led in the Coke Zero 400. | MORE: Johnson pleased with 1-2 Hendrick finish
3. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. The JGR driver landed his first top-five finish since winning at Martinsville Speedway in March, but came across the finish line sideways at the checkered flag after contact with Kevin Harvick ignited the final massive crash of the night. | WATCH: Hamlin reacts to wild wreck
4. Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Harvick took the checkered flag at the leading edge of the race-ending melee, making the cool-down lap with heavy front-end damage. He remained the Sprint Cup Series points leader with his fourth top-five finish in the last five races. | MORE: See the updated Chase Grid
5. Kurt Busch, No. 41 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Busch held on to avoid the brunt of the damage erupting around him on the final-lap crash to secure his fourth straight top-five finish, moving him to eighth in Sprint Cup Series points despite missing three races to start the season.
6. Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Gordon wound up sliding out of control after taking the checkered flag for the final time at the 2.5-mile track, but clinched his ninth top-10 finish of the year. Barring an unexpected return to competition, Gordon’s career will end with six Daytona wins on his resume.
7. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. Dillon, the NASCAR XFINITY Series winner the night before, emerged largely unscathed after his No. 3 entry went tumbling into the catch fencing not far from the start-finish line. He walked away from the crash and offered a wave to the crowd with a nod to former professional bull rider Lane Frost. | MORE: Dillon shaken, but OK after massive wreck
8. Ryan Newman, No. 31 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. Newman caught part of the massive crash at the finish. His RCR entry led its first lap since Martinsville in March as Newman posted his second straight top-10 effort.
9. Trevor Bayne, No. 6 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Bayne went skidding as part of the pileup at the checkered flag, but recorded his second top-10 finish of the year in the No. 6.
10. Clint Bowyer, No. 15 Toyota, Michael Waltrip Racing. The MWR driver eked out his third consecutive top-10 finish in spite of early contact in the first crash of the day and being caught in the midst of the race-ending tangle, with Dillon’s airborne car sailing over his No. 15. Bowyer was among seven drivers credited with leading just one lap. | WATCH: See the contact Bowyer had
11. Casey Mears, No. 13 Chevrolet, Germain Racing. Mears’ team recovered from an early pit-road penalty and repairs of a faulty sensor that caused the No. 13 to lose power. He just missed his second top-10 of the season; the first came in the Daytona 500.
12. David Ragan, No. 55 Toyota, Michael Waltrip Racing. Ragan brought out the next-to-last caution period with a long slide on the backstretch and was collected in the major crash as the curtain fell on the Coke Zero 400, but still managed to register his best finish thus far in his seven-race stint with the Michael Waltrip-owned team.
13. Landon Cassill, No. 40 Chevrolet, Hillman Smith Motorsports. Cassill ran with the powerhouse teams in the third restrictor-plate race of the season, emerging with damage but also with his best Sprint Cup finish of 2015.
14. Tony Stewart, No. 14 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Stewart had a prime but unfortunate seat for the race-ending crash, watching Austin Dillon‘s car sail into the catch fencing. Smoke matched his car number in the results column for his fourth top-15 performance of the season.
15. Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing. McMurray was among the drivers wrapped up in the final multicar crash of the day. Though four of his seven Sprint Cup wins have come at either Daytona or Talladega, he’s yet to record a top-10 finish in three races on restrictor-plate tracks this year.
16. Paul Menard, No. 27 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. Menard’s fourth-place starting spot was his best of the season, awarded based on first practice speeds after Coors Light Pole Qualifying was rained out. He dipped from his position in eighth place on the final restart to miss out on a top-10.
17. Kyle Busch, No. 18 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Busch’s first race back at Daytona was a rocky one. He scraped the wall in the 17th lap and twice received the free pass during caution periods to rally, but his No. 18 suffered further damage in the race-ending wreck. | MORE: How is Busch positioned to make the Chase
18. Justin Allgaier, No. 51 Chevrolet, HScott Motorsports. Allgaier went spinning after the checkered flag, but his best restrictor-plate finish of the year helped him gain two spots in the standings to 29th place.
19. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Stenhouse surfaced from the carnage to notch his best Sprint Cup finish since a fourth place at Bristol Motor Speedway in April.
20. Greg Biffle, No. 16 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Biffle was involved in the first yellow flag of the race, then was sent scraping past the finish line at the checkered flag to end an eventful day in the No. 16.
21. AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Chevrolet, JTG Daugherty Racing. The recent dry spell extended to 14 races without a top-10 finish for the JTG Daugherty crew, which had its No. 47 returned to the Daytona garage by a wrecker after the race-ending crash.
22. Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford, Team Penske. The reigning Daytona 500 champion’s chances at a Daytona season sweep fizzled early with involvement in the first large crash of the day and a black flag for racing with a flapping rear fender. Logano rallied with help of the free pass on the next-to-last caution, turning the rough day into a lead-lap finish.
23. Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Kenseth was at the center of an 11-car stack-up just past the midway point, spinning in tight racing with Kasey Kahne off Turn 4. | WATCH: See Kenseth and Kahne make contact to trigger wreck
24. Alex Bowman, No. 7 Chevrolet, Tommy Baldwin Racing. Bowman, who failed to qualify for the season-opening Daytona 500, converted a lead-lap finish despite his No. 7 ride sustaining damage as he took the checkered flag.
25. Cole Whitt, No. 35 Ford, Front Row Motorsports. Whitt described his car’s handling as “darty” in radio communications but held on to end the race as the Front Row team’s top finisher.
26. Matt DiBenedetto, No. 83 Toyota, BK Racing. The former NASCAR Next driver secured his first lead-lap finish since placing a season-best 18th at Talladega Superspeedway in May.
27. Brett Moffitt, No. 34 Ford, Front Row Motorsports. Though it’s a distant result from his season-best of eighth place, Moffitt’s early morning finish was his best in eight races driving for team owner Bob Jenkins.
28. Brendan Gaughan, No. 62 Chevrolet, Premium Motorsports. The NASCAR XFINITY Series regular, who has failed to qualify for eight Sprint Cup races this season, secured his first lead-lap finish of the season as the last driver to complete all 161 laps.
29. Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Ford, Team Penske. A day that started with radio communications trouble ended with Keselowski’s out-of control No. 2 sliding through fluid and wreckage into the mangled No. 3 of Austin Dillon after the race. Keselowski was also involved in the race’s fifth caution period, just past the halfway point.
30. Sam Hornish Jr., No. 9 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports. Hornish’s sour luck continued with his involvement in three Daytona crashes, the final of which finally broke the No. 9 with heavy damage after a wild ride through the backstretch grass.
31. Josh Wise, No. 98 Ford, Phil Parsons Racing. Wise finished seven laps off the leader’s pace after a battery cable came unfastened, requiring a tow back to the garage.
32. Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Kahne ran among the top five with his Hendrick teammates in early portions of the race, but was caught up in Matt Kenseth‘s spin that touched off a sizable wreck in Turn 4 on Lap 105. | WATCH: Kahne and Kenseth involved in big wreck
33. J.J. Yeley, No. 23 Toyota, BK Racing. Yeley returned from repairs after a Lap 87 pileup collected his No. 23 and six other cars, but finish 22 laps down to the front-runners.
34. Aric Almirola, No. 43 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports. A crash in the wake of Matt Kenseth‘s spin in heavy traffic dashed Almirola’s hopes for a Coke Zero 400 repeat, sending the Petty-owned No. 43 to the garage. He was listed as running at the finish after extensive repairs.
35. Danica Patrick, No. 10 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Patrick was caught by the race’s first crash, just four laps in, but any dwindling hopes of contending were thwarted by another hit with the outside retaining wall in the 129th lap, sidelining her for the balance of the event. | WATCH: Trouble at Daytona for Danica
36. Jeb Burton, No. 26 Toyota, BK Racing. The Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate lost plenty of ground after the first big wreck of the event, finishing 40 laps off the pace.
37. Michael Annett, No. 46 Chevrolet, HScott Motorsports. A part in the first multicar crash of the day doomed Annett’s effort almost from the outset, relegating the second-year driver to his sixth consecutive finish of 30th or worse.
38. Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Chevrolet, Furniture Row Racing. “The weekend didn’t start off well for us and it ended worse,” was the sentiment of Truex after a crash in practice and another multicar wreck in the 105th lap. After reeling off top-10 finishes in 14 of the first 15 races of the season, Truex now has back-to-back DNFs related to crashes. | RELATED: Truex among big names taken out in ‘Big One’
39. Kyle Larson, No. 42 Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing. The 105th-lap crash that snared 11 cars hit Larson’s No. 42 hard with heavy nose-first contact against the Turn 4 inside retaining wall. The second-year driver has three DNFs this season, all at restrictor-plate tracks.
40. David Gilliland, No. 38 Ford, Front Row Motorsports. Gilliland was a focal point of the first large crash of the race, spinning in front of a large pack after contact with the car of Clint Bowyer. He returned to the race, enduring a solo spin just before halfway and taking the checkered flag 65 laps down. | WATCH: Gilliland brings out first caution
41. Carl Edwards, No. 19 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Two crashes curbed Edwards’ efforts, the first causing rear-end damage in the 53rd lap and the latter lifting his No. 19 Camry up onto the hood and windshield of Brian Scott‘s No. 33. | WATCH: Hard hit for Edwards
42. Brian Scott, No. 33 Chevrolet, Circle Sport. Scott’s fifth Sprint Cup race of his part-time season ended with a too-close-for-comfort view of Carl Edwards‘ car on top of his. Scott has DNFs in his last three races in NASCAR’s top division.
43. Bobby Labonte, No. 32 Ford, Go FAS Racing. The former series champion’s third race of the season ended early as the Archie St. Hilaire-owned No. 32 completed just two laps before tangling in Sunday’s first multicar shunt.