DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Report by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Robert Laberge/Getty Images North America photo —
The Pied Piper of Daytona International Speedway made his triumphant return to Victory Lane on Sunday night, but the winning celebration was overshadowed by a massive multi-car crash in the early hours of Monday morning as the Coke Zero 400 powered by Coca-Cola came to a close.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. led a race-high 96 laps with the most dominant car of the night en route to his fourth career Daytona win and 25th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory, but just behind him at the checkered flag, a tap from Kevin Harvick sent Denny Hamlin’s Toyota spinning into the pack and sent Austin Dillon flying over multiple cars and into the catchfence roof-first.
(Chris Graythen/Getty Images North America photo)
While Dillon was unhurt in the crash (and climbed out under his own power after assistance from Earnhardt’s crew), three fans — as reported during NBC’s telecast just before they went off air at 3 a.m. Eastern time — were treated for minor injuries due to flying debris from the crash.
As Earnhardt stood celebrating with his crew, visibly shaken by what he and the field had seen, he made the point that the accident was on his mind far more than the win that officially locked him into the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup in 2015 (assuming he attempts to qualify for the remaining nine races before the cutoff).
“That scared the hell out of me, to be honest,” Earnhardt said. “You’re looking in the mirror the whole last lap, so I could see it. That was terrifying to watch. You know a wreck like that has got a high potential for somebody to get injured. It was touch-and-go there for several moments and I’m more thankful that everybody’s OK than to be standing here in victory lane, that’s for sure.”
Earnhardt, who won the race over teammate Jimmie Johnson, was still thrilled with his race car — which has now won the last two straight restrictor plate events at Talladega and Daytona.
“Just great motors, the guys on the engine shop do such a great job,” Earnhardt said. “The No. 88 boys made such a great car. It’s the one we won Talladega with (on May 3). It’s got to get retired at some point, but I hope it’s not put in the barn yet.
“We had a lot of fun tonight. The first thing when we got on pit road (after the race) was Jimmie said, ‘How wild was that?’ You hate to see that, but I’m very thankful nobody was hurt.”
Earnhardt Jr. started from the pole, but was quickly overhauled by Dillon on the opening lap as Dillon brought the iconic No. 3 car to the front at Daytona. However, behind that pair, chaos would quickly ensue as David Gilliland came across the nose of Clint Bowyer’s Toyota in turn four to spark a multi-car melee on lap three.
As the field checked up in avoidance, a stack-up on the outside lane in response to Gilliland’s spinning car saw a total of eight additional cars collected in the aftermath — including Sam Hornish, Danica Patrick, Greg Biffle, Daytona 500 winner Joey Logano, Jeb Burton, Bobby Labonte, Michael Annett and Brendan Gaughan.
Once the field resumed at lap nine, a four-car Hendrick Motorsports freight train steamrolled to the front from the outside lane — handing the lead back to Earnhardt with Kasey Kahne, Johnson and Jeff Gordon all in tow. The quartet would run in lock-step and hold the lead until Brad Keselowski came calling on the bottom to shuffle the top of the leaderboard at lap 17. On that same lap, the No. 18 of Kyle Busch got up into the fourth groove in turn two and socked the outside SAFER Barrier — ending his chances at victory.
By the time the competition caution flew at lap 25, Earnhardt had firmly asserted his dominance at the front of the field — leading 17 of the race’s opening laps. However, through a round of pit stops and a lap 31 restart, teammate Johnson powered to the point and took control away from the No. 88, leading a 22 lap green-flag stint before a spinning Carl Edwards unfurled the yellow flag for the third time at lap 53.
Earnhardt took the lead back through the round of pit stops that followed, though J.J. Yeley stayed out to lead a lap before racing resumed at lap 58. A lap later, a lonely spin by Gilliland would draw the fourth caution of the night and restack the running order once again.
The caution would do nothing to deter Hendrick Motorsports’ dominance of the lead pack, as Earnhardt paced the field ahead of his three teammates until the inside lane began to reform at lap 70. Earnhardt and Johnson continued to hold the top two spots, however, until Johnson blew past to reassume the point at lap 76.
Business would begin to pick up at the halfway point, as Matt Kenseth would lead for the first time all night at lap 79 and Johnson took the halfway lap to pace lap 80 — pulling back out to the head of the pack before a second big melee in turn three at lap 86 saw Brian Scott catch fire and Edwards, Kyle Larson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Dillon catch a piece of the action — started after Larson lost control of his Chevrolet in the pack.
“I want to point out two things,” Edwards quipped in the garage area. “One, I haven’t spun out completely all night; and two, Subway serves breakfast. That was a wild ride though. We’re definitely done for the night.”
The Charlotte winner was scored 41st at the finish.
Denny Hamlin cycled to the point following pit stops for the race’s next restart at lap 93, but was overhauled by a Chevrolet brigade on the bottom as Kahne powered to the top spot for a circuit. However, Hamlin would fight back at lap 95 and use help from four-time series champion Gordon to shoot to the lead and give Toyota a spark heading into the latter stages of the race.
Hamlin’s lead would last until lap 102, when an aggressive move by Earnhardt gave the top spot back to the No. 88, but calamity would strike for the third time with 55 laps remaining when Matt Kenseth spun off of turn four and ignited yet another Daytona ‘Big One’.
Kenseth got loose as Kahne took the air off of his rear spoiler, catching the apron and then coming up across the track and collecting numerous cars. Among those involved in the wreck: Jamie McMurray, Brad Keselowski, Trevor Bayne, Sam Hornish and Joey Logano (who were also involved in the first ‘Big One’ of the night), Kyle Larson, defending race winner Aric Almirola, David Ragan and Martin Truex Jr.
Brett Moffitt stayed out to assume the lead at lap 112, but by the time the green flag returned with 46 laps to go, the Hendrick pair of Earnhardt and Johnson were on the front row again. The pair traded the lead between them twice in three laps before Earnhardt seized command with 44 laps left at that stage.
A mechanical failure that sent Danica Patrick hard into the outside wall slowed the pace for the seventh time with 33 laps to go and allowed most of the leaders to begin saving fuel in hopes of not having to return to pit road after their stops at lap 111.
Earnhardt would be undeterred following the restart with 28 laps to go, holding off a host of challenges from Bayne and Johnson before having to gear up for a shootout to the checkers — caused when David Ragan was turned out of the pack coming down the backstretch to draw the eighth caution of the night.
That yellow put the field back green with nine laps remaining, but a nearly identical spin by Sam Hornish that nearly saw the No. 9 go end over end set up both the ninth caution of the night and the chaotic attempt at a green-white-checkered finish.
Johnson rolled up the outside to steal second at the finish, but his concern was also on safety after the crash.
“It’s a part of our sport,” Johnson said of the inevitable danger of racing at 200 mph. “It was real interesting to watch the playback and to see how the 3 [of Dillon got airborne.] I just thought he was backwards and that’s why the car took off, but to see that there was a little contact with the front of the 11 car and that’s what sent it into the air was surprising. The fact that the car just climbed altitude like it did and went in the fence — I’ve never seen anything like it, honestly.”
“With how fast [the car] stopped, I’m happy to know that Austin’s okay. Just a scary, scary moment and I saw it all take place in the mirror. It hit me hard. I thought something really, really bad had happened for a few minutes there.”
Hamlin, despite being the car that sparked the maelstrom after the finish line, still crossed the checkered flag in third — and had a front-row seat to everything that followed.
“(Harvick) was pushing me, trying to push me to the line and had us jacked up,” Hamlin said. “We crossed the line, or we were close. He was trying to help, but it just wrecked a bunch of stuff.”
“None of us were going to win the race from second or third. At some point, you have to concede. Austin took some heck of a ride [though.]”
Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Harvick and Kurt Busch completed the top five.
Jeff Gordon finished sixth in his final race at Daytona, followed by Dillon, who was scored seventh at the line despite the carnage he went through at the exit of the tri-oval. Ryan Newman, Trevor Bayne and Clint Bowyer rounded out the top 10.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns to action on Saturday night, July 11 for the Quaker State 400 from Kentucky Speedway. The race will have a new aero package in hopes of increasing the competition level at 1.5-mile intermediate-style race tracks.
RESULTS: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series; Coke Zero 400 powered by Coca-Cola; Daytona International Speedway; July 6, 2015
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Jimmie Johnson
- Denny Hamlin
- Kevin Harvick
- Kurt Busch
- Jeff Gordon
- Austin Dillon
- Ryan Newman
- Trevor Bayne
- Clint Bowyer
- Casey Mears
- David Ragan
- Landon Cassill
- Tony Stewart
- Jamie McMurray
- Paul Menard
- Kyle Busch
- Justin Allgaier
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Greg Biffle
- A.J. Allmendinger
- Joey Logano
- Matt Kenseth
- Alex Bowman
- Cole Whitt
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Brett Moffitt
- Brendan Gaughan
- Brad Keselowski
- Sam Hornish Jr.
- Josh Wise
- Kasey Kahne
- J.J. Yeley
- Aric Almirola
- Danica Patrick
- Jeb Burton
- Michael Annett
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Kyle Larson
- David Gilliland
- Carl Edwards
- Brian Scott
- Bobby Labonte
