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Dale Earnhardt Jr. Wins 2015 Daytona Coke Zero 400

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race – Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola
Daytona International Speedway
Daytona Beach, Florida
Sunday, July 05, 2015
1. (1) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 161, $308040.
2. (12) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 161, $248616.
3. (35) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 161, $194530.
4. (34) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 161, $196280.
5. (28) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 161, $152130.
6. (23) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 161, $169406.
7. (2) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 161, $166756.
8. (17) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 161, $151320.
9. (5) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 161, $156820.
10. (3) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 161, $149028.
11. (15) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 161, $144843.
12. (8) David Ragan, Toyota, 161, $139049.
13. (22) Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, 161, $110960.
14. (31) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 161, $137874.
15. (9) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 161, $139701.
16. (4) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 161, $116235.
17. (13) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 161, $154176.
18. (21) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 161, $130818.
19. (30) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 161, $113810.
20. (25) Greg Biffle, Ford, 161, $136493.
21. (7) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 161, $132868.
22. (33) Joey Logano, Ford, 161, $147293.
23. (20) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 161, $139746.
24. (37) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 161, $113743.
25. (29) Cole Whitt, Ford, 161, $110882.
26. (41) Matt DiBenedetto #, Toyota, 161, $102085.
27. (14) Brett Moffitt #, Ford, 161, $99835.
28. (43) Brendan Gaughan(i), Chevrolet, 161, $96210.
29. (32) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 159, $144426.
30. (11) Sam Hornish Jr., Ford, Accident, 154, $125655.
31. (42) Josh Wise, Ford, 154, $99135.
32. (10) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 149, $113510.
33. (39) JJ Yeley(i), Toyota, 139, $95360.
34. (36) Aric Almirola, Ford, 137, $132146.
35. (27) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, Accident, 126, $103035.
36. (40) Jeb Burton #, Toyota, 121, $94885.
37. (18) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 110, $94641.
38. (19) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, Accident, 105, $115648.
39. (16) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, Accident, 103, $113148.
40. (6) David Gilliland, Ford, 96, $89240.
41. (24) Carl Edwards, Toyota, Accident, 85, $77240.
42. (26) Brian Scott(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 85, $73240.
43. (38) Bobby Labonte, Ford, Accident, 2, $69740.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 134.941 mph.
Time of Race: 02 Hrs, 58 Mins, 58 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.122 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 9 for 43 laps.
Lead Changes: 22 among 12 drivers.
Lap Leaders: D. Earnhardt Jr. 0; A. Dillon 1-8; D. Earnhardt Jr. 9-26; C. Bowyer 27; R. Newman 28; J. Johnson 29; D. Earnhardt Jr. 30-32; J. Johnson 33-54; D. Hamlin 55; J. Yeley(i) 56; D. Earnhardt Jr. 57-75; J. Johnson 76-78; M. Kenseth 79; J. Johnson 80-86; M. DiBenedetto # 87; J. Wise 88; K. Kahne 89-93; D. Hamlin 94-102; D. Earnhardt Jr. 103-111; B. Moffitt # 112; D. Earnhardt Jr. 113-114; J. Johnson 115-116; D. Earnhardt Jr. 117-161.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): D. Earnhardt Jr. 6 times for 96 laps; J. Johnson 5 times for 35 laps; D. Hamlin 2 times for 10 laps; A. Dillon 1 time for 8 laps; K. Kahne 1 time for 5 laps; M. DiBenedetto # 1 time for 1 lap; R. Newman 1 time for 1 lap; B. Moffitt # 1 time for 1 lap; C. Bowyer 1 time for 1 lap; M. Kenseth 1 time for 1 lap; J. Yeley(i) 1 time for 1 lap; J. Wise 1 time for 1 lap.
Top 16 in Points: K. Harvick – 656; D. Earnhardt Jr. – 593; J. Johnson – 589; J. Logano – 581; M. Truex Jr. – 569; J. Mcmurray – 526; B. Keselowski – 520; Kurt Busch – 508; M. Kenseth – 501; J. Gordon – 500; K. Kahne – 496; D. Hamlin – 480; P. Menard – 480; R. Newman – 472; C. Bowyer – 465; A. Almirola – 441.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. Daytona 2015

July 6, 2015
By Bill Speros

NASCAR Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the rain-delayed Coke Zero 400 powered by Coca-Cola early Monday morning at Daytona International Speedway.

The race finished at 2:41 a.m. and concluded with a hard crash featuring Austin Dillon’s No. 3 car going airborne and smashing to a stop in the catch-fence near Turn 1. Dillon walked away from the wreck, the fourth major crash of the night.

Earnhardt led the most laps of the race and had the convincing support of the fans remaining. It was his fourth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory on the 2.5-mile Florida track.

The Sunday night start of the race was delayed 3 hours and 34 minutes due to rain that soaked Volusia County throughout Sunday afternoon and evening. The delay was a harbinger for the race itself, which included four major crashes and nine caution flags that covered 43 of the scheduled 160 laps before the first green-white checkered finish.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series moves to Kentucky Speedway this week where it will debut its new aerodynamic package in the NSCS Quaker State 400 presented by Advance Auto Parts on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network).

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Austin Dillon Plank

July 4, 2015

By Jeff Olson
NASCAR Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Austin Dillon led just nine laps Saturday night, including the one that mattered most.

Dillon, grandson of legendary team owner Richard Childress, outlasted Elliott Sadler and Chase Elliott during a green-white-checkered finish to claim the crash-filled Subway Firecracker 250, the NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Daytona International Speedway.

“This is Daytona, man,” Dillon said during the post-race celebration. “There are so many family memories here. … I’m just happy for my grandfather. He told me once when we were here in Victory Lane with Dale Earnhardt that you’ll have this opportunity one day. It means so much to be here.”

A multi-car crash on Lap 96 of the 100-lap race took out Brian Scott, who led 84 laps and was in front when the crash started. Scott moved to the outside line to block Elliott Sadler, but was spun out, collecting several cars. Dillon slipped through the crash, then stayed ahead of Elliott after the final restart.

Sadler recovered from the crash and surged past Elliott as the field reached the checkered flag to finish second. Afterward, he blamed Scott for the crash.

“Either Brian’s spotter or Brian tried to make the move too late to block us,” Sadler said. “We were already up to his right rear door. It wrecked us, man. This is Daytona. It’s a shame. We had a car good enough to win.”

Scott admitted the move was aggressive and poorly timed, but said he thought Sader could have given him room.

“I told myself I was going to be aggressive, and I was going for the win,” Scott said. “I was trying to time that run. I knew the outside lane was coming. Obviously I mistimed it a little bit, but I still felt like I gave them room to split me and go high. Instead of going high on me, he turned me into the wall.”

Dillon scored his third XFINITY Series win of 2015 and fifth of his career, putting a smile on his grandfather’s face.

“It’s cool any time you win here at Daytona,” Childress said.

A 12-car pile-up with 10 laps to go collected the top two in the XFINITY points standings – Chris Buescher and Ty Dillon – and set the stage for a restart with five laps remaining. Scott restarted ahead of Sadler and Austin Dillon.

Sadler fell behind in the outside line but regained momentum and appeared to be ready to pass Scott, who was leading the inside line. Scott moved up to get in front of Sadler, but didn’t have enough room and was turned into the wall.

The crash left only nine cars on the lead lap. Dillon restarted ahead of Dakoda Armstrong and Chase Elliott for the green-white-checkered finish, and Elliott quickly moved into second on the low line. He finished third, followed by Kasey Kahne, Benny Gordon and Armstrong.