Daytona Coke Zero 400 Race Recap
Jul 6, 2013; Daytona Beach, FL, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers Kasey Kahne (5), Kyle Busch (18), and Matt Kenseth (20) during the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Liles-USA TODAY Sports
The restart sees Kyle again get a good push this time from team mate Kenseth and the two of them go first and second on the high line. Johnson dives from just behind Kenseth down in front of Kahne to lead the bottom line and run side by side with Kyle for the lead. With the Toyota’s up high and the Chevy’s down low its a manufacture dog fight for the lead. The 48 is fast as he pulls away from team mate Kahne but is still running side by side with Kyle who is getting help from Kenseth. For the next five laps the battle continues until, inevitably, Johnson take the lead outright with Kahne, Logano and Jr behind him as the high line temporarily loses ground.
A middle line, led by Marcos Ambrose, forms and starts gaining on the lower line cars and as they get side by side with Jr they all go sailing passed sending the 88 from 4th to 20th in a matter of seconds, and Ambrose gets up to third. The top four of Johnson, Kahne, Ambrose, Bayne all move up to the high line in front of fifth place Logano. While the top two work on trying to pull away from the rest of the pack Denny Hamlin works his way up to third after falling back to 39th and perfectly demonstrating how, provided the car is quick, easy it is to gain places and why it can make sense to sit at the back and out of trouble.
The top seven cars are able to establish a gap from the rest of the pack as they run the bottom line but some determined driving on the high line by Aric Almirola and Kurt Busch eventually chases them down and brings the pack back together. The bottom line, still led by the 48, continues to be the quickest line but there is still a high line being led by Hamlin. Jr makes a decision to give up fourth place and pulls up in front of Hamlin but the move doesn’t pay off as he starts to lose places to the faster bottom line so he switches lines again and lets the 11 car lead that line back in 15th place.
Jul 6, 2013; Daytona Beach, FL, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin (11) leads the field into the trioval during the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
Green flag stops get under way, it is key that a driver pits with another car so that the two of them can work together to get back to the pack. Jr and Kyle pit as well as Michael Waltrip and Martin Truex Jr. Once again in a race, a caution comes out while the stops are under way as Logano hits the outside wall after getting a puncture. Luckily for the cars that had pitted they weren’t lapped as the top 21 who had yet to come to pit road make their stops. Johnson wins the race off but will restart 15th and the new top five is Hamlin, Jamie McMurray, Kenseth, Juan Pablo Montoya and Ambrose. It’s a Joe Gibbs Racing against Earnhadt Ganassi Racing restart as Kenseth aims to push Hamlin to the lead for JGR and Montoya tries to push McMurray to the lead for EGR. JGR win the battle as Hamlin takes the lead. The high line soon reduces to only a handful of cars as Jr starts a middle line and as the race reaches halfway the top five is Hamlin, Kenseth, Jr with McMurray and Montoya side by side in 4th and 5th.
While the leaders sit on the bottom Johnson moves off the high line and forms a middle line with Jeff Gordon behind him. McMurray sees how effective this middle line could become and moves in front of the 48 and gets alongside third place Jr. A few laps later McMurray gets side by side with Hamlin and is able to take the lead as more of the high line go sailing by Hamlin. The bottom line appears to have stopped working as the top 9 are now in single file on the high line led by McMurray, Johnson, Gordon, Brad Keselowski and Kahne.
Jul 6, 2013; Daytona Beach, FL, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin (11) Juan Pablo Montoya (42) and Martin Truex Jr. (56) wreck coming out of turn four during the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
But that line is brought to a halt when Truex Jr appears to get loose and moves down in front of Hamlin and Montoya and they go crashing out to bring out the yellow flags for the third time in the race. The leaders all come to pit road and leading them off is McMurray and behind him on the restart will be Johnson, Gordon, Danica Patrick and Jr. With a little help from Patrick, Johnson retakes the lead on the restart with the 10 right behind him in second on the lower line. The 48 and 10 move to the high line in front of McMurray but when Johnson moves back down to the lower line Patrick makes a choice to stay on the high line but it doesn’t work as the line stalls and she quickly falls back to 8th.