NASCAR Cup Series: 2018 Coke Zero Sugar 400 results – Erik Jones wins a wreckfest

Erik Jones earned his first career victory in the NASCAR Cup Series by winning the 2018 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Erik Jones entered the 18th race of the 36-race 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season, the Coke Zero Sugar 400, at Daytona International Speedway having never won a Cup Series races in 56 previous attempts.

Jones ended that race as the most recent winner in the Cup Series after earning his first career Cup Series victory. He won the 168-lap race, which was scheduled to be a 160-lap race but ended up being a 168-lap race as a result of the fact that it featured two overtime periods, after leading only one lap, the final lap, around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Daytona International Speedway oval in Daytona Beach, Florida in his #20 Toyota.

The first race that was held at Daytona International Speedway this season, the Daytona 500, was won by Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon after he led only the race’s final lap in his #3 Chevrolet as well.

Jones, who started the race all the way back in 29th place, held off second place finisher Martin Truex Jr. of Furniture Row Racing by 0.125 seconds to claim that victory. With Truex Jr. finishing the race in second in his #78 Toyota, Toyota drivers swept the top two positions.

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No Toyota driver had won a restrictor plate race since Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin won the 2016 Daytona 500, which was 10 restrictor plate races ago now, in his #11 Toyota. Truex Jr. finished in second place in that race as well.

JTG Daugherty Racing’s A.J. Allmendinger was the highest finishing Chevrolet driver of the Coke Zero Sugar 400. He finished in third place in his #47 Chevrolet, and Chevrolet drivers rounded out the rest of the top six. Leavine Family Racing’s Kasey Kahne, JTG Daugherty Racing’s Chris Buescher and Germain Racing’s Ty Dillon finished in fourth, fifth and sixth in their #95 Chevrolet, #37 Chevrolet and #13 Chevrolet, respectively.

Go Fas Racing’s Matt DiBenedetto was the race’s highest finishing Ford driver. He finished in seventh place in his #32 Ford, and he was the only Ford driver who finished in the top 14.

The race featured a total of 25 lead changes among 16 drivers. Aside of Jones, a total of 15 drivers led at least one lap of the race. Those drivers were Truex Jr., Allmendinger, Kahne, Dillon, Ryan Newman, Alex Bowman, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Jimmie Johnson, Michael McDowell, William Byron, Kyle Busch, race polesitter Chase Elliott and Brad Keselowski.

Stenhouse Jr. won stages one and two of the race, and he led more laps than anybody else in the field. He led 51 of the race’s 168 laps. No other driver led more than 20 laps, although two drivers Truex Jr. and McDowell, led exactly 20 laps. Kahne came close by leading 17 laps.

The race also featured a total of 10 caution flag periods for 46 laps. Of those 10 caution flag periods, eight took place as a result of on-track incidents and the other two took place as a result of the endings of stages one and two.

Several of the wrecks that took place involved many cars. In fact, the second incident-related caution flag period of the race began on lap 54, and total of 26 drivers were involved in that wreck. The other seven crashes and/or spins that took place throughout the race featured nine drivers, seven drivers, four drivers, three drivers, two drivers, one driver and one driver.

Somehow, despite all of the wrecks that took place, a total of 20 of the 40 drivers who started the race managed to finish it, and of those 20 drivers who managed to finish it, a total of 13 did so on the lead lap.

Here are the full race results of the 2018 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

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The next NASCAR Cup Series race is the Quaker State 400, which is scheduled to take place next Saturday, July 14 at Kentucky Speedway. It is scheduled to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network at 7:30 p.m. ET.