The Coke Zero Sugar 400 is annually held as the last race before the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, serving as the cutoff race to give drivers who haven’t won yet up until that point one last opportunity to grab an elusive victory and compete for a championship. This year’s race was hosted as the second-to-last race prior to the end of the regular season and the action on track was plentiful. Saturday night’s event saw three-wide racing throughout the field, a lot of drama and in-race storylines and an upset winner who’s had a lackluster season until his first career victory in this late-summer classic.
The race began with Michael McDowell on the pole and leading the race with his teammate Todd Gilliland next to him. Front Row Motorsports took their team name literally to begin and the FRM teammates held their own during the opening stage with fellow Ford drivers, Josh Berry and Joey Logano, who also led laps in the opening Stage. Before Lap 10, the entire pack of 40 cars were going three-wide, going side-by-side around the 2.5-mile Superspeedway. The stage ended with Berry winning it after receiving a push from Chris Buescher. Berry collected ten extra points towards the regular season and his Rookie of the Year campaign.
During the caution, cars came down pit road, since a lot of fuel strategy took place during the race with drivers needing to save as much fuel as possible to get to the end of each stage. During a pit stop, Daniel Suarez’s #99 Coke Zero Sugar Chevrolet caught fire, leaving his crew chief, Travis Mack confused about where this fire came from and how it destroyed their car and ending their race on lap 37.
The race resumed on lap 42 with Joey Logano and Chris Buescher lining up on the front row for the restart. The Fords showed speed all evening and Stage 2 was no different. On the bubble watch were Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain, both fighting to get into the Playoffs on points or with a win with two races to go. Wallace powered to the front on lap 46, showcasing his ability to run up front and possibly compete for that final bubble spot. It didn’t take long for chaos and calamity to ensue, however. On lap 61, Corey LaJoie got into Noah Gragson for the second week in a row, causing Gragson to spin into John Hunter Nemechek who collected Chastain and the rest of the field in the accident. This wreck eliminated Denny Hamlin, who already has a huge points loss due to an improper engine inspection process, Ryan Preece, who’s still looking for a ride in 2025, Gragson and Chase Elliott, who’s fighting for the regular season championship against Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick. LaJoie was able to continue, but would be multiple laps down.
The race resumed on lap 67, with Chris Buescher to the lead. Buescher was one of the drivers fighting for one of those coveted Playoff spots. It didn’t take long for the New Zealander, Shane van Gisbergen’s engine to expire on lap 82. At the same time, Erik Jones and Martin Truex Jr. both had tires go flat going down the backstretch. The loss of track time for van Gisbergen is a huge setback, as he is moving to the Cup Series in 2025 and needs all the experience he can get on the big oval tracks, since he predominantly has a road racing background.
Stage 2 ended with Kyle Larson and Brad Keselowski running around the 2.5-mile Speedway side-by-side for first and second. Keselowski lost the stage win to Joey Logano, who utilized his teammate, Ryan Blaney to give him a push on the outside line coming into Turn 1 on the last lap of the final stage. The race resumed with Brad Keselowski and Austin Cindric up front. Cindric was the first-place car, but did not get going on the restart, causing Keselowski to beat Cindric at the line. NASCAR black-flagged him for this, meaning he had to come down pit road to serve a penalty, surrendering the lead. With nine laps to go, Michael McDowell, who reclaimed the lead, received a bad push from Team Penske driver, Austin Cindric sending McDowell down the middle of the track off of Turn 1. This caused him to get door-slammed by Joey Logano, who was also a front-runner all night. This accident took out a lot of competitive cars, including Rick Ware Racing’s Justin Haley, who led a lot of laps prior to the accident and was in contention to take his underdog team into the Playoffs. Involved in this accident was also Bubba Wallace, who needed every point he could get for his triumph.
The race resumed with Rookie Josh Berry and Austin Cindric on the front row. Not even a full lap later, Berry was turned into Cindric, sending Berry upside down and slamming into the wall on his roof. Berry let it be known later that the crash was not as bad as it looked, despite the safety team taking a while to rescue Berry from his mangled race car. Berry showed a lot of speed this night and will be a force to be reckoned with when he takes over the Wood Brothers Racing Ford next season.
The final restart saw veteran Kyle Busch alongside Harrison Burton, the current Wood Brothers Racing driver who’s had a rough three seasons during his stint with the team and is being let go at the conclusion of the season. With Busch’s win streak and Burton’s entire career on the line, the drivers raced each other respectfully around the Daytona International Speedway, with Busch getting as far as a car-length ahead of Burton for the lead. Busch took the white flag, signifying one lap to go before the checkered and had a push coming from Christopher Bell. While Busch had help from Bell, NASCAR Xfinity Series standout Parker Retzlaff gave Burton a push to the lead. Coming off of Turn 4 for the final time, Busch went low to pass Burton, with Burton going below the double yellow out-of-bounds line to block, allowing Burton to win the Coke Zero Sugar 400. Jeff Burton, Harrison’s father, was ecstatic to see his son finally emerge victorious and screamed from the NBC booth. The elder Burton called his son in at the end of the race to congratulate him, sharing a wholesome moment on TV.
Burton’s stock has gone up drastically after his first-career victory, considering Burton’s 34th position in the championship standings. His jump from Xfinity to Cup has been a struggle and winning Saturday night’s race is sure to turn a lot of owner’s heads in terms of 2025. This win is an indicator that the Wood Brothers are as strong as ever and Burton can get it done at Superspeedways in any of the NASCAR Series. Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come for both NASCAR’s oldest team and youngest winner this year. This also means that the playoff picture is shaken up, leaving Bubba Wallace -21 behind the cutline and Ross Chastain -27 below. They will likely have to win Sunday’s Cookout Southern 500, as Chris Buescher is +21 to the good. Sunday night will get wild, as Darlington Raceway is known as “the track too tough to tame” and left fans in awe after the spring race there. Catch it Sunday at 6PM EST on USA.
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