2017 Coke Zero 400
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The 2017 Coke Zero 400 powered by Coca-Cola was a
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...
race held on July 1, 2017 at
Daytona International Speedway Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR as well as its season opening event. In addition to NA ...
in
Daytona Beach, Florida Daytona Beach, or simply Daytona, is a coastal Resort town, resort-city in east-central Florida. Located on the eastern edge of Volusia County, Florida, Volusia County near the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic coastline, its population ...
. Contested over 163 laps extended from 160 laps due to overtime, on the superspeedway, it was the 17th race of the
2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series The 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series was the 69th season of professional stock car racing in the United States, and the 46th modern-era Cup series season. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the Advance Auto Parts C ...
season.


Report


Background

The race will be held at Daytona International Speedway, a race track located in
Daytona Beach, Florida Daytona Beach, or simply Daytona, is a coastal Resort town, resort-city in east-central Florida. Located on the eastern edge of Volusia County, Florida, Volusia County near the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic coastline, its population ...
,
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. Since opening in 1959, the track is the home of the
Daytona 500 The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of three ...
, the most prestigious race in
NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...
. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hosts races of ARCA,
AMA Superbike AMA Superbike Championship is an American motorcycle racing series that has been run every year beginning in 1976. For most of its existence it has been considered the premier motorcycle road racing series in the United States. It is sanctioned ...
, USCC,
SCCA The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting road racing, rallying, and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional r ...
, and Motocross. It features multiple layouts including the primary high speed
tri-oval A tri-oval is a shape which derives its name from the two other shapes it most resembles, a triangle and an oval. Rather than meeting at sharp, definable angles as the sides of a triangle do, in a tri-oval these angles are instead rounded into sm ...
, a
sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...
course, a motorcycle course, and a karting and motorcycle flat-track. The track's infield includes the Lake Lloyd, which has hosted powerboat racing. The speedway is owned and operated by
International Speedway Corporation International Speedway Corporation (ISC) was a corporation whose primary business is the ownership and management of motorsports race tracks. ISC was founded by NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. in 1953 for the construction of Daytona International ...
. The track was built in 1959 by NASCAR founder William "Bill" France, Sr. to host racing held at the former
Daytona Beach Road Course The Daytona Beach and Road Course was a race track that was instrumental in the formation of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. It originally became famous as the location where 15 world land speed records were set. Beach and ro ...
. His banked design permitted higher speeds and gave fans a better view of the cars. Lights were installed around the track in 1998 and today, it is the third-largest single lit outdoor sports facility. The speedway has been renovated three times, with the infield renovated in 2004 and the track repaved twice — in 1978 and in 2010. On January 22, 2013, the track unveiled artist depictions of a renovated speedway. On July 5 of that year, ground was broken for a project that would remove the backstretch seating and completely redevelop the frontstretch seating. The renovation to the speedway is being worked on by Rossetti Architects. The project, named "Daytona Rising", was completed in January 2016, and it costed
US $ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
400 million, placing emphasis on improving fan experience with five expanded and redesigned fan entrances (called "injectors") as well as wider and more comfortable seating with more restrooms and concession stands. After the renovations, the track's grandstands include 101,000 permanent seats with the ability to increase permanent seating to 125,000. The project was completed before the start of Speedweeks 2016.


Entry list


Practice


First practice

Kyle Busch Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and part-t ...
was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 45.584 seconds and a speed of .


Final practice

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, team owner, author, and an analyst for ''NASCAR on NBC''. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving t ...
was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 46.553 seconds and a speed of .


Qualifying

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, team owner, author, and an analyst for ''NASCAR on NBC''. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving t ...
scored the pole for the race with a time of 47.127 and a speed of .


Qualifying results


Race


First stage

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, team owner, author, and an analyst for ''NASCAR on NBC''. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving t ...
led the field to the green flag at 7:58 p.m., but teammate Chase Elliott passed him in Turn 3 and led the first lap. After leading the first four, Elliott dropped to the bottom and allowed Brad Keselowski to pass him on the high-side going into Turn 1 to take the lead on the fifth lap.
Ryan Sieg Ryan Shane Sieg (born June 20, 1987) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 38 and 39 Ford Mustangs for RSS Racing. He is the younger brother of late ...
and Cole Whitt suffered engine failures on lap 10, bringing out the first caution of the race. The race restarted on lap 13. Denny Hamlin made an unscheduled stop a lap later for a loose wheel, which was a result of having only one lug nut. Fortuitous for him, caution #2 flew two laps later when
D. J. Kennington Douglas James "D. J." Kennington (born July 15, 1977) is a Canadian professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Pinty's Series, driving the No. 17 Dodge Challenger for his own team DJK Racing. He won the 201 ...
spun out moments after blowing his engine in Turn 4. Back to green on lap 20, Kevin Harvick – heading up the bottom line of cars – caught up to and edged out Keselowski at the start/finish line to take the lead on lap 30. The next lap, Earnhardt charged up the extreme outside and inched out both Keselowski and Harvick to lead his first lap of the night. Keselowski reestablished his lead on lap 33, but Earnhardt and Harvick bypassed him on lap 34, with Harvick leading it. Keselowski regained the point on lap 35 and Earnhardt took over on lap 37. Finally, Keselowski gained the upper hand on lap 38 and won the first stage on lap 40, with caution #3 flying moments later for the conclusion of the stage. Erik Jones took over the lead when the others pitted, as he opted not to pit.


Second stage

A lap after resuming action on lap 47, Hamlin took over the lead. Exiting Turn 4 on lap 49, Michael McDowell and
Daniel Suárez Daniel Alejandro Suárez Garza (born January 7, 1992) is a Mexican professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 99 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Trackhouse Racing Team. He previously drove in t ...
made contact and both wound up on the apron. But rather than blend back into the field and risk causing a wreck, both dove full speed down pit road – which NASCAR allows drivers to do to avoid a wreck/avoid causing a wreck – and rejoined the field at the tail-end. Earnhardt cut down a tire and hit the wall in Turn 1 on lap 51, a result of contact with
Paul Menard John Paul Christian Menard (born August 21, 1980) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver who last competed part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 66 Toyota Tundra for ThorSport Racing. Men ...
. Caution flew for the fourth time when
Jeffrey Earnhardt Jeffrey Lynn Earnhardt (born June 22, 1989) is an American professional stock car racing driver who competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro for Alpha Prime Racing. He is the son of Kerry Earnhardt, gran ...
blew an engine on lap 59. The race returned to green on lap 64. Matt Kenseth took the lead from teammate Hamlin on lap 69. Rounding Turn 2 on lap 71,
Kyle Busch Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and part-t ...
suffered a left-rear tire failure and spun out in front of most of the field, resulting in a 10-car wreck, which brought out the fifth caution.
Austin Dillon Austin Reed Dillon (born April 27, 1990) is an American professional stock car racing driver and reality TV show actor. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing. ...
,
Joey Logano Joseph Thomas Logano (born May 24, 1990), is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 22 Ford Mustang for Team Penske, and part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Seri ...
and
Martin Truex Jr. Martin Lee Truex Jr. (born June 29, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. He is the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Serie ...
took the heaviest damage in the melee. The failure was a result of Busch making contact the lap prior with McDowell heading into Turn 1. Logano's comments after he was released from the care center verified supported this, saying he saw McDowell get "into the side of (Busch). I didn’t see any smoke off (Busch’s car), just a near miss. Then four or five laps later I think, the left-rear popped on and around (Busch) started going and we were there." Racing resumed on lap 76 and Kenseth drove on to win the second stage. Caution #6 flew moments later for the end of the stage. Harvick elected not to pit and usurped the lead under the caution.


Final stage

On the lap 86 restart,
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Richard Lynn Stenhouse Jr. (born October 2, 1987) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 47 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for JTG Daugherty Racing. Stenhouse was the 2010 Nationw ...
passed Harvick heading down the backstretch to take the lead.
Brendan Gaughan William Brendan Gaughan (born July 10, 1975) is an American professional racing driver who has competed in off-road and stock cars. He is the grandson of Vegas gaming pioneer Jackie Gaughan and son of Michael Gaughan, a hotel and casino magnate. ...
made contact with the wall in Turn 2 on lap 90, bringing out the seventh caution. Suárez took the lead when Stenhouse pitted. Back to green on lap 96, Elliott and McDowell made contact exiting Turn 2 on lap 98, which sent Elliott spinning down the backstretch, collecting Trevor Bayne in the process. This brought out the eighth caution. On the ensuing lap 102 restart, Kenseth took back the lead from teammate Suárez, only to lose it two laps later to
Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Kenneth Johnson (born September 17, 1975) is an American professional auto racing driver. A seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, he competes part-time in the series driving for Petty GMS Motorsports. Johnson's seven Cup championships, ...
. Caution #9 flew a lap later when Harvick suffered a rear tire blowout and spun out in Turn 2, collecting Earnhardt and three others. Earnhardt said afterwards that he wished he "had had a good finish tonight if not a win. We were working up in there and having a good time and being aggressive and wearing out the sides of that race car. It just wasn't to be." Clint Bowyer took the lead when Johnson pitted. Restart flew on lap 111. The next lap around, Stenhouse was back in front. Caution flew for the 10th time on lap 117 when Keselowski spun out in Turn 4. Stenhouse and Bowyer pitted, handing the lead back to Kenseth. When the field reached the backstretch on the lap 121, Kasey Kahne was turned by
David Ragan David Lee Ragan (born December 24, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 15 Ford Mustang for Rick Ware Racing, and is also an analyst for NASCAR on Fox ...
and spun down onto the apron, bringing out the 11th caution. The race restarted on lap 125.
Ryan Blaney Ryan Michael Blaney (born December 31, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 12 Ford Mustang for Team Penske. He is the son of former NASCAR driver Dave Blaney ...
made a crossover move on Kenseth on the backstretch to take the lead with 33 laps to go. Caution flew for the 12th time a lap later when
Matt DiBenedetto Matthew Guido DiBenedetto (born July 27, 1991) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 25 Chevrolet Silverado for Rackley WAR. Racing career Early care ...
when he suffered a right-front tire failure and slammed the wall. The race resumed with 28 to go. Stenhouse worked his way back to the front with 25 to go, with Kahne taking over the following lap. From 22 to 20 to go, he and Suárez battled side-by-side for the lead, with Kahne taking sole control with 19 to go. With 11 to go, Stenhouse side-drafted him down the backstretch to retake the lead. Ty Dillon was credited as the leader with nine to go. Coming to the line with eight to go,
Kyle Larson Kyle Miyata Larson (born July 31, 1992) is an American professional auto racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports. Larson is the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champ ...
got turned into the tri-oval wall, lifting his car into the air for a few seconds. After his car landed back on the ground, it was t-boned by Blaney and made contact with Kenseth. This triggered a multi-car wreck that brought out the 13th caution, as well as an eight-minute and 41-second red flag. Dillon lacked draft help on the ensuing restart with three to go, while Ragan got an excellent push to take the race lead. But a 2-car spin on the backstretch involving Jones and Hamlin sent the race into overtime and brought out the 14th caution.


Overtime

Heading down the backstretch in overtime with two to go, Ragan jumped to the high line and left the bottom open. Stenhouse pounced on the opening, took the lead going into Turn 3 and drove on to score the victory.


Post-race

Stenhouse said in victory lane that his win validated "what we did at Talladega. We have been working hard at Roush Fenway and this pushes us further along. This Ford Performance team has been amazing. Ford has been dominant.” Bowyer, who finished runner-up, said being bridesmaid "sucks. I want to win. We’re in this business to win. That's what Tony (Stewart) and Gene (Haas) pay me to do." He also added that Stenhouse had "the fastest car right then. He did a good job getting it to the front, and she set sail. He does a good job of blocking. He's learned a lot. He's become a good estrictor-late racer. I remember when he came in, he was a little bit chaotic, but he's not now. He's got it figured out, and he's won two of them." McDowell, who finished a career-best fourth, on top of his six top-20 finishes in eight races, said it's awesome "to do this week after week. We’ve been putting together solid runs. At the same time, coming to the line second, I thought I had a shot at (Stenhouse) but just they had such a big run behind I couldn't hold them off.” Ragan, who finished sixth after leading on the final restart, said he "made one bad move," and a few other "bad moves tonight," but that he was in a damned if he did and damned if he didn't scenario. "So if it was Thursday and you said ‘We’ll give a sixth-place finish,’ I probably would have taken that coming down to Daytona because my record hasn’t been that great the last several years here," he added. "I’ve been caught up in wrecks and haven’t been able to finish one of these things clean, but to be that close is bittersweet. It hurts, but I got a lot of racing left and I’m a tough guy. I can handle it.”


Race results


Stage results

Stage 1 ''Laps:'' 40 Stage 2 ''Laps:'' 40


Final stage results

Stage 3 ''Laps:'' 83


Race statistics

* Lead changes: 16 among different drivers * Cautions/Laps: 14 for 51 * Red flags: 1 for 8 minutes and 41 seconds * Time of race: 3 hours, 17 minutes and 12 seconds * Average speed:


Media


Television

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its d ...
will cover the race on the television side. Rick Allen,
Jeff Burton Jeffrey Tyler Burton (born June 29, 1967), nicknamed The Mayor, is an American former professional stock car racing driver and current racing commentator. He scored 21 career victories in the NASCAR Cup Series, including two Coca-Cola 600s in ...
and Steve Letarte will call in the booth for the race. Dave Burns,
Parker Kligerman Parker L. Kligerman (born August 8, 1990) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series driving the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro for Big Machine Racing. Kligerman is a former development driver ...
, Marty Snider and Kelli Stavast report from pit lane during the race.


Radio

MRN will have the radio call for the race which was also be simulcasted on
Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...
NASCAR Radio.


Standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings ;Manufacturers' Championship standings *Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings. *. – Driver has clinched a position in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coke Zero 400 2017 Coke Zero 400 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 2017 in sports in Florida July 2017 sports events in the United States