Kyle Busch wins Coke Zero 400 at Daytona
Kyle Busch edged Carl Edwards to win Nascar’s Coke Zero 400 race at Daytona International Speedway yesterday in a photo finish after a last-lap crash. Busch and Edwards were running side by side on the last lap when a wreck in the back of the field brought out the yellow flag. Nascar officials reviewed videotape and determined Busch’s Toyota Camry was ahead of Edwards’ Ford Fusion at the time of the caution.
“I can’t believe we’re here,” Busch, 23, said in a televised interview after the race. “We didn’t have the best car here tonight.” The win extends Busch’s lead in the Sprint Cup Series to 182 points over second-place Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished eighth in the race. It was the Las Vegas driver’s sixth win of the year and the 10th of his Sprint Cup Series career. Busch finished second in the last two July races at Daytona.
Matt Kenseth finished third, Kurt Busch was fourth in a Dodge Charger and David Ragan rounded out the top five. Earnhardt had the top-finishing Chevrolet Impala. A wreck on lap 157 involving seven cars, including last year’s champion Jimmie Johnson, prompted Nascar officials to extend the race for two extra laps. Under Nascar rules, one attempt is made to finish the race under green. The race ran 162 laps, two more circuits of the 2.5-mile (4.02-kilometer) Florida oval than planned.
During the last extra lap, a multiple-car wreck in the back of the field that involved Michael Waltrip, Sam Hornish Jr., Dave Blaney and others gave Busch the victory.
“I hate to lose that thing like that,” second-place finisher Edwards said. “Congrats to Kyle and those guys. I did everything I could.”
J.J. Yeley, who failed to qualify for the race, replaced Tony Stewart, who got out of his Camry because he was ill. The two-time champion was being treated for flu-like systems at the track hospital. Stewart had run as high as third before switching with Yeley on lap 72. Yeley finished 23rd. Jeff Burton fell one spot in the Sprint Cup Series standings to third place. Edwards and defending champion Jimmie Johnson remained in fourth and fifth respectively.