| Race details[1] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 18 of 36 in the2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series | |||
 2013 Coke Zero program cover | |||
| Date | July 6, 2013 (2013-07-06) | ||
| Official name | Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona | ||
| Location | Daytona International Speedway inDaytona Beach, Florida | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 2.5 miles (4.023 km) | ||
| Distance | 161 laps, 402.5 mi (647.761 km) | ||
| Scheduled distance | 160 laps, 400 mi (643.738 km) | ||
| Weather | Temperatures reading up to 90 °F (32 °C); wind speeds up to 18 miles per hour (29 km/h)[2] | ||
| Average speed | 154.313 mph (248.343 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Joe Gibbs Racing | ||
| Time | 46.458 seconds | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | |
| Laps | 94 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | TNT | ||
| Announcers | Adam Alexander,Wally Dallenbach Jr. andKyle Petty | ||
| Nielsen ratings | 3.2/7 (5.688 million viewers) | ||
The2013 Coke Zero 400 powered by Coca-Cola was aNASCARSprint Cup Series stock carrace held on July 6, 2013, atDaytona International Speedway inDaytona Beach, Florida. Contested over 161 laps, it was the eighteenth race of the2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.Jimmie Johnson ofHendrick Motorsports won the race, his fourth win of the season and his first Coke Zero 400 win, rendering him the first driver sinceBobby Allison in 1982 to sweep theDaytona 500 and Coke Zero 400 in the same year.Tony Stewart finished second whileKevin Harvick,Clint Bowyer, andMichael Waltrip rounded out the top five.
Daytona International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long.[3] The track's turns are banked at 31 degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at 18 degrees.[3] The backstretch, which has a length of 3,000 feet, has minimal banking that is used for drainage.[3]Tony Stewart was thedefending race winner.[4]
Before the race,Jimmie Johnson was leading theDrivers' Championship with 610 points, whileCarl Edwards stood in second with 572 points.[5] Bowyer followed in the third with 569, twenty-five points ahead ofKevin Harvick and forty-one ahead ofMatt Kenseth in fourth and fifth.[5]Dale Earnhardt Jr., with 512, was in sixth; twelve ahead ofKyle Busch, who was scored seventh.[5] Eighth-placedMartin Truex Jr. was one point ahead ofGreg Biffle and eleven ahead ofJoey Logano in ninth and tenth.[5]Kasey Kahne was eleventh with 478, whileJeff Gordon completed the first twelve positions with 477 points.[5] In theManufacturers' Championship,Chevrolet was leading with 119 points, nine points ahead ofToyota.[6]Ford was third with 87 points.[6]
(R) - Denotes rookie driver.
(i) - Denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
Two practice sessions were held on July 4, 2013, in preparation for the race.[7] The first session lasted for 80 minutes, while second session was 85 minutes long.[7] Prior to the first practice session, NASCAR officials discovered illegal roof flaps in 16 cars. EveryJoe Gibbs Racing,Roush Fenway Racing,Michael Waltrip Racing andPenske Racing cars were involved, along withJamie McMurray,Marcos Ambrose,Casey Mears,Aric Almirola andTrevor Bayne.[8]
During the first practice session,A.J. Allmendinger, for thePhoenix Racing team, was quickest ahead of Bowyer in second and Edwards in third.[9]Juan Pablo Montoya was scored fourth, and Earnhardt Jr. managed fifth.[9]Paul Menard,Danica Patrick,Denny Hamlin, Ambrose, and Johnson rounded out the top ten quickest drivers in the session.[9] In the final practice session for the race,David Reutimann was the quickest of the seventeen drivers who participated.[10]David Ragan followed in second, ahead of Ambrose andJeff Gordon in third and fourth.[10]Michael Waltrip, who was thirty-sixth quickest in second practice,[9] managed fifth.[10]
During qualifying, Kyle Busch clinched his thirteenth careerpole position[11] with a lap time of 46.458 seconds and a speed of 193.723 mph (311.767 km/h).[12] After his qualifying run, Kyle Busch said, "I've not had many opportunities for me to win poles at restrictor-plate races, so I've got to thank the team, all the guys at Joe Gibbs Racing that did such a good job building a slick race car. It's a team effort coming to these places and having great race cars. I'm really excited to be starting up front, especially with my teammate Matt Kenseth on the front row with us."[11] He was joined on the front row of thegrid by Kenseth.[12] Bowyer qualified third, Kahne took fourth, and Truex Jr. started fifth.[12] Menard, Waltrip, Johnson,Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Biffle completed the first ten positions on the grid.[12]
Kyle Busch started on pole, butMatt Kenseth led the first lap. Busch would then re-take the lead and lead the next 30 laps. The first caution waved on lap 24 whenPaul Menard blew an engine.Jimmie Johnson took the lead on the restart at lap 32, as Busch started to drift back in the outside line. Johnson led until lap 70 when the caution came out asJoey Logano hit the wall in the middle of a round of green-flag pit stops. Johnson had not yet pitted and would have to restart 17th behind the cars that had already made pit stops, giving the lead toDenny Hamlin.
Nonetheless, Johnson would draft back up to the front and pushJamie McMurray past Hamlin to take the lead on lap 94. The third caution waved on lap 101 asMartin Truex Jr. got sideways and collected Hamlin andJuan Pablo Montoya, also giving Busch some significant front damage. Truex would be the only one to retire following the crash. Johnson took the lead on the restart and held it all the way until the fourth caution waved on lap 126 for a crash involvingDavid Stremme,Aric Almirola,Greg Biffle, andA. J. Allmendinger in the tri-oval. Both Stremme and Almirola would retire from the race. Following the lap 133 restart, Johnson held the lead and was joined at the front by teammateKasey Kahne (who was subsequently passed by bothKevin Harvick andTony Stewart).
On lap 148, the fifth caution of the race came out for a large crash in the tri-oval. It started whenDenny Hamlin lost control near the entrance of pit road and turned up the track. He went head-on into the wall and was hit byA.J. Allmendinger andDave Blaney, almost causing Hamlin to flip.Matt Kenseth, who swerved while trying to avoid Hamlin, cut down and collectedJeff Gordon andDavid Reutimann, totalling six cars in all. The red flag was displayed for nine minutes to allow for cleanup and the race restarted on lap 154, with Johnson and Kahne jumping ahead of Harvick and Stewart. As they began lap 156, Johnson moved up to block a fast-approachingMarcos Ambrose and nearly lost the lead. However, Johnson blocked Ambrose out of turn two, which caused Ambrose to swerve and knock Kahne into the inside wall, bringing out another caution. Ambrose would subsequently have to pit for repairs as Johnson held the lead.
The race restarted on lap 160 (going past the scheduled distance of 160 laps and eventually ending after 161 laps) for a green-white-checker attempt with Johnson and Stewart holding the lead over Harvick andClint Bowyer. As the field worked through turn one,Carl Edwards was turned around byScott Speed in turn one, collectingMarcos Ambrose,Bobby Labonte,Joe Nemechek, andLandon Cassill. No caution was thrown for this wreck, which happened behind the leaders, and the field continued racing. Approaching the tri-oval, as Johnson held off Stewart to win his fourth race of the season,Danica Patrick cut down the track and was turned byDavid Gilliland, collectingRyan Newman,Kyle Busch,Ricky Stenhouse Jr.,Casey Mears,Greg Biffle,Jeff Burton,Terry Labonte, and more. Harvick, Bowyer, andMichael Waltrip rounded out the top five.
Of note, by winning this race, Johnson became the first driver in 31 years (sinceBobby Allison in 1982) to win the Daytona 500 and the Coke Zero 400 in the same year.[13]
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