2023 Coke Zero Sugar 400

Race details[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]
Race 26 of 36 in the2023 NASCAR Cup Series
Date	August 26, 2023 (2023-08-26)
Location	Daytona International Speedway inDaytona Beach, Florida
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	2.5 miles (4 km)
Distance	163 laps, 407.5 mi (652 km)
Scheduled distance	160 laps, 400 mi (640 km)
Average speed	158.389 miles per hour (254.902 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing
Time	49.499
Most laps led
Driver	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing
Laps	67
Winner
No. 17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing
Television in the United States
Network	NBC
Announcers	Rick Allen,Jeff Burton,Steve Letarte andDale Earnhardt Jr.
Radio in the United States
Radio	MRN
Booth announcers	Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle andRusty Wallace
Turn announcers	Dave Moody (1 & 2),Mike Bagley (Backstretch) and Jason Toy (3 & 4)

The2023 Coke Zero Sugar 400 was aNASCAR Cup Seriesrace held on August 26, 2023, atDaytona International Speedway inDaytona Beach, Florida. Contested over 163 laps—extended from 160 laps due to anovertime finish, on the 2.5-mile (4.0 km) superspeedway, it was the 26th race of the2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, and the final race of the regular season before the playoffs.

The race was held atDaytona International Speedway, arace track located inDaytona Beach, Florida,United States. Since its opening in 1959, the track has been the home of theDaytona 500, the most prestigious race inNASCAR. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hostsARCA,AMA Superbike,USCC,SCCA, andMotocross races. It features multiple layouts including the primary 2.5 miles (4.0 km) high speedtri-oval, a 3.56 miles (5.73 km)sports car course, a 2.95 miles (4.75 km) motorcycle course, and a .25 miles (0.40 km) karting and motorcycle flat-track. The track's 180-acre (73 ha) infield includes the 29-acre (12 ha) Lake Lloyd, which has hostedpowerboat racing. The speedway is owned and operated byInternational Speedway Corporation.

The track was built in 1959 by NASCAR founderWilliam "Bill" France, Sr. to host racing held at the formerDaytona Beach Road Course. 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 was done by Rossetti Architects. The project, named "Daytona Rising", was completed in January 2016, at a cost ofUS $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 included 101,000 permanent seats with the ability to increase permanent seating to 125,000.^[9][10] The project was completed before the start ofSpeedweeks.

Before the race,Kurt Busch, who had not race since the2022 Ambetter 301, announced he was retiring from full-time racing, as he suffered a concussionthe following week at Pocono.^[11]

• (R) denotes rookie driver.
• (i) denotes the driver ineligible for series driver points.

Chase Briscoe scored the pole for the race with a time 49.499 of and a speed of 181.822 mph (292.614 km/h).^[12]

RFK Racing finished 1-2 during the race, with the No. 17 winning, but the team's triumph was overshadowed by two massive wrecks.

Right before the end of Stage 2,Christopher Bell turned his teammateTy Gibbs into the rear ofRyan Blaney which sent Blaney head on into the outside wall at nearly full speed, triggering a massive pileup that collected the latter two drivers, as well as several others includingAustin Cindric,Austin Dillon,Kevin Harvick,Kyle Larson,Denny Hamlin,Brennan Poole,A. J. Allmendinger,Harrison Burton,Riley Herbst,Tyler Reddick, andRicky Stenhouse Jr.

Later on, during lap 155,Ryan Preece's No. 41 Ford was spun around after getting rear ended byErik Jones on the backstretch where Preece's car turned left into his teammateChase Briscoe and the two went spinning in the infield grass. Preece's car caught air and subsequently went barrel rolling 10 times in the infield grass before coming to a rest on all four tires. Preece walked out a few minutes later under his own power and was placed on a stretcher and taken into an ambulance. After the race was over, Preece was transported to a nearby hospital for further evaluation, from which he was released the next morning. This was the third time a Next Gen car flipped over and the second at Daytona, afterHarrison Burton's flip in the2022 Daytona 500. Preece would race in thenext race at Darlington. He revealed in his interviews the following race at Darlington that he had twoblack andbloodshot eyes as a result from the wreck. The car was taken back to the NASCAR Research and Development center to be studied. Safety concerns emerged on social media following the race as film of the crash showed that the roof hatch, designed to allow the driver to escape from the car through a method other than via the driver's side window, was detached from the car early in the crash, exposing the cockpit during the remainder of the crash.

Stage OneLaps: 35

Stage TwoLaps: 60

Stage ThreeLaps: 65

• Lead changes: 22 among 17 different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 3 for 18 laps
• Red flags: 1 for 9 minutes, 28 seconds
• Time of race: 2 hours, 34 minutes, and 22 seconds
• Average speed: 158.389 miles per hour (254.902 km/h)

NBC Sports covered the race on the television side.Rick Allen, 2000 Coke Zero 400 winnerJeff Burton,Steve Letarte and two-time Coke Zero 400 winnerDale Earnhardt Jr. called the race from the broadcast booth.Dave Burns,Parker Kligerman, and Marty Snider handled the pit road duties from pit lane.

MRN had the radio call for the race, which was also simulcast onSirius XMNASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle, and 1989 NASCAR Cup Series ChampionRusty Wallace called the action for MRN when the field races thru the front straightaway.Dave Moody called the action for MRN from atop theSunoco tower outside the exit of turn 2 when the field races thru turns 1 & 2.Mike Bagley worked the Daytona Backstretch for MRN from a spotter's stand in the inside of the track. Jason Toy worked the action for MRN when the field races thru turns 3 & 4. Pit road was operated by lead pit reporter Steve Post, Kim Coon, Alex Weaver, andBrienne Pedigo.

Drivers' Championship standings after Playoffs reset Pos Driver Points 2 1 William Byron 2,036 1 2 Martin Truex Jr. 2,036 (–0) 1 3 Denny Hamlin 2,025 (–11) 3 4 Chris Buescher 2,021 (–15) 6 5 Kyle Busch 2,019 (–17) 1 6 Kyle Larson 2,017 (–19) 3 7 Christopher Bell 2,014 (–22) 8 Ross Chastain 2,011 (–25) 3 9 Brad Keselowski 2,010 (–26) 2 10 Tyler Reddick 2,009 (–27) 2 11 Joey Logano 2,008 (–28) 3 12 Ryan Blaney 2,008 (–28) 4 13 Michael McDowell 2,007 (–29) 1 14 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 2,005 (–31) 5 15 Kevin Harvick 2,004 (–32) 2 16 Bubba Wallace 2,000 (–36) Official driver's standings

Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 960 1 2 Ford 895 (–65) 1 3 Toyota 892 (–68) Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.

• NASCAR races at Daytona International Speedway
• 2023 NASCAR Cup Series
• 2023 in sports in Florida
• August 2023 sports events in the United States

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