2011 Coke Zero 400
Contested over 160 laps on the 2.5-mile (4.0 km) asphalt tri-oval, it was the 17th race of the 2011 Sprint Cup Series season.
[4] The standard track at Daytona International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long.
[10] In the only practice session for the race, Marcos Ambrose was the quickest with a time of 45.133 seconds.
[11] Kurt Busch was scored third ahead of Brad Keselowski, and Mark Martin in fourth and fifth.
[13] He was joined on the front row of the grid by 2011 Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne.
[13] Clint Bowyer qualified third, Jeff Gordon took fourth, and David Ragan started fifth.
[13] Pole sitter Mark Martin led the first lap of the race with his teammate Jeff Gordon pushing him.
Outside pole sitter and reigning Daytona 500 champ Trevor Bayne attempted to take the lead on lap 2 with Clint Bowyer but failed to get in front of Martin and Gordon.
On lap 18, Carl Edwards took the lead with his teammate Greg Biffle for a brief moment before Busch took it back in turn 3.
On lap 41, Kasey Kahne took the lead with Brian Vickers behind him after Ragan and Kenseth swapped.
Unfortunately, a bad night would get a lot worse for Carl Edwards as Edwards had no crush panel to help him breathe from inside the racecar as he drove around without one for over 20 laps and ended up getting sick and actually throwing up from the inside of his helmet and all over his suit and the car.
Kasey Kahne won the race off of pit road and he would lead the field to the restart on lap 54.
On lap 103, Martin Truex Jr. would take the lead after Busch and Logano swapped positions.
With 46 to go, Kevin Harvick took the lead with Paul Menard behind him after Montoya and McMurray switched.
At the same time, the 4th caution would fly for a five car incident in turns 3 and 4 involving Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Jeff Gordon, and Juan Pablo Montoya that saw Gordon spin and somehow not damage his car.
But in turn 2, the first big wreck would occur taking out 15 cars and the 5th caution to fly.
The cars involved were Mark Martin, Brian Vickers, Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr., Clint Bowyer, Joe Nemechek, Regan Smith, Landon Cassill, Kasey Kahne, Casey Mears, Travis Kvapil, Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, David Reutimann, and David Gilliland.
Eventually, Joey Logano had a big run and made it three wide for the lead with Kasey Kahne behind him and ended up causing Newman and Hamlin to fall back in the pack.
The second being off of turn 4 when Jamie McMurray got into Dale Earnhardt Jr. causing both to spin and collecting Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Jeff Burton, Travis Kvapil, Ryan Newman, Juan Pablo Montoya, A. J. Allmendinger, Jimmie Johnson, and Regan Smith.
As a result of the accidents, the 6th and final caution would fly just before the cars crossed the finish line and David Ragan would make it up for the Daytona 500 mistake and score his first career Cup Series win in his 163rd Cup Series start.
Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Kasey Kahne, and Kyle Busch would round out the top 5 while Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Paul Menard, Juan Pablo Montoya, and A. J. Allmendinger rounded out the top 10.
