2023 NASCAR Cup Series
[7] Following the 2023 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona, Martin Truex Jr. of Joe Gibbs Racing clinched the regular season championship.
[122] In Daytona 500 qualifying, Alex Bowman of Hendrick Motorsports won the pole and was joined on the front row by teammate Kyle Larson.
Kyle Busch spun while leading after contact with Daniel Suárez and collected Riley Herbst, Austin Hill, and Justin Haley.
Austin Dillon spun after contact with William Byron and collected Chastain, Jimmie Johnson, Zane Smith, and Harrison Burton.
On the restart, Kyle Larson spun and collected Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace, and Travis Pastrana as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the race over Joey Logano under caution.
A. J. Allmendinger got into the wall after contact with Ryan Preece as Byron took the lead from Martin Truex Jr. and held off teammates Larson and Alex Bowman for the win.
Kevin Harvick, who was looking for his 10th career win at Phoenix Raceway, was leading comfortably with 10 laps to go, but a caution came out for a Harrison Burton spin on the frontstretch.
9, as Elliott was injured and Josh Berry, his replacement, is a Xfinity Series regular), 10 playoff points, and fined $100,000 for illegally modifying hood louvers prior to practice, while Denny Hamlin was fined $50,000 and docked 25 points for intentionally wrecking Ross Chastain on the final restart (Hamlin's penalty came after an admission on his Actions Detrimental podcast).
Kevin Harvick spun while leading and collected Josh Berry, Chris Buescher, Harrison Burton, William Byron, and B. J. McLeod.
Ty Dillon made contact with Brad Keselowski and collected Jimmie Johnson, who exited the race early.
Joey Logano got into the wall after contact with Daniel Suárez and collected Corey LaJoie and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., sending the race to overtime.
On the restart, Gragson got into the wall after contact with Ross Chastain and collected Almirola, Kevin Harvick, Ty Gibbs, Kyle Larson, and Ryan Preece.
Late in the race, Erik Jones lost a tire and spun collecting Michael McDowell, Daniel Suárez, Austin Dillon, and Ryan Newman.
Martin Truex Jr. dominated, passing Chase Elliott for the lead and holding off Busch for his second win of the season and fourth at Sonoma.
During Stage 2, Reddick spun coming down pit road due to a right rear wheel separation, resulting in a penalty.
After pit stops and the restart with 3 laps to go, Buescher retained the lead and pulled away from Denny Hamlin for his third career win and locked himself into the playoffs.
Chris Buescher would take the lead after the final round of green flag pit stops and held off a charging Truex for the second straight win.
The race featured international drivers like Shane van Gisbergen, Brodie Kostecki, Mike Rockenfeller, Jenson Button, and Kamui Kobayashi.
On the final lap of stage 2, Ty Gibbs would spin from the lead after a shove from Christopher Bell on turn 4 and cause "The Big One" involving multiple cars including Austin Dillon, Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, Riley Herbst, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. as Brad Keselowski won the second stage.
Kevin Harvick was leading when his teammate Ryan Preece spun after contact with Erik Jones and went airborne and flipped in the infield grass a dozen times before coming to rest on its wheels with 5 laps to go, also collecting Briscoe.
On the restart, Tyler Reddick made a three-wide pass on Logano and Jones and won the race to advance to the next round of the playoffs.
Hamlin would pull away from the field and score the win, advancing to the next round of the playoffs while Kevin Harvick, Logano, Michael McDowell, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were eliminated.
Bubba pulled away on the restart, but Reddick and Erik Jones got in the wall and collected Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, and A. J. Allmendinger.
On the restart, William Byron made a three-wide pass on Wallace and Chase Briscoe and pulled away and held off Ross Chastain to advance to the next round of the playoffs and earning the 300th Cup Series victory for Hendrick Motorsports.
Brad Keselowski won the second stage, but would later make contact with Carson Hocevar and start a big wreck collecting Austin Dillon, Chris Buescher, Harrison Burton, Ty Gibbs, and others which brought out the red flag.
Legacy Motor Club drivers Erik Jones and Carson Hocevar both had flat tires along with Chase Briscoe, resulting in the latter two spinning.
Larson, despite minor damage after getting loose into the wall during Stage 2, held off a charging Bell to win and advance to the Championship 4 in Phoenix.
Their teammate Christopher Bell took the lead from William Byron and held off Blaney to win the race and advance to the Championship 4 in Phoenix.
Chase Elliott and Aric Almirola led most of the final 170 laps, but Blaney passed both and held off Almirola to win the race and advance to the Championship 4 in Phoenix joining Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell along with William Byron while Hamlin, Truex, Tyler Reddick, and Chris Buescher were eliminated from the playoffs.
On lap 109, Christopher Bell got into the wall hard due to a brake rotor failure, taking him out of championship contention early.
