Almirola wins rain shortened Coke Zero 400

After rain postponed the Coke Zero 400 that was originally scheduled for Saturday night, rain once again became a factor in the outcome of today’s Coke Zero 400. After an afternoon of rather bizarre plate racing, Aric Almirola found himself at the front of the field when the caution fell on lap 112 due to rain. Fortunately for Almirola rain never subsided at Daytona International Speedway and the race was later called giving Almirola his first Sprint Cup Series victory of his career. At the time, only 17 cars were scored on the lead lap and half of those cars had sustained damage to their race cars as well. Early in the race at lap 19, 16 cars were involved in a wreck just 1 lap before a competition caution was scheduled to fly at lap 20. The early wreck took out several of the early frontrunners including Tony Stewart, Ricky Stenhouse, Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, and others. However, the “big one” which is infamous at Daytona still was yet to come.

On lap 97, Greg Biffle got into the back of Kasey Kahne which setoff an enormous 26 car wreck that nearly blocked the entire track. After all the smoke had cleared there was nothing but carnage of sheet metal and race cars upon the track. Only about 10 cars survived both of the early big wrecks and the field had been trimmed from 43 cars to just about a dozen cars that could serious contend for the victory. Once the green flag flew following the second “big one”, drivers were racing against Father Time and Mother Nature. Every team knew that rain was in the area but Almirola managed to hold the lead when the rain started following and the cars were brought to pit road at lap 112. NASCAR officially called the race just after 3:00pm (EST) giving Almirola his first career victory on the 30th anniversary of the car owner Richard Petty’s 200th win driving the same #43 car at Daytona.

From a betting standpoint, it was definitely a tough race to watch as several of our race picks were caught up in the big wrecks. However the big risk vs. big reward is just the exciting product of restrictor plate racing and we were on the wrong side of the result this time around. Next week, the Sprint Cup Series visits New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the first time this season. The Sprint Cup Series will actually return to New Hampshire during the 2nd race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup. So not only will next week’s race present an opportunity for guys to earn a spot in the chase but it will give those drivers that will be in the Chase some important notes to come back with in late September. For now take a look at the Coke Zero 400 finishing order and be sure to check back with us throughout the week as we work our way up to the Camping World RV Sales 301 at New Hampshire.

Coke Zero 400 Finishing Order