Junebug Wins at Daytona !

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins at Daytona: #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Coke Zero 400 Sprint Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway in a Green-White-Checkered finish for his 2nd win of the season, 4th win at Daytona, 10th restrictor plate race win and 25th career win. Earnhardt Jr. led the most laps at 96.
There was a big wreck at the end of the race when #11-Hamlin and #4-Harvick made contact, turning the #11. #3-Dillon's car hit the #11 and launched over the field of cars and into the catchfence. The catchefence was damaged but kept the car on the track. Reports had three fans suffering minor injuries. The #3 Chevy was destroyed, the engine ended up in the grass, but Dillon was uninjured, waving at the crowd after exiting the car.
Unofficially #48-Johnson finished 2nd followed by #11-Hamlin, #4-Harvick, #41-Busch, #24-Gordon, #3-Dillon, #31-Newman, #6-Bayne and #15-Bowyer.
The race was rain delayed until it started 11:42pm/et.
The first wreck was on lap 3 when #38-Gilliland, who was running 4th, came down in front of #15-Bowyer, touching the nose of the #15 and spinning the #38. Other's involved trying to avoid the #38 were: #9-Hornish Jr., #10-Patrick, #16-Biffle, #22-Logano, #26-Burton, #32-Labonte, #46-Annett and #62-Gaughan.
Harvick increases the drivers points lead to 63 points over #88-Earnhardt Jr., who moved to 2nd. #78-Truex Jr. who came into the race in 2nd place, fell to fifth, after wrecking and finishing 38th during one of the big wrecks.
#18-Busch wrecked early but recovered got two free passes and finished 17th.
Busch is 128 points out of 30th (to get in the Chase) and needs around a 13th average finish to crack the top 30 in the 9 races before the Chase.
There were 22 lead changes among 12 drivers. There were 9 cautions for 43 yellow flag laps.
The average speed was 134.941mph.

Race Fast Facts - Daytona: #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the 57th Annual Coke Zero 400, his 25th victory in 558 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.
This is his second victory and 11th top-10 finish in 2015.
This is his fourth victory and 19th top-10 finish in 32 races at Daytona International Speedway.
#48-Jimmie Johnson (second) posted his 14th top-10 finish in 28 races at Daytona International Speedway. It is his 12th top-10 finish in 2015.
#11-Denny Hamlin (third) posted his sixth top-10 finish in 20 races at Daytona International Speedway.
#83-Matt DiBenedetto (26th) was the highest finishing rookie.
#4-Kevin Harvick leads the point standings by 63 points over Dale Earnhardt Jr.
(NASCAR Integrated Sports Marketing)(7-5-2015)