Coke Zero 400 - Race Summaries

Race Summaries

• 1963: The Firecracker race was lengthened from 250 miles to 400 in 1963, and one of Fireball Roberts' final wins came in this race. In a highly competitive race (39 official lead changes) Junior Johnson won the pole and battled Roberts until falling out with a burned piston while leading with 50 laps to go. Fred Lorenzen took over and the two Fords battled until Roberts passed Lorenzen on the final lap.

• 1964: The hemi-head Dodges dominated the big tracks in 1964, and in the Firecracker that July Richard Petty led all but one of the first 103 laps, but then blew up. That season's Indianapolis champion, A.J. Foyt, was entered in a Ray Nichels Dodge and after Petty fell out Foyt fought it out with teammate Bobby Isaac; the lead bounced around 17 times between the two before Foyt won on the final lap. The weekend was marred, however, as Fred Lorenzen was injured in a bad crash during practice, and word came down that Fireball Roberts had died of injuries sustained in a savage fire in the World 600 six weeks earlier.

• 1971: Restrictor plates debuted in NASCAR in August 1970 and had become a constant source of controversy in 1971 over differing plate sizes for different engines. Team owner Nord Krauskopf withdrew the #71 Dodges of Bobby Isaac after the Motor State 400 in June, but for July was persuaded by crew chief Harry Hyde to enter with a wedge-head engine, which was allowed a larger plate than hemi-head engines. Isaac started the Firecracker 21st but raced to the front quickly. His Dodge and that of Buddy Baker raced the Plymouths of Richard Petty and Pete Hamilton all day; these four cars led 145 of 160 laps and Isaac led a four-car sweep of the top spots, this despite nearly being black flagged for a broken hood pin that began bending his hood toward his windshield. The lead changed 35 times among eight drivers.

• 1974: The most audacious finish in NASCAR history. David Pearson had become a superspeedway power in the Wood Brothers Mercury starting in April 1972 and by the 1974 Firecracker had won 20 times in the #21. The '74 Firecracker began as a multicar battle between Pearson, the Allison brothers (Bobby and Donnie), A.J. Foyt, Buddy Baker, Cale Yarborough, and Richard Petty. The lead changed 45 times (a race record broken in 2010) among nine drivers. Bobby Allison debuted in Roger Penske's AMC Matador and led 50 laps; a broken intake valve dropped him out of contention in the final 20 laps. Pearson, Petty, Baker, and Cale were now alone for the win and the finish shook into a Pearson-Petty showdown with Baker and Cale left half a straightaway back racing for third. Petty was in the draft of Pearson, waiting for the last moment to storm past with no chance of a counterattack by Pearson. Knowing this, Pearson took the white flag and immediately hit his brakes, forcing a surprised Petty to swerve right and take the lead; Petty took a seven car-length lead, but Pearson got back on the gas and caught Petty's draft; he shot forward and in Four swung underneath Petty, who swerved to cut him off but left room for Pearson to clear. Pearson took the win and it left Petty angry enough that he confronted Pearson in the press box after the race. Amid all this, Baker and Cale hit the stripe for third at an exact instant, the first tie in modern NASCAR history.

• 1977: Petty won the Firecracker in 1975, and in 1977 he rebounded from a disappointing 1976 season to win four races in the season's first half. This race saw the entry of female racers Janet Guthrie, Christine Beckers, and Lella Lombardi; none, however, were around at the end as an early Bobby Allison/Cale Yarborough fight gave way to a runaway by Petty. "I wish people would stop complaining about the Chevrolets," runner-up Darrell Waltrip said afterward. "A Dodge (Neil Bonnett) won the pole and Petty blew my doors off."

• 1980: The lead changed 41 times among nine drivers as sophomore sensation Dale Earnhardt tried to run down the Bud Moore Mercury of Bobby Allison; Earnhardt, though, got into a race with David Pearson and this allowed Allison to breeze to the win. The final lap, however, saw a huge crash well after Allison took the win, as Phil Finney spun off Four, plowed into an earth embankment, and flew 20 feet off the ground before landing at the pit entrance.

• 1981: Cale Yarborough passed Harry Gant on the final lap for the win.

• 1982: "Geoff Bodine tried to kick my Pontiac for a field goal," said Richard Petty of a late-race melee that eliminated him, Harry Gant, and several others chasing Bobby Allison. Allison edged Bill Elliott for the win and a Daytona season sweep.

• 1984: Petty ground past Cale Yarborough racing to the race-ending yellow in front of President Ronald Reagan for his 200th NASCAR win.

• 1985: Greg Sacks authored the race's biggest upset when he overpowered Bill Elliott for the win.

• 1986: Tim Richmond won his only Daytona race as a late-race wreck eliminated Buddy Baker and Dale Earnhardt.

• 1987: The race was run with smaller carburators following Bobby Allison's Talladega crash; Allison got back on the lead lap in the final laps, then in a five-lap finish bolted past Dave Marcis, Harry Gant, and Ken Schrader to the win, to the surprise of many (including the race's broadcaster ABC Sports) who thought he was still a lap down. On the final lap Schrader blew a tire and flipped into Gant, nearly climbing the fencing; NASCAR went from smaller carburators to restrictor plates after 1987.

• 1988: In the first restrictor plate Firecracker 400 since 1973, Bill Elliott edged upstart Rick Wilson in a five-car scramble.

• 1989: Mark Martin came back from a mid-race spin, but ran out of gas in the final laps. Davey Allison edged Morgan Shepherd, who misread the flags and thought the final lap was two to go. Lake Speed survived a violent melee on the backstretch when he sideslammed Sterling Marlin and Marlin bounced back into him.

• 1990: Dale Earnhardt won his first Winston Cup race at Daytona after a plethora of wins in Busch Clash's, IROC, and Gatorade 125s over the years. A 20-plus car melee erupted at the end of the opening lap as Greg Sacks made contact with Derrike Cope as they were racing for seventh with Richard Petty; the two cars spun into Petty and most of the field behind them plowed into the mess. Earnhardt dominated the race against a depleted field the rest of the way. This opening pileup is regarded as the original "Big One".

• 1994: Jimmy Spencer authored one of the biggest upsets in the event's history as he ran down Ernie Irvan and beat him by a wheel for his first Winston Cup win and the first for car owner Junior Johnson since 1992. Spencer went low down the backstrech on the final lap to take the lead into turn 3, and led only 1 lap (the final lap) in the entire race.

• 1997: John Andretti dominated en route to his first Winston Cup win and the only win for Cale Yarborough as a car owner. Following a crash with five laps to go between Michael Waltrip, Hut Stricklin, and Ricky Rudd he sweated out a one-lap restart; in Turn Three Mark Martin tried to pass between two other cars and it detonated a huge melee.

• 2001: Dale Earnhardt, Jr. dominated the race, leading for 116 laps, and won the first race to be held at Daytona since his father's death at the Daytona 500. He and Michael Waltrip finished in reverse order of the Daytona 500.

• 2005: Rain delayed the green flag until about 11 p.m. eastern. Tony Stewart took the victory, his first point-paying win at Daytona. After he took the checkered flag, he climbed the catch fence (mimicking a tradition made popular by Helio Castroneves), and actually climbed into the flagstand to retrieve the checkered flag.

• 2007: Perhaps the greatest finish in the race's history came in a ferocious scramble over the event's final seven laps, the final laps run at Daytona before the debut of the Car of Tomorrow. Jeff Gordon had the lead on the restart; teammate Kyle Busch jumped from seventh spot with six to go but Jamie McMurray, rallying from a penalty for passing below the line earlier, jumped in front of him and stormed past Gordon at the stripe; Busch then jumped to the low side and tho two were locked in a ferocious side draft with the rest of the field stacked behind them; McMurray stormed into a clear lead with three to go but Busch caught back up and stormed ahead with two to go, but the two sidedrafted all the way to the stripe and McMurray squeezed ahead by inches, his first Sprint Cup Series win since his 2002 Charlotte win in Sterling Marlin's car.

• 2009: On the final lap, going into the tri-oval, Kyle Busch was hooked head on into the wall by Tony Stewart. Busch's car was then hit by the car Kasey Kahne at an estimated 180 mph, sending the rear of the car airborne. After crossing the start finish line, Busch suffered a third hit from teammate Joey Logano. Busch walked away from the car uninjured but contends to this day that Stewart, a former teammate of Busch, intentionally wrecked him.

• 2010: The 400 was delayed nearly two hours by rain and saw numerous crashes, including a 20-car melee in which Mark Martin had to be helped out of his burning car on pit road. Kyle Busch was leading when he lapped Juan Montoya on the backstretch and Montoya hooked Busch head-on into the wall, a virtual carbon copy of the last-lap wreck from the year before. Kevin Harvick took the win as RCR Chevrolets raced together in the top three for much of the race's final quarter. Sam Hornish, Jr. spent most of the race in the top five, and was in contention for his first-career Cup victory until being tagged in the rear quarter panel by Busch. The lead changed 57 times, a new race record. It was the final race at Daytona before a repaving project.

• 2011: With the two-car tandem draft in effect, drivers sought out drafting partners for the race. Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne was knocked out early, and David Ragan with assistance from Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth grabbed his first career Sprint Cup victory, redeeming himself for the restart lane violation that cost him the 500 in February.

• 2012: Roush teammates Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle combined to lead 124 laps, but a 15-car wreck in the closing laps set up a late race restart.On the first attempt at a Green White Checkerd contact between Kevin Harvick and Greg Biffle Detonated an 8 car melee. Tony Stewart (who started 42nd due to a post-qualifying penalty) passed Kenseth in turn four on the final lap, and came home a surprise winner.