The NASCAR Cup Series concluded the regular season on Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway in the Coca-Cola Zero Sugar 400. Ross Chastain started the race on the pole, with Chris Buescher starting second.
The race was clean for 35 laps until the final lap of stage one. Chris Buescher crashed at the trioval, collecting Kyle Larson and Ryan Preece, while Shane van Gisbergen won the first stage. In the second stage, Ryan Blaney battled Chase Elliott for the lead. He drafted Elliott’s bumper before making a last-lap pass to win the second stage.
In the closing laps of the final stage, Carson Hocevar collided with Erik Jones at Turn 3 to send the race to overtime on lap 155. In overtime, Zane Smith was leading on the final lap when Tyler Reddick made contact with him at the exit of Turn 2, sending him spinning and collecting other cars. Ryan Preece took the lead. Daniel Suarez tried to make a pass, but the caution came out, effectively ending the race. Ryan Preece won his first race of the season and qualified for The Chase. Preece led 5 of 160 laps.
Daniel Suarez, Tyler Reddick, Michael McDowell, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rounded out the top five. Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon, Alex Bowman, Josh Berry, and Cole Custer completed the top ten. Click here to view the full standings. There were 41 lead changes and four cautions for 23 laps. Chase Elliott led a race-high 19 of 160 laps and finished in 23rd place.
The Cup Series begins The Chase next Sunday at Darlington Raceway for the Cook Out Southern 500 at 5 pm on USA.
