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2021 Coke Zero Sugar 400
Race details
Race 26 of 36 in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series
Date	August 28, 2021
Location	Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida
Course	Permanent racing facility; 2.5 mi (4 km)
Distance	165 laps, 412.5 mi (663.9 km)
Scheduled Distance	160 laps, 400 mi (640 km)
Average speed	142.201 miles per hour (228.850 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Kyle Larson;
	Grid positions set by competition-based formula
Most laps led
Driver	Joey Logano
Laps	37
Winner
No. 12	Ryan Blaney
Television in the United States
Network	NBC
Announcers	Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Radio in the United States
Radio	MRN
Booth Announcers	Alex Hayden and Jeff Striegle
Turn Announcers	Dave Moody (1 & 2), Mike Bagley (Backstretch) and Kyle Rickey (3 & 4)

The 2021 Coke Zero Sugar 400 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on August 28, 2021, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Contested over 165 laps -- extended from 160 laps due to an overtime finish, on the 2.5-mile (4.0 km) superspeedway, it was the 26th race of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, and the final race of the regular season before the playoffs.

Ryan Blaney won an incident-filled race in overtime, while Tyler Reddick, who finished in fifth place, secured the final spot in the playoffs.

Report

Background

The race was held at Daytona International Speedway, a race track located in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since its opening in 1959, the track has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hosts ARCA, AMA Superbike, USCC, SCCA, and Motocross races. It features multiple layouts including the primary 2.5 miles (4.0 km) high speed tri-oval, a 3.56 miles (5.73 km) sports car course, a 2.95 miles (4.75 km) motorcycle course, and a .25 miles (0.40 km) karting and motorcycle flat-track. The track's 180-acre (73 ha) infield includes the 29-acre (12 ha) Lake Lloyd, which has hosted powerboat racing. The speedway is owned and operated by International Speedway Corporation.

The track was built in 1959 by NASCAR founder William "Bill" France, Sr. to host racing held at the former Daytona Beach Road Course. His banked design permitted higher speeds and gave fans a better view of the cars. Lights were installed around the track in 1998 and today, it is the third-largest single lit outdoor sports facility. The speedway has been renovated three times, with the infield renovated in 2004 and the track repaved twice — in 1978 and in 2010.

On January 22, 2013, the track unveiled artist depictions of a renovated speedway. On July 5 of that year, ground was broken for a project that would remove the backstretch seating and completely redevelop the frontstretch seating. The renovation to the speedway was done by Rossetti Architects. The project, named "Daytona Rising", was completed in January 2016, at a cost of US $400 million, placing emphasis on improving fan experience with five expanded and redesigned fan entrances (called "injectors") as well as wider and more comfortable seating with more restrooms and concession stands. After the renovations, the track's grandstands included 101,000 permanent seats with the ability to increase permanent seating to 125,000.^[7]^[8] The project was completed before the start of Speedweeks.

Entry list

(R) denotes rookie driver.
(i) denotes driver who are ineligible for series driver points.

No.	Driver	Team	Manufacturer
00	Quin Houff	StarCom Racing	Chevrolet
1	Kurt Busch	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet
2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford
3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet
4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford
5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet
6	Ryan Newman	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford
7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet
8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet
9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet
10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford
11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford
14	Chase Briscoe (R)	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford
15	Joey Gase (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Ford
16	Kaz Grala (i)	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet
17	Chris Buescher	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford
18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
21	Matt DiBenedetto	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford
22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford
23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota
24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet
34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford
37	Ryan Preece	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet
38	Anthony Alfredo (R)	Front Row Motorsports	Ford
41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford
42	Ross Chastain	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet
43	Erik Jones	Richard Petty Motorsports	Chevrolet
47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet
48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet
51	Cody Ware (i)	Petty Ware Racing	Chevrolet
52	Josh Bilicki	Rick Ware Racing	Ford
53	Garrett Smithley (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet
66	David Starr (i)	MBM Motorsports	Ford
77	Justin Haley (i)	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet
78	B. J. McLeod (i)	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford
96	Landon Cassill (i)	Gaunt Brothers Racing	Toyota
99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet
Official entry list

Qualifying

Kyle Larson was awarded the pole for the race as determined by competition-based formula.^[4]

Starting Lineup

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Manufacturer
1	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet
2	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet
3	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
4	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
5	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet
6	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford
7	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
8	1	Kurt Busch	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet
9	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford
10	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford
11	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford
12	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet
13	17	Chris Buescher	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford
14	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
15	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet
16	14	Chase Briscoe (R)	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford
17	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet
18	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford
19	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford
20	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota
21	43	Erik Jones	Richard Petty Motorsports	Chevrolet
22	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford
23	6	Ryan Newman	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford
24	37	Ryan Preece	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet
25	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford
26	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet
27	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet
28	77	Justin Haley (i)	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet
29	42	Ross Chastain	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet
30	78	B. J. McLeod (i)	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford
31	51	Cody Ware (i)	Petty Ware Racing	Chevrolet
32	38	Anthony Alfredo (R)	Front Row Motorsports	Ford
33	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet
34	53	Garrett Smithley (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet
35	00	Quin Houff	StarCom Racing	Chevrolet
36	52	Josh Bilicki	Rick Ware Racing	Ford
37	15	Joey Gase (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Ford
38	16	Kaz Grala (i)	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet
39	96	Landon Cassill (i)	Gaunt Brothers Racing	Toyota
40	66	David Starr (i)	MBM Motorsports	Ford
Official starting lineup

Race

Kyle Larson was awarded the pole for the race. Chase Elliott won the first stage while Joey Logano won the second stage. Logano led the most laps in the race. Several lead changes occurred and the race was red-flagged due to a multicar wreck late in the race. In overtime, Ryan Blaney took the lead and won the race as a nine-car wreck occurred in turn 3 on the final lap. Blaney scored his second consecutive win and third win of the season. Larson won the regular season championship while Tyler Reddick clinched the final spot in the playoffs. B. J. McLeod and Josh Bilicki got their first top 10 results in this race.

Stage Results

Stage One Laps: 50

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	10
2	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	9
3	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	8
4	42	Ross Chastain	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	7
5	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	6
6	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	5
7	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	4
8	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	3
9	37	Ryan Preece	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	2
10	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	1
Official stage one results

Stage Two Laps: 50

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	10
2	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	9
3	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	8
4	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	7
5	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	6
6	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	5
7	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	4
8	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	3
9	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	2
10	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	1
Official stage two results

Final Stage Results

Stage Three Laps: 60

Pos	Grid	No	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Points
1	6	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	165	45
2	20	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	165	37
3	23	6	Ryan Newman	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	165	34
4	24	37	Ryan Preece	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	165	35
5	17	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	165	39
6	28	77	Justin Haley (i)	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	165	0
7	15	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	165	30
8	5	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	165	39
9	30	78	B. J. McLeod (i)	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	165	0
10	36	52	Josh Bilicki	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	165	27
11	21	43	Erik Jones	Richard Petty Motorsports	Chevrolet	165	26
12	8	1	Kurt Busch	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	165	25
13	3	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	165	33
14	19	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	165	23
15	11	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	165	22
16	33	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	164	25
17	27	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	164	34
18	29	42	Ross Chastain	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	164	26
19	26	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	164	18
20	1	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	164	23
21	16	14	Chase Briscoe (R)	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	164	16
22	12	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	164	19
23	22	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	164	27
24	25	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	164	13
25	9	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	164	12
26	32	38	Anthony Alfredo (R)	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	163	11
27	40	66	David Starr (i)	MBM Motorsports	Ford	163	0
28	31	51	Cody Ware (i)	Petty Ware Racing	Chevrolet	163	0
29	7	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	163	14
30	34	53	Garrett Smithley (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	163	0
31	37	15	Joey Gase (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	162	0
32	14	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	157	7
33	10	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	156	4
34	4	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	156	14
35	38	16	Kaz Grala (i)	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	156	0
36	39	96	Landon Cassill (i)	Gaunt Brothers Racing	Toyota	146	0
37	2	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	146	9
38	35	00	Quin Houff	StarCom Racing	Chevrolet	136	1
39	18	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	23	1
DSQ	13	17	Chris Buescher^[a]	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	165	1
Official race results

Race statistics

Lead changes: 45 among 15 different drivers
Cautions/Laps: 8 for 31
Red flags: 1 for 14 minutes and 51 seconds
Time of race: 2 hours, 54 minutes and 3 seconds
Average speed: 142.201 miles per hour (228.850 km/h)

Media

Television

NBC Sports covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, 2000 Coke Zero 400 winner Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and two-time Coke Zero 400 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. called the race from the broadcast booth. Dave Burns, Parker Kligerman, and Marty Snider handled the pit road duties from pit lane.

NBC
Booth announcers	Pit reporters
Lap-by-lap: Rick Allen Color-commentator: Jeff Burton Color-commentator: Steve Letarte Color-commentator: Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Dave Burns Parker Kligerman Marty Snider

Radio

MRN had the radio call for the race, which was also simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

MRN Radio
Booth announcers	Turn announcers	Pit reporters
Lead announcer: Alex Hayden Announcer: Jeff Striegle	Turns 1 & 2: Dave Moody Backstretch: Mike Bagley Turns 3 & 4: Kyle Rickey	Steve Post Hannah Newhouse

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings after Playoffs reset

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Kyle Larson	2,052
5	2	Ryan Blaney	2,024 (–28)
3	3	Martin Truex Jr.	2,024 (–28)
1	4	Kyle Busch	2,022 (–30)
	5	Chase Elliott	2,021 (–31)
6	6	Alex Bowman	2,015 (–37)
5	7	Denny Hamlin	2,015 (–37)
4	8	William Byron	2,014 (–38)
1	9	Joey Logano	2,013 (–39)
	10	Brad Keselowski	2,008 (–44)
3	11	Kurt Busch	2,008 (–44)
3	12	Christopher Bell	2,005 (–47)
6	13	Michael McDowell	2,005 (–47)
9	14	Aric Almirola	2,005 (–47)
4	15	Tyler Reddick	2,003 (–49)
7	16	Kevin Harvick	2,002 (–50)
Official driver's standings

Manufacturers' Championship standings

Pos	Manufacturer	Points
1	Chevrolet	960
2	Ford	902 (–58)
3	Toyota	880 (–80)

Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.

Notes

^ Buescher initially finished 2nd, but was disqualified after failing post-race inspection for an unapproved track bar mounting assembly.^[9]

References

^ "2021 schedule". Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
^ "Daytona International Speedway". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC. Archived from the original on July 4, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
^ "Entry List" (PDF). Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. August 23, 2021. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Starting Lineup". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC. August 25, 2021. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
^ "Coke Zero Sugar 400 Results". NASCAR.com. NASCAR. August 28, 2021. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
^ "Points standings" (PDF). Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. August 28, 2021. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
^ Reed, Steve (January 22, 2013). "Daytona International unveils plans for upgrade". sports.yahoo.com. Yahoo! Sports. Archived from the original on January 25, 2013. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
^ "Daytona Rising". Daytona International Speedway. December 5, 2013. Archived from the original on December 5, 2013. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
^ "After Daytona near-win, NASCAR disqualifies Chris Buescher". Motorsport.com. August 29, 2021. Retrieved August 29, 2021.