An ecstatic Wood Brothers Racing team took its 100th win in the NASCAR Cup Series with Harrison Burton — but not everyone had such a good night at Daytona.
These are our winners and losers from the Coke Zero Sugar 400.
NASCAR: Four winners and Four losers at the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona
Winner: Wood Brothers Racing
Harrison Burton is finally a NASCAR Cup Series winner, and that victory was also the 100th for the historic Wood Brothers Racing team.
On the final lap of the Coke Zero Sugar 400, Harrison Burton got a massive push from Parker Retzlaff, a driver only in his second Cup Series race. It was enough to draw Burton level to leader Kyle Busch — and then pass him.
Burton is set to be replaced in the No. 21 in 2025, but he secured a milestone for Wood Brothers on the way out.
Wood Brothers is the oldest active team on the NASCAR Cup Series grid, and it has exclusively raced Ford machinery since 1950. The only other race team in the world to have a longer association with a manufacturer is Scuderia Ferrari’s partnership with its namesake.
In addition, Wood Brothers have won a record-setting race in each of the last six decades. Burton’s win is its latest in the team’s incredible legacy.
Loser: Denny Hamlin
Later in this article, we’ll touch on Denny Hamlin’s role in another driver’s nasty fire — but Hamlin’s overall weekend was about as miserable as it could get.
Coming into the weekend, Hamlin and his Joe Gibbs Racing team were docked 75 points in both the drivers’ and owners’ points standings, 10 playoff points, and $100,000 for a mistake on the part of Toyota.
Toyota Racing Development returned the No. 11’s race-winning Bristol engine to the team without actually inspecting it first. When the JGR team used that engine again, the discrepancy became clear to NASCAR. Even though the issue rests more with TRD than JGR, the team was still penalized.
Making matters worse, Hamlin was also part of a massive wreck in Stage 2 that ended his night. The wreck stemmed from the No. 7 of Corey LaJoie, and at Daytona, when one car gets squirrely, it’s going to wipe out countless others. Hamlin, unfortunately, was one of them.
Winner: Martin Truex Jr.
No matter what happens at Darlington, the final race before the Playoffs begin, Martin Truex Jr. is nearly guaranteed a shot at the NASCAR Cup Series title. No, Truex hasn’t won a race and locked himself in — but he’s almost there on points.
The most points a NASCAR driver can score in a weekend is 60. Truex Jr. currently sits 58 points above the cut line. If a different driver wins at Darlington and locks himself into the Playoffs, Truex will still have an extremely good shot at making it into the postseason.
Loser: NASCAR’s aero solutions
In order to prevent the airborne crashes that have been plaguing NASCAR Cup Series races this year, NASCAR implemented a right-side shark fin that was designed to keep cars on all four wheels.
The only problem? It didn’t work.
Yes, the fin kept Michael McDowell from entirely flipping during his Stage 2 crash — but just before the end of the race, Josh Berry flipped upside down, crashed roof-first into the inside wall, and landed upside down on the track.
Obviously the shark fin wasn’t enough. NASCAR is going to have to go back to the drawing board to figure out how to make its cars safer, before someone gets hurt.
Winner: Ty Gibbs
Ty Gibbs is still searching for that first NASCAR Cup Series win in his second year of full-time competition, but he just hasn’t quite made it.
So, why is he a winner for us? Well, he’s consistently been one of the most impressive drivers of the year, scoring 11 top-10 finishes in 25 races.
At a crash-filled Daytona, Gibbs’ name was mysteriously absent from the mouths of the commentators — first because Ford was dominating the front of the field, then later because Gibbs was one of the few drivers to avoid getting caught up in the multiple wrecks that plagued the field.
As a result, the 21-year-old Toyota racer finished fifth at Daytona, further cementing the slot he’s earned in the Playoffs courtesy of his consistently promising finishes.
Loser: Daniel Suarez
No. 99 Trackhouse Racing driver Daniel Suarez didn’t need to worry at Daytona, since he’s already guaranteed his slot in the coming Playoffs. But it’s almost certain he would much rather have finished the race than burst into flames.
It was a matter of “wrong place, wrong time” for Suarez. He pitted, followed by Denny Hamlin, who was stationed in the pit box just behind Suarez. While trying to leave his pit box, flames shot out of Hamlin’s car and ignited the fuel beneath Suarez’s car.
Suarez couldn’t see the flames and completed a lap of Daytona before he was told to pull back into the pit lane. By that point, his car was entirely engulfed.
Thankfully, the Mexican racer escaped the flames unscathed, but his car was charred to a crisp.
Winner: Ford
Of NASCAR’s three Cup Series manufacturers, Ford looked the strongest at Daytona. Its cars qualified at the front of the field, then dominated at every stage of the Coke Zero Sugar 400. Ford driver Harrison Burton won.
Cody Ware, Brad Keselowski, and Chris Buescher — all Ford drivers — also finished in the top 10, while Ford’s Joey Logano and Josh Berry took stage wins.
Chevrolet and Toyota both have more total wins this year than Ford, but this late-season resurgence at Daytona could signal an upswing from the manufacturer.
Loser: Kyle Busch
Yes, Kyle Busch finished second at the Coke Zero Sugar 400, which would normally be a great result… but Busch is desperate. His shot at making the 2024 Playoffs has been shaky to begin with, and Daytona represented the closest he came to actually winning a race.
He didn’t. And now, he’ll go into next Sunday’s Darlington race with extra pressure on his shoulders. To make the Playoffs, he will have to win the race, because he’s so far outside the points cutoff line that he’ll never be able to make it otherwise.
Busch is also desperate to maintain his almost two-decade long winning streak; while he could still win any of the coming Playoff races without making the Playoffs, he’d certainly prefer to win at Darlington and at the Playoffs.
