The 2011 Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race that was held on July 2, 2011, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Contested over 160 laps on the asphalt tri-oval, it was the 17th race of the 2011 Sprint Cup Series season. The race was won by David Ragan of Roush Fenway Racing, his first in the series. Ragan's teammate Matt Kenseth finished second and Joey Logano finished third.
Entry list Driver Team/Owner Manufacturer 00 David Reutimann Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 1 Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 2 Brad Keselowski Penske Racing Dodge 4 Kasey Kahne Red Bull Racing Team Toyota 5 Mark Martin Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 6 David Ragan Roush Fenway Racing Ford 7 Mike Bliss Robby Gordon Motorsports Dodge 9 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Toyota 14 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 17 Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Racing Ford 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 20 Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 21 Trevor Bayne (R) Wood Brothers Racing Ford 22 Kurt Busch Penske Racing Dodge 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 29 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 31 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 32 Terry Labonte FAS Lane Racing Ford 33 Clint Bowyer Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 34 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 35 Geoff Bodine Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 36 Dave Blaney Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 37 Tony Raines Max Q Motorsports Ford 38 Travis Kvapil Front Row Motorsports Ford 39 Ryan Newman Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 43 A. J. Allmendinger Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 46 J. J. Yeley Whitney Motorsports Chevrolet 47 Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 51 Landon Cassill Phoenix Racing Chevrolet 56 Martin Truex Jr. Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 60 Mike Skinner Germain Racing Toyota 66 Michael McDowell HP Racing Toyota 71 Andy Lally (R) TRG Motorsports Ford 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Racing Toyota 87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 97 Kevin Conway NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 99 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford
Report
Background
Daytona International Speedway was one of, at the time, six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races, the others being Michigan International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway. The standard track at Daytona International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is long. The track's turns are banked at 31 degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at 18 degrees. Kevin Harvick was the defending race winner.
Prior to the race, Carl Edwards led the Drivers' Championship with 573 points, and Harvick stood in second with 548 points. Jimmie Johnson was third in the Drivers' Championship with 540 points in a Chevrolet, Kurt Busch was fourth with 539 points, and Kyle Busch was in fifth with 536 points. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 108 points, 15 points ahead of Ford. Toyota, with 84 points, was 17 ahead of Dodge in the battle for third.
Practice and qualifying Two practice sessions were scheduled before the race on Thursday. The sessions were scheduled to be 80 and 85 minutes long. However, because of wet weather the first practice session was cancelled, and the following session was shortened to 45 minutes long. In the only practice session for the race, Marcos Ambrose was the quickest with a time of 45.133 seconds. A. J. Allmendinger followed in the second position, two hundredths of a second slower than Ambrose. Kurt Busch was scored third ahead of Brad Keselowski, and Mark Martin in fourth and fifth.
During qualifying, forty-five cars were entered, but only forty-three were able to race because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure. Martin clinched his 50th career pole position, with a time of 49.433. He was joined on the front row of the grid by 2011 Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne. Clint Bowyer qualified third, Jeff Gordon took fourth, and David Ragan started fifth. The two drivers that failed to qualify were Tony Raines and J. J. Yeley.
Race Pole sitter Mark Martin led the first lap of the race with his teammate Jeff Gordon pushing him. Outside pole sitter and reigning Daytona 500 champ Trevor Bayne attempted to take the lead on lap 2 with Clint Bowyer but failed to get in front of Martin and Gordon. Unfortunately for Bayne, his night would come to an early end as he would crash out on lap 5 after getting turned by Brad Keselowski and collecting Bowyer, Jamie McMurray, and Bobby Labonte in the process while bringing out the first caution of the night. The race would restart on lap 9. On lap 16, Martin's teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. would take the lead with the other teammate Jimmie Johnson pushing him. On lap 17, Kurt Busch would take the lead with Regan Smith behind him. On lap 18, Carl Edwards took the lead with his teammate Greg Biffle for a brief moment before Busch took it back in turn 3. On lap 19, Edwards would take the lead. Busch would take it back the next lap. Unfortunetly for Edwards, his chances on winning vanished as on lap 23 he got turned off of turn 4 by his teammate Greg Biffle and would hit the inside wall on the right rear of the car. This would also end up with him losing the points lead to Kevin Harvick. The race would restart on lap 27 with Kevin Harvick leading. On the restart, Harvick's partner Paul Menard switched spots with him and Menard was the new leader. On lap 28, David Ragan would take the lead with Matt Kenseth behind him. On lap 29, Regan Smith took the lead with Kurt Busch behind him. On lap 31, Martin Truex Jr. took the lead with David Reutimann behind him. On lap 37, David Ragan took the lead. On lap 41, Kasey Kahne took the lead with Brian Vickers behind him after Ragan and Kenseth swapped. On lap 42, Matt Kenseth took the lead but Martin Truex Jr. would take it on that same lap. Kenseth would take it and hold on to it the next lap. Unfortunately, a bad night would get a lot worse for Carl Edwards as Edwards had no crush panel to help him breathe from inside the racecar as he drove around without one for over 20 laps and ended up getting sick and actually throwing up from the inside of his helmet and all over his suit and the car. Edwards would come down pit road to get the crush panel on and to clean himself and his car. At the same time, the third caution would fly when Dave Blaney would get turned by Geoff Bodine and hit the wall on the frontstretch going into turn 1. Kasey Kahne won the race off of pit road and he would lead the field to the restart on lap 54. On the restart, Kahne didn't have a drafting partner as his teammate Brian Vickers restarted in 8th and lost the lead where Martin Truex Jr. would take the lead with his teammate David Reutimann. On lap 58, Regan Smith took the lead with Kurt Busch behind him. On lap 60, Matt Kenseth would take the lead with David Ragan. On lap 64, Kasey Kahne would take the lead with Brian Vickers. On lap 65, Paul Menard would take the lead with Kevin Harvick. Kahne would take it back the next lap. On lap 70, Tony Stewart would take the lead with David Gilliland. On lap 71, Martin Truex Jr. would take the lead. On lap 74, Kasey Kahne would take the lead. On lap 75, Casey Mears took the lead with Landon Cassill behind him. On lap 77, Joe Nemechek took the lead with Travis Kvapil pushing him. On lap 78, Kasey Kahne took the lead. On lap 86, Kyle Busch took the lead with Joey Logano behind him. On lap 89, Kasey Kahne took the lead. On lap 90, Paul Menard took the lead. Soon, green flag pitstops would begin on lap 91. On lap 93, Kyle Busch took the lead. Busch would pit on lap 94 giving the lead to Casey Mears. Mears would pit on lap 95 giving the lead to Jeff Burton. On lap 98, Clint Bowyer would take the lead as he and Burton swapped positions. Both Bowyer and Burton would pit on lap 99 giving the lead to Brian Vickers where he would be passed by Martin Truex Jr. by lap 100. On lap 101, Kyle Busch took the lead. On lap 103, Martin Truex Jr. would take the lead after Busch and Logano swapped positions. On lap 104, David Ragan would take the lead. On lap 106, Ryan Newman would take the lead with Denny Hamlin behind him. Newman and Hamlin would swap the next lap giving the lead to Hamlin.
Final laps