The 2022 Coke Zero Sugar 400 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on August 28, 2022, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Contested over 160 laps on the superspeedway, it was the 26th race of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, and the final race of the regular season before the playoffs. The race was postponed from Saturday, August 27 to Sunday, August 28, due to rain.
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 high speed tri-oval, a sports car course, a motorcycle course, and a karting and motorcycle flat-track. The track's infield includes the 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. The project was completed before the start of Speedweeks.
Entry list (R) denotes rookie driver. (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
Driver Team Manufacturer 1 Ross Chastain Trackhouse Racing Team Chevrolet 2 Austin Cindric (R) Team Penske Ford 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 5 Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 6 Brad Keselowski RFK 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 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 15 David Ragan Rick Ware Racing Ford 16 Daniel Hemric (i) Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 17 Chris Buescher RFK 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 Harrison Burton (R) Wood Brothers Racing Ford 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 23 Bubba Wallace 23XI Racing Toyota 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 31 Justin Haley Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 34 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports Ford 38 Todd Gilliland (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 41 Cole Custer Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 42 Ty Dillon Petty GMS Motorsports Chevrolet 43 Erik Jones Petty GMS Motorsports Chevrolet 45 Ty Gibbs (i) 23XI Racing Toyota 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 48 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 51 Cody Ware Rick Ware Racing Ford 62 Noah Gragson (i) Beard Motorsports Chevrolet 77 Landon Cassill (i) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 78 B. J. McLeod (i) Live Fast Motorsports Ford 99 Daniel Suárez Trackhouse Racing Team ChevroletOfficial entry list
Qualifying Qualifying was cancelled because of inclement weather. Kyle Larson was awarded the pole for the race as a result of the pandemic formula with a score of 1.350.
Starting Lineup Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Score 1 5 Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 1.350 2 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 2.650 3 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 3.800 4 99 Daniel Suárez Trackhouse Racing Team Chevrolet 7.300 5 20 Christopher Bell Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 7.500 6 8 Tyler Reddick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 8.800 7 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 11.050 8 17 Chris Buescher RFK Racing Ford 12.700 9 34 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports Ford 13.050 10 48 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 14.000 11 43 Erik Jones Petty GMS Motorsports Chevrolet 14.250 12 1 Ross Chastain Trackhouse Racing Team Chevrolet 14.800 13 19 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 15.700 14 2 Austin Cindric (R) Team Penske Ford 15.800 15 41 Cole Custer Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 16.400 16 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 17.400 17 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 19.000 (a) 18 31 Justin Haley Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 19.000 (a) 19 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19.100 20 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 19.700 21 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 19.750 22 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 20.500 23 45 Ty Gibbs (i) 23XI Racing Toyota 21.700 24 6 Brad Keselowski RFK Racing Ford 21.800 25 42 Ty Dillon Petty GMS Motorsports Chevrolet 22.100 26 14 Chase Briscoe Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 23.500 27 10 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 26.850 28 16 Daniel Hemric (i) Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 27.050 29 21 Harrison Burton (R) Wood Brothers Racing Ford 28.450 30 23 Bubba Wallace 23XI Racing Toyota 30.000 31 7 Corey LaJoie Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 30.250 32 38 Todd Gilliland (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 32.850 33 51 Cody Ware Rick Ware Racing Ford 34.500 34 15 David Ragan Rick Ware Racing Ford 35.700 35 77 Landon Cassill (i) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 35.800 36 78 B. J. McLeod (i) Live Fast Motorsports Ford 38.750 37 62 Noah Gragson (i) Beard Motorsports Chevrolet 40.65Official starting lineup Qualifying Metric Scores
a: Byron and Haley were tied in qualifying metric score, which determines qualifying order in reverse, and is used in case qualifying cannot be conducted. More owner points is the tiebreaker.
Race Stages 1 & 2 Outside pole sitter Chase Elliott took the lead from pole sitter Kyle Larson and led the first lap. On lap 15, Larson's engine blew but did not leak fluid and the race kept going. On lap 21, Erik Jones challenged Elliott for the lead. Jones led laps 22 and 23 while Elliott led laps 24 to 26. On lap 27, Jones would pass Elliott for the lead. On lap 31, Elliott attempted to take the lead from Jones when Jones' pusher, Denny Hamlin, hit Jones at the wrong angle and turned Jones sideways that ended up causing a stack up wreck collecting 6 cars including Jones, Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Christopher Bell, and Ryan Blaney, who was in the midst of a battle for the last spot in the NASCAR playoffs with Martin Truex Jr. and multiple other drivers that were in must-win situations, bringing out the first caution of the race. Chase Elliott led the field to the restart on lap 35 which would be the last lap of stage 1. But Joey Logano took the lead from Elliott and Logano would win stage 1. Ross Chastain won the race off of pit road but multiple drivers did not pit including Corey LaJoie and LaJoie led the field to the restart on lap 41 to begin stage 2. Bubba Wallace took the lead from LaJoie on the restart. Erik Jones took the lead from Wallace on lap 43. On lap 44, Corey LaJoie took the lead from Jones. Jones would retake the lead from LaJoie on lap 46. On lap 51, Chris Buescher attempted to take the lead from Jones and led that lap and passed Jones but Jones would take it back the next lap. On lap 59, William Byron attempted to take the lead from Jones and led that lap but could not pass Jones and Jones would take the lead. On lap 63, Alex Bowman took the lead. On that same lap, disaster almost struck on Chris Buescher as he almost spun out off of turn 4 but saved it. On lap 64, Denny Hamlin took the lead from Bowman. On lap 77, green flag pit stops began. Hamlin pitted and gave the lead to Joey Logano. On lap 79, Logano and many others pitted handing the lead to B. J. McLeod. After everything cycled through, Chase Elliott was the new leader. On lap 82, Tyler Reddick took the lead from Elliott. On lap 86, Elliott took the lead back from Reddick. On lap 88, Reddick took the lead but was immediately passed by Kyle Busch. On lap 90, Reddick took the lead from Busch. On lap 92 and with 4 laps left in stage 2, Kyle Busch retook the lead and Busch would win stage 2.
Final stage