The 2023 Coke Zero Sugar 400 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on August 26, 2023, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Contested over 163 laps—extended from 160 laps due to an overtime finish, on the superspeedway, it was the 26th race of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, and the final race of the regular season before the playoffs. The race was also notably pre-empted on various NBC stations in several markets including Orlando, Florida (the home market for the race) and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on CW affiliates WKCF and KAUT-TV, Albany, New York and Denver, Colorado MyNetworkTV affiliates WNYA and KTVD, and Baltimore, Maryland and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania MeTV affiliates WGAL and WBAL due to broadcasts of NFL football pre-season games with New York City and Washington, DC NBC stations WNBC and WRC-TV airing the race after their coverage on NFL pre-season games had concluded.
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.
Before the race, Kurt Busch, who had not race since the 2022 Ambetter 301, announced he was retiring from full-time racing, as he suffered a concussion the following week at Pocono.
Entry list (R) denotes rookie driver. (i) denotes the driver ineligible for series driver points.
Driver Team Manufacturer 1 Ross Chastain Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 2 Austin Cindric 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 Kyle Busch 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 13 Chandler Smith (i) Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 14 Chase Briscoe Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 15 Brennan Poole (i) Rick Ware Racing Ford 16 A. J. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 17 Chris Buescher RFK Racing Ford 19 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 20 Christopher Bell Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 21 Harrison Burton 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 36 Riley Herbst (i) Front Row Motorsports Ford 38 Todd Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 41 Ryan Preece Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 42 Josh Berry (i) Legacy Motor Club Chevrolet 43 Erik Jones Legacy Motor Club Chevrolet 45 Tyler Reddick 23XI Racing Toyota 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 48 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 51 J. J. Yeley (i) Rick Ware Racing Ford 54 Ty Gibbs (R) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 62 Austin Hill (i) Beard Motorsports Chevrolet 77 Ty Dillon Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 78 B. J. McLeod Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet 99 Daniel Suárez Trackhouse Racing ChevroletOfficial entry list
Qualifying Chase Briscoe scored the pole for the race with a time 49.499 of and a speed of .
Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 1 14 Chase Briscoe Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 49.526 49.499 2 10 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 49.728 49.534 3 21 Harrison Burton Wood Brothers Racing Ford 49.705 49.613 4 23 Bubba Wallace 23XI Racing Toyota 49.678 49.639 5 54 Ty Gibbs (R) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 49.687 49.642 6 36 Riley Herbst (i) Front Row Motorsports Ford 49.683 49.648 7 5 Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 49.698 49.654 8 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 49.738 49.709 9 41 Ryan Preece Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 49.813 49.741 10 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 49.808 49.772 11 17 Chris Buescher RFK Racing Ford 49.852 — 12 6 Brad Keselowski RFK Racing Ford 49.876 — 13 19 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 49.892 — 14 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 49.922 — 15 20 Christopher Bell Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 49.928 — 16 2 Austin Cindric Team Penske Ford 49.943 — 17 16 A. J. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 49.951 — 18 8 Kyle Busch Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 49.953 — 19 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 49.962 — 20 45 Tyler Reddick 23XI Racing Toyota 49.987 — 21 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 50.053 — 22 99 Daniel Suárez Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 50.055 — 23 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 50.079 — 24 43 Erik Jones Legacy Motor Club Chevrolet 50.102 — 25 1 Ross Chastain Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 50.108 — 26 62 Austin Hill (i) Beard Motorsports Chevrolet 50.206 — 27 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 50.231 — 28 31 Justin Haley Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 50.253 — 29 42 Josh Berry (i) Legacy Motor Club Chevrolet 50.272 — 30 77 Ty Dillon Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 50.320 — 31 48 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 50.355 — 32 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 50.382 — 33 51 J. J. Yeley (i) Rick Ware Racing Ford 50.411 — 34 15 Brennan Poole (i) Rick Ware Racing Ford 50.415 — 35 38 Todd Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 50.421 — 36 13 Chandler Smith (i) Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 50.432 — 37 7 Corey LaJoie Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 50.474 — 38 78 B. J. McLeod Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet 50.597 — 39 34 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports Ford 50.712 —Official qualifying results
Race RFK Racing finished 1-2 during the race, with the No. 17 winning, but the team's triumph was overshadowed by two massive wrecks.
Right before the end of Stage 2, Christopher Bell turned his teammate Ty Gibbs into the rear of Ryan Blaney which sent Blaney head on into the outside wall at nearly full speed, triggering a massive pileup that collected the latter two drivers, as well as several others including Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Brennan Poole, A. J. Allmendinger, Harrison Burton, Riley Herbst, Tyler Reddick, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Later on, during lap 155, Ryan Preece's No. 41 Ford was spun around after getting rear ended by Erik Jones on the backstretch where Preece's car turned left into his teammate Chase Briscoe and the two went spinning in the infield grass. Preece's car caught air and subsequently went barrel rolling 10 times in the infield grass before coming to a rest on all four tires. Preece walked out a few minutes later under his own power and was placed on a stretcher and taken into an ambulance. After the race was over, Preece was transported to a nearby hospital for further evaluation, from which he was released the next morning. This was the third time a Next Gen car flipped over and the second at Daytona, after Harrison Burton's flip in the 2022 Daytona 500. Preece would race in the next race at Darlington. He revealed in his interviews the following race at Darlington that he had two black and bloodshot eyes as a result from the wreck. The car was taken back to the NASCAR Research and Development center to be studied. Safety concerns emerged on social media following the race as film of the crash showed that the roof hatch, designed to allow the driver to escape from the car through a method other than via the driver's side window, was detached from the car early in the crash, exposing the cockpit during the remainder of the crash.
Race results
Stage results
Stage One Laps: 35
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Points1 19 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 102 20 Christopher Bell Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 93 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 84 54 Ty Gibbs (R) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 75 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 66 23 Bubba Wallace 23XI Racing Toyota 57 2 Austin Cindric Team Penske Ford 48 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 39 99 Daniel Suárez Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 210 14 Chase Briscoe Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 1Official stage one results
Stage Two Laps: 60
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Points1 6 Brad Keselowski RFK Racing Ford 102 8 Kyle Busch Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 93 99 Daniel Suárez Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 84 48 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 75 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 66 45 Tyler Reddick 23XI Racing Toyota 57 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 48 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 39 1 Ross Chastain Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 210 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 1Official stage two results
Final Stage results
Stage Three Laps: 65