The 2024 Coke Zero Sugar 400 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on August 24, 2024, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Contested over 164 laps (extended from 160 laps due to an overtime finish) on the superspeedway, it was the 25th race of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Harrison Burton, driving for Wood Brothers Racing, won the race, getting his first career win in the Cup Series and getting the team's 100th win in the Cup Series. Kyle Busch finished 2nd, and Christopher Bell finished 3rd. Cody Ware and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top five, while Bubba Wallace, Parker Retzlaff, Brad Keselowski, Daniel Hemric, and Chris Buescher rounded out the top ten.
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.
Prior to the race, NASCAR imposed a 75-point penalty on Denny Hamlin after Toyota self-reported an infraction from the May Darlington race. The 11 car, as was required, used the engine from the Bristol race winning car at Darlington, but the engine was taken to Toyota's California factory to be rebuilt instead of being taken to NASCAR for inspection. The team lost credit for the win for playoff seeding purposes and was assessed a ten playoff point penalty in addition to the 75 point penalty.
Entry list (R) denotes rookie driver. (i) denotes driver who is 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 Josh Berry (R) 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 Noah Gragson 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 Cody Ware Rick Ware Racing Ford 16 Shane van Gisbergen (i) 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 Daniel Hemric Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 33 Austin Hill (i) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 34 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports Ford 38 Todd Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 41 Ryan Preece Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 42 John Hunter Nemechek Legacy Motor Club Toyota 43 Erik Jones Legacy Motor Club Toyota 44 Joey Gase (i) NY Racing Team Chevrolet 45 Tyler Reddick 23XI Racing Toyota 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 48 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 51 Justin Haley Rick Ware Racing Ford 54 Ty Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 62 Parker Retzlaff (i) Beard Motorsports Chevrolet 71 Zane Smith (R) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 77 Carson Hocevar (R) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 78 B. J. McLeod (i) Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet 99 Daniel Suárez Trackhouse Racing ChevroletOfficial entry list
Qualifying Michael McDowell scored the pole for the race with a time of 49.136 and a speed of .
Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 1 34 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports Ford 49.218 49.136 2 38 Todd Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 49.218 49.234 3 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 49.386 49.358 4 41 Ryan Preece Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 49.473 49.366 5 4 Josh Berry (R) Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 49.485 49.397 6 14 Chase Briscoe Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 49.513 49.398 7 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 49.535 49.435 8 2 Austin Cindric Team Penske Ford 49.450 49.451 9 5 Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 49.447 49.478 10 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 49.554 49.518 11 8 Kyle Busch Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 49.556 — 12 6 Brad Keselowski RFK Racing Ford 49.575 — 13 17 Chris Buescher RFK Racing Ford 49.584 — 14 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 49.587 — 15 10 Noah Gragson Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 49.612 — 16 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 49.614 — 17 19 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 49.677 — 18 23 Bubba Wallace 23XI Racing Toyota 49.690 — 19 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 49.722 — 20 21 Harrison Burton Wood Brothers Racing Ford 49.724 — 21 48 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 49.741 — 22 99 Daniel Suárez Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 49.767 — 23 33 Austin Hill (i) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 49.769 — 24 1 Ross Chastain Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 49.772 — 25 45 Tyler Reddick 23XI Racing Toyota 49.774 — 26 54 Ty Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 49.792 — 27 20 Christopher Bell Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 49.794 — 28 31 Daniel Hemric Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 49.820 — 29 62 Parker Retzlaff (i) Beard Motorsports Chevrolet 49.821 — 30 71 Zane Smith (R) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 49.844 — 31 42 John Hunter Nemechek Legacy Motor Club Toyota 49.847 — 32 16 Shane van Gisbergen (i) Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 49.882 — 33 15 Cody Ware Rick Ware Racing Ford 49.924 — 34 7 Corey LaJoie Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 49.927 — 35 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 50.057 — 36 51 Justin Haley Rick Ware Racing Ford 50.065 — 37 77 Carson Hocevar (R) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 50.079 — 38 78 B. J. McLeod (i) Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet 50.721 — 39 44 Joey Gase (i) NY Racing Team Chevrolet 51.395 — 40 43 Erik Jones Legacy Motor Club Toyota 0.000 —Official qualifying results
Race
Stage 1 Pole sitter Michael McDowell led the first lap of the race as he and his teammate Todd Gilliland were side by side. The pack behind them form a third row by lap 3. McDowell would get in front of Gilliland by lap 5 for the lead, but was passed by Joey Logano on lap 6. On lap 7, rookie Josh Berry would take the lead. On lap 8, Brad Keselowski would take the lead. Berry would get in front for a brief moment the next lap before Keselowski took it back. On lap 12, Logano would take the lead before Berry would pass him the same lap and take the lead. On lap 13, Daytona 500 winner William Byron would take the lead before Berry took it back the next lap. On lap 15, Logano would take the lead. Josh Berry attempted to take the lead on lap 17 but failed to get in front of Logano. Berry and Gilliland tried on lap 18 but failed to get in front of Logano. On lap 20, Gilliland would take the lead. On lap 22, Logano would take the lead back. Gilliland would take it back on lap 24. On lap 27, Austin Cindric took the lead but got passed by Berry on the same lap and Berry took the lead. On lap 30, Joey Logano took the lead. On laps 31 and 34, Keselowski attempted to take the lead but failed to get in front of Logano. On lap 35, the last lap of stage 1, Keselowski would take the lead but would get immediately passed by Berry, who would win stage 1 for his first career Cup Series stage win.
Stage 2 During pit stops, some fuel spilled out of Daniel Suárez's car. Suárez was stuck in his pit box trying not to hit Harrison Burton. Behind Suárez, Denny Hamlin ran over the fuel spill, igniting a blaze that caught the left rear diffuser of Suárez's car on fire as he drove off of pit road. Crews were unable to extinguish the fire when Suárez entered back onto pit road. The fire grew and engulfed the entire rear of Suárez's vehicle. Suárez got out unhurt and was given a chance to continue to race even with the whole rear charred and melted from the fire; Suárez elected to end his race. Logano won the race off of pit road and he led the field to the restart on lap 42.
Chris Buescher battled for the lead with Logano for a few laps but could not get in front of him. On lap 46, Bubba Wallace took the lead. On lap 48, Buescher took the lead. Chase Briscoe took the lead the next lap but was immediately passed by Wallace. Briscoe got side by side with Wallace the next lap and led the next 2 laps before Wallace took the lead back on lap 52. On lap 60, the first of three big ones would occur down the backstretch, bringing out the second caution of the race and the first for incident. Corey LaJoie pushed Noah Gragson down the backstretch at the wrong angle, turning Gragson into Justin Haley, causing a chain reaction that spun John Hunter Nemechek and Ross Chastain and collected a total of 19 cars. Drivers involved in the wreck included Ross Chastain, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Preece, Alex Bowman, William Byron, Chase Elliott, Erik Jones, Tyler Reddick, Kyle Larson, Daniel Hemric, Corey LaJoie, Ryan Blaney, Austin Dillon, Denny Hamlin, Noah Gragson, Christopher Bell, John Hunter Nemechek, Ty Gibbs, and Austin Hill. Buescher won the race off of pit road and led the field to the restart on lap 67.
On lap 73, Wallace took the lead. On lap 75, Gilliland took the lead but was passed by Logano. On lap 78, Cindric got hit at the wrong angle by his teammate Ryan Blaney, causing Cindric to get sideways but Cindric saved it from spinning. At the same time, Kyle Larson took the lead. The lead changed hands between Larson and Logano multiple times until Logano was in the lead on lap 81. At the same time, three different drivers ran into issues, which brought out the third caution of the race. Truex Jr. and Jones suffered flat tires, while Shane van Gisbergen's engine expired, releasing a thick plume of smoke and fluid on the track and catching the right side tailpipe of his car on fire. The incident brought van Gisbergen's first Cup Series race at Daytona to an end. The race would restart on lap 89 with 7 laps to go in the stage. On the restart, Larson took the lead. On lap 92, Keselowski took the lead. On the last lap of stage 2 on lap 95, Logano regained the lead and would win the stage.
Final stage