The last time David Ragan raced a late-model event, he finished second. He'll look to do one better in Tuesday's Swiss Colony Howie Lettow Memorial 150 at the Milwaukee Mile's ARCA Fest. The Sprint Cup Series driver will take his own No. 77 Skuttle Tight Ford to the popular Midwest Tour-sanctioned race.

It will be the second consecutive year that Ragan will participate in the Howie Lettow 150 and his third late-model race of the season. Last year, Ragan finished 17^th in the event, which benefits the MACC Fund (Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer).

Skuttle Tight is a Willmar, Minn.-based manufacturer that offers insulated attic-entry systems that replace older attic hatches and access panels that can cause drafts. The Milwaukee race will be the second event of the 2013 season that the company will join Ragan on his late-model campaign and the second straight year that Skuttle Tight will adorn the No. 77 Ford for the ARCA Fest.

Ragan's last outing in the Skuttle Tight Ford was in the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown in April at Richmond, where he finished second to Kyle Busch.

The Milwaukee Mile is a one-mile oval on the grounds of the Wisconsin State Fair Park in West Allis, Wis., and is the oldest operating motor speedway in the world. Tickets for ARCA Fest are on still sale at arcafest.com. Fans can follow along about news and updates on the event at facebook.com/midwesttour or on Twitter at @midwesttour. Keep up to date on Ragan's racing activities at facebook.com/DavidRaganPage or on Twitter at @dRagan_updates.

Comments from Skuttle Tight driver David Ragan heading to Milwaukee:

"For me it's fun to go run the premier short-track races around the country - the Snowball Derby, the World Crown 300, Speedfest - and this is one of those premier races. It honors Howie Lettow, who is one of the veteran short track racers of his time. Even though it's in the Midwest and a little farther from the Southeast, I still have an appreciation for a lot of the good racers who came from that area. It's a big race. And when you can only run four or five races a year, you want to do it against the best guys. And the Milwaukee Mile is a great racetrack. There's a lot of history there, and it's cool to go there and take part in a race.

"I think this year there's about 80 cars pre-entered. So, it's a hard race to make and a hard race to win. Running it last year, I drove another guy's car and learned a lot, and now I'm looking forward to taking my own car there. It'll be fun with the group of guys going with me to help. I've got a couple of the Front Row Motorsports guys that are tagging along, and my cousin Brett and a few friends go, too.

"Skuttle Tight is back on our Ford for this race. They were on our car for the Denny Hamlin Showdown race at Richmond, and we were able to get a second-place finish there. Hopefully we can improve it by a spot. That'd be a lot of fun. Skuttle Tight's home office is not too far away in Minnesota, so it'll be good to have those guys there."

David Ragan Inc. PR

Farmland Foods today announced that it will proudly present the "Bacon A Difference" charity event featuring American Country Music Award winning artists, the Eli Young Band, the legendary Richard Petty and driver of the #43 Farmland Ford Fusion, Aric Almirola. The event will be held on October 3, 2013, at Memorial Hall. All proceeds from the event will benefit Harvesters-The Community Food Network.

Farmland Foods is asking Kansas Citians to Donate and Celebrate to support Harvesters. Anyone can donate by visiting www.BaconADifference.com. For a $10 donation, which will be matched by Farmland Foods, individuals will receive one of only 2,250 tickets available for this exclusive concert. The "Bacon a Difference" concert will culminate a summer-long campaign to raise awareness and funds to fight hunger in the Kansas City area.

In addition, today Farmland Foods pledged to donate 10 cents to Harvesters for every package of Farmland bacon purchased between July 4 and September 2 at participating grocery stores in Kansas City. The 10 cent pledge, in conjunction with the charity event, are part of Farmland's expanded "Bacon a Difference" campaign and partnership with Harvesters to raise funds and awareness about hunger issues. The goal for this year's Bacon A Difference campaign is to raise enough money to provide 400,000 meals.

"For more than 20 years, Farmland Foods and Harvesters have partnered to make a real and meaningful impact on our community's hunger issues. Today's 'Bacon a Difference' donation and celebration announcement represents an exciting expansion of our shared efforts," said Mike Brown, President and Chief Operating Officer of Farmland. "This program is a continuation of our effort to raise $100,000 in 2013 to support our partners at Harvesters, and the help they provide in our community. As a hometown company, we are proud to be part of Kansas City's philanthropic culture and look forward to celebrating our collective support for Harvesters in October."

Farmland Foods is partnering with Richard Petty Motorsports to make a meaningful donation to end hunger in every market where the Farmland #43 Ford Fusion races this year. Already in 2013, Farmland Foods has donated a total of $100,000 and protein to food banks in Phoenix; Las Vegas; Fontana, Calif.; and Sonoma, Calif., as well as earlier this year in Kansas City.

"Our team is honored to support Farmland Foods' and Harvesters' efforts to raise awareness about hunger by featuring the Harvesters logo on the No. 43 Ford during the October 6, 2013, race at the Kansas Speedway," said Richard Petty, legendary driver and team owner. "We look forward to helping announce the total 'Bacon A Difference' donation in October."

"Our organization would not be able to function without support from contributors like Farmland Foods and for their efforts we thank them. We are thrilled that we share a passion for serving our community and combating hunger," remarked Valerie Nicholson-Watson, Harvesters' president and CEO.

Casey Mears and Germain Racing haven’t finished outside of the top 25 since May 11^th in Darlington, with half of those checkered flags seeing Mears finish in the top 20. As the season wears on, the GEICO team seems to be blossoming well and their excitement was evident when they arrived at Daytona International Speedway this weekend, a place that has seen Mears and his GEICO car as the leader on multiple occasions.

Mears and the #13 GEICO Ford Fusion appeared quick in first practice when television coverage of the session showed him moving the car at will through the draft. He wrapped up the session 24^th, sandwiched between Ricky Stenhouse, Jr, David Ragan and Joey Logano; all Ford teams. Crew chief Bootie Barker felt confident in their GEICO Fusion and chose to sit out final practice on Thursday, instead turning his focus to qualifying which was scheduled for late Friday afternoon.

When qualifying got underway at 4:10 PM (ET) on Friday, Mears betrayed his poor qualifying draw (third) and toured the 2.5-mile facility in just 46.701-seconds/192.715-miles per hour, landing him 19^th on Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 starting grid.

When the green flag waved on a hot and humid Florida evening, Mears departed his starting position of 19^th and set sail for the front of the field. By the fourth lap, he had arrived and was penetrating the top 10. He later ventured into the top five and appeared poised for a strong run. As restrictor-plate racing goes, Mears and his #13 GEICO Ford Fusion spent their evening vacillating up and down through the draft, returning to the front whenever he felt it necessary. At times, it appeared so effortless that one would assume Mears made a bet with himself concerning the amount of cars he could pass in an evening.

Business began to pick up as the race wound down. With 33 laps to go, Mears was in the 13^th position when a caution flag slowed the field. The team’s radio frequency was dominated by Barker and Mears who were busy discussing whether or not to take two or four tires during the upcoming pit stop under yellow. The number four prevailed and Mears would surrender only six positions by opting for the latter, but would be well armed to make a charge at the end of the race. Barker’s wisdom prevailed and Mears found himself back in the top 10, in the eighth position, with just 15 laps remaining in the event.

Mears, whose racecar remained clean most of the night, was a little too close for comfort when cars began crashing just behind him as the field exited the short chute on lap 149 of a scheduled 160. The red flag halted the race while cleanup commenced. After a brief eight-minutes and 53-seconds, engines were re-fired and cars were rolling under caution. With seven to go, the GEICO Ford Fusion restarted 8^th, but was shuffled out of the draft and just a lap later sat 12 positions worse in 20^th.

The Daytona drama soon followed when a crash on the backstretch brought out the yellow flag with only four laps left in the advertised distance and leaving Mears far behind with very little time to do anything about it. With a Green-White-Checker finish on tap, he would need to execute an all or nothing strategy when the race went back to green. When the green flag set the field underway for the final time, Mears began an immediate surge and a lap later the white flag saw him three positions to the good in 15^th. The final lap played out in typical Daytona fashion when Mears was approaching the start/finish line and Danica Patrick spun in front of him. The result was a chain reaction crash that sent the #13 GEICO Ford Fusion hard against the outside wall as the checkered flag was waving. Despite taking a hard hit and crossing the finish line sideways, Mears scored a ninth place finish, accounting for the team’s first top 10 performance of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. His effort also continues the string of strong, consistent runs that are normally tough to come by in auto racing, further evidencing the growth and development of Germain Racing’s Sprint Cup Series program.

“Tonight was a solid night for our GEICO Racing program and I’m glad we were able to get a Top 10 finish and reward the guys on this Germain team for all of their hard work. It was also nice to get a good finish for the folks at GEICO and our team owner, Bob Germain, because they both have made such big commitments to keep growing our program,” Mears said as he observed the damage to his racecar. “That second-to-last restart we restarted eighth and the 15 laid way back on the restart and had a huge run. There were three lanes open. The bottom lane moved to the bottom and I had like three lanes to try to block and he had a run and got to the inside of us and we dropped all the way to the back. But we had a really big run there at the end and picked the right lane and got through a bunch of guys, so that’s not the way we wanted to finish because we were sitting in the catbird’s seat there, where I thought we could have had a chance to win this thing, but we rallied back for a decent day.”

Mears and the Germain Racing team will now travel north to Loudon, New Hampshire, for race number 19 of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

Casey Mears and the #13 GEICO Ford Fusion will hit the track at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the weekend’s opening practice session on Friday, July 12^th, at 12:00 PM (EDT). Qualifying will follow at 3:40 PM (EDT).

The Camping World RV Sales 301 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race is on Sunday, July 14^th, and it will be televised live on TNT beginning at 1:00 PM (EDT). The Performance Racing Network (PRN) will carry the live radio broadcast.

PMI PR

Trevor Bayne and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion were in the hunt for victory for most of Saturday’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. As the laps wound down, Bayne was leading a pack of drivers making a charge in the outside lane. He drove under the white flag in eighth place and counting, but his plans didn’t pan out, and he wound up steering his way through some late-race wreckage to finish 20th.

“Up to the white flag I thought we had shot at that thing with the 2 car [the Ford Fusion of Brad Keselowski] pushing us,” Bayne said.

But the beating and banging that is typical of green-white-checkered-flag runs to the finish of restrictor-plate races ended his bid for a finish at the front.

“We had the top with open track ahead of us and the 17 [the Ford Fusion of Ricky Stenhouse Jr.] got in there somehow to our left-rear and got us completely sideways,” Bayne said. “I thought we were crashed, so luckily we didn’t tear it up and finish that one early, but it wasn’t the finish we were looking for with that strong of a car.

“We ran in the top 10 all day and could drive to the front, but we just didn’t get a good finish.”

Team co-owner Eddie Wood left Daytona happy.

“All you can ask for in a restrictor-plate race is to have a fast car and be in a position to contend for the win when it comes to a green-white-checkered-flag finish,” he said. “And we were in the mix all night long.”

Bayne started 20th, and was running fourth by Lap 40. Throughout the race, he was able to move through the field with relative ease.

Wood said that ability to race well was what the Motorcraft/Quick Lane crew was working toward in both of Thursday’s practice sessions, a strategy made possible by the fact that there were just 43 teams vying for the 43 starting positions.

“Since we didn’t have to worry about qualifying for the race, we got to spend time on the race set-up, and it paid off,” he said.

Bayne and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team return to action in three weeks when the Sprint Cup Series returns to Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Wood Brothers Racing PR

Despite being caught up in a multi-car wreck coming to the checkered flag in the Coke Zero 400 Saturday night at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, Ryan Newman and the No. 39 Outback Steakhouse Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) scored a solid 10th-place finish. It was Newman’s eighth top-10 of the season and his sixth top-10 at Daytona in 24 starts.

“The best part of that finish was that we were able to get a top-10, which means that fans can get a free Bloomin’ Onion at Outback Steakhouse on Monday just by saying my name,” Newman said. “Honestly, other than that, I don’t have much to say. I’m glad we got a top-10 for Outback Steakhouse, but I hate that we destroyed another racecar on the final lap. That just seems to be the norm for us when it comes to restrictor-plate racing.”

Newman started Saturday night’s race in 21st position. He and crew chief Matt Borland opted to play it safe with their race strategy, so Newman quickly dropped to the back of the pack and “just ride,” which is what Newman did for the majority of the race – until the final 10 laps.

Newman began his charge through the field when the race restarted at lap 153 of the scheduled 160-lap event following a red flag for accident cleanup. Newman restarted in 28th place.

He had moved into 19th when the caution flag waved again just four laps later, setting up a green-white-checkered finish.

In the final two-lap sprint to the finish, Newman picked up nine spots to record a solid top-10 despite being caught up in the final-lap wreck that caused extensive damage to the Outback Steakhouse Chevrolet. Newman was unhurt in the melee.

Newman’s teammate Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Ducks Unlimited Chevrolet SS, led the way for SHR Saturday night by finishing second.

Stewart scored his ninth top-five and 14th top-10 in 30 career point-paying Sprint Cup starts at the 2.5-mile oval. It was also his fourth top-five and sixth top-10 finish this season.

Danica Patrick, driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet SS for SHR, finished 14th. It was Patrick’s 28th career Sprint Cup start.

Jimmie Johnson won the Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola to score his 64th career Sprint Cup victory, his fourth of the season and his third at Daytona. Johnson, who also won this year’s season-opening Daytona 500, became the first driver since NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison in 1982 to sweep the Daytona 500 and the Coke Zero 400 in the same season.

Stewart finished .107 of a second behind Johnson in the runner-up spot, while Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer and Michael Waltrip rounded out the top-five. Kurt Busch, Jamie McMurray, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Casey Mears and Newman comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were six caution periods for 27 laps, with nine drivers failing to finish the 161-lap race, which was extended one lap by a green-white-checkered finish.

With round 18 of 36 complete, Stewart continues to lead the SHR contingent in the championship point standings. He moved up six spots to 10th and has 499 points, 159 back of series leader Johnson and six points ahead of 11th-place Martin Truex Jr. Newman moved up two spots to 16th place and has 482 points, 176 out of first and 17 behind 10th-place Stewart. Patrick picked up two spots to 25th and has 343 points, 315 behind Johnson and 156 away from Stewart.

Eight races remain before the 12-driver, 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup begins Sept. 15 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. Only the top-10 in points are locked into the Chase. Positions 11 and 12 in the Chase are wild cards, awarded to the two drivers between 11th and 20th in points with the most wins. In the event of multiple drivers having the same number of wins, a driver’s point standing serves as the tiebreaker.

Truex (11th) and Kasey Kahne (12th) are the only drivers between 11th and 20th in points with a victory, so they hold the first and second wild-card spots, respectively.

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Camping World RV Sales 301 on Sunday, July 14 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. The race starts at 1 p.m. EDT, with live coverage provided by TNT beginning with its pre-race show at noon.

TSC PR

It's hard to have a hands-down, class-of-the field car in a restrictor-plate race, but don't tell Jimmie Johnson, who dominated Daytona Saturday night in uncharacteristically decisive fashion -- and reached another milestone at the Birthplace of Speed.

In a wild race that featured two massive wrecks on the last lap alone, Johnson beat Tony Stewart to the finish line in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway to record the first season sweep of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at the 2.5-mile tri-oval since Bobby Allison accomplished the feat in 1982.

As Johnson crossed the line at the end of a green-white-checkered-flag finish, the second of the two multicar accidents erupted behind him. Kevin Harvick stayed in front of the melee to run third, followed by Clint Bowyer and Michael Waltrip.

"Glad I was ahead of all the chaos," said a relieved Stewart, who rode in the back for much of the evening before making his move to the front in the closing laps.

Johnson was ahead of the chaos, too, and above the fray -- head-and-shoulders above it. Driving a No. 48 Chevrolet SS nicknamed "White Lightning" for its blue-on-white Lowe's paint scheme, Johnson led 94 of 161 laps and executed key restarts flawlessly as the leader late in the race.

The victory was Johnson's fourth of the season -- tying Matt Kenseth for most in the series -- and the 64th of his career. He leads second-place Bowyer by 49 points in the series standings with eight races left before the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field is set at Richmond.

"Had a great horse to ride; got White Lightning in Victory Lane," Johnson said after climbing from the car. "It's tough to [dominate] at a plate track. Especially with how tight the rules are. I think I showed strength early, and a lot of guys were willing to work with me and help me through situations.

"I don't know if I really made a bad move tonight, so I'm pretty proud of that."

Johnson was doubly proud to join Allison, Fireball Roberts, Cale Yarborough and LeeRoy Yarbrough as the only drivers to sweep both Sprint Cup races at Daytona in a single season.

"Gosh, growing up in Southern California and watching Bobby Allison, and I remember where I was the day [Bobby's son] Davey passed away (after a 1993 helicopter crash at Talladega)," Johnson said. "That's how much the Allison family meant to me.

"I always thought it was great to watch Bobby and Davey race, and to do anything Bobby has done is pretty special."

The five-time champion led the field to the restart on Lap 133 and stayed in the top spot until a wild six-car crash near the entry to the tri-oval on Lap 149 stacked two-thirds of the field and wrecked the cars of Denny Hamlin (who slammed nose-first into the frontstretch wall), Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, AJ Allmendinger, Dave Blaney and David Reutimann.

The accident stopped the race for eight minutes, 53 seconds while track workers picked up the debris. Johnson led the field to another restart on Lap 154 and two laps later, Ambrose, running third, pinballed off Johnson's No. 48 car and knocked the No. 5 Chevrolet of Kasey Kahne into the inside backstretch wall to cause the race's sixth caution.

That set up the green-white-checkered finish that took the race one lap past its scheduled distance of 160 laps.

Harvick, who thought he was in excellent position for the final restart, was clearly disappointed with his third-place run.

"Yeah, we didn't win," said Harvick, who restarted from the inside lane, beside Johnson and with Bowyer behind him, for the two-lap dash to the finish. "That was our expectation coming here, and that's the expectation going to the superspeedway tracks … I'm kind of disappointed just for the fact that I felt like we were in the right position.

"I felt like the 15 (Bowyer) was going to be a really good pusher, based on the restart before… I'm a little disappointed because I really felt like we were in the right spot, but it's hard to complain."

Johnson had the dominant car, but attrition also helped him, starting with a collision that hobbled four strong cars on Lap 98. The No. 56 Toyota of Martin Truex Jr. got loose off Turn 4 and turned sideways, triggering a wreck that collected the cars of Denny Hamlin, Juan Pablo Montoya and Kyle Busch. The crash ended the winning chances of all but Busch, whose team effected quick repairs to the nose of the No. 18 Camry on pit road.

Busch rallied to finish 12th despite being a victim of the last-lap crash, but Truex, who cracked the top 10 in points after winning at Sonoma to break a 218-race drought, fell out of the race in 41st place and dropped back out of the top 10.

So did Joey Logano, who blew a tire in Turn 2 on Lap 70 and slammed into the outside wall. A week after working his way into the 10th spot in the standings, Logano was out again after being credited with a 40th-place result.

Notes: Carl Edwards was a victim of the first wreck on the last lap, finishing 29th and dropping to third in the standings, 71 points behind Johnson … Kurt Busch ran sixth and cracked the top 10 in points for the first time this season. He's currently ninth, 157 points behind Johnson … Danica Patrick ran as high as second after the 100-lap mark but was part of the crash near the finish line on the last lap. She finished 14th … Stewart regained the six positions in the standings he lost over the past two weeks. He's now 10th in points, the last position that guarantees a spot in the Chase.

Race Highlights:  

• Richard Childress Racing teammates finished 3rd (Kevin Harvick), 16th (Jeff Burton) and 43rd (Paul Menard) in the Coke Zero 400.
• Following the event at Daytona International Speedway, Harvick remains fourth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings, trailing leader Jimmie Johnson by 73 markers, while Menard ranks 20th, 198 points back, and Burton sits 21st, 201 points out of the top position.
• The No. 29 Chevrolet SS team ranks fourth in the Sprint Cup Series owner championship point standings, with the No. 27 team 21st in the standings and the No. 31 team 22nd.
• According to NASCAR's Post-Race Loop Data Statistics, Harvick posted the fastest Green Flag Speed of the race with a lap time of 197.465 mph and completed three of the Fastest Laps Run.
• Harvick ranked third in Speed in Traffic (197.506 mph), was the eighth-Fastest Driver Late in a Run and the 10th-Fastest Driver Early in a Run.
• Burton made 162 green-flag passes and was the only RCR driver to be credited with a lap led.
• Menard completed 23 laps at Daytona International Speedway, all of which he ran within the top 10.
• Jimmie Johnson earned his fourth victory of the 2013 Sprint Cup Series season and was followed to the finish line by Tony Stewart, Harvick, Clint Bowyer and Michael Waltrip.
• The next Sprint Cup Series race is the Camping World RV Sales 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 14. The 19th race of the 2013 season is scheduled to be televised live on TNT beginning at Noon Eastern Time and broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Satellite Radio, channel 90.

 

Menard Finishes 43rd Under the Lights at Daytona International Speedway

 

Paul Menard started the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway from the sixth position, but was relegated to a 43rd-place result on Saturday evening after experiencing mechanical issues early in the 161-lap event. Menard quickly moved up to third at lap eight and radioed to crew chief "Slugger" Labbe that the Rheem/Menards Chevrolet was handling to his liking. After settling into position, the field began to spread out single-file and Menard remained in the top three until lap 24 when his car caught fire forcing him to go to the garage. After accessing the damage, the team diagnosed the No. 27 with a terminal engine issue, ending Menard's night early. The Eau Claire, Wis., native was credited with a 43rd -place finish and now sits 20th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standing heading into New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

 

Start - 6         Finish - 43         Laps Led - 0          Points - 20th

 

PAUL MENARD QUOTE:

"We had a really fast Rheem/Menards Chevrolet tonight, and it's really unfortunate our evening ended so early. It is a tough break for our team, but we'll keep our heads up and go to New Hampshire Motor Speedway next weekend hoping for better results."

 

 

 

   

Harvick and the No. 29 Budweiser Team Finish Third  

at Daytona International Speedway

 

Kevin Harvick and the No. 29 Budweiser team collected their eighth-consecutive top-10 finish after taking the checkered flag third under the lights at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday evening. Starting from the 26th position, Harvick dropped back in the field during the early laps of the 400-mile event to avoid the troubles synonymous with superspeedway racing. As the race progressed, the California native waited for the right opportunity to begin working his way toward the front of the field, which came at lap 101 when he drove up to the sixth position. Following a fuel-only pit stop on lap 127, Harvick returned to the track in the fourth position and held a spot near the front of the field, working his way up to as high as second. The Richard Childress Racing driver was shuffled around in the pack during the green-white-checkered finish, but maintained ground crossing the finish line third. Following his 10th top-10 finish of the season, Harvick remains fourth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings.

 

Start - 26         Finish - 3         Laps Led - 0         Points - 4th

                       

KEVIN HARVICK QUOTE:

"I thought we were in a good spot. The whole thing on the restarts is just getting your line to form.  Everybody on our Budweiser Chevrolet team did a great job. We were able to hold Jimmie (Johnson) door-to-door until the exit of turn two, but on both of those restarts the No. 14 and No. 15, and whoever was behind them. just couldn't get our line formed up. All night it seemed like the top line would form pretty fast and those guys were able to get going a lot quicker than the inside line."
 

 

 

   

 

 Jeff Burton Locks in a 16th-place finish in Kwikset Chevrolet at Daytona

When the initial green flag waved for the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday night, Jeff Burton and the No. 31 Kwikset Chevrolet were lined up 17th. Right from the start, Burton and the Luke Lambert-led team elected to drop back through the field and maintain a position far enough away from the lead pack to avoid trouble, but close enough they could quickly get back and race with the leaders. For the early portion of the 161-lap race, Burton was running in the 30s with few handling issues. Through the first three caution periods, Lambert and Burton agreed to make pit stops for four tires, fuel, minor air pressure and chassis adjustments. During a caution on lap 130, Burton stayed out to lead a lap while others hit pit road as soon as it opened. Just as Burton was starting to make his move towards the front, the caution came out on lap 149 for a multi-car wreck on the frontstretch tri-oval. This brought out the red flag for eight minutes and 53 seconds, before the yellow was displayed to restart the race with Burton in 28th with 27 laps remaining. Burton dodged cars spinning in front of him with five laps remaining while he was up to 19th place. This set up a green-white-checkered finish and, as usual at a restrictor-plate race, mechanical mayhem ensued after the white flag was waved. Burton worked his way up to 16th and maintained his position until crossing under the checkered flag. Right after he took the checkers, he was caught up in a multi-car wreck damaging his Kwikset Chevrolet, but walked away unharmed. With his finish of 16th, Burton and team remain 21st in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver championship point standings.

           Start - 17              Finish 16           Laps Led - 1            Points - 21st

JEFF BURTON QUOTE:

"This wasn't the finish this Kwikset team deserved tonight. We played it safe there for most of the race and were just getting wound up to go to the front when that caution waved with five to go. That set up the green-white-checkered-finish and it just wasn't enough time to get to where I know that car could have run."

RCR PR

Danica Patrick finished 14^th in Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway despite being caught up in a multi-car accident on the final lap of the 161-lap event, which ended under a green-white-checkered finish.

Patrick, driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), was in the top-10 for much of the Coke Zero 400, including on the final restart on lap 159. She fell to 13^th on lap 160 when the white flag flew for the final lap and, as the pack entered turn four for the last time, chaos ensued.

Patrick’s car came together with the car of David Gilliland, triggering a multi-car accident as the pack came to the start-finish line with nearly 10 cars being collected in total. Patrick was uninjured and able to drive her damaged GoDaddy Chevrolet back to the garage.

“Well, a green-white-checkered finish is always exciting,” Patrick said. “(Dale Earnhardt) Junior and I had a good run through the middle and then up high around (turn) four. And I just watched the replay. It felt like I ran just along the wall but it could have been me that came down in front of the No. 38 (Gilliland). It definitely wasn’t what I was trying to do at all. I was just following the No. 88 (Earnhardt Jr.). So, if that’s what happened, then I definitely apologize. I lost spots doing it.

“All in all, it was a solid day. I felt like we were a little slow to get going but I felt like we made the car better and I felt like I figured out some things in the car that helped. We got the GoDaddy car in a decent position. We ran strong and that’s what we want to do. I thought the Chevys looked really good in the race.”

Patrick’s teammate Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Ducks Unlimited Chevrolet SS, finished second to score his ninth top-five and 14^th top-10 in 30 career point-paying Sprint Cup starts at the 2.5-mile oval. It was also his fourth top-five and sixth top-10 this season.

The third member of SHR, Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Outback Steakhouse Chevrolet for SHR, finished 10^th. It was his sixth top-10 in 24 career point-paying Sprint Cup starts at Daytona and his eighth top-10 of the season.

Jimmie Johnson won the Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola to score his 64^th career Sprint Cup victory, his fourth of the season and his third at Daytona. Johnson, who also won the season-opening Daytona 500, became the first driver since NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison in 1982 to sweep the Daytona 500 and the Coke Zero 400 in the same year.

Stewart finished .107 of a second behind Johnson in the runner-up spot, while Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer and Michael Waltrip rounded out the top-five. Kurt Busch, Jamie McMurray, Earnhardt, Casey Mears and Newman comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were six caution periods for 27 laps, with nine drivers failing to finish the 161-lap race.

With round 18 of 36 complete, Stewart continues to lead the SHR contingent in the championship point standings. He moved up six spots to 10^th and has 499 points, 159 back of series leader Johnson and six points ahead of 11^th-place Martin Truex Jr. Newman moved up two spots to 16^th and has 482 points, 176 out of first and 17 behind 10^th-place Stewart. Patrick picked up two spots to 25^th and has 343 points, 315 behind Johnson and 156 away from Stewart.

Eight races remain before the 12-driver, 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup begins Sept. 15 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. Only the top-10 in points are locked into the Chase. Positions 11 and 12 in the Chase are wild cards, awarded to the two drivers between 11^th and 20^th in points with the most wins. In the event of multiple drivers having the same number of wins, a driver’s point standing serves as the tiebreaker.

Truex (11^th) and Kasey Kahne (12^th) are the only drivers between 11^th and 20^th in points with a victory, so they hold the first and second wild-card spots, respectively.

Patrick, who is competing for Rookie of the Year honors against Ricky Stenhouse Jr., finished three spots behind Stenhouse, who placed 11^th.

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Camping World RV Sales 301 on Sunday, July 14 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. The race starts at 1 p.m. EDT, with live coverage provided by TNT beginning with its pre-race show at noon.

TSC PR

Tony Stewart drove his No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Ducks Unlimited Chevrolet SS to a strong second-place finish in the Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Saturday night at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.

Stewart came into the event as the four-time and defending race winner. A fifth Coke Zero 400 win would’ve tied Stewart with NASCAR Hall of Famer David Pearson. Stewart came up .107 of a second short to race winner Jimmie Johnson in a green-white-checkered finish.

“I didn’t get as good a restart as I wanted,” said Stewart of the two-lap dash to the checkered flag, “but I think it kind of worked to our favor.  It got Clint (Bowyer) a little bit ahead of me and it got Kevin (Harvick) a little bit ahead of Jimmie (Johnson). That let Jimmie and me both tuck down to those two guys and get going.  Kurt Busch gave us a really good push from behind there and that got us back to getting Jimmie the shove he needed. It got us far enough ahead to where we could worry about racing him.”

The second-place finish was Stewart’s seventh top-three in 30 career, point-paying Sprint Cup starts at Daytona. It was also his fourth top-five finish this season, which vaulted him six spots to 10^th in the championship standings.

“It was definitely a good points night,” Stewart said. “If you can’t win, you always want to run second. With these things being as crazy as they are, you’re pretty happy if you can end up with a top-two, because normally if you leave here in the top-two, you’ve got a straight racecar too.”

Stewart was one of the few to leave Daytona with a straight racecar. The 2.5-mile oval gobbled up a number of cars with a total of four multi-car accidents. The most ferocious happened as the field took the checkered flag, and it collected Stewart’s Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) teammates Ryan Newman and Danica Patrick. While neither driver left with a straight racecar, they did leave with decent results. Newman came home 10^th and Patrick finished 14^th.

“I’m glad I was ahead of all the chaos,” Stewart said. “This is a 195 mph chess match and the lap that pays is the last lap.”

Jimmie Johnson won the Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola to score his 64^th career Sprint Cup victory, his fourth of the season and his third at Daytona. Johnson, who also won the season-opening Daytona 500, became the first driver since NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison in 1982 to sweep the Daytona 500 and the Coke Zero 400 in the same year.

Finishing third behind Johnson and Stewart was Harvick. Bowyer and Michael Waltrip rounded out the top-five, while Busch, Jamie McMurray, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Casey Mears and Newman comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were six caution periods for 27 laps, with nine drivers failing to finish the 161-lap race, which was extended one lap by the green-white-checkered finish.

With round 18 of 36 complete, Stewart continues to lead the SHR contingent in the championship point standings. He’s 10^th with 499 points, 159 back of series leader Johnson and six points ahead of 11^th-place Martin Truex Jr. Newman moved up two spots to 16^th and has 482 points, 176 out of first and 17 behind 10^th-place Stewart. Patrick picked up two spots to 25^th and has 343 points, 315 behind Johnson and 156 away from Stewart.

Eight races remain before the 12-driver, 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup begins Sept. 15 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. Only the top-10 in points are locked into the Chase. Positions 11 and 12 in the Chase are wild cards, awarded to the two drivers between 11^th and 20^th in points with the most wins. In the event of multiple drivers having the same number of wins, a driver’s point standing serves as the tiebreaker.

Truex (11^th) and Kasey Kahne (12^th) are the only drivers between 11^th and 20^th in points with a victory, so they hold the first and second wild-card spots, respectively.

Patrick, who is competing for Rookie of the Year honors against Ricky Stenhouse Jr., finished three spots behind Stenhouse, who placed 11^th.

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Camping World RV Sales 301 on Sunday, July 14 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. The race starts at 1 p.m. EDT, with live coverage provided by TNT beginning with its pre-race show at noon.

TSC PR