Ricky Stenhouse Jr. survived a record amount of cautions to win the 2017 Coke Zero 400 and pick up his second win of the season.
It wasn’t the storybook ending that Dale Earnhardt Jr. had hoped for at Daytona. Two cautions after working his way back into the top 10 on the night was all that would be needed to end his final run at the historic race track. While his night didn’t end the way he wanted at the 2017 Coke Zero 400, it ended great for Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
In what was one of the unlikely finishing orders at Daytona, Stenhouse Jr. was able to pass Ty Dillon and David Ragan on a restart in overtime to win. After coming into the season with no victories, Stenhouse Jr. now has two on the season.
Speed has clearly been the key to his victories, and now he can claim two wins on two of the fastest tracks in NASCAR, Talladega and Daytona. Dillon and Ragan had battled on a restart before overtime, and it looked like it was Ragan’s race for the taking.
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Unfortunately for the No. 38, he chose the wrong car to block in overtime, and Stenhouse Jr. went right on by. He now has two wins on the season and is moving up quickly in the points standings by virtue of a multi-win season.
2017 Coke Zero 400 final results
| 1 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | ||||||||
| 2 | Clint Bowyer | ||||||||
| 3 | Paul Menard | ||||||||
| 4 | Michael McDowell | ||||||||
| 5 | Ryan Newman | ||||||||
| 6 | David Ragan | ||||||||
| 7 | Brendan Gaughan | ||||||||
| 8 | AJ Allmendinger | ||||||||
| 9 | Erik Jones | ||||||||
| 10 | Chris Buescher | ||||||||
| 11 | Corey LaJoie | ||||||||
| 12 | Jimmie Johnson | ||||||||
| 13 | Matt DiBenedetto | ||||||||
| 14 | Jamie McMurray | ||||||||
| 15 | Darrell Wallace Jr. | ||||||||
| 16 | Ty Dillon | ||||||||
| 17 | Daniel Suarez | ||||||||
| 18 | Kasey Kahne | ||||||||
| 19 | Landon Cassill | ||||||||
| 20 | Kyle Busch | ||||||||
| 21 | Chase Elliott | ||||||||
| 22 | Elliott Sadler | ||||||||
| 23 | Trevor Bayne | ||||||||
| 24 | Denny Hamlin | ||||||||
| 25 | Danica Patrick | ||||||||
| 26 | Ryan Blaney | ||||||||
| 27 | Matt Kenseth | ||||||||
| 28 | Kurt Busch | ||||||||
| 29 | Kyle Larson | ||||||||
| 30 | Reed Sorenson | ||||||||
| 31 | Brad Keselowski | ||||||||
| 32 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | ||||||||
| 33 | Kevin Harvick | ||||||||
| 34 | Martin Truex Jr. | ||||||||
| 35 | Joey Logano | ||||||||
| 36 | Austin Dillon | ||||||||
| 37 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | ||||||||
| 38 | D.J. Kennington | ||||||||
| 39 | Cole Whitt | ||||||||
| 40 | Ryan Sieg |
As for Earnhardt Jr., he took one last pole over the weekend, but like many other favorites it wasn’t meant to be. The good news is he can still pick up a win before the playoffs and earn his way into championship contention.