The major story of Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola – Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s final run at his beloved Daytona International Speedway in the #88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – turned out to be a footnote to Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s masterful victory in a war of attrition that produced a race-record 14 cautions. The driver of the #17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, who got his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory in his 158th career start two months ago at Talladega, established himself as a restrictor-plate wizard with his second straight superspeedway win, this one after three laps of overtime. Stenhouse lined up behind race leader #38-David Ragan for a restart on Lap 162, after a caution for a backstretch collision involving #1-Jamie McMurray, #11-Denny Hamlin and #77-Erik Jones slowed the action for the 14th time and sent the race to overtime. Ragan pulled out to a two-car-length lead after the restart, but Stenhouse surged past him near the end of the backstretch and protected the top spot the rest of the way. #14-Clint Bowyer charged into the runner-up position at the finish, beating third-place finisher #27-Paul Menard to the stripe.(NASCAR Wire Service / Daytona International Speedway)[Read More Here]
