It wasn’t the final race of the NASCAR Cup Series regular season this year, but Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 still held plenty of importance.
Especially for Harrison Burton, who got his first career win and put himself in the playoffs.
Burton took the checkered flag in overtime at Daytona International Speedway.
He also handed the Wood Brothers their 100th all-time victory.
Three-wide for several laps was a recipe for exactly what happened, a mammoth crash at the very front of the field with nine laps remaining.
Some 14 cars were involved, give or take.
Leader Michael McDowell, coming out of Turn 2, got contact from second-running Ryan Blaney and lost control.
His car began to get airborne but returned to its four wheels as it smacked the outside wall.
Daniel Suarez lasted only 37 laps during the Coke Zero Sugar 400 Saturday.
The back of his No. 99 Chevrolet caught fire on pit road and burned brightly before his crew put it out.
“I was doing my pit stop just like every single weekend,” Suarez said.
“The No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) was right behind me and the No. 21 (Harrison Burton) was right in front of me, so unfortunately I got boxed in.
We know that every single time we do a pit stop, we drop a little bit of fuel and that’s completely normal.
