In a wild and wooly finish so typical of races at Daytona International Speedway, Kyle Busch won by a whisker over hard-charging Carl Edwards with a chain-reaction accident behind them sending up a cloud of smoke that covered the track. 

The race ended in a green, white, checkered finish after a spectacular night of racing that more resembled a Saturday night short track event where rubbing fenders and banging bumpers is a rule rather than exception. The bumping continued on a restart when Edwards tapped Gordon, who was second at the time, in the rear and sent him spinning off the track.  

The untimely collision sent Gordon from second to 31st in the race rundown.

Following Busch and Edwards across the finish line were Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch, Clint Bowyer, David Ragan, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Brian Vickers, Mark Martin and Travis Kvapil.  

Kasey Kahne was 11th after racing with the leaders most of the night before a sideswipe with another driver cut a tire and forced him to make an unscheduled pit stop.  

Former Indy 500 winner Sam Hornish, Jr., was next after another impressive run. Hornish kept his Dodge in contention throughout the 160-lap event before being caught up in the late race melee that scattered car parts all over the track. Michael Waltrip, Dave Blaney, Paul Menard and several other drivers were a part of the domino-type accident at the end. So was J. J. Yeley, who kept the Home Depot Toyota in contention after relief driving for Tony Stewart, who was under the weather and had to climb out of his car shortly before the halfway point. 

Denny Hamlin, winner of Friday night's NASCAR Nationwide race, ran with the fastest cars before a shunt with this year's Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman ended his chances. Newman's night wound up a nightmare. He was involved in three accidents, the last one crippling his already-damaged machine.  

Hamlin wound up 30th with Newman 36th.  

It was Busch's sixth win of the season and he managed to do it after almost spinning out himself. A mishap earlier in the race put him way back in the pack but he made it back to the front by the end. He heads to Chicago still leading the NASCAR Sprint Cup points chase by a comfortable margin. 

PRE RACE CHATTER 

One week down, nine to go, in the Race to the Chase — the 10-week stretch that precedes the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. 

And as NASCAR’s “playoffs” approach, the pressure mounts for drivers patrolling the “bubble” area on either side of 12th place in the series standings. 

Only the top 12 make the Chase, which encompasses the last 10 races of the season. Coming into Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 Presented by Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway, the five drivers immediately outside the top 12 are within merely 128 points of 12th-place Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Reese’s Chevrolet).

Included in that group: 

Former series champion Matt Kenseth (No. 17 R&L Carriers Ford) is 13th, 15 behind Harvick; 

Two-time NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Martin Truex Jr. (No. 1 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet) in 14th, 71 out of 12th; 

This year’s Daytona 500 champion Ryan Newman (No. 12 Alltel Dodge), now  down to 15th in points, 111 behind Harvick. 

Those all are surprises — but so are these: In 16th you’ll find Brian Vickers (No. 83 Red Bull Toyota) 113 behind Harvick, while David Ragan (No. 6 AAA Ford) is 17th, 128 back. 

Of those five, the best bet to advance this week appears to be Newman, with his career-defining victory this past February only part of the reason.  

Newman actually has the second-best Driver Rating at Daytona at 98.6, trailing only the 108.1 of Tony Stewart (No. 20 Home Depot Toyota). This key Loop Data statistic is based on the last seven events at the 2.5-mile tri-oval. During that span Newman’s average DIS finish has been 14.4.  

In addition to winning the 500 this season, Newman finished third in 2006. His best finish in Daytona’s July race: 11th in ‘06. 

You have to give Jamie McMurray (No. 26 IRWIN Weldtec Ford) some credit. Granted, he only has two NASCAR Sprint Cup victories in his career, but both have been major events. And major surprises. 

Back in 2002 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway’s fall race, McMurray got the first win in only his third series start. That put him into some elite company. Only 11 drivers have won in either their first or second start in NASCAR’s top series — and three of those did so in NASCAR’s first season. McMurray is the series’ first driver since 1963 to win so quickly. 

Last summer, McMurray pulled another significant upset by winning at Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR’s most-storied track. The inherent drama received a boost by the minute margin of victory: McMurray’s .005-seconds edging Kyle Busch (No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota) is tied for the second-closest finish since electronic timing and scoring went into use in 1993. (Dale Earnhardt nipped Ernie Irvan at Talladega in July 1993 by the same scant margin.) Closest ever: .002, Ricky Craven over Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge), Darlington spring race in 2003.

McMurray needs another boost. He comes into Daytona 24th in the series standings.

“I seem to have been more successful at the [restrictor plate] races, whether it's at Daytona or Talladega. I tend to get with the right guys [to draft].  

“I'm not down at all [about this season]. If anything, I’m probably more upbeat, because we've gone to a lot of different-type race tracks and we've had cars that were really fast. Things are really things are good right now. We just haven't been able to get the finish out of it.”  

Tony Stewart’s near-victory in this year’s Daytona 500 should’ve surprised no one.

Even though Stewart has yet to win NASCAR’s most-famous race, he’s had plenty of success at NASCAR’s most-famous track.  Which is why no one should be surprised if he ends his 31-race winless skein Saturday night. 

Stewart, third in the 500 this year, has 12 wins at Daytona International Speedway — NASCAR point-paying races, non-point events and the now-defunct IROC Series — including two (2005-06) in the Coke Zero 400. 

The breakdown for the other 10 is as follows:

Gatorade Duel at Daytona – 2
Budweiser Shootout – 3
NASCAR Nationwide Series – 3
International Race of Champions – 2 

Over the last three-plus years — seven races total in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series — Stewart has compiled a series-leading 108.1 Driver Rating. Driver Rating results from a combination of numerous Loop Data statistics. 

As far as a specific stat goes, Stewart has led a series-high 415 laps over the last seven DIS events. That amounts to 32% of all laps run, and dwarfs the second-best total of 150 by Kurt Busch. 

TO WIN – QUALIFYING HELPS OUT 

Paul Menard won the Coors Light Pole for the Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola, turning a lap of 185.916 mph/48.409 seconds. This is Menard’s first pole in 57 career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts. His previous best career start was 13th at this season’s Dover race.  

Menard’s previous best start at Daytona was 21st at this season’s Daytona 500.

Menard is the second first-time pole winner this season (Patrick Carpentier, New Hampshire).  

Mark Martin (second) notched his seventh top-10 start of the season, and 19th at Daytona.  

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (third) registered his 11th top-10 start of the season, and 13th at Daytona.  

Regan Smith (eighth) was the fastest qualifying rookie.  

Joe Nemechek (fourth) was the fastest of those drivers who were required to make the field on time. 

NOW IT’S TIME TO SEE SOME FIREWORKS!! 

Boris Said and A.J. Allmendinger to the back, by their own. No issues to make them do that.

Paul Menard and future Hendrick driver, Mark Martin bring the 43 drivers out of turn four into the tri-oval getting ready to take the… 

GREEN FLAG Into turn one Earnhardt Jr. pushes Menard to start the single file action. By the time the end the first lap Menard is the leader and the top 15 are single file. 

Lap 3 Jon Wood takes his car to the garage. Lap 7 Tony Stewart, running 9^th behind Denny Hamlin slide up high with Stewart scraping the wall but no big deal at this time. 

Lap 9 the top 5 of Menard, Earnhardt Jr., David Ragan, Martin, Kyle Busch and Regan Smith are a breakaway group in front of the mix and match pack 1.2 seconds behind.  

Lap 13 some of the guys who have moved from the back to the front are Kurt Busch from 36^th to 17^th, Martin Truex Jr. from 35^th to 16^th, Jeff Gordon from 26^th to 13^th and Brian Vickers from 28^th to 9^th. 

Jon Wood is back on track, 8 laps down. Lap 16 Martin pushes Stewart on the back side of the track to catch them up to Menard and Earnhardt Jr. Lap 19 Earnhardt Jr. to the outside in turn two and takes the lead for the first time today. 

YELLOW FLAG lap 20 as Allmendinger may have blown out his tire coming out of the turn, slamming the wall like Kurt Busch did in the practice session. Allmendinger limps to pit road. Wood is the lucky dog. Everyone is on pit road. 

Kyle Busch, Menard, Smith, Dave Blaney and Ragan are the first five out of pit road. Earnhardt Jr. with spending a lot of time in his pit stall, drops back to 14^th. Allmendinger is going to have to be towed back to the garage from his pit stall. 

Said’s team makes several big changes to his car, as a few other driver’s did. 

GREEN FLAG lap 24 as Kyle Busch and Menard get the show going again. Lap 25 your top 10 drivers are – Kyle Busch, Menard, Smith, Blaney, Ragan, Kenseth, Vickers, Harvick, Kvapil and Earnhardt Jr. 

Kyle Busch, Menard and Blaney are on the low line as Vickers, Earnhardt Jr. and Martin work the high line. This time around, the field is two wide racing as Kyle Busch swings from left to right, holding the field back. 

The top five of Kyle Busch, Blaney, Earnhardt, Vickers and Martin are single file on the low side. Lap 32 Stewart and Martin run the high line followed by Jeff Burton and Kurt Busch. 

Lap 34 we see two groups running, the top 4 leaders on the low side in the corners and Stewart leading a group of 6 to 8 drivers running the high side the blending back in on the straights. 

Lap 36 Earnhardt moves back to 2^nd, Vickers 3^rd and Blaney 4^th. Lap 37 Earnhardt and Vickers hook up to move Earnhardt Jr. back into the lead. Vickers slips back as Kyle Busch shoots behind Earnhardt Jr. to 2^nd place. 

The field is kind of scattered out as we go into lap 39. Busch all by himself to the low side wanting the lead again, but will have to settle for 2^nd place. Stewart moves into 3^rd. 

Lap 40 it’s Earnhardt, Busch, Stewart and Martin. 

YELLOW FLAG lap 43 Ryan Newman spins coming out of turn two. Into the infield. It looks like Jamie McMurray just tapped the back of Newman’s car. Newman does no make any contact and has a flat tire. Newman’s car looks ok. Said is the lucky dog. 

The leaders head to pit road lead by Earnhardt Jr. The race back to the track is Kyle Busch, Earnhardt Jr., Stewart, Martin and Jeff Gordon. Menard picked up some heavy damage over the past several laps as we see his heavily taped up rear end. 

GREEN FLAG lap 47 as Kyle Busch and Earnhardt Jr. lead the single file field back up to speed. Lap 50 you top 20 drivers are Kyle Busch, Earnhardt Jr., Stewart, Martin, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Jimmy Johnson, Travis Kvapil, Elliott Sadler, Burton, Vickers, Kasey Kahne, David Gilliland, Casey Mears, Sam Hornish Jr., Martin Truex Jr., Michael McDowell, Ragan, Michael Waltrip, Kurt Busch and Blaney. 

Lap 54 Earnhardt Jr. is back in the lead. Lap 55 Martin moves into 2^nd followed By Jeff Gordon and Kenseth. We do see two wide action, but not any big movers at this time. Lap 59 Stewart has been picking the wrong lines over the past few laps, falling back to 16^th. 

Lap 63 the top ten are kind of scattered not really forming a single line. Earnhardt Jr., Martin and Jeff Gordon run together, leaving the field behind by 1 second. Lap 66 Stewarts back on the move again up to 10^th, Kyle Busch up to 6^th.

Lap 67 movement on the track has Truex Jr. running 20^th from his start of 35^th, Vickers 18^th from 28^th, Gilliland 16^th from 27^th, David Reutimann from 34^th up to 14^th, Hornish Jr. from 42^nd up to 10^th, Johnson from 30^th to 6^th, Elliott Sadler from 38^th to 5^th and Jeff Gordon from 26^th up to 3^rd. 

YELLOW FLAG lap 70 as Greg Biffle comes up into Juan Pablo Montoya as he was coming down, hooking Biffle into the outside wall, crunching Montoya’s car. Marlin is the lucky dog, Montoya and Biffle to the garage. 

The drivers head to pit road. One big change in the pits as Stewart has been sick and will exit the car and J.J. Yeley will take over as his relief driver. The race out of pit road is Earnhardt Jr., Johnson, Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon and Kahne. 

GHREEN FLAG lap 75 as Earnhardt Jr. and Johnson lead the drivers back to racing. Johnson takes the lead with help from Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon to keep Kyle Busch from taking the lead. 

Lap 76 Johnson skates from high to low in front of Earnhardt Jr. with a great save. Lap 78 Johnson is back to the high side in front of Gordon with Earnhardt on the low side and almost no help from Busch. 

Lap 79 Jeff Gordon to the front with help from Earnhardt Jr. Johnson has help from Kenseth. Lap 80 (Halfway) Denny Hamlin making a move to the low line with help from teammate Kyle Busch. 

Lap 81 Hamlin to the high side, Busch to the low side as Jeff Gordon and Earnhardt Jr. run in front. Kyle Busch to the apron and off pace. Something happened to him as he ran in front of Hamlin, shot to the apron and falling way off pace. 

We hear that something happened to Busch’s steering and may not be aligned. Lap 85 Ragan moves into 3^rd place. We see live points on the scoring monitor as Jeff Burton closes the gap to 18 points, Earnhardt Jr. to 21 points. 

Lap 86 the top 10 are single file once again. Carl Edwards and Gilliland have been on the move up to 6^th and 7^th. Lap 88 Edwards moves up to 5^th as Ragan falls off. Edwards pushing Martin forward behind Johnson. 

Lap 90 team Hendrick runs up front as Gordon, Earnhardt and Johnson run 1^st through 3^rd, with new member Martin running 4^th. Lap 91 Kenseth is loose, shooting up outside in front of Kahne who chills out for a moment and they continue on. 

Lap 94 Gordon and Earnhardt Jr. have a few car length lead on Johnson and Martin. Lap 95 Kyle Busch has been on a move to recover his lose as he takes over 27^th. We see lots of movement in the field as the top 4 run almost one second in front of the field slinging it out for position. 

Lap 100 (60 to go) your top 20 drivers are – Jeff Gordon, Earnhardt Jr., Johnson, Gilliland, Martin, Hamlin, Sadler, Edwards, Ragan, Clint Bowyer, Newman, Hornish Jr., Vickers, Kahne, Harvick, Truex Jr., Burton, Robby Gordon, Kurt Busch and Said. So far we have seen 9 lead changes among 6 drivers and 3 cautions for 10 laps. 

Lap 102 Earnhardt with help from Gilliland on the high line takes the lead from Gordon. We should see pit stops in about 10 laps. The top 10 are spread out. The drivers from 10^th on back keep changing too much to keep up are they are scattered on the high mid and low lines. 

YELLOW FLAG lap 109 as Sadler hits the outside wall in turn four after blowing his right front tire on the low side, shooting him to the outside wall, almost hitting Hornish Jr. 50 to go as Reutimann is the lucky dog. 

The leaders head for pit road. Earnhardt Jr., Hamlin, Newman, Johnson and Jeff Gordon are the first five out of pit road. Gilliland with a bad stop into his pit stall, causing a huge lag by the team, which will drop him back to 14^th. 

GREEN FLAG lap 114 as Earnhardt Jr., Hamlin and Newman lead us back to racing. Hamlin to the low side with Newman on the low side on the back stretch with Earnhardt Jr. Johnson and Gordon on the high side. 

Lap 116 the drivers on the high side don’t seem to have the speed to do anything with Hamlin on the low side. Lap 117 Newman is stuck in the middle sliding back a few positions. 

Earnhardt Jr. slips to the low side to hop in the lead. The next lap Hamlin has the lead for a moment, but only a moment as it’s a drag race for the lead. 

40 to go as we hear that most of the drivers will need to stop for fuel. Hamlin, Ragan, Earnhardt Jr., Johnson and Jeff Gordon are the top five. Lap 121 Ragan bumps Earnhardt Jr. back into the lead.  

YELLOW FLAG lap 123 as 38 slams into 12 into the outside wall on the turn 4 exit, with Burton getting turned into the outside wall behind them by Vickers. 

Lap 125 your top 10 drivers are – Waltrip picks up five points for leading a lap. Reutimann is the lucky dog. The race back to the track is Hamlin, Ragan, Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch. 

Your top ten drivers are – Said, Hamlin, Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Johnson, Harvick, Martin, Kahne and Edwards. Ragan has a pit road penalty and will perform a drive through, loosing valuable positions. 

GREEN FLAG lap 128 as Said and Hamlin lead our drivers back up to speed. Said tries to move out of the way as Hamlin at the same time was trying to get around him, and has to go high to avoid him. This allows Earnhardt Jr. to take the lead followed by Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch. 

YELLOW FLAG 30 to go as McMurray is spun out after trying to move high, clipping the front of Vickers car on the high side, shooting McMurray back to the infield just missing Truex Jr. Earnhardt Jr. is the leader. 

GREEN FLAG with 27 to go. A lot of pushing and shoving to gain position. Kyle Busch pushing Johnson which pushes Gordon to the high side and Busch following. Earnhardt Jr. slides back to 7^th. 

25 to go it’s Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Martin, Harvick and Kahne. 

YELLOW FLAG 24 to go as Hamlin is clipped by Truex Jr. causing Hamlin to shoot into Newman’s car and both into the pit road entry wall. On the restart, Johnson picked up a bit of fender damage when Kyle Busch clipped his car. Reutimann is the lucky dog once again and now one lap down. 

Yeley has moved Stewart’s car back up to 12^th. Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Martin, Kahne, Kenseth, Harvick, Bowyer, Edwards, Menard and Earnhardt Jr. 

GREEN FLAG 21 to go by turn four… 

YELLOW FLAG 20 to go as Ragan gets back into Yeley’s car, who saves it. Behind them though it’s not as lucky as Mears checks up to much, shoots into the wall, with Burton almost getting clipped by Mears then tapped from behind by Kurt Busch and Burton getting into the wall. Burton has big time water pouring from his car and it may be the end of his day. Reutimann is the lucky dog and back on the lead lap.  

GREEN FLAG 17 to go as Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Martin, Kahne, Menard, Earnhardt Jr., Kenseth, Harvick, Ragan and Edwards bring us back to racing. We almost see another wreck in the mid pack. Kahne has a big tire rub. 

16 to go the cars are bouncing all over the place. 15 to go Earnhardt up to 3^rd place. 

14 to go you can almost see trouble brewing in the back of the pack as Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch and Earnhardt Jr. running the single file row of ten drivers in the turns. 

12 to go who will make the move first? 

YELLOW FLAG 11 to go as Said spins out in the tri-oval as he comes up from the low side of the track and crunches Joe Nemechek in to the outside wall. McMurray is the lucky dog. 

GREEN FLAG 8 to go as Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Earnhardt Jr., Kenseth, Harvick, Ragan, Martin, Edwards, Bowyer and Robby Gordon will lead the drivers back up to speed.  

Kenseth, Harvick and Ragan to the outside trying to make a run to the front but it does not work. Earnhardt Jr. in the middle of trouble. 

6 to go Jeff Gordon has Kyle Busch pushing in front as Earnhardt Jr. is stuck in the middle slipping back to 8^th. 

5 to go Jeff Gordon in the middle trying to figure out what line to run in front of. Out of turn four Kyle Busch to the low side, Gordon to the high side.  

4 to go and two wide racing for the lead.  

YELLOW FLAG 4 to go as Dave Blaney swings out after getting punted from behind by Terry Labonte as Kvapil in front of them were checking up. Blaney hits Johnson who then slams into the outside wall. Smith spins along with Reutimann who hits Hamlin and behind them Menard hits Yeley / Stewart’s car. We also see a few others dodge and duck. 

GREEN WHITE CHECKERED coming up as Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Edwards and Kenseth lead us back up to speed. 

Wow what a bad start by Kyle Busch. That was one of the slowest starts I have seen in a long time. We have no issues, but you can tell trouble is coming up. 

Jeff Gordon comes down trying to block Edwards in turn one, but will fly off of the front end of Edwards’ machine and into the apron and the race stays green. 

WHITE FLAG as the field is going to have trouble coming and it happens in almost the same position as Gordon’s spin. We almost see Bowyer, Ragan and Earnhardt Jr. tangle, but they save it, but it’s not so lucky as Waltrip is tagged from the high side by Hornish Jr. after contact from Kvapil who tried to avoid Bowyer. 

Waltrip shoots up into Kvapil and the outside wall. Blaney hits Kvapil from behind. Hornish Jr. shoots down into the path of Terry Labonte and Scott Riggs. Hornish comes back into Waltrip’s car. 

Behind them Sauter hits Yeley from behind, forcing him to shoot down into Reed Sorenson’s car and Joe Nemechek. They all continue to bang into each other and slid down to the apron. 

Scoring is frozen once the yellow came out as Edwards was battling Kyle Busch for the lead. Replay tape shows Busch to be the winner of the race, Edwards second, Kenseth 3^rd, Kurt Busch 4^th, David Ragan 5^th, Robby Gordon 6^th, Kahne 7^th, Earnhardt Jr. 8^th, Bowyer 9^th and Martin 10^th. 

At the time of this posting, scoring is unofficial until NASCAR can review all tape replays. Check our official scoring in our NASCAR section. 

The race lasted for almost 3 hours. We saw 22 lead changes among 10 leaders as well as 11 cautions for 32 laps.  

All 43 drivers had finished the race, excluding an ailing Stewart, who was replaced by Yeley, mid-race. 31 drivers were on the lead lap. 

Kyle Busch won the Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola, his 10th win in 132 career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.  

This is Busch’s sixth win of the season. He has now won at two restrictor plate tracks this season (Talladega).  

This is Busch’s first win at Daytona. His previous best finish at Daytona was second (twice: July 7, 2007 and July 1, 2006).  

Busch now has 11 top-five and 12 top-10 finishes this year.  

This is Busch’s fourth top-five finish at Daytona.  

Carl Edwards (second) now has seven top-five and 13 top-10 finishes this season.