DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (WFLA) – The last NASCAR regular season race took place in dramatic fashion on Saturday night in Daytona.
The race saw multiple crashes, many lead changes and a playoff chance that quickly saw some people disappear.
Driver Ryan Branny won the race. His second victory in the Cup Series, his second victory in the Coke Zero 400. Branny also won the race in 2021.
One of the early crashes of the race took Tyler Reddick, who was in the playoff bubble.
Branny manages to weave through the chaos, but sees a lot happening around him.
“Wild Night, the last few wild laps. In fact, I’m looking forward to seeing it and seeing it from a bird’s eye view,” Branny said shortly after the race.
The biggest crash of the night took place in Stage 1, bringing out drivers like Baba Wallace, Austin Sindrick and Alex Bowman.
Branny says he knows their frustration.
“I ended up here at the tow and got something terrible, awful on the hook on the rear right, and there’s a day like this where you seem to have gone your way,” Branny said.
But Team Pensuke Driver was able to put his Ford where it was needed at the right time.
“We had a different strategy than the other strategies, we spent extra time and made sure we had more fuel than the others. And then, in the last few laps, the top rolled and we were able to push the 41 really hard and we were able to get into the spot to lead the last time,” Branny said.
The 16 drivers will qualify for the playoffs and see who will be selected as the champions of the year.
