clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

NASCAR Coke Zero 400 Update: Variety Of Faces Up Front At Daytona Midpoint

Kasey Kahne leading at Daytona is not a surprise. Nor is Tony Stewart.

Joe Nemechek and Casey Mears, meanwhile, are a slightly different story.

With half of the Coke Zero 400 in the books, there have been 17 different leaders and 30 lead changes. Polesitter Mark Martin, Martin Truex Jr., Kahne, and Matt Kenseth have spent the most time up front, but Stewart, Nemechek, Mears, and David Ragan are among the other drivers who have had their machines out front.

Thanks to the two-car drafts, Nemechek and Mears have brought Travis Kvapil and Landon Cassill, respectively, to the front of the field while Stewart has been hooked up with David Gilliland. Nemechek and Mears are both former race winners while Stewart is a two-time series champion. Kvapil, Cassill, and Gilliland are winless in their Sprint Cup careers.

There have been three cautions thus far. Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne crashed after five laps following contact with Brad Keselowski. Carl Edwards was turned by teammate Greg Biffle and smacked the wall, ruining the night of the Sprint Cup point leader. Dave Blaney brought out the most recent yellow with a hard crash on the frontstretch.

Photographs by coka_koehler used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.