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    • Harrison Burton secures victory and playoff spot
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    Harrison Burton secures victory and playoff spot

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    After Saturday night’s thrilling finish in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway, there is just one race left in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season.

    Harrison Burton, in his final season with Wood Brothers Racing, defeated Kyle Busch on an overtime restart to earn his first NASCAR Cup victory and a spot in the playoffs. Only the Cook Out Southern 500 on Sept. 1 at Darlington remained in the regular season.

    Burton, in the No. 21 Ford, became the 13th race winner of the 2024 season.

    These are the winners and losers from the Coke Zero Sugar 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona.

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    Winners

    Christopher Bell

    Bell was involved in the first of two major crashes. The driver of the Joe Gibbs No. 20 Toyota was involved in the crash that occurred on lap 61 when Corey LaJoie gave Noah Gragson a bad push. Bell was one of 17 drivers involved in the crash, which took out seven cars. Of those drivers, Bell was able to recover and finished the race the highest in third place. It was his eighth top-five finish in 2024.

    Harrison Burton

    Burton, 23, who has been with Wood Brothers Racing since 2022, learned in early July that he would be replaced by Josh Berry in 2025. No other NASCAR Cup team has signed Burton, but that could change after the manner of his win at the Coke Zero Sugar 400, stealing the checkered flag from Busch at the closing stages. It was Wood Brothers’ 100th career victory of all time.

    Parker Retzlaff

    It’s a pretty safe bet that Burton wouldn’t have been able to pass Busch if Retzlaff hadn’t pushed him so hard. After pushing Burton into the lead, Retzlaff moved into second before falling back to finish seventh in the No. 62 Chevy. Retzlaff, 21, is an Xfinity Series driver who was making his second overall Cup Series start in the Coke Zero Sugar 400. It was his first start with Beard Motorsports.

    Losers

    Josh Bes

    Berry was in the race before he hit the wall and threw his Stewart-Haas Ford down the backstretch with two laps remaining in the regular race. The Hendersonville, Tennessee, native was in second place behind Austin Cindric when his car went airborne, landed on its roof and slid into the infield retaining wall. Berry, who had taken the lead on Lap 103, said after the race that the crash wasn’t as bad as it probably seemed.

    Kyle Busch

    Busch was on the verge of snapping his 45-race winless streak when he took the lead in overtime. He had avoided both major crashes and stayed in the race the entire race. Busch let Burton, with Retzlaff pushing, take the lead but still had a chance to claw back the lead on the final straight. However, Burton dropped in and blocked Busch as they approached the finish line. Busch also came close to snapping his streak last week when he finished fourth at Michigan.

    Corey LaJoie

    It’s never a surprise when a major crash, or “the big one,” as it’s commonly known, occurs at Daytona International Speedway. But the first of two on Saturday night didn’t have to happen. LaJoie, who was running well early and was running 16th at the time, gave Gragson an awkward shove on the left rear midway through the second stage. It forced Gragson to hit the wall and slide down the field, triggering a 17-car pileup. LaJoie and Gragson were knocked out of the race, along with Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Ross Chastain, Austin Dillon and Kyle Larson.

    Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or at X @MikeOrganWriter.

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