Jimmie Johnson makes history with convincing Coke Zero 400 win at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - JULY 06: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's Dover White Chevrolet, sprays champagne in victory lane in celebration of winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 6, 2013 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
DAYTONA BEACH, FL - JULY 06:  Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's Dover White Chevrolet, sprays champagne in victory lane in celebration of winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 6, 2013 in Daytona Beach, Florida.  (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
DAYTONA BEACH, FL – JULY 06: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe’s Dover White Chevrolet, sprays champagne in victory lane in celebration of winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 6, 2013 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

DAYTONA BEACH Fla. – Jimmie Johnson became only the fourth driver in NASCAR history to complete a season sweep at Daytona International Speedway by staging a dominating performance in Saturday nights Coke Zero 400. Johnson, who won the season opening Daytona 500, led 94 of the 160 laps in route to victory along the way surviving a green-white-checkered flag finish and an eight minute red flag period with less then ten laps to go.

Pole sitter Kyle Busch led the first 29 laps and while the front 15 settled into line, behind them a second line formed led by Johnson on the bottom. The bottom line tried to work their way forward but seemed to stall. It looked as though the top lane would be the fastest of the night as the field settled down.

The first caution came on lap 23 when Paul Menard’s Chevy imploded leaving a fiery trial down the frontstretch.  On the restart in lap 29 the bottom line suddenly took off and Johnson took over the top spot on the inside lane lap 32.  By lap 43 Johnson was solidly in front. MORE>>>

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.