2025 Coke Zero Sugar 400 Explained

The 2025 Coke Zero Sugar 400 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on August 23, 2025, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida on the 2.5miles superspeedway. It was the 26th race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, and last race of the regular season.

Ryan Blaney won the race. Daniel Suárez finished 2nd, and Justin Haley finished 3rd. Cole Custer and Erik Jones rounded out the top five, and Kyle Larson, Chris Buescher, Ty Gibbs, Josh Berry, and Chase Elliott rounded out the top ten.

Report

Background

The race was held at Daytona International Speedway, a race track located in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since opening in 1959, the track is the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hosts races of ARCA, AMA Superbike, USCC, SCCA, and Motocross. It features multiple layouts including the primary 2.5miles high speed tri-oval, a 3.56miles sports car course, a 2.95miles motorcycle course, and a 0.25miles karting and motorcycle flat-track. The track's 180acres infield includes the 29acres Lake Lloyd, which has hosted powerboat racing. The speedway is owned and operated by International Speedway Corporation.

The track was built in 1959 by NASCAR founder William "Bill" France, Sr. to host racing held at the former Daytona Beach Road Course. His banked design permitted higher speeds and gave fans a better view of the cars. Lights were installed around the track in 1998 and today, it is the third-largest single lit outdoor sports facility. The speedway has been renovated three times, with the infield renovated in 2004 and the track repaved twice — in 1978 and in 2010.On January 22, 2013, the track unveiled artist depictions of a renovated speedway. On July 5 of that year, ground was broken for a project that would remove the backstretch seating and completely redevelop the frontstretch seating. The renovation to the speedway is being worked on by Rossetti Architects. The project, named "Daytona Rising", was completed in January 2016, and it cost US $400 million, placing emphasis on improving fan experience with five expanded and redesigned fan entrances (called "injectors") as well as wider and more comfortable seating with more restrooms and concession stands. After the renovations, the track's grandstands include 101,000 permanent seats with the ability to increase permanent seating to 125,000.^{[7] [8]} The project was completed before the start of Speedweeks.

Entry list

• (R) denotes rookie driver.
• (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.

	Driver	Team	Manufacturer
1			Chevrolet
2			Ford
3			Chevrolet
4			Ford
5			Chevrolet
6			Ford
7			Chevrolet
8			Chevrolet
9			Chevrolet
10			Chevrolet
11			Toyota
12			Ford
16			Chevrolet
17			Ford
19			Toyota
20			Toyota
21			Ford
22			Ford
23			Toyota
24			Chevrolet
33	Austin Hill (i)		Chevrolet
34			Ford
35	Riley Herbst (R)		Toyota
38			Ford
41			Ford
42			Toyota
43			Toyota
44	Joey Gase (i)		Chevrolet
45			Toyota
47			Chevrolet
48			Chevrolet
51			Ford
54			Toyota
60			Ford
66			Ford
71			Chevrolet
77			Chevrolet
78	B.J. McLeod (i)		Chevrolet
88	Shane van Gisbergen (R)		Chevrolet
99			Chevrolet
Official entry list

Qualifying

Qualifying for the race was cancelled due to inclement weather. Ryan Blaney was awarded the pole for the race as a result of NASCAR's pandemic formula with a score of 3.600..^[9]

Starting lineup

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer
1	12			Ford
2	48			Chevrolet
3	5			Chevrolet
4	22			Ford
5	2			Ford
6	11			Toyota
7	3			Chevrolet
8	24			Chevrolet
9	19			Toyota
10	6			Ford
11	21			Ford
12	99			Chevrolet
13	38			Ford
14	8			Chevrolet
15	20			Toyota
16	77			Chevrolet
17	88	Shane van Gisbergen (R)		Chevrolet
18	54			Toyota
19	1			Chevrolet
20	71			Chevrolet
21	16			Chevrolet
22	23			Toyota
23	10			Chevrolet
24	17			Ford
25	47			Chevrolet
26	43			Toyota
27	45			Toyota
28	34			Ford
29	41			Ford
30	9			Chevrolet
31	60			Ford
32	4			Ford
33	35	Riley Herbst (R)		Toyota
34	42			Toyota
35	51			Ford
36	33	Austin Hill (i)		Chevrolet
37	7			Chevrolet
38	78	B. J. McLeod (i)		Chevrolet
39	66			Ford
40	44	Joey Gase (i)		Chevrolet
Official starting lineup

Race

Race results

Stage results

Stage OneLaps: 35

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	10
2	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	9
3	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	8
4	71	Michael McDowell	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	7
5	7	Justin Haley	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	6
6	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	5
7	34	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	4
8	60	Ryan Preece	RFK Racing	Ford	3
9	19	Chase Briscoe	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	2
10	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	1
Official stage one results

Stage TwoLaps: 60

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	10
2	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	9
3	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	8
4	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	7
5	42	John Hunter Nemechek	Legacy Motor Club	Toyota	6
6	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	5
7	19	Chase Briscoe	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	4
8	60	Ryan Preece	RFK Racing	Ford	3
9	54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	2
10	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	1
Official stage two results

Final Stage results

Stage ThreeLaps: 65

Pos	Grid		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Points
1	1	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	160	55
2	12	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	160	35
3	37	7	Justin Haley	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	160	40
4	29	41	Cole Custer	Haas Factory Team	Ford	160	33
5	26	43	Erik Jones	Legacy Motor Club	Toyota	160	32
6	3	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	160	41
7	24	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	160	30
8	18	54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	160	31
9	11	21	Josh Berry	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	160	28
10	30	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	160	27
11	28	34	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	160	30
12	20	71	Michael McDowell	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	160	32
13	15	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	160	34
14	31	60	Ryan Preece	RFK Racing	Ford	160	29
15	19	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	160	41
16	17	88	Shane van Gisbergen (R)	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	160	21
17	34	42	John Hunter Nemechek	Legacy Motor Club	Toyota	160	26
18	10	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	160	19
19	8	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	160	25
20	35	51	Cody Ware	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	160	17
21	27	45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Toyota	160	16
22	23	10	Ty Dillon	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	160	16
23	9	19	Chase Briscoe	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	160	20
24	7	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	160	13
25	6	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	160	12
26	21	16	A. J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	159	12
27	4	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	159	23
28	40	44	Joey Gase (i)	NY Racing Team	Chevrolet	157	0
29	39	66	Casey Mears	Garage 66	Ford	156	8
30	36	33	Austin Hill (i)	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	155	0
31	13	38	Zane Smith	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	154	6
32	38	78	B. J. McLeod (i)	Live Fast Motorsports	Chevrolet	137	0
33	14	8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	95	4
34	16	77	Carson Hocevar	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	81	3
35	25	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Hyak Motorsports	Chevrolet	28	2
36	2	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	27	1
37	22	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	27	1
38	32	4	Noah Gragson	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	27	1
39	5	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	27	1
40	33	35	Riley Herbst (R)	23XI Racing	Toyota	27	1
Official race results

Race statistics

• Lead changes: 44 among 19 different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 8 for 39 laps
• Red flags: 1 for 8 minutes and 30 seconds
• Time of race: 3 hours, 3 minutes, and 20 seconds
• Average speed: 130.909mph

Media

Television

NBC Sports covered the race on the television side. Leigh Diffey, 2000 Coke Zero 400 winner Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte called the race from the broadcast booth. Dave Burns, Kim Coon, Parker Kligerman, and Marty Snider handled the pit road duties from pit lane.

Radio

MRN had the radio call for the race, which was also simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden, Mike Bagley and 1989 NASCAR Cup Series Champion Rusty Wallace called the action for MRN when the field races thru the front straightaway. Dave Moody called the action for MRN from atop the Sunoco tower outside the exit of turn 2 when the field races thru turns 1 & 2. Kurt Becker worked the Daytona Backstretch for MRN from a spotter's stand in the inside of the track. Tim Catafalmo worked the action for MRN when the field races thru turns 3 & 4. Pit road was operated by lead pit reporter Steve Post, Chris Wilner, Jason Toy and PRN Radio's Wendy Venturini.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings after Playoffs reset

	Pos	Driver	Points
3	1	Kyle Larson	2,032
1	2	William Byron	2,032 (–0)
	3	Denny Hamlin	2,029 (–3)
1	4	Ryan Blaney	2,026 (–6)
1	5	Christopher Bell	2,023 (–9)
19	6	Shane van Gisbergen	2,022 (–10)
5	7	Chase Elliott	2,013 (–19)
	8	Chase Briscoe	2,010 (–22)
1	9	Bubba Wallace	2,008 (–24)
5	10	Austin Cindric	2,008 (–24)
3	11	Ross Chastain	2,007 (–25)
	12	Joey Logano	2,007 (–25)
9	13	Josh Berry	2,006 (–26)
7	14	Tyler Reddick	2,006 (–26)
10	15	Austin Dillon	2,005 (–27)
7	16	Alex Bowman	2,002 (–30)
Official driver's standings

Manufacturers' Championship standings

	Pos	Manufacturer	Points
	1	Chevrolet	960
	2	Toyota	920 (–39)
	3	Ford	872 (–87)

• Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2025 schedule . Jayski.com. . January 2, 2025.
2. Web site: Daytona International Speedway . NASCAR.com . NASCAR Media Group, LLC. . January 2, 2025 . July 4, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150704230431/http://www.nascar.com/en_us/nascar-tracks/daytona-international-speedway.html . dead .
3. Web site: NASCAR reveals milestone 2025 Cup Series schedule, complete with international flair, return to roots . Zach . Sturniolo . . August 29, 2024 . January 2, 2025.
4. Web site: Entry List. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. August 18, 2025. August 18, 2025.
5. Web site: Coke Zero Sugar 400 Results. Racing-Reference. August 23, 2025. August 23, 2025.
6. Web site: Points standings. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. August 23, 2025. August 23, 2025.
7. Web site: Reed. Steve. Daytona International unveils plans for upgrade. sports.yahoo.com. Yahoo! Sports. January 22, 2013. July 23, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20130125033710/http://sports.yahoo.com/news/daytona-international-unveils-plans-upgrade-215431071--nascar.html. January 25, 2013 .
8. Web site: Daytona Rising . Daytona International Speedway . December 5, 2013 . July 23, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20131205142926/http://www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com/Vanity-Pages/2013/Daytona-Rising/DAYTONA-RISING.aspx. December 5, 2013 .
9. Web site: DeGroot. Nick. NASCAR Cup qualifying cancelled due to lightning at Daytona, Ryan Blaney on pole. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. August 22, 2025. Daytona Beach, Florida. August 22, 2025.